Efficiency Methods
An Introduction to Scientific Management

90 EFFICIENCY METHODS indistinguishable in position ; whereas the motions of a less expert person are liable to diverge con- siderably each time the action is repeated.1 The reader may be inclined to pause here to ask, Is this close study of motions really worth while— worth the time of a skilled man and worth the ex- pense entailed? With regard to the expense of taking moving pictures, Mr. Gilbreth. has evolved a method of making the ordinary sized film serve four or five times over by using only a strip of it. (See Illustration IV.) However, what has to be ascertained carefully, when an installation of instruments for time-study is made, is that sufficient use can be made of the results. To begin with, operations are classified generally into those which are somewhat monotonously repeated many times, and which are undertaken by a large number of operatives—the regular routine work in the industry, in fact. Most people would admit the value of making a somewhat elaborate study of motions and cpnditions here, so as to get “ the one best way ” of proceeding.2 Other operations are classified as “ miscellane- ous ” ; there is much variety about them, and each 1 See F. B. Gilbreth, “ Motion Study.” Also articles in the World’s Work, July, 1916. And Illustrations II., III. 1 Suppose that six seconds can be saved on an operation lasting 60 seconds, a gain of 10 per cent. An operator who did 50 in an hour could now do 55. If 100 workers were working 8 hours a day each, each would do 40 more in a day, and the general increase in output would be 4,000 per day, on a previous total of 40,000. Assuming that each article is worth only id., the result of this single study would be a saving of some £600 per annum, which might very likely cover the expenses of the time-study staff.