For decades, the Tabel Montage Tijden Conform Gustav Ende (Assembly Time Table according to Gustav Ende) was a staple in German and Dutch industrial engineering handbooks. It was a pocket-sized bible for time study analysts, foremen, and production planners. Today, while largely replaced by digital work measurement systems, the logic, structure, and practical wisdom of the Gustav Ende tables remain surprisingly relevant.
Introduction: A Name Lost in the Shadow of Taylor and Ford In the world of lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and just-in-time production, few names from the pre-World War II era are still cited today. Frederick Winslow Taylor is the father of scientific management. Henry Ford perfected the moving assembly line. But between these two giants stands a lesser-known German engineer and consultant whose systematic approach to manual assembly time prediction laid the groundwork for modern MTM (Methods-Time Measurement). TABEL MONTAGE TIJDEN CONFORM GUSTAV ENDE
His name is .
In the Netherlands and Germany, many factories transitioned directly from Gustav Ende to or MTM-1 in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, these standards are embedded in software that interfaces with 3D CAD models and simulation (e.g., Siemens Process Simulate, Visual Components). For decades, the Tabel Montage Tijden Conform Gustav
| Motion | 10 cm | 25 cm | 50 cm | 100 cm | |--------|-------|-------|-------|--------| | Reach, simple | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.1 | | Move, light | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.4 | | Move, heavy (3 kg) | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.0 | | Align, easy | 1.2 | – | – | – | | Insert, loose | 1.5 | – | – | – | Introduction: A Name Lost in the Shadow of