We Have Caught the Tail by the Tiger

The Consequences of Automation's Relentless March

Freddie was a young man in the late 19th century, the son of a lawyer, with a brilliant mind that led his class scholastically at Phillips Exeter Academy. Freddie had dreams of attending Harvard University, but his deteriorating eyesight, a consequence of many nights of intensive study, forced him to change his course.

He became an apprentice at the Enterprise Hydraulic Works in Philadelphia in 1875. Here, Freddie’s journey from patternmaker and machinist apprentice to machine shop laborer, foreman, head of the drawing office, and eventually, chief engineer at the Midvale Steel Company, began. His hands-on approach and persistent study led to him introducing the concept of time study at the Midvale plant, a method to improve production efficiency by observing individual workers and eliminating wasted time and motion.

Freddie’s full name was Frederick Winslow Taylor, and his concept of increasing efficiency by analyzing and simplifying individual tasks came to be known as "Taylorism". It…