[beaver fever]

Well since he learned the art of mass production from Taylor he would at least have appreciated that the death camps were efficient. Not productive but efficient.

[durasell]

Speedy Taylor -- there's a name you don't hear much anymore...

[sinanju]

Let's hear it for the internet! It seems Frederick Winslow "Speedy" Taylor was one of the original triumvirate of gurus of the "Scientific Management" philosophy along with his associates Henry Gantt and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth (best remembered as authors of "Cheaper by the Dozen" apparently originally a treatise on how to efficiently integrate work and family life). Among their many innovations were "motion study", "time study", the "Gantt Chart" (a visual display chart for scheduling), humane management and favorable working conditions, among many other things.

Although it seems no one individual can claim credit for the assembly line, the modern version is largely attributed to both Sears & Roebuck and Henry Ford.

[sinanju]

Not many people know that Henry Ford's first claim to fame was as Thomas Alva Edison's chief engineer at his Menlo Park laboratory.