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 is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...

. 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 approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

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

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

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

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. In his early career Muther worked for the Methods Engineering Council in Pittsburgh, the consulting firm of Harold Bright Maynard. In 1956 he founded his own consulting firm, Richard Muther and Associates, and worked as consulting engineer for organizations, such as

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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 5th largest in the Uni ...

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

in the Netherlands,

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, and in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

for its Department of Energy. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...

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

, at the

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD ci ...

, and at

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or ), often shortened to Robert, or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary ...

in Turkey. He was visiting professor and instructor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, and in Europe at the

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

in Switzerland, and at the

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

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

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion 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