ABSTRACT
Since the early days of the eighteenth century, the rst industrial revolution had been started when attempts were made to substitute the muscle power by mechanical energy. Machine tools such as boring machines, lathes, drill presses, copying lathes, turret lathes, and milling machines were introduced for the production of goods. Geared and automatic lathes were then introduced in the 1900s. Mass production techniques and mechanized transfer machines were developed between 1920 and 1940. These systems had xed mechanisms and were designed to produce specic products. Such developments were best represented in the automobile industry, characterized by high production rates at low cost. Since that time, the productivity, which is dened as the use of all resources such as materials, energy, capital, labor, and technology became a major concern. Production may be dened as the output per labor hour, which is basically a measure of operating efciency.
