For those who are new to the fields of industrial engineering or
management engineering (as the field is often called in health
care), the use of engineering methods may seem like a recent
innovation in health care settings. The recent rise in the
popularity of lean and Six Sigma in hospitals around the world
has brought an influx of engineers into health care. While there
is a lot of innovative work taking place, it is important to
note that there is a rich history of industrial engineering
principles that reaches back over 100 years being applied in
health care. In this article, we will look at two early
practitioners-- Frank Gilbreth and Henry Ford. Frank Gilbreth
(1868 - 1924) is considered, along with Frederick Taylor, to be
one of the “fathers of Industrial Engineering.” Gilbreth (along
with his wife and partner, Lillian) is credited with a practice
that anyone who has watched a surgery on TV would recognize –
the surgeon puts his or her hand out and has the exact tool or
implement placed in their hand.