Frederick A. Halsey

He was the younger brother of Francis Whiting Halsey (1851–1919), who became a noted American journalist, editor and historian.

In 1902 he was representative of the National Association of Manufacturers and successfully opposed the metric system adoption in the United States.

[3] At the June, 1891, meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Halsey presented a paper entitled "The Premium Plan of Paying for Labor."

He presents as an objection to the piece-work plan an argument that may in many cases be a strong one in its favor, namely, that it requires a knowledge and record of the cost of each piece of a complicated machine, and oftentimes of each operation on each piece, thus limiting its application to products which are produced in considerable quantities...[5]And furthermore: ... With regard to profit-sharing, he objects that any system of profit distribution based on collective rather than individual efforts is unfair, that the remoteness of the reward is a disadvantage, that in bad business years there will be no distribution, and that the workmen have no check on the correctness of the employers' figures.

[5]This work contributed to the wider discussion among British and American engineers about the development of a costing system for factories.

[6] For the implementation of his "premium plan" for labor payment and production control, Halsey (1891) proposed the form of time ticket.

[7]Furthermore, Halsey explained that "when the ticket is returned, a comparison of the back with the front shows the premium earned.