Industrial engineering is the branch of engineering which is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, knowledge, equipment, energy, material and process. It eliminates waste of time, money, materials, energy and other resources.

Contributions of researchers in the field of Industrial Engineering is discussed as follows:

1) Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)

FW Taylor is known for his contribution in development of scientific management. Scientific management is a management theory that analyses and develops workflows in order to improve labour productivity. Taylor believed that decisions taken by considering tradition and rules of thumb should be replaced by precise procedures developed after careful analysis of individuals at work. He believed in a high level of managerial control over employees. Taylor believed that decisions based upon tradition and rules of thumb should be replaced by precise procedures developed after careful study of an individual at work.

2) Frank (1868-1924) and Lillian (1878-1972) Gilbreth

They were a very successful pair who were involved in pioneering the study of scientific management. They had developed practices and principles to scientifically analyse tasks. The Gilbreths focused on identifying motions involved in work. They were responsible for development of one of the most famous tools for analysing work. They were responsible for developing many important tools of time and motion study. Frank and Lillian also developed micro-motion study and principles of motion economy(therbligs)

3) Henry Gantt (1861-1919)

Henry Gantt was a mechanical engineer and a big advocate of scientific management techniques. His most popular legacy to management was the Gantt Chart. .

Gantt’s had devised a task and bonus plan. It was structured in such a way that the worker received the wage of a day even if he did not complete the task. But if he completed the task in less than the prescribed time, he received a bonus. The chart represents output on one axis with units of time on the other. This proved to be revolutionary in the area of production planning and control. Gantt chart is still being used and is the forerunner of some of the commercial scheduling techniques.