Richard Muther (November 20, 1913 – October 15, 2014) was an American consulting engineer, faculty member at MIT, and author. He developed fundamental techniques used in plant layout, material handling, and other aspects of

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

. He was also known as "Mister Systematic"."Richard 'Dick' Muther 1913 - 2014; Obituary." ''The Kansas City Star'' October 2014

Biography

Muther was born 1913 in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

to Lorenz Francis Muther and Josephine (Ashleman) Muther. After attending the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, he obtained his B.S. and M.S. from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. In his early career Muther worked for the Methods Engineering Council in Pittsburgh, the consulting firm of

Harold Bright Maynard Harold Bright Maynard (Oct. 18, 1902 - Mar. 10, 1975) was an American industrial engineer, consulting engineer at the Methods Engineering Council, and management author. He is known as the "Broadway counsel for industries, railroads, state govern ...

. In 1956 he founded his own consulting firm, Richard Muther and Associates, and worked as consulting engineer for organizations, such as

Vendo The Vendo Company is a large manufacturer of cold beverage vending machines. Since its founding in 1937, Vendo has come out with many innovations that now exist in nearly every beverage and snack vending machine in use today. In 2005, Vendo moved ...

in Kansas City,

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

in the Netherlands,

John Deere Deere & Company, Trade name, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, Transmission (mechanical device), transmi ...

, and in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

for its Department of Energy. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Muther served in the US Navy as expediter and facilities planning officer. In 1944 he published his first book, entitled ''Production Line Technique,'' on

mass production Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines ...

methods, based on studies at over 75 industrial plants. Over the years Muther had taught at

, at the

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

, and at

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational, Education in Turkey#Private schools, private Second ...

in Turkey. He was visiting professor and instructor at the

University of Missouri–Kansas City The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC or Kansas City) is a Public university, public research university in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and has a UMKC School of Medicine, medic ...

, and in Europe at the

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

in Switzerland, and at the

Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest technical university. Since 2018, KTH consist ...

in Sweden. Muther received an honorary doctorate ScD(hc) from

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

in Sweden. He also was awarded the

Gilbreth Medal The Gilbreth Medal is named after Frank Bunker Gilbreth Sr.Barbara Sicherman, Carol Hurd Green. ''Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary.'' 1980. p. 273. and Lillian Gilbreth and is presented in recognition of excellen ...

(outstanding contributions to Industrial Engineering) in 1962;''Advanced Management Office Executive,'' Vol. 1, 1962. p. 52 the Materials Handling Award (SAM); the Engineering Citation Award (SME); the Honor Award (IMMS); the Reed-Apple Award (MHIA); and the Donald Francis Award (for outstanding contributions to international material handling.)

Contributions to engineering

Muther was the original developer of relationship chart (REL-CHART) and its companion space-relationship diagram. This tool is the basis for many other techniques which are used to optimize the proximity of related functions and minimize unnecessary transportation in industrial facilities. Muther also created the Mag Count method of measuring the difficulty of handling (transporting) any solid material prior to knowing how it will be moved. He developed the industry-standard color code used to classify industrial space and the related type-of-work symbols. Corresponding black-and-white hatch patterns based on the heraldic tincture code are also part of his methodology. He is considered the "Father of Systematic Planning".

Selected publications

* ''Production Line Technique.'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1944. * ''Practical Plant Layout.'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1955. * ''Systematic Layout Planning (SLP)''. 1st edition. 1961; 2nd edition. Boston: Cahners Books, 1974, ; Re-printed by Management & Industrial Research Publications, 1987, . * ''Systematic Handling Analysis (SHA)'' (Kansas City, Missouri: Management and Industrial research Publications, 1969). * ''Systematic Planning of Industrial Facilities (SPIF),'' 1979; 1980; 1999. * ''Planning By Design,'' 2010

References

External links

Richard Muther & Associates

RICHARD MUTHER '38, SM '41: Early Break Sparks Career in Production Management
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muther, Richard 1913 births 2014 deaths Industrial engineering American industrial engineers University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni MIT School of Engineering faculty People from Newton, Massachusetts American men centenarians