Gilbreth, Frank

Gilbreth, Frank (Bunker) (1868–1925) engineer, management consultant; born in Fairfield, Maine. Originally a bricklayer's apprentice, he rose to become a successful general contractor in Boston (1895–1911). In collaboration with his wife, Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth (1878–1972), he devised processes for breaking jobs into discrete segments, thus contributing to the foundation of modern time-and-motion studies. He established Frank B. Gilbreth, Inc., consulting engineers (1911), and conducted a summer school of scientific management in Providence, R.I. With his wife, he wrote A Primer of Scientific Management (1911) and Fatigue Study (1916).