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James Watt & the Improved Steam Engine
Wikipedia LinkIn 1776, the first engines were installed and working in commercial enterprises. These first engines were used to power pumps and produced only reciprocating motion to move the pump rods at the bottom of the shaft. The design was commercially successful, and for the next five years Watt was very busy installing more engines, mostly in Cornwall for pumping water out of mines. These engines were designed, not made by Watt -
Adam Smith "Wealth of Nations," Division of Labor
One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. It earned him an enormous reputation and would become one of the most influential works on economics ever published. Smith is widely cited as the father of modern economics and capitalism. -
Eli Whitney & Cotton Gin
A cotton gin (short for cotton engine)[2] is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, a job that otherwise must be performed painstakingly by hand. The fibers are processed into cotton goods, and the seeds may be used to grow more cotton or to produce cottonseed oil; if they are badly damaged, they are disposed of. The first modern mechanical cotton gin was created by American inventor Eli Whitney in 1793 and patented in 1794. It used a combination of a wire -
Eli Whitney and Interchangable Parts
In July 1801 he built ten guns, all containing the same exact parts and mechanisms, then disassembled them before the United States Congress. He placed the parts in a mixed pile and, with help, reassembled all of the weapons right in front of Congress, much like Blanc had done some years before.[8] The Congress was captivated and ordered a standard for all United States equipment. Interchangeable parts removed problems concerning the inability to consistently produce new parts for old equipmen -
Cottage Industries Grow
A cottage industry is a small self-help industry that is carried out in the home, community centre, parish hall or some other convenient place. Such industries are evident in handicrafts, catering, tailoring, dressmaking, beauty culture, retailing of dry goods, pottery and furniture making on a small scale... eBay is said to have spawned a cottage industry of people who buy surplus merchandise, and sell it on their auction system. -
Frederick Winslow Taylor - the Father of Scientific Management
Working as a laborer and machinist, Taylor recognized that on a massive scale the workmen were not working their machines, or themselves, nearly as hard as they could (which he referred to as soldiering). This resulted in excessively high labor costs for the company. Soon he became a foreman and expected more output from the workmen. In order to determine how much work should properly be expected (which was unknown to management at the time), he began to study and analyze the productivity of bot -
Ford Motor Company Founded by Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism": mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. -
Assembly Lines at Ford
The assembly line developed by Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1915 made assembly lines famous in the following decade through the social ramifications of mass production, such as the affordability of the Ford Model T and the introduction of high wages for Ford workers. Henry Ford was the first to master the moving assembly line -
French Mgt Theorist Henry Fayol
Fayol believed by focusing on managerial practices he could minimize misunderstandings and increase efficiency in organizations[1] . He enlightened managers on how to accomplish their managerial duties, and the practices in which they should engage. Fayol differed from Taylor in his focus. Taylor's main focus was on the task, whereas Fayol was more concerned with management. Fayol appears to have slightly more respect for the worker than Taylor had. -
"Hawthorne Effect" Term Coined
The Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity whereby subjects improve or modify an aspect of their behavior being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they know they are being studied,[1][2] NOT in response to any particular experimental manipulation.
Workplace lighting formed the basis of the Hawthorne effect, other changes such as maintaining clean work stations, clearing floors of obstacles resulted in increased productivity for SHORT periods.
