Biography
Gantt was born in Calvert County, Maryland. He graduated from McDonogh School in 1878 and then went on to Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.
He then worked as a teacher and draughtsman before becoming a mechanical engineer. In 1887, he joined Frederick W. Taylor in applying scientific management principles to their work at Midvale Steel and Bethlehem Steel—working there with Taylor until 1893. In his later career as a management consultant—following the invention of the Gantt chart—he also designed the 'task and bonus' system of wage payment and additional measurement methods worker efficiency and productivity.
In 1916, influenced by Thorsten Veblen he set up the New Machine, an association which sought to apply the criteria of industrial efficiency to the political process. With the MarxistWalter Polakov he led a breakaway from the 1916 ASME conference to discuss Gantt's call for socialising industrial under the control of managers and Polakov's analysis of inefficiency in the industrial context.
Henry Gantt is listed under Stevens Institute of Technology alumni.
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) awards an annual medal in honor of Henry Laurence Gantt.
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