Class _X^i521 fiook ]}A- CopyiightN? COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT Shop and Foundry Management BY STUART DEAN Superintendent Dean Bros. Steam Pump Works THE IRON AGE NEW YORK 1913 TS\55 3 a- Copyright, 1913, By DAVID WILLIAMS COMPANY 13-19^ $ SLS* >CU«5 4 L40 PREFACE FOR the most part this volume consists of articles written for The Iron Age, Mr. Dean's purpose being to present everyday shop and foundry methods that have resulted in lower cost and greater output. As superintendent of the Dean Brothers Steam Pump Works, Indianapolis, Ind., in the past thirteen years, the author has constantly aimed at four things: Reduction in cost of production; increase in plant ca- pacity through greater efficiency ; quick deliveries, and a perfect product. Mr. Dean, who is nephew of the proprietors, was put in charge of the Indianapolis plant thirteen years ago at the age of 25. The product is pumps ranging from 24 to 50,000 pounds, some of them designed by the author, who also designed and built a number of special machines to turn out the work. Among these is a 6-foot boring and milling machine having a 48-inch milling cut- ter head. Mr. Dean worked in every department of the Indianapolis plant. He had a common school and high school education. Working in the shop in vacations from an early age, before he was out of school he had learned the machinist's trade. At eighteen he quit school and went to work in the foundry, learning this trade. He was specially instructed in all branches of operation, with the idea of eventually taking charge. In setting out to record some of the results of his ex- perience Mr. Dean planned to set forth in compact form what may be called the economics of shop operation ; to indicate on what lines he had succeeded in increasing 4 PREFACE output in all departments and in reducing overhead ex- penses. The plant in which he has done his work em- ploys about 200 men and is of the right size to enable the man in charge to learn all the practical details. It is no theory, therefore, that he presents, and extended discus- sion has been avoided, the purpose being to point out how and where money can be saved and the efficiency of the whole productive machine increased. The Publisher TABLE OF CONTENTS The Successful Operation of an Industrial Plant. . . 9 The Seven Points of Success — Making a Fortune Duties of the Factory Superintendent 12 What the Superintendent Ought and Ought Not to Do; How He Keeps Track of Production; The Superintendent's Daily Routine; Systematizing for the Daily Investigations; Supplying Material and Tools to the Machine; Information to be Kept in Graphical Form; Department Watching The Selection and Treatment of Men 26 Qualities in Department Heads; Giving Free Rein to the Capable Men; Fitting the Man to the Work; Taking Men to Task for Mis- takes; Helping Employees in Trouble; Lifting the Esprit de Corps; Buying Work from the Workmen; Employer's Acts Having an Adverse Influence; A Quarterly Method of Sorting Employees; Training One's Own Skilled Help; The Employment of Boys; Shop Thieving; Increasing Wages with Time of Service; How the Wage Increase System Works Piecework and Premium Systems 38 When Piecework Is Not Advisable; Eliminating False Moves; Setting the Time on a Piece; Handling Work by the Specialist System Production System for a 200 Employee Plant 43 What Too Much System Did; Conditions Which Demand a Rout- ing System; System for Cost Keeping and Shop Routing; Bill of Material; Shop Material Routing Clerk; Casting Order; Machine Order; Foundry System; Taking Care of Patterns; Short Cuts Making an Accurate Delivery Promise 63 Determining the Accumulation of Work in the Department; Fig- uring the Time of Completing an Article; Providing a Date Sched- ule for Rush Orders; Utilizing Complaints from Customers 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Cost Keeping in a Factory 69 Checking Up Time Slips; Checking Hours and Wages; Separating Department Charges; Apportioning Time to Job Numbers; As- certaining Cost of Individual Parts; Ascertaining Cost of Complete Machine; Use Made of Cost-Per-Pound Records; Figuring Pro Rate or Overhead Expense Designing Patterns to Save Machining 89 When Not to Save Metal in the Product; Pattern Drafts; De- signing with an Eye to the Cores; One Pattern for a Number of Shapes; Allowance for Finish in Matching; Design Details to Save Machining Work; Designing to Save Time in Drilling; Designing to Save Lathe Time; Study Weaknesses; Some Fun- damentals in Design; Screw Threads; Clearance Around Nuts Economies in Foundry Mixing and Melting 103 Permutations of the Five Metalloids; Silicon; Manganese; Carbon; Phosphorus; Sulphur; Scrap Iron and Scrap Steel; Changes that Occur in the Cupola; Coke; Taking Samples for Analysis; Metal and Fuel Charges; Causes of Cold Iron; Hot Iron; General Directions; Analysis and Expert Advice Ways of Losing and Saving Castings 119 Gas Bubbles in Castings; Cold Iron; Internal Shrinkage and Sponginess; Gating and Pouring; Dirt in Castings Economies in Mold Making in the Foundry 127 Unit Output for Different Kinds of Molding; Scope of Different Molding Methods; The Squeezer Molding Machine; Economies with the Squeezer Molding Machine; The Case of the Jarring Machine; Working a Gang with the Jarring Machine; Wet Black- ing of Molds Arranging Patterns for Molding Machines 137 Procedure to Get Matching of Patterns; Follow-Boards for the Jarring Machine; Suggested Sizes of Flasks; The Question of Output; A Mixture for White Metal Patterns Making a Success of the Machine Shop. 147 Where to Look for Avoidable Losses; Savings in the Foundry; Elim- inating False Movements; A 24-pound Pump of 18 Pieces for $1; Manufacture for a Bottomless Selling Price; Spending Money for Equipment; When a New Machine is Warranted; Buy Equipment in Dull Times; Put Only Part of the Profits into Improvements; Equipment Which is a Constant Expense; The Value of a Night Shift TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 Getting the most Out of the Shop 159 What Working a Machine to Capacity Accomplished; Changes Possible in Overhead Charges; Ideal Conditions in the Machine Shop; Manufacturing Losses that Never Show; Determining Best Method of Operation Cutting the Cost of Power 169 Power Loss from Engine to Tool Point; Advantages of the Three- Phase Motor; Motor Costs and Efficiencies; Smoke Prevention Little Economies of Machine Operation 175 Automatic vs. Standard Machines; Fitting Allowances; Three Machine Shop Suggestions; Tool Holders; General Machine Speci- fications to be Laid Down; Tool Pressure The Capacity of Metal Working Machines 181 Tool Steel Tests; The Best Shape of Tool; Things the Superin- tendent Should Know; Accumulating Machine Data; Holding Machines to their Work; Superintendent vs. Machine Salesmen Selecting the Correct Machine for the Work 189 The Field of the Grinding Machine; Advantages of the Milling Machine; Different Styles of the Milling Machine; Cutter Heads; The Gang Drilling Machine; Limit Machine Production by Strength of Piece Worked The Machine Finishing of Cylinders 197 Boring the Cylinders; Using the Drilling Machine; Advantages of Different Machines; Tapping the Cylinders Buying, Selling and Advertising Maxims 203 Watching the Cost of Material in Stock Bins; Manufacturing Finished Machines, Not Finished Parts; The Selling Department; Questions for the Traveling Man; Routing the Traveling Men; Selling Just as Tangible as Manufacturing; Personality of the Sales- man; Points to Be Made in Advertising; Differences in Pamphlets and Catalogues ARTICLE I ACHIEVING INDUSTRIAL SUCCESS Seven Cardinal Points— Profit the Object of Every Business Enterprise — Management the Basis of Success — To-day's Opportunities Pre-eminent PEOPLE say of a successful man, "He is always lucky" or "He hit it just right." Luck is not the cause of success. Success is due to management and nothing else. One of the largest wagon makers in this country started business at a time when other wagon firms were failing. A wheel works, on the point of failing, was taken over by the bookkeeper and a foreman. The two men in time paid off all the debts, and made a large fortune and retired while still comparatively young. This was management — not luck. Rockefeller would have been successful no matter what business he might have chosen, because he had great managing ability. The Seven Points of Success To achieve success, seven factors must be kept in mind. Attention must be given to all of them. These factors are : 1. — Publicity. Keep your firm's name, its location and its product in every possible buyer's mind. 2. — Selling Price. Lower the selling price as business gets dull. Raise it as you get busy. To prevent selling too low fix the selling price at a point high enough to turn only one-quarter of your inquiries into orders. 10 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT 3. — Buying. Save all you can in buying, both in price and in quantity. Keep as small a stock of material on hand as possible. 4.— Employees and Assistants. Surround yourself only with capable men. 5.-— Design. Design the parts of your product so that the machine work and assembing will take the least possible time. Continue to change the design as long as improvement can be made. 6. — Low Manufacturing Cost. Never allow the time for making a piece to be greater than the shortest record time for this piece. If it takes longer, make the foremen explain why, and if there is a fault in the machine tool, jig, or material, correct the fault. This will bring pro- fits, 7. — Thorough Inspection. Know absolutely that every machine shipped is perfect. This will give you a reputation for fine machinery, which is the best and cheapest advertisement you can have. Inspection of parts will save expense in assembling, and that will re- duce your manufacturing costs. Making a Fortune The object of every enterprise is to make money — to make a fortune, if possible — for the owners. Luck plays a small part in its ultimate success or failure. Good management and the observance of all the seven points of success determine the final result. Years ago our forefathers moved from rugged New England, with its fields full of boulders, into States far- ther west, where the virgin soil raised immense crops and made many people rich. The generation following looked back and said, "What opportunities there were then!" Each succeeding generation still looks back on the preceding one, and says the same thing. ACHIEVING INDUSTRIAL SUCCESS H To-day we look back at the prices secured for our product 30 years ago, and say, "What an opportunity there was for making money then." At that time the price of manufactured machinery was 50 to 100 per cent, higher than it is now, for the same machinery. As a matter of fact, the opportunity for making money at the present day is greater than it ever was. A firm man- ufacturing a competitive article can make a comfortable fortune in from 10 to 20 years, if it can sell to the full capacity of the plant and get the full output of the machines, tools and assemblers. The way in which it is possible to secure these desired results will be explained at more length in the articles dealing with machine shop operation and management. ARTICLE II DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT How He Ought to Study Details of Department Operation — Graphical Production Records and Their Use to Secure Co-operation of Foremen FULL authority should center in a works manager or superintendent. He should be a member of the firm. Many a company has come to grief be- cause it did not have a practical man in the firm, but de- pended on hiring its practical knowledge. The superintendent's office should be located at the most prominent point in the works, so that he will be very accessible to every one. "The master's eye enrich- eth the soil." If he locates himself off in the main office many important matters about the works that he should be informed of will never be brought before him. The men will say to themselves: "I will tell 'Super' the next time he comes around," but by that time the whole matter is entirely forgotten. The superintendent's office should be of glass and should be considerably raised so that he can look over the whole shop at a glance. Papers on his desk cannot be seen by any one standing outside if his office is raised. What the Superintendent Ought and Ought Not to Do The shop-material routing clerk should be located with or near the superintendent. The superintendent's duty is to increase the output per man with no reduction in the quality of the product. This is the superintendent's most important duty. I am afraid that we think of him as a DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 13 busy man at his desk or out in the plant directing the work, asking how this is getting along, what is lacking here, etc.; pushing those jobs forward that the cus- tomers are in the greatest hurry for. This is what the office would like to have him do, and there is a tempta- tion for him to do it. When he does so, though, he is out of his place ; he has dropped to a mere routing clerk. To study output per man and quality of product is the superintendent's most important work. If he does not spend three-fourths of his time on this subject he is not earning his salary. The superintendent should be a faddist on cutting speeds and feeds and the number of cubic inches of metal removed per minute. He should keep in mind that at the point of the cutters and in the fixtures that cut down the idle moments between cutting operations lie the firm's profits. He should be everlastingly correcting the allowance of finish on the patterns, so that the rule can be followed of taking two cuts and only two, for any one operation. Taking two cuts where three were previously permitted will cut one-third off the machining time. He should be constantly studying the design of his companj'-'s product, changing it to eliminate labor in manufacturing. The brains of the concern should be kept on this work as much as possible. How He Keeps Track of Production A complete itemized set of reports, to be presented in these pages later, that give in detail the amount of work turned out by each department and by each class of men in each department, should be handed to the superin- tendent on the first of each quarter. These reports will enable him to catch immediately a dropping off of out- put per man in any department, and to correct the 14 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT trouble. From these reports he will know which are his best foremen — the ones to be shoved ahead. The superintendent should give all his orders in writ- ing, keeping a copy of each for follow-up. He can never assume that his orders will be carried out without being followed up, nor must he try to depend on his memory for his following-up system. A good system is for him to have a spike file on his desk on which he sticks copies of all hurry-up orders. The first thing each morning he goes over these orders with his assistant, who tells him which orders have been carried out and which not, and the reason why not. All notes that refer to orders that need not or cannot be attended to immediately he will file in one of three pigeon holes; one marked "First of Month," one marked "Fifteenth of Month," and one marked "First of the Quarter." Filing in these three places for future refer- ence is a better way than filing in a daily tickler, as the notes are brought up only on certain days far apart. The superintendent thus keeps clear of this clerical work on all other days. The Superintendent's Daily Routine The superintendent must keep in mind that all clerical work that he attends to is dead loss to his firm. He must look at it in the light of a necessary evil. A very good system that will save him time is to carry around a fold- ing partitioned pocket book with divisions in it that re- present the various factory divisions. Into these com- partments he drops the notes referring to work in these departments. Everything in the plant can then be at- tended to in one trip through the plant. A suggested daily routine would be as follows : 1. Take all the notes for the day from the tickler or spike file. DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 15 2. Assort them, placing those in the pigeon holes or tickler that are for the future, and those for the day in the folding pocket book, to be taken around the plant. 3. Pass over the order sheets to the shipping depart- ment for those machines that are to be shipped on the day. 4. Take the folding pocket book through all depart- ments. Rush up the work that is lagging back. 5. After this is done take up the desk work and the new original work. Systematizing for the Daily Investigations The superintendent's range of eyesight being limited to the small area of a few feet around him as he walks through the plant makes it necessary for him to depend on something more far-seeing than his eyesight to keep track of conditions in the plant. These department rec- ords give him this insight to all conditions. They are a continual watch over the whole plant. Each day the assistant superintendent should ask the machine foreman: 1. What troubles are you having from faulty foun- dry work, or bad material? 2. What fixtures and appliances do you need to carry on the work in a better way? 3. On what castings could the amount of finish be reduced? He should ask the assembling foreman : 1. What troubles are you having with the work from faulty workmanship or material? 2. What pattern changes or changes of design could be made to eliminate assembling ? 3. What parts are lacking to complete the erection of machines now being assembled? 16 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT The answers to these questions should be given to the superintendent each day in order that he may take the matter up with the proper parties. If this is done each dajr it will make a material difference in the profits at the end of the year. The assistant superintendent should keep copies of the record cost cards of all the parts of the popular-sized machines that the firm turns out. All new cost cards he will compare to the master cost cards. Any falling down will require an explanation from the foremen. Particu- lar cases he will report to the superintendent. Supplying Material and Tools to the Machine To turn out work with the least loss of time it is important to have a full week's work ahead at each ma- chine tool; otherwise, the rate of output will drop. It is impossible to handle the supply to the machines to such a nicety that one can get along with less. Crowd to- gether the machines which work on small pieces. Leave plenty of space around the machines which do large work. A number of large machines set around a space com- mon to them all will require less total area than if set apart, each with its own separate storage floor. There might be a card or order system at each ma- chine which will tell the workman what his next job is and what is the job that follows it. He will then be able to reduce the idle time of the machine between jobs. He can plan his work, get his drawings, tools, straps, bolts, etc. If there is a fixture or jig he can get this from the toolroom, and he can get the piece itself ready to put into the machine. If there is anything wrong with the tools or jigs there will be time to have them repaired. A good system is to have a row of hooks on a board at each machine and hang the orders on these hooks in the order that the jobs are to be done. The system can DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 17 be elaborated. The assistant machine foreman can pass from machine to machine and hang different colored tags over the orders, signifying whether the tools and fixtures are all in condition for the job, or whether they need grinding or repairing. A white tag hung on an order would mean that the casting or piece is at the machine and the tools are all ready to carry out the work. A red tag would mean that the casting is at the machine but that the tools for the job are in the tool- maker's department being ground or repaired. A blue tag would mean that the casting or piece is at the ma- chine, but the tools have not been inspected as yet to see that they are in fit condition to carry on the job. No tag hanging over the order slip would mean that the casting or piece has not yet arrived at the machine, al- though it is expected. If such a system is carried out the workman can take the very best advantage of his work. He will be able to use some of his loafing time -advantageously to the firm, and this will show at the end of the year in increased plant capacity and profits. Information to be Kept in Graphical Form The superintendent should use graphic diagrams for as many of his tables as he can. They present a picture of conditions in a most comprehensive manner where mere tabulated figures fail. These graphic tables should be in a loose-leaf book so that extensions can be made. In this book he should have the following, shown graph- ically. They should go back as far in the history of the firm as he can get the information : 1. Pounds Shipped. Pounds of finished machines shipped by the firm each quarter of a year. 2. Total Hours. Total hours put in by the workmen each quarter. 18 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT 3. Machine Hours. Machine department hours quar- terly. 4. Erecting Hours. Erecting department hours quarterly. 5. Pattern Hours. Pattern hours quarterly. 6. Foundry Hours. Total foundry hours quarterly. 7. Non-Productive Hours. All hours quarterly not taken care of in 3, 4, 5 and 6. Divide the number of pounds in the first table by the hours in each of tables Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The quo- tients give the number of pounds of finished machines that each man's labor helps to turn out per hour. Multi- plying this by the hours in the work day gives the pounds of finished machines manufactured for each man's day's labor. This gives the following graphic diagram tables : Tables of Labor Production 8. The Whole Plant. The number of pounds of fin- ished machines turned out by the plant daily, averaged per man. 9. Machine Man. The number of pounds of finished pieces each machine man turns out per day. 10. Erector. The number of pounds of finished ma- chines each erector turns out per day. 11. Pattern Maker. The number of pounds of fin- ished machines being made for each day's work of a pattern maker. 12. Foundryman. The number of pounds of finished machines manufactured for each day's labor in the foun- dry per man. 13. Other Help (N on-Productive) . The number of pounds of finished machines manufactured per man for each day's labor of help other than already enumerated. From tables Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13, especially from Nos. 9, 10 and 13, the superintendent can see ex- actly what improvement each foreman is making in his DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 19 department. The superintendent can commend the ones that have made progress and give a ginger talk to those whose showing is poor. The same system of tables can be worked out on the basis of the proportion of the wages to the output, thus : 14. Quarterly pay-roll. 15. Machinemen's pay-roll quarterly. 16. Erecting men's pay-roll quarterly. 17. Pattern pay-roll quarterly. 18. Foundry pay-roll quar- terly. 19. Quarterly pay-roll for the non-productive labor or all help not already covered. Tables of Labor Cost of Product Divide the pay-roll in each of the above groups of em- ployees (Nos. 9 to 19 inclusive) by the number of pounds of finished machines shipped, No. 1, and multi- ply by 100. The result gives the pay-roll-cost in each department for 100 pounds of finished machines shipped. It is better to take 100 pounds rather than 1 pound as a basis for the tables because it gives a larger figure for the result, and any small change from quarter to quarter will be more noticeable. This gives us the following tables : 20. Total plant labor cost for each 100 pounds of fin- ished machines. 21. Machine labor cost for each 100 pounds of fin- ished machines. 22. Erecting labor cost for each 100 pounds of fin- ished machines. 23. Pattern labor cost on each 100 pounds of finished machines. 24. Foundry labor cost for each 100 pounds of fin- ished machines. 25. Non-productive cost on each 100 pounds of fin- ished machines. Watch the hours in relation to the tonnage output rather than the wage relation to the tonnage. Thinking 2Q SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT too much about the wage side of the business will end in not giving men raises at the proper time and in losing the best men and keeping good-for-nothings. High priced men are by far the cheapest. In rare cases under- paid men will work for the interest of the firm, but gen- erally they more than get even by shirking. Decrease the hours and increase the tonnage and the wage cost will take care of itself. Tables of Foundry Operations The separate divisions of the foundry should be watched by tables based on monthly records instead of quarterly ones, as follows : 26. Total number of pounds of castings reported made by the foundry. 27. Number of pounds of castings thrown out by the machine shop due to bad foundry work. These are to be deducted from the castings in table No. 26 and give table No. 28. 28. Number of pounds of good castings made by the foundry. 29. Number of pounds of iron charged into the cupola. 30. Number of pounds of scrap from the foundry (sprues, risers and castings that turned out bad in the foundry). The figures had better be gotten by a pro- cess of elimination rather than by direct weighing. Take from the total scrap charged into the cupola the amount of scrap obtained from the machine shop plus the bought scrap. This gives the scrap that came from the foundry. 31. Number of pounds of castings the foundry should have reported as made, barring the loss of iron in the cupola, the dump and shot iron in the foundry and cleaning room, the figures being obtained by subtracting the figures of No. 30 from those of No. 29. DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 21 This cycle of foundry weight tables can be used as a check on the weighing and is valuable in keeping the weigh men accurate. If they know that you have a rough check on them they will be careful. The follow- ing men are checked: The man who weighs bought scrap iron; the man who weighs castings thrown back from the machine shop ; the men who weigh the castings made by the foundry, and the man who weighs the charges for the cupola. I know of a case where this system of checking discovered the crookedness of a foun- dry foreman who was sending in reports of weights of castings made by the foundry higher than the actual amount so as to make the casting cost appear low. Further subdivisions should be made as follows : 32. Total foundry hours. 33. Total molders' hours. 34. Hours foundry helping. 35. Hours casting cleaning. 36. Hours coreroom. 37. Hours of other foundry help (crane men, cupola men, foremen, etc. ) . Dividing the weight in table No. 28 by the number of hours in tables Nos. 32 to 37, inclusive, and multiplying by the number of hours in the working day gives, the number of pounds of castings worked on or helped on for each day for each man in any of the groups of men in the foundry. This gives the following tables : 38. The day's output of each molder. 39. The number of pounds of castings each foundry helper helps on each day. 40. The number of pounds of castings each casting cleaner cleans each day. 41. The number of pounds of castings a day each man in the coreroom makes cores for. In this table the core- 22 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT room helpers and foremen are not separated from the core makers as it would be a useless refinement. 42. The number of pounds of castings turned out per day per capita of all other help (cupola, crane and foun- dry foremen). The same system of tables can be worked out on the basis of wages, thus : 43. Total foundry pay-roll, including in this the pay- roll of No. 48. 44. Total molders' pay-roll. 45. Helpers' pay-roll. 46. Coreroom pay-roll. 47. Crane, cupola and foremen's pay-roll. 48. Pay-roll spent in other departments for doing foundry repair work. Dividing the pay-roll amounts in Nos. 43 to 48, in- clusive, by the weights of good castings turned out (No. 28) and multiplying by 100 gives the labor cost on 100 pounds of good castings made by each man each day in any one group of men. This gives the following: 49. Total labor cost on 100 pound castings. 50. Molding cost per 100 pound castings. 51. Helping cost per 100 pound castings. 52. Core cost per 100 pound castings. 53. Crane cupola and foremen labor cost per 100 pound castings. 54. Foundry repair labor cost for each 100 pounds of castings. These graphic tables are not so much work to take care of as would seem at a glance, for with the exception of the foundry they come up quarterly only. This infor- mation is laid on the superintendents desk by the book- keeping and cost-keeping departments in sheet form. Down the left-hand edge of each of these sheets are given the names of the items and the amounts are placed DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 23 in columns at the right. The sheets have spaces for each of the four quarters of the year, for the total year and for the previous year, the items being reduced to the quarterly rate, so that comparisons can readily be made. The superintendent should transcribe these items to his graphic- diagram loose-leaf book with his own hand. This will bring the various changes of conditions throughout the plant home to him in a much stronger way than if his assistant transcribed them. From these graphic reports the superintendent can catch the slip- ping backward of any department before it has gone too far. A foreman who is a genius will improve his record in the face of a change in the class of work that requires increased labor per pound of product. The graphic table line will continue to climb. It is a splendid idea to give each foreman a quarterly written statement of the number of pounds of finished work his department averages per work day per man. This acts as a spur to the foremen. The foremen take the keenest interest in these reports. To them the reports are a tangible statement which they can compare with their records of previous years. These reports keep re- minding them that any hours wasted will injure their record. A lazy man, a man who spoils work, or a slow man will not be tolerated, because such men increase hours without increasing the pounds output. The foremen will call the superintendent's attention to faults that hold the work back, such as ill-shaped cast- ings, requiring hand chipping ; too much finish allowance l>y the pattern shop, obliging the machine department to take three cuts where two would have been enough, or inaccurate work from preceding departments which consumes time in correction. I remember a machine foreman's remark when forced to throw away a casting 24 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT that had turned out bad after machining. "Look at my hours being thrown into the scrap box!" One foreman was so interested in his report that he always carried it around under his work cap. Department Watching Once every two years, or if he can see his way clear to do it once every year, the superintendent should spend a full month in each department. He should get there every day at whistle time in the morning and stay in the department until the close in the evening, criticising and making improvements. He should let everything else drop and take up one department at a time in this way. Of course the average superintendent will say: "Oh, this is absolutely impossible. I have my regular duties to perform each day." What are these regular duties? They are all mere clerical duties which he should not be doing at all. The superintendent should know how to use an as- sistant and should throw all simple work and statistical work upon him. This will leave the superintendent free to do original work and improvement work. The as- sistant must have an absolutely accurate mind. He must be fearless in pressing the work forward that the super- intendent wishes done. His next question will be, "What will become of the work in the other departments if I never go into them for a month?" He can take them up some following month and really do some good in them. The improve- ment that the superintendent makes in a department by walking through it a few times a day, superficially look- ing it over, is practically nothing. He can tell nothing about the detail way they run except by staying in the department all day, each day, for a month. The things DUTIES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 25 that he will straighten out by doing this will make an enormous profit at the end of the year. Remember the average machine shop only turns out 30 per cent, of its possible capacity. This leaves 70 per cent, to be worked on. I know a plant where the super- intendent's adopting this system increased the output per man and reduced expenses in all departments. In the foundry alone the cost of casting dropped from 3 cents to 2^4 cents per pound. This meant that he sacri- ficed his $2.50 per day clerical duties and his occasional walk through the different departments which were al- ways on dress parade during the time he was in the de- partment. ARTICLE III SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MEN Hints Looking to the Development of the Able and Contented Working Force Sorting the Men According to Ability — Shop Thieving SURROUND yourself with capable men. It means more profit to your firm than any other item of the business. There is every argument in favor of em- ploying only the best talent, and no argument against it. If you can get good enough men, you can afford to turn them out millionaires, as Marshall Field did his partners : he made millions doing it. Both Andrew Car- negie and John D. Rockefeller attribute their success to the fact that they surrounded themselves with very cap- able men. They have been preaching this to the Ameri- can business man ever since. Surround yourself with the same kind of men they did. Qualities in Department Heads Don't be satisfied with the department heads until you get men that manage their departments better than you could yourself. With capable men around you, the work will be done easily, will be turned out cheaper and better, and the output of the factory will be increased. It will give you time to take up the big problems that spell profits. It is team work that builds up an establish- ment ; you can't do all the work. It is better to have a fine foreman even if he stays with you only a few years and gives you the trouble of break- ing in a new one than to put up with a poor one just be- SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MEN 27 cause you know he will stick with you forever. No mat- ter what other quality a foreman lacks, he must not lack energy. A lazy foreman with brains will bring poorer results than a medium-brained foreman who has un- limited energy. The energetic man cannot put up with loafing or laziness ; he does not understand it. The lazy foreman, in spite of himself, cannot help sympathizing with laziness. He knows the disease. Giving Free Rein to the Capable Man When you do get the exceptional good department head, gain his perfect confidence. Give him full sway, it is the only way to get the most from him. If you can see your way clear, never turn down any of his proposals. Let him carry his ideas out even though some seem im- practicable. Giving a good man rope will stimulate him and bring great results. If you continually turn him down, he will give up proposing things. He will get out of the habit of scheming for better things. A very good thing may occur to him which he will not speak to you about because he is sure you will turn it down. Be sure to have understudies coming along for every responsible and semi-responsible position. You are then perfectly guarded. Your work will always go smoothly. Good workmen are not expensive when the value of their output is compared to the wages paid. The dollar paid in salary to the best man in the shop brings in a larger return to the firm than the dollar paid to the poor man. It is quite common to see the best man turn out double the output of the poor man, yet the best man will not receive double the wages that the poor man gets. There is about one good man in six. It certainly pays to worry through, trying the bad five, to get the sixth. 28 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT Fitting the Man to the Work Don't try to make a man over into something that he is incapable of being. A man cannot change himself, as far as his character goes, more than 10 per cent. Put on the physically and mentally fit man for each job. For very heavy work, where the output depends largely on the physical effort put forth by the workman, you must get a powerful man who has great endurance. The person with only average strength does not realize what powerful men there are in the world. They are by no means rare, either. Continue trying new men until you surround your- self with geniuses in the line of work you want them to do. Don't be afraid of greenness. Greenness is the least of the faults in a man ; it rapidly disappears. Taking Men to Task for Mistakes Never call down a man for breaking a machine, no matter how expensive the break may be, if it was done by forcing the work too hard. Better tell him that you are proud of him. He was showing the right spirit. Few men push the work to the limit. It is wrong to take the man to task who is really a rare article, a gem, be- cause he was overzealous. This, of course, does not apply to the heavy-handed, careless man who breaks his machine by dropping something into the gears, or throws on the wrong feed by mistake. Even this man, if he be a big producer, should be dealt lightly with. If he is an habitual blunderer, get rid of him ; he has an inaccu- rate mind. Never continue to scold a man after he gets mad. Walk away from him until he cools down. Many a good employee has been lost by not knowing when to walk awav SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MEN 29 After you give a man a raking down for something he has done, go back and brace him up with cheerful words. When you do this, he knows that your criticism was of his work, not of his ability. He knows that you are sat- isfied with him as a man ; the criticism was purely of the work. I have always found that more can be done by praise than by blame. Persuasive talk accomplishes much. Men who require a blowing up in order to keep them to the mark had better be dropped. Of course there is a difference in people; all cannot be handled alike. It is a good thing to give the foreman and sub-foreman a little talk, once in a while, such as "Let's all pitch in and pull together to make a fine showing. The selling de- partment claims to be beating the manufacturing de- partment." Make them feel that it is a game in which to win, each one must push the work to the utmost. Helping Employees in Trouble Alwa} r s help the workman when he is in trouble. When he gets hurt give him half pay. At such a time he needs the money desperately, and the outlay is but a slight item in the general expenses. If he asks your advice on a legal matter, or wants your advice about an investment, or a medical matter, give him all this advice you can. Close the plant half a day for the funeral of your old employees. Go to the funeral yourself. You must be a sort of father to the workmen. Try to eliminate the soulless corporation feeling. Lifting the Esprit de Corps Always hire young men. Never lay men off for old age. Change them over to watchmen, gate watchmen, sweepers and roustabouts on light work, at reduced pay. Use them for picking up odds and ends of material. 30 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT They make ideal men for these positions and earn their wage. The trouble with most firms is they hire old men for these positions, instead of taking their own old men. By getting rid of one or two men who are disturbing elements, the output of the whole shop can be increased. One or two men in a shop make a practice of telling the others that they wouldn't do this, and wouldn't do that —"don't be a horse," etc. These very men do not prac- tice what they preach at all, but do good day's work. Their fellow workmen are blind to this hypocrisy. Often foremen and workmen think they are turning out the maximum of work when they are not. Send the foremen to observe the work at other shops. Bring on machine demonstrators from the machine factories. They are sent free of expense, generally. Borrow a rapid workman from some other shop on a holiday. Let him put up a day's work. This will produce an enlight- ening effect. Buying Work from the Workman The amount of work a man should do must be looked at in this light: The employer is buying work from the workman. Like other commodities, work worth a dollar should be obtained for every dollar spent. If the em- ployer pays for 10 hours' work, he is entitled to the full 10 hours' work. This means the workman must start to work at whistle time — not begin to get ready to start then — and must not quit until the quitting whistle has blown. The sole and only object of manufacturing is to make money. This should be kept continually in mind. A very large output per man is essential to success. Every- thing else is dwarfed in comparison to this. The so- called humane person may say that this is a hard way to look at the subject of employing our fellow men. A firm that looks at the subject differently fails. Failure SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MEN 31 generally brings misery to all concerned, including stock- holders. Failure forces great hardship on the workmen for no fault of their own. Failure generally happens in hard times, when work cannot be easily found. Failure is bad for the old workmen. They may never be able to get good jobs again. They are changed from good, prosperous men, possibly with bank accounts, to men with all their life's saving gone. Prosperous firms are able to stand the strain of hard times, and their workmen share their prosperity. Employer's Acts Having an Adverse Influence Do not drive up to the plant in your $3000 automo- bile. The workmen will think it cost you $5000. They cannot help comparing the price of your automobile with the price of the home they have been trying to buy all their lives. Do not put in window flower boxes and do not take employees to baseball games. In other words, do not do anything that looks as though you were throwing away your money. I never yet have seen a case where it did not bring out the remark from the employees: "Well, they must be making lots of money. They ought to put that into our pay envelope." A Quarterly Method of Sorting Employees Every quarter get from each foreman a list of the men arranged according to their value or future value in a department. Tell the foreman that you want to know who, of all his men, he would hate the most to have quit. Then, who would be the next, etc., etc. Tell him not to place them in the list according to their wages, but ac- cording to their value. Ask him which men seem to be capable of rising more rapidly than the others. They are the ones that will be valuable to you in the long run. 32 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT Those who cannot rise, replace with green men. This system will surround you with producing geniuses. This once-a-quarter talk has a tendency to keep con- stantly before the foreman the fact that he has men of different calibers. It puts it clear in his mind so that he will get rid of his poor men and hang to his good men. Training One's Own Skilled Help Make your own mechanics. Weed out the poor ones. It is the only possible way to get the valuable men. You cannot hire them from other shops. The good workman rarely shifts from one shop to another, because his em- ployer, appreciating him, will not let him go. The me- chanics that you will teach will do the work your way. They will stay with you as they are not sure they could hold jobs outside. Hire bright laborers and teach them the trades. Take men, not boys, for the man who has had to struggle along at laborer's wages, supporting a family, will do the most good and be satisfied with his pay if you treat him fairly. The opportunities for laborers to become skilled mechanics are so few that your efforts will be ap- preciated. The laborer will be satisfied with a more moderate rate of wages than the shifting mechanic that you hire from the outside. At first your foremen will hate to be teachers, but soon they will get used to it and prefer it. It is best to have a backbone of speedy, accurate, all- around high-priced mechanics through your plant. This will be a skeleton framework around which the force is built. If the system of breaking in green men, instead of hiring outside skilled mechanics, is followed, a plant will never be troubled about scarcity of labor even when other shops in the locality cannot get men. It requires time and patience and a free hand at laying off the un- SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MEN 33 suitable ones. Only about one man in six will be found suitable to learn the trade, but the trouble of trying them pays many times over in a large output per man and a large output per dollar spent in pay roll, and this is the real object of the game. A contented family feeling springs up in a plant man- aged in this way, which is a fine thing. Labor troubles are eliminated. The paid agitator never poisons the minds of the men, because he is never hired under this system. The men appreciate what has been done for them and value their positions. The plant gets a good reputation among workmen and draws the best talent from the locality. The Employment of Boys Use boys where it is practicable. The best 35-cent per hour man cannot compete with a good 14-eent boy on plain work. To come out even, the man would have to turn out two and a half times the boy's output. Here is an actual comparison from the cost cards of cost of work when done by boys and by men. The job was ma- chining and drilling 100 cylinder heads by two men getting 21 and 24 cents per hour respectively and by two boys getting 7 1 /2 cents and 5 cents. It took the men 12 hours to get out 100; cost $2.74. It took 16 hours for the boys to get out 100; cost 97 cents. This card was made out a number of years ago. Both the men's wage rates and the bo} r s' rates were a good deal lower than they are to-day, but the ratio will run about the same. Only a small proportion of the bo} 7 s will stay with a firm longer than 4 years. They feel that they must make a try in the world outside the shop where they learned their trade. I have found that the proportion of boys that can be taught trades runs much higher than the proportion of men that can be taught ; that is, less weed- ing is necessary with boys than with men. The reason 34 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT for this is that there has been very little picking over of the boys, so that there is a good chance of getting a boy who will represent the average of the whole boy king- dom. The men who are out of work are likely to be the poor leavings that no one could use, so the chance of getting a genius is not so good as with the boys. Shop Thieving Thieving is generally done by recently employed men. One gets acquainted with his old employees; they be- come part of the family. The transient is the one who steals. Bar off and lock up the department of the plant where valuable material is kept. In order to stop thieving, the superintendent must be on such terms of familiarity with his men that they feel free to inform him of irregularities. This is his grape- vine telegraph through which he gets his inside informa- tion. The manager or superintendent has but two eyes. As he walks through the plant, his field of vision, as already stated, is limited to an area of a few square feet. This area is on dress parade. The things that go on when he is away are what he should know about. The good men need no watching. They are by far the great majority, otherwise our social system would not hold together. No system of checking or red tape will discover steal- ing. I remember a case in a factory in our town where stealing was going on. I happened to know, personally, a young man in this factory who told me the incident that led to discovering the stealing. One day the wife of one of the employees came into the office. It seems she had been having a row with her husband and he had left her. She said, "I don't think it is right the way my hus- band is stealing from you." This was the first they knew of any stealing. An examination of his barn disclosed an enormous mass of stolen material, small tools, etc., SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MEN 35 including a 3-hp. electric motor bought of outside par- ties to drive a small new lathe. This company had a wonderful system of checking, and yet the theft of the motor was not discovered by it. I know a case where a man continually stole the sweeper's broom. The broom was marked with the firm's name, and a large cross was painted on the straw part. Only a very shortsighted man could suppose that the broom would not be missed immediately. This man stole four or five brooms before he was caught. I also heard of a man in a big electric company just outside Pittsburgh that had a sack made in the lining of the back of his coat. He came in the morning a straight man, and went out round-shouldered, from a mass of sheet brass clippings under his coat. He tried to steal the in- tershop telephone. This is where his shortsightedness came in, and he was caught. Courts give light sentences to thieves, on account of the sympathy of the public, and thieving is profitable though the thief may serve a prison sentence occasion- ally. Thieving is a serious loss to both employers and employees, and requires constant watching. Thieves are very lacking mentally, and are easily caught by being led into a trap. For example, a number of pieces of brass can be left around where the thief will notice them and will steal them. If this is repeated, with some one watching the pieces, he is easily caught. After making sure of the thief dismiss him. The main point is to get the thief out of the plant. It is a duty to the honest workmen, as well as to the employer. Increasing Wages as Time of Service Increases Start the green men whom you expect to make into mechanics at the standard rate of laborer's wages paid in your locality. Make up a table of raises that will re- tain the men in your service. Give the men raises in 3,6 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT accordance with their length of service. Give the in- crease by half cents. Don't wait until it is time to give a man one cent, or two and a half cent raise. The little constant sugaring of the pay envelope keeps them en- couraged, and makes them realize that their work is ap- preciated. It may seem an unjust system to give raises according to time of service, and not according to the relative value of men, but it is not. If you get rid of poor learners, you are sure of a force of men somewhat even in their mental capacity, and other things being equal, the longer a man stays with you, the more valuable he be- comes. Besides this, it is a very satisfactory system for the man. He comes into your employ, we will say, a young man, just married, with low expenses. He and his wife are boarding possibly with her parents. His expenses gradually increase. A baby comes into the family. His wages are going up to keep pace with his increase in ex- penses. He rents a house ; more money is in the pay en- velope. He has more children ; again a raise. After he has been with you 6 or 8 years, the old folks come and live with him ; more expense. By that time, he is making good pay. See what a satisfactory life he is leading. He will continue to get raises as long as he stays. Now, instead of this, suppose you had jumped his wages to the full amount in three years' service. He would have jumped up his expenses. In other words, the fixed rate of raises fits the natural fixed rate of ex- penses incurred by a man as he goes through life. There is nothing an old employee hates so much as to see new- comers paid more money than he receives. The Wages Increase System in Its Working According to the above-mentioned table, a man's wages increase rapidly during his first year, less rapidly SELECTION AND HANDLING OF MEN 37 during his second year, and still less rapidly during the following years until he becomes an experienced work- man, when his rate is fixed in comparison to his standing with the other men. Those who are not satisfied with the table rate of increase, should be allowed to leave. The man who expects mechanic's full wages before he has learned the trade is not a desirable employee. A dis- satisfied workman is unprofitable, and creates dissatis- faction among his fellow workmen. On hiring the green man tell him just what his raises will be and when they will come. He will take more interest in the work knowing there is a great future for him. When it comes to giving a man a raise let the foreman notify the man. When it comes to the refusal of a raise asked for, let the superintendent notify the man. This will keep a good feeling between the foreman and his men. I do not mean by good feeling the catering of a foreman to his men. A foreman of that sort should be gotten rid of immediately, as the men will run him to death, and you probably will wind up with a strike in his department. Another good system of raising wages, which will ap- ply to a small department — say the coreroom of a foun- dry- — is to pay the best workman a rate higher than the standard for his trade. Pay the second best man the standard rate, the third man under the standard, the fourth still less than the third, etc. The newest learner will get a rate about 25 per cent, greater than laborer's wages. ARTICLE IV PIECE WORK AND BONUS SYSTEM Conditions Favorable and Unfavorable to Piece Work — What to Consider in Establishing Rates — Observations on the Physically Fit Man PIECE work or the premium system is applicable to any work that can be thoroughly inspected. It is not suited to the assembling of fine work, but is all right for the assembling of the rougher classes of ma- chinery where the designer has allowed ample leeway for poor workmanship, where the customer pays a low price, and where a perfect machine is not absolutely essential. The output per man in a plant changing from day work to piece or premium work will increase in the ratio of three to five. When Piece Work is Not Advisable Piece work or premium work can be used on the ma- chine operations of the automobile engine. All pieces can be gauged and inspected as they come from the ma- chines. Piece or premium work cannot be used without danger of a bad product on the assembling work, be- cause thorough inspection here is impossible. An as- sembler can screw a stud carefully into the hole that has been partially stripped and the job will pass the inspec- tion and the running test. . When the buyer tries to tight- en down the nut on this stud, on account of a leak, the thread will be stripped. An assembler discovering that he has not placed enough liners or shims between the connecting rod and PIECE WORK AND BONUS SYSTEM 39 the cap to prevent the pinching of the crank, may leave these bolts loose rather than waste his premium time in correcting the matter. The engine will pass all tests, but give trouble afterward. The ground bearing of the valve on its seat may be broad on one side and narrow on the other and still be tight and pass the test. This valve will not stay tight as long a time as one that has an even bearing all around. Inspection will not discover faults in assembling. The workman must be depended on to do good work. Eliminating False Moves To get the most out of piece work, both for the work- man and the firm — for the workman a higher total wage, and for the firm a lower piece rate — every false move, no matter how seemingly insignificant, must be absolutely eliminated. This can be done to some extent by the workman, but can be accomplished better by having an intelligent overseer stand by the man while at work and call the man's attention to each one of his false moves. A good way is to have the man count aloud the number of movements he makes. He will soon be interested in the possibility of reducing this number. The molder in the foundry making small molds, may be putting one too many shovelfuls of sand on his mold which afterward has to be struck off as superfluous. In striking off the mold he may make two moves where one long sweeping move would do the work. Setting the Time on a Piece When a man is able to do the task without making any false moves, time him. See that he is moving rapidly, that is, not holding back because you are timing him. From his time on one piece figure what his output would be for a day. The actual output will drop below this on account of small delays now and then. The allowance 40 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT will be different on different classes of work. On work requiring very little physical effort, the allowance will be small. On work taking great physical effort, this allowance should be as high as 40 per cent. That is, a man will have to rest 40 per cent, of the time on the heaviest work. His resting generally takes the form of working slowly in the afternoon when he is tired, and quitting work rather early. For instance, set the molding rates as follows on small molding after getting the true time of one mold when the molder is hurrying : 2% minute mold add 40 per cent. ; total time 8% minutes ; 5 minute mold add 40 per cent. ; total time 7 minutes ; 7% minute mold add 40 per cent; total time 10% minutes; 10 minute mold add 40 per cent. ; total time 14 minutes. On heavy piece work or premium tasks be sure to use a powerful man — a man physically fit for the work. There are men who never tire. The only effect enor- mous, continued physical effort has on them is to make them ravenously hungry. The energy expended is taken from the food the man eats and not from the man's tissue. He is burning food, not flesh. I remember asking a workman who was doing very heavy work all day if he felt tired at night. He was a muscular, short, thick set man. He said, "No, I feel just as fresh at night after I have eaten my supper as when I started in the morning." He was physically fit for the task and felt no injurious effect from overwork. Few realize what an enormous amount of work the phy- sically fit man can do. A fireman on a big locomotive puts 15 tons of coal through an 18-inch door upon the fire in a run of five or six hours. At the Lake Erie docks men are paid 18 cents per ton for cleaning up the ore in the hold of an ore boat after the automatic unloader has handled all PIECE WORK AND BONUS SYSTEM 41 that it can (80 per cent, of the cargo) . They have made as high as $12 per day of ten hours, which means 6.67 tons of ore were shoveled in one hour. On straight work, not cleaning up, they are paid 13 cents per ton. When eight men are in a hold shoveling into 1-ton buckets each man handles five or six tons of ore per hour. A rate of eight tons per hour has been reached. The daily wages run as high as $6.50 to $7.80 per day. These are instances of the ability of the physi- cally fit man for heavy work. When skilled mechanics, in any trade, are paid $3.25 for ten hours, the piece worker will earn $4 to $4.50 a day; the exceptional man will be able to make about $5. These figures are for work where the piece rate has been correctly set and a good speed kept up all day. Handling Work by the Specialist System Where work can be specialized by having a man do but one or two operations, costs can be greatly reduced. This system of specialization increases the output per man and improves the quality of the product because each specialist is an expert on his one particular part of the work. A product made exactly to the drawings will result because interchangeability is a necessity to the system. A firm can easily increase its force of skilled workmen, even when labor is scarce, for it is easy to break in green men who can be taught to do one or two operations only. Never make the mistake of putting a skilled mechanic on this simple work ; it will be distasteful to him, and he will not be successful at it. Automobile Engine Assembling 1st Gang — (Crank case) . Stud crank case and ream bearings for crank. 42 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT 2nd Gang — ( Connecting rods and crank) . Put in bab- bitt bearing and the bronze bush. Scrape bearing to fit crank. Number crank and connecting rods to keep them together. 3rd Gang — ( Cylinders, valves, manifold and exhaust headers). Grind in exhaust valves. Fit on manifolds and exhaust headers. 4th Gang — (Wrist pin and piston). Fit wrist pin into piston, but do not fit in piston rings. 5th Gang — (Crank case and crank). Receive crank case from 1st gang and crank from 2nd gang, and fit crank into crank case, scraping bearings. 6th Gang — ( Crank case and connecting rod) . Receive crank case from 5th gang, and connecting rods from 2nd gang, and put connecting rods onto crank. 7th Gang — Receive crank case, etc., and put on gears, but not the cam shafts. 8th Gang — Receive the cylinders from the 3rd gang and the pistons from the 4th gang and the crank case from the 7th gang, and fit the rings to the pistons. Fit the pistons and rings to the cylinders. Fit the wrist pin to the connecting rod and bolt the engine together. The engine is now complete except cam shaft, etc. From here on it is transported on small chain hoist trolleys. In some places, on small wagons. Before this point the parts were handled by hand. 9th Gang. — Put in cam shaft, etc. Time engine and set valves. From here it goes to the belt test and regular test. The same system is used on small parts, such as cam shafts, etc. Have a gang of all around mechanics to fill in when men are off and attend to troubles that are out of the ordinary. A part that requires excessive hand work, on account of bad machine work, is turned over to the all around mechanic, which prevents any stoppage in the natural flow of parts through the gangs. ARTICLE V RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS Methods Evolved to Minimize Clerical Work in an Establishment Having Foundry and Machine Shop Operations — Effect of Too Much System MONEY is made at the points of the cutting tools and not at the points of the lead pencils. There is nothing quite so sad as a factory that has a clerical force out of proportion to the manufactur- ing force. Each producer must work the harder to sup- port the parasite. Beware of too much red tape. Avoid safe-guarding systems carried too far into details. Over-intricate cost- keeping systems do not pay as well as approximate sys- tems. Many offices have shelves filled with time cards that cost hundreds of dollars, but which are not bringing in one cent's worth of returns. Putting this money into machine tools, or into efficient managers and high class workmen would be more profitable. Too much red tape will tie the hands of the foremen and the employees. Many firms have failed because an intricate system of safeguarding killed the freedom of action of the foremen. Different foremen arrive at success by using entirely different methods. It is native ability that makes the thing go, and any check on this is damaging. What Too Much System Did In a certain plant an intricate shop system and cost- keeping system had been installed. The cards were most 44 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT elaborate, and were printed in colors. All the foremen, even down to the straw bosses spent a large part of their time at improvised desks, shuffling time slips and writ- ing. At a large machine the writer timed the cutting speed. The machine was running at one-third of its cor- rect speed with a feed about one-half of what it should have been. The product of that machine, in fact, of the whole plant, was being turned out at one-sixth the cor- rect speed. At the toolroom a crowd of men was killing time, likewise at the drinking fountain, and the tool grinding emery wheel. The only department in the plant that was running at all well was the foundry. The foundry foreman was asked how it happened that he wasn't writing at a desk. He said, "When I took this job they handed me a book of instructions, explaining their systems. I took it home and studied it during all my spare time for two weeks and then gave it up as be- ing too complicated to be practical. I turned it over to my assistant, and he and a high school graduate we hired tend to all the writing for the whole foundry. All I do is to have the assistant give me a sheet of paper each evening telling me how many castings are wanted on each pattern. I chalk the number on the pattern. It takes me about five minutes each day and I am then free the rest of the day to push the work through." The concern afterward failed. It would have been better for it to have had no cost system, and to have set its selling prices at its competitors' prices and made the f ormen increase the output of the men until the firm be- gan to make money. The "golden mean" lies between the two extremes of too much system and not enough system. Conditions Which Demand a Routing System As a plant grows a time comes when the foremen will not be able to keep everything in their heads. A system RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 45 then will have to be installed for keeping track of every piece going through the plant. Lack of some of the parts for a machine being built is one of the greatest drawbacks to the assembling department. The machine cannot be completely assembled until the last piece is received and all hand work is finished on it. Workmen, of necessity, loaf on the job when all the parts are not ready for them. The routing of parts through the plant will have to be taken care of by some one who is given authority. It cannot be left to department foremen. The foremen's whole attention should be concentrated upon improving the methods and the workmanship and increasing the output per man of the shop. Previous to installing the following system in a plant employing 200 men, the foremen kept track of every- thing in their heads. They developed wonderful mem- ories. Finally the amount of work grew beyond the ca- pacity of their memories. Parts that were started through the works were lost. Duplicate parts were made. The finished stock room gradually filled up with special odds and ends that could not be used. Even- tually they were scrapped at great loss. Often the fail- ure to order a certain piece on a machine was not dis- covered until the machine was about erected. The smooth, regular flow of the work through the machines had to be stopped to push this piece through. In the meantime the erector loafed on the job until he received the lacking piece. Then the system described below was introduced : System for Cost Keeping and Shop Routing Two important points in this system are: (1) The shop part of the cost-keeping and the shop routing of material are in one system and in charge of one clerk. (2) The system is simple and requires but a small 46 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT amount of clerical work. The writing consists of the mere jotting down of a symbol, or the drawing of a line through a printed word, or putting a cross or other mark in a space. This allows the foremen and workmen to give their full time to production. The system keeps absolute track of every piece that is going through the shop, and never lets one piece lag behind the others. When an order for a machine is received, a number of acknowledgment sheets (Fig. 1) are typewritten in the office. One copy goes immediately to the customer as the acknowledgment of the order. A second copy is filed in the office to be used as the invoice to the customer when his machine is shipped. The office can always as- certain whether or not a customer's machine has been shipped by looking in this file. If the invoice sheet is there, the machine has not gone. If the sheet is not there, the machine has been shipped. A third copy of the acknowledgment goes to the drafting room ; a fourth copy to the material routing clerk ; the original sheet is sent to the superintendent. The departments receiving these sheets file them al- phabetically under the name of the customer. From this file the order can always be referred to if the custom- er's name is known. The office gives each order a con- secutive number, known as the order number, which is eventually stamped on the finished machine to identi- fy it. During the process of manufacture all orders for material, all machine orders, and the assembling order for this machine, are marked with this order number. Besides making out these acknowledgment sheets the office also makes out a set of sheets called the order sheets ( Fig. 2 ) . With these sheets is made out a card which is a facsimile of the order sheets and is called the erector's tag. Two order sheets go to the drafting RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 47 01 < Eh S 8 o H S H Ph m w CO 6 O Ph o o o o K Ph fe £ g P5 < H p P O ORKS Below 2 P3 Ph P t> t— i O O a H «f o o P-c Ph- P « o CO Ph 8 «! a EAM r Machi: i—( o 12! 1— I p CO £ o CO p l-H rt * >H 3 GO > H « Ph O g a Ph « CO 1? o * SI H f-H GO £ H Ph £ PQ m Eh ° Q S -, Ph o < o i a * O Ph § w § w O CO O GO 1? Sm <1 Eh XNawoaa^AiONXov P=H bD 48 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT room. The tag and one order sheet go to the material routing clerk, and the original lead pencil copy goes to the superintendent. These order sheets are filed either by the order num- ber or are kept in files that are sub-divided to represent the different departments of the plant. As the work proceeds the order is moved from one departmental division of the file to another. The sheet is always kept under the department that is holding the work back the most. For instance, it may be filed under drafting room if the need of a new drawing is holding the work o o WORKMAN - Pump Piston or Plunger- steam piston- rods -i. Packing CHARGE TIME TO ASSEM. JOB No.. PUMP CYL. STEAM CYL. VALVE MOV. DATE BEC'D , . DATE TO SHIP- —SHIPPED if it S3 ■So l D o ■II Z qZ ST1VII EXHAUST INLET INJ. OR SUCTION PUMP STEAM PUMP EXHAUST STYLE COMB NO OR OCR NO. Fig. 2— Order Sheet. Size, 8^x4^ In. on the order back, or it may be filed under the pattern shop if new patterns must be made. The orders thus filed save considerable traveling from one department to another. By taking the file of orders into a department, all the work can be rushed that the department is holding back. One trip a day, or even one trip every other day, is sufficient to cover everything. The order sheet gives complete information to any one familiar with the product of the firm. It has writ- ten on it: The date of the order; shipping date; the RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 49 name and address of the firm to receive the machine; the consecutive order number; the combination num- ber; the size and style of the machine; all the peculiar or particular notes necessary for getting out the ma- chine. Each machine as it is designed is given a design num- ber, which is called the combination number. This starts with No. 1 and continues indefinitely. Every time any change in design is made in a ma- chine, even if it be only a change on the smallest piece on the machine, a new combination number is given to the machine. For instance suppose that machine com- bination No. 15 should develop a certain weakness in some small part, say a little pin, and suppose the high- est or last combination number was 800. This machine after the pin was changed would be given combination number 801, and would be built under 801 combination number until another change in design was made, when it would take on another combination number This is a fine system as it simplifies getting out re- pairs. A certain man does not have to be kept in the employ of a firm because he happens to remember how all the old machines were built. Another great thing about the system is the management is perfectly free to make all the improvements and changes in the de- sign it pleases without in the least mixing anything or giving any further trouble. The set of drawings for each size of machine is num- bered with the combination number of the machine. Each drawing in the set is given a card number to sep- arate it from the other drawings in the set or combina- tion. Thus there would be for machine combination number 15, one set of drawings all marked "Combina- tion No. 15" with the card numbers, if there were ten drawings in the lot running from one through ten. 50 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT After the change of the pin on combination No. 15, this machine would be called combination No. 801. All the combination 15 drawings would be used with the exception of the pin drawing No. 801, Card 1. Bill of Material The drafting room makes out a master bill of ma- terial for each design or combination of a machine, which is a complete record of everything on the ma- chine. It gives a list, in columnar form, of each piece used on the machine. At the left of the name of each piece is given the combination number and card num- ber of the drawing on which the piece is shown. At the right of the name of the piece is given the number of these pieces used on the machine, and the material. Material is signified by initials to save space. Still fur- ther to the right is a blank space for checking marks. The bill of material is first made out by the drafting room in lead pencil on a large, specially ruled form, as shown in Fig. 3 (page 51) . This sheet is taken to the office where a typewritten, exact copy is made of it on a sheet of transparent pa- per, using carbon paper turned wrong side up under- neath. This prints typewriter ink on one side of the sheet and carbon on the other, the object being to make as opaque letters and numbers as possible, for blue- printing purposes. This typewritten sheet is sent back to drafting room and a Vandyke, or brown, copy of it is made in the same manner as blue printing. This brown print becomes the master copy. From this brown print a number of blue prints are made, the number depending on the popularity of that particular size machine. This print will have a white background and the rulings, numbers and wording will be in blue. The routing clerk can RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 51 . : ___ . _ i = - ■ PRODUCTION LIST X o III I o 1 -1 < i UJ 5 z < O w t- X < o u I < z oc ■< ID i o J X o UJ I o -1 < < 2 z < 3 a in H IX < o U I < z z < m 3 O j m m I CO 52 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT make check marks on it on the white background. All bills of material are of a standard size so that they can be filed easily. When the two duplicate order sheets are received by the drafting room one is filed for reference; the other is pasted on the bottom of the blue print bill of material and sent to the shop routing clerk. To the shop routing clerk this sheet becomes what the train dispatcher's board is to the train dispatcher. On it he keeps track of all material ordered outside of the factory, all the rough material from one department to another in the factory, all casting orders, and all the machine orders. He can tell by a glance at the bill of material whether a drawing is to be made for a piece, whether material is to be ordered, or has been ordered, whether a pattern is to be made, or a casting is to be made or is in stock in the rough, whether a piece is be- ing worked in the machine shop, or whether it is fin- ished and in stock ready for the erecting. Thus he has complete and accurate control of all parts, and can rush the lagging ones. Alterations made on the machine while building, all improper workmanship, flaws or any other notes are inserted on the bill of material. These are useful for future reference should trouble arise from these faults. The test record made out by the testing department is also pasted on this bill of material. After the machine has been shipped the bill of ma- terial goes to the office and becomes the basis on which the cost is figured for the machine. The bill of ma- terial is finally filed away as the complete record of the machine, and in after years is used to make out repair part orders for the machine, should any repairs be needed. RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 53 The Shop Material Routing Clerk As soon as the shop routing clerk receives a bill of material for a machine to be built, he sends it to the finished stores department. For each piece they find that they have in stock they stamp their check mark opposite the name of that piece. This is a "Finished Condition" mark. The bill of material is then sent to the rough stores department. The rough stores clerk stamps opposite the names of those parts that he has in the rough his "rough parts in stock" stamp. It then is sent back to the shop routing clerk. He looks over it and orders the material for those parts that are not checked, that is, that are still blank. As fast as he writes out the orders for material he makes opposite the name of the piece his own check mark in lead pencil. He uses a different mark for material ordered outside the shop than is used for that ordered in the shop. He looks down the numbers at the left of the names of the pieces, the numbers representing the drawings for the pieces. Any number higher than the last drawing made he checks with a mark that means drafting room. The object of having the rough stores clerk and fin- ished stores clerk use a stamp for their marks is to iden- tify their O. K.'s from the routing clerk's mark, should any dispute come up later because a certain piece failed to materialize as checked. By a glance at the bill of material the routing clerk can tell the condition of all the parts. His drafting room check means that a drawing is wanted. A blank space opposite a name means that the piece is not in existence, either in the rough or finished state, and must be ordered. A rough stores clerk check means that the 54 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT piece is in the rough and must be machined. A finished stores check opposite a piece means it is all complete ready for the erector. The Casting Order The casting order is a printed blank along the lines indicated in Fig. 4. The routing clerk completely fills in all spaces except the pattern number and weight, getting all information from the bill of material. The pattern number is put on by the pattern storage man, and the weight by the rough stores man, when he weighs the casting. Machine to be used on Size Style Shop No Comb. No. Make castings Material. It is shown on drawing No. Card No . , and is called the . . Pat. No Wt. Fig. 4 — Casting Order Blank The casting order takes a circular course. First, it is sent to the pattern storage man, who gets out the pattern, chalks the number of castings wanted on the pattern, and enters the pattern number on the casting order. The pattern is sent to the foundry, and the casting order goes to the rough stores clerk. This noti- fies the rough stores clerk to be on the lookout for these castings. As soon as the castings are all made the rough stores clerk weighs them, enters the weight on the casting order, and sends the casting order back to the material routing clerk. RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 55 The receiving of the casting order notifies the rout- ing clerk that the casting he needed is now in stock in the casting store room. All this has been done with a minimum of clerical work on the part of the routing clerk, and practically none on the part of the pattern storage man and the casting storage man. Machine Order The ordering of a piece to be machined is as follows: A machine order, Fig. 5, is written out in duplicate. The original order and the duplicate are given a consec- utive job number for cost-keeping purposes. At the ,lnn lln, Size . . . Production Ord 99840 WORK ORDER. p P.n» B. No . Drawing. No. r.Aon Nn Awn Aae' Wt. Fig. 5 — Machine Order. Original, 3x5}4 In. same time that the order and its duplicate are written a tag is made out called the job or instruction tag, which is a fac-simile of the machine order. The job number is written on this tag also. All job numbering is done with a numbering machine set to print in tripli- cate. The weight of the piece in the rough is placed on the duplicate machine order. The duplicate of the machine order is sent into the cost-keeping department. This is its notification that time will begin to come in to them on this job. 56 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT The machine order and tag are sent to the rough stores clerk. This is his notification to deliver the cast- ing or material to the machine shop. He ties the tag on the casting and delivers it to the machines. As soon as it is delivered he hands the machine order back to the routing clerk. This is the routing clerk's notification that the casting is now in the machine department, with the tag tied on it. When the routing clerk receives the machine order he checks the bill of material, not with a mark as be- fore, but with the job number that the piece is to be machined under. He copies this number from the ma- chine order upon the bill of material. After thus check- ing, he sends the machine order to the machine fore- man. This is the latter's notification that the material has been already delivered to him, properly tagged. The foreman knows that the tag contains all the in- formation necessary to enable the workman to finish the piece. The size, the style and the order number of the machine of which the piece is to become a part are stated on the tag ; moreover, the number of the drawing on which the piece is shown, and the job number to which the workman must charge his time is given on the tag. After the casting is machined it is sent to the as- sembling floor with the machine order. The assembler does the necessary handwork, charging his time to the job number. When the handwork is all done, and the piece is ready for the erector, the assembling foreman returns the machine order to the routing clerk, who is thus notified that the piece is finished and on the erect- ing floor. The routing clerk checks off the name of this piece from the bill of material by drawing a ver- tical line down through the name. The idea of using the vertical line is that when all the parts for the ma- RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 57 chine are finished the vertical line will be continuous from top of sheet to the bottom. Any break in it will be noticeable and will call attention to something miss- ing. The machine order is stamped "finished" by the rout- ing clerk, with the date, and is sent to the cost depart- ment. This is its notification that no more time will come in on this piece, and that the cost of the piece can now be computed. The ordering of the rough storage man to deliver the rough piece to the machines; the notifying of the routing clerk that it has been delivered ; the ordering of the machine shop to machine the piece; the giving the workman all necessary information about machining the piece, and also the job number under which he is to work; the notifying the cost department to expect time on the piece; the notifying the assembling department that the piece has arrived there to be assembled; the notifying the routing clerk that the piece is all finished ; the checking of the bill of material, and the notifying the cost department that piece is finished is all done with a minimum amount of clerical work on the part of the routing clerk, and none at all on the part of the rough storage man, the machine foreman, or assem- bling department foreman. As soon as the bill of material shows that the princi- pal parts are machined and on the erecting floor, and that all the other parts are in a sufficiently advanced state to avoid a possibility of holding the work back, an erecting order is written, which is given a job num- ber and is handled by the cost department in the same manner as if it were a single piece. This erecting job number is written on the bill of material and also on the erector's large descriptive tag that was received 58 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT from the office at the time the order came in. The erecting order and tag are sent to the erecting foreman. This is his notification to erect the machine, all parts being either finished or nearly finished. The workmen send their time for erecting to the cost department under the job number on the erecting tag. This tag is tied to the machine at the commencement of the erection and remains until the machine is shipped, and gives complete information to all concerned, even to the testers and shippers. The testing department makes out a detail test sheet for each machine, which is pasted upon the bill of ma- terial by the shop routing clerk. The list of fittings to be shipped with the machine is also pasted on the bill of material. The bill of material, stamped with the date of ship- ment, is finally sent to the cost department, and after the cost of the machine, as a whole, is figured, it is filed away to be the complete record of the machine. In the tool room is filed a master set of bills of ma- terial, which is an index to the drawing racks. One de- tail might be added: Before beginning erection the erecting foreman no- tifies the routing clerk to deliver the parts of the ma- chine to the erecting floor. The routing clerk then hands the bill of material to the finished stores man, who forwards the material indicated, the small parts being placed in an open box, chalk-marked with the order number of the machine. It is a good idea for each person connected with the shop routing of parts to use a system of crude picture marks, dots, dashes and circles to represent the different items on the bill of material; a sort of shorthand that will take up small space and can be quickly written. This will be used for quick memorandum only. Using RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 59 this system, a large number of notes can be put on a small sheet very rapidly. On each casting is cast a pattern number and this number is placed on the drawing, which identifies a pattern or casting, and is useful in the pattern storage room, casting storage room, machine shop, erecting room and finished stock room. For larger plants, the material routing system can be made more elaborate, but in doing so the principle of absolutely keeping clerical work from the foremen must be strictly adhered to. Foundry System The following is a system to take care of the work in a foundry: The bill of material is similar to that used in the sys- tem just described, but is more complete. In addition to the number of the drawing that shows the casting, it states the pattern number and the number of core boxes for the casting. The order for a casting is made out in triplicate. The same information is given as before, with the addition of the pattern number and the number of cores the cast- ing requires. The triplicate orders are sent to the pattern storage man who gets out the patterns and core boxes. They are sent to the foundry, with the triplicate casting or- ders. One order goes to the core maker with the core boxes. This notifies him of the number of cores to make. The other two orders go to the foundry foreman, or his as- sistant. He gives one, together with the pattern, to the molder, and on the other he enters the molder's number. At the end of the day he gives the order to the rough storage or casting storage man. This is the notification to the casting storage man to watch for these castings. 60 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT If the molder fails to make the full number of cast- ings called for on an order, or if there is a shortage on account of bad work, the casting storage man notifies the foundry foreman in writing, giving the molder 's number, and the name, etc., of the casting. This is a copy of the casting order, but is on different colored paper. Constant shortage from one molder shows strongly. These slips are kept as records of the mold- er's bad work. In the machine shop when work falls behind the ma- chine order slip is called in and replaced by a similar slip of bright red. On this slip is given the date on which the piece must be finished. The same change is made with the job tag — a red one is substituted for the white. The red tag must be used sparingly, otherwise it will lose its effect. Taking Care of Patterns If a plant is large and has many patterns to take care of, a good system is to number the tiers of pattern stor- age shelves and letter the shelves in a tier. Make out a book of pattern numbers. Enter opposite each num- ber the shelf number and letter. The patterns are stamped with their shelf number and letters. This sys- tem makes a firm completely independent of its pattern storage man. Any one can run the pattern storage de- partment without previous knowledge of the patterns or their location in the storage rooms. Short Cuts Number the requisition orders for material that the plant buys from outside firms thus: Start all January orders with a 1; February with a 2 ; March with a 3, etc. The first order in January will be 1-1; the second 1-2; the ninth will be 1-9; the tenth RESULTS OF PRODUCTION METHODS 61 will be 1-10; the ninety-ninth will be 1-99; the hun- dredth will be 1-100. In actual practice omit the dash. The above numbers will then be: No. 11 for the first; No. 12 for the second; No. 19 for the ninth; No. 110 for the tenth; No. 199 for the ninety-ninth, and No. 1100 for the hundredth. The advantage of this system is that the order num- ber tells the date as well as the number. An ingenious system of tabulating in a small space numbers that run in the thousands, such as the shop numbers of machines under construction, is to use a cross-ruled sheet, one page for each one hundred num- bers. The columns across the top are headed 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90. Down the left-hand edge they are numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Number 22678 would be in the square where number 70 vertical column crossed number 8 horizontal column on the page of numbers running from 22600 to 22699, thus : The next sheet above this would be 22700 to 22799. To record all the numbers from 22600 to 22699 in full, in the regular way, would take over three times the space, and about five times the time, with a greater chance of error than with this svstem. 62 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT The making of a record running into the thousands with this system is the mere jotting down of a cross or other check mark, in the correct square. These squares can be made large so that more than one kind of a rec- ord can be made in each by using different kinds of check marks. ARTICLE VI ACCURATE DELIVERY PROMISES How to Ascertain the Time to Manufacture an Article Involving Foundry and Machine Shop Operations — Use Made of Complaints THE superintendent can give an accurate delivery promise by making a time schedule of that cast- ing on a given job which takes the longest time to get through the plant. Other parts of the job need not be considered, if it is assumed that they will arrive at the assembling floor before this controlling casting gets there, and steps are taken to insure that they will. The time required by this casting is the shortest pos- sible time in which the complete job can be turned out. In busy times the superintendent should add to this time an amount representing the time that the casting under consideration has to wait to get into the various machines. To do this he must know how far behind the plant is in its work. If the total possible tonnage out- put of the plant per month is known and compared with the total tonnage of the orders on hand to be filled, the number of months, or the fraction of a month that the plant is behind is shown. This time, added to the shortest schedule time, will give the total time any given order will require in the shop. The material routing clerk sees that all the other parts are routed through the shop so that they arrive at the erecting floor ahead of the controlling piece. At the time the controlling piece arrives on the erecting floor an erecting order is written by the routing clerk. 64 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT He passes the bill of material to the finished stores de- partment, which checks all the material to see that no part is missing. If a part is missing the material rout- ing clerk is notified and he sees that the part is rushed to the erecting department so as not to delay the erect- ing. Determining the Accumulation of Work in Departments It is a good plan to mark the weight on each order. File the order sheet under the name of the department in the plant in which the commanding casting is. Thus one portion of the order sheets will be under the office, drafting room and pattern shop division of the file, an- other portion will be under the foundry, another under the machine shop and still another under the erecting division of the order file. It is well to divide the ma- chine shop portion of the file into two divisions one representing the first machines that the commanding casting goes to, and the other representing the later machines. Once a week the weights of all the orders in each division of the file are added up and a table is made giving the weight of orders in each department. Then by dividing the pounds of orders in each department by the average daily tonnage capacity of the plant, the number of days' work ahead in each department is shown. This indicates whether or not more men should be put to work in any department. Keep the correct number of men in each department. If a plant has more men than work, the output per man will drop and the cost rise. If the work accumulates, the customer will suffer. When the plant gets far behind in its orders it is a good idea at intervals — say once in two weeks — to make a list of all orders on hand, arranging them in ACCURATE DELIVERY PROMISES 65 the order of their shipping dates. Place the most ur- gent order at the top of the list, the next second, etc. Give copies of this list to each of the foremen and straw bosses. Such a system will insure shipments being made on the promised date, assuming, of course, that judgment is used in making up these dates. Of course, this list will be continually rearranged. Some orders will be inserted ahead of others. Where a special case comes up, even a new order may be inserted near the head of the list. Figuring the Time of Completing an Article The system may be made clearer by an example. Suppose, by observing the weights of pumps shipped during a stretch of time when the plant is pushed to the limit, the output is found to be 10,000 pounds per day. The weight of each pump ordered is placed on the order sheet. If the weight is unknown its estimated weight is placed on the sheet. These order sheets for pumps still to be built are filed, as mentioned elsewhere, in a file which is divided into the following department sec- tions : ( 1 ) office, drafting room and pattern shop ; ( 2 ) foundry; (3) boring lathes; (4) other machines than boring lathes, and (5) erecting. On the first and fifteenth of each month the weights on these order sheets are added up for each depart- ment. Suppose these weights are as follows: 48,000 pounds of pumps held up by office, drafting room and pattern shop; 25,000 pounds of pumps in the foundry; 100,000 pounds of pumps waiting to have the cylinders bored; 160,000 pounds of pumps the cylinders of which have been bored, but all of the controlling parts of which are not as yet on the erecting floor; 160,000 pounds of pumps in the erecting department- With qq SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT an output capacity of 10,000 pounds per day, the plant then has 4 4/5 days' work held up by office, drafting room and pattern shop, 2% days' work in the foundry, 10 days' work by the boring lathes, 16 days' work in other machines than boring lathes and 16 days' work for the erecting floor. From these figures it is a simple matter to tell how long a pump will be delayed in the plant by the orders that are ahead of it, if it takes its turn. Providing a Date Schedule for Rush Orders The time it will take to rush a single order through the plant ahead of everything, regardless of the other orders, is ascertained as follows: Each pump has some one part on it that takes longer to get through the plant than any of the other parts. This is the part that controls the shipping date. Suppose it to be a pump cylinder. A schedule is made out on this part thus: January 2- -Cores made. January 3- -Casting poured. January 4- -Casting cleaned. January 5- -Sunday. January 6- -Bore. January 7- -Mill. January 8- -Drill and tap for seats. January 9- -Clean and seat. January 10- -Erect. January 11- -Erect and test. January 12- -Sunday. January 13- -Ship. A copy of this schedule is given to each of the fore- men and one to the material routing clerk. This esti- mate of the time allowance for each step in the work in the schedule is obtained from each of the foremen, so that the schedule is the foreman's own estimate of the time it takes to get the controlling piece through his department. This being so, the foreman sees to it that the piece goes through on time. ACCURATE DELIVERY PROMISES 67 Utilizing Complaints from Customers Whenever a customer makes a complaint about a flaw or bad workmanship, give a copy of the letter to each of the foremen, testers, inspectors, etc., that are implicated. It will have a stimulating effect, and will put these men right in the game. An improved pro- duct and a reduction in the number of kicks will result. ARTICLE VII COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY A System Designed to Give Accurate Infor- mation with Special Effort to Minimize the Clerical Labor Required of Shop Employees EACH lot of pieces to be made is given a job num- ber. The workman gets the number from the job tag or instruction tag which is tied to one of the pieces of the lot. The foreman can get it from his machine order, and the cost department gets it from a carbon duplicate of the foreman's machine order. Each workman is provided with a pad of blank time tickets with the hour and quarter-hours of the day printed in a straight line across the bottom. He places a cross on the hour or quarter-hour mark on the ticket that represents the time at which he starts the job, and another cross on the hour or quarter-hour mark show- ing the time at which he finishes the job. He draws a connecting line between these two crosses. He also enters on the slip the job number, the total number of pieces in the lot (quantity) and his own clock number and the date. If he is a machine man, he also enters the number of his machine. He further checks off on time slip the operation that he performed, whether it be lathe, planing, milling or drilling work, if he is a machine hand, or tapping, scraping or studding if he is an assembler. This check- ing consists of drawing a line through the word. The system is simple to explain to the workman and simple 70 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT for him to follow, for there is no writing connected with it. The claim is sometimes made that the time would be more accurately taken by a clock, which automatically stamps the time of starting and finishing a job. The men should not leave their machines every time they start a new job. It must be remembered that cost-keep- ing is of secondary importance. The profits are made at the points of the tools, and it is of the utmost import- ance to keep the men at their machines. That output is the main object must never be lost sight of. A firm with an enormous output per man and no cost system is better off than one with a fine cost system and a low output per man. For each new job, the workman makes out a new time slip. At the end of the day the quitting time is marked even if the job is not done, and all the time slips for the day are sent to the cost department. The next morning the workman makes out a new time slip for the unfinished job, which will, of course, have the same job number as that of the day before. If the workman's starting time on one job does not exactly correspond to the finishing time of the previous job, the cost depart- ment will notify him, and the proper correction will be made. A different colored time slip is used for each depart- ment to enable the cost department to separate at sight the slips of the various departments from each other. On the time slips there is also printed, for special work, a list of those departments that are likely to have work done for them, such as office, machine shop, foundry, pattern shop, yard, power, etc. To reduce the size of the time slips the department names are abbreviated, and a number of instruction sheets are posted under glass throughout the plant, explaining these abbrevia- COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY 71 W » z III z I o < s i- < > * ^ i J5 to So iEg °l D! UJ° r m CD '"O S H °V «o zz °cn l-z go °S z° o L B c E 9 c S c a I s » £ = • * s s a c o . i , c 5 » e a •l s; E « < s n. i i . | > I i < s :5 ! ■ s if i° J « *2 : 1. - : s 1 » i a ■ ^ 3? g © T CLOCK Number o X * ^ Id Z x 1° oo 2 H |I It z < X © M m ea CD « ^ 09 W iff ^ Id z* t> V4 * ^ 2 » z o h o III B III O CM CO o z c _ o z I o 1- < a. h D C o z > < -J z a a o z o o < H CO LU H D OJ O z Q. < 1- (0 u P z < a > X ^ 1- 5 w 1 J* _£ o z a. < tr o CO o z Zi CO £ CO CO < S e T o X as C3 ^ ^ 50 z u z °2 x m ZO< — u IUI Ifl r.s 5 " ec e * a. a. 9 w i o z I CO -1 O a a z Q Z nr a o z o z 0. a I o o z z < III a: a z > X ^ 09 M * ^ o z o a co z < CO o z a a D _l 0. z F CO a z z < LU o z o < a. M or e * a. I t« *" * |« (JO H bll T Ph CO bf) N 72 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT tions. When a man does a repair job for one of these departments, instead of writing a job number, he draws a line through the name of the department for which the work is done. The cost department then charges his time against that department. In cost-keeping there must be a checking or proving that will detect any mistakes made either by the work- man or in the figuring of the costs. The following is the method of checking used by the shop with which the author is connected. Checking up Time Slips 1. All the time slips are assorted according to clock numbers (employees' numbers). 2. To detect the failure of any workman to send in his time slips, the clock numbers on the time slips are compared with a previously prepared list of clock num- bers representing the men who should send in their time on slips. As soon as a new man sends in time slips, his name is added to the list. 3. Each day a list of those employees who should have sent in time slips but who failed to do so is made out. From the list those who were absent are struck off. 4. This list is then sent into the factory, and the missing time slips are collected. Checking Hours and Wages 1. The hours and quarter-hours, as put down by the workman in the shape of two crosses connected by a line, are entered in a space for this purpose on the time slip. This entry represents the time that was taken to do the job. For simplicity, no time is figured for less than a quarter of an hour. The amount of wages for the time represented by the slip is entered on the slip. COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY 73 2. The total of each man's wages for the day, as shown by the time slips is compared with his wages for the day, as placed in the time book by the time-keeper. Two girls work together on this checking, one handling the slips and the other the time book. If the amounts correspond it shows that no mistake has been made by the workman, the cost-keeping de- partment, or the wage pay department. Thus: the workman has made out his time slips correctly; his jobs do not overlap or fall short of each other; the starting time on his new job is the same time as the finishing time on the previous one ; the cost-keeping girl has com- puted the graphically marked time of the workman correctly, and set it correctly down on the slips; the cost-keeping girl has calculated correctly the amount of pay due for the computed time and correctly entered it on the time slips. The time-keeper has correctly figured the man's time and wages and entered them correctly in the time book. If the amounts do not correspond the mistake is lo- cated and corrected. If it is the workmen's mistake the shop is notified, and the error is rectified. Separating Department Charges The time slips for each day are separated according to the following departments: Machine, assembling, erecting and non-productive. The non-productive slips are further separated into departments. The wages and hours are totaled in each of the classes and sub-classes of time slips. Specimen slips are shown in Figs. 6 to 9. A daily sheet is then made out on a printed form, Fig. 10. The above totals are all entered on this sheet, which gives the total number of hours for each depart- ment, and also the total wages for each department. It 74 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT further gives the total amount of money spent for ma- terial for each department, and all other expenses con- nected with that department. That is, any money spent during the day, no matter for what purpose, whether for pay-roll, material, insurance, taxes or work done by an outside firm, is placed on this sheet, charged to some department or to some division of the business. The items in these daily sheets added to- gether make the monthly sheets. From them is made out the yearly sheet. The principal object of this sheet is to show the pro- portion which the overhead, or non-productive, expense bears to the productive expense. This is the "pro- rate." Besides the pro-rate, this sheet gives the cost in each department, and thereby is useful to the manager or superintendent in keeping close watch of depart- ment costs. At intervals the amount of non-productive labor sent to the office will have to be looked into, as there is al- ways a temptation to send in non-productive time which could be charged to jobs. The writer knows of one case where the non-productive labor rose to 62 cents per hour, and was decreased to 42 cents per hour by carefully scrutinizing all non-productive time slips. After all the time slips have been separated accord- ing to departments, and non-productive hours and money have been entered on the daily sheet, the total number of hours are added together and compared with the total number of hours in the time book. These must correspond. This is the check to show that no person on the pay-roll has been missed, and that no labor cost that should have been charged to a depart- ment has been overlooked. COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY 75 1 c 8 I s s ! a c m < !|l ui > i- o => a o DC a. O l- ce o X DC UI a. ||| I | I i = 5g \- z u c u. ! 5 f "1 i z HI a cc D ED < a a < i H Z o s i 1- E o a. UI EC > -i i i- z o s t£ o i •1 3 i II i \ w 3 1 o 5 ; h | Ol i p s u 1- « ii 1 1 1 [ s Q cc a Q. UI - < a i 76 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT Apportioning Time to Job Numbers All the time slips are filed according to job numbers. The girl while doing this sees that the number of pieces worked on, as marked on the time slip, is the same as the duplicate machine order that was received on the job when it was started. When there is a difference, the time slips are sent to the shop for correction. This acts as a check. Sometimes workmen put down the wrong job number and the discrepancy in quantity will disclose the mistake. These time slips remain filed until the notification comes in that the job is finished. Ascertaining the Cost of Individual Parts The cost of an individual part of a machine is called the fiat cost of the piece, and the cost card is known as the flat cost card. Each one of these cards has space on it for entering the itemized time and cost of the piece four times, which gives a chance for comparison. A new flat cost card for a certain piece is never made out until the last one is completely filled. These flat cost cards are filed in boxes in the order of their combination numbers. The name of the piece, the combination number, and the drawing card number are written at the left-hand edge so that the cards can be rapidly handled. These items are copied from the ma- chine order duplicate that has been filed with the shop- workman's time slips. The combination number is the design number of one size of a pump as a whole, as it was built, and dif- ferentiates the size, style and design of the pump down to the smallest detail from all other designs, sizes and styles. Combination No. 1900, for instance, by re- ferring to the master production list or bill of material, shows exactly what parts were used on the pump. No COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY 77 pump with combination No. 1900 will be built any dif- ferently. If a slight change in the shape of any of the parts should be made on this combination a new com- bination number would be given. The material may be changed in certain parts without a change in the combination number. Rubber valves may be changed for brass or a brass piston rod may be changed to steel. Or even a brass cylinder may be placed in the pump instead of cast iron, provided exactly the same design and pattern is used. Changing the material, however, without changing the combination number is allowed only on a few certain parts that are always specified by the customer in his original order. When a piece, or a lot of one kind of pieces, is completely finished in the shop, the shop sends in the original machine order to the cost depart- ment stamped "Finished." When the cost clerk re- ceives this original machine order stamped "Finished" he takes all the shop-workman's time slips, which have the same job number as the machine order, to his desk. These shop-workman's time slips have been gathered up daily from the workmen and have been accumulat- ing in the cost department files while the job was in progress. The clerk then takes to his desk the flat cost card, Fig. 11, having the same combination number, card number and name of piece on it as the machine order which was marked "Finished." If no such card be found in the files, or if the card be full, a new card is started. The information on the shop-workman's time slips and the machine order are now entered on this flat cost card. The date, the quantity worked on and the job number are placed at the top of the card. The ma- terial of which the piece is made and the cost rate at which the material is figured are placed next. This last 78 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT is done so that if material rates change in the future, the cards can still be used by making the correction. Next is entered the weight of the piece. All these items are copied from the machine order. The weight entered is the rough weight before any work has been done on the piece. No credit is given for stock removed. When the piece is made from bar stock, the dimensions of the stock are entered on the machine order instead of the weight. The cost depart- ment has tables for transposing these dimensions to weights. The sequence of operations then is: 1. Separate from the others all the shop- workman's time slips that have notes on them referring to bad workmanship or flaws in material. A special note is made of this extra time and extra expense, not on the flat cost card, but on the final cost of the machine as a whole, because it is assumed that this particular extra expense will not happen again. What is wanted on the flat cost is the true cost of the piece as it would have been had the work gone smoothly. This extra time and expense must not be thrown away, and therefore it is charged to the finished machine as a whole. 2. Separate from the others all the shop -workman's time slips that have special notes on them referring to the number of pieces thrown out as bad. These notes are put on the flat cost card of the piece in red ink. 3. Separate the shop-workman's machine time slips from the erecting and assembling slips. They are of different colors. 4. Separate the machine time slips so that all the slips of one man are together. 5. On the flat cost card, in the proper column, lathe, planer, shaper, etc., enter the number of the man's ma- COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY 79 X m e ' X ■ »- < M a tA ac X X QC X ui ac X X ui ac X ui 01 ac X X X u z ■i >■ X X o X X iZ ►- QC < <55 a -1 - oc X QC X OC X ui ac X X X M m _1 ac X u X > X H K O S X C »- m < o ui QC X ui a X t/i X ui ac X ae X CK X u> CD -1 ac X X X u z X B O s X iZ QC CO CO QC X 0? ac X u> ae X ce X ac X ac X CD -1 X X X o z 6 OC < u CD X o w ui u £ o d Z QC CO z 3 Z m o -J ui < < < ac < Q8 x SJ _l X !*§ o o X 3 b z J -> u X O V) < QC CO X o 0. z « o CQ QC a. < X oc z «r (9 X £ QC a a a oe ui O 00 o t- z X u < < o t- -j m < < o 1- u» O O < ill lit X o X o => O CK 3NQ r- O u F- 5 u. ZIS us X J I/ 1 3 u fe gO SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT chine, the hours he spent on the lot of pieces, and also the wage cost on the lot. 6. Assort the handwork, or assembling slips accord- ing to the different hand operations, such as laying out, filing, tapping, studding, polishing, chipping, scrap- ing, cleaning, piping, keying, testing, etc. Enter the number of hours spent and the wage cost for each of the above hand operations in the proper place on the flat cost card. 7- Total the machine hours and wages on the flat cost card and enter the amounts in their proper places at the bottom. Do the same with the assembling time. Add the total machine time to the total assembling time, and divide by the number of pieces in the lot. This is entered in the place marked "Hours on each piece." The same operation is performed with the wage costs. Finally this cost card is filed in the flat cost card file according to its combination number and card number. All erecting time on a machine as a whole is charged to the erecting job number of the machine. An erect- ing cost card is made out in the same way as the flat cost card for a piece. The flat cost per pound should be placed on each flat cost card. Long time taken on a piece, wrong time sent in on a piece, mistakes in figuring the costs of labor and material then will be easily discovered. The design or the method of manufacture will be changed on all pieces that show a cost over a certain rate per pound. A marked reduction in the cost of the product can be made if the above is carried out. Ascertaining the Cost of a Complete Machine When the machine is finished, the bill of material is sent to the cost department marked "Finished." The cost department gets from the drafting room an exact COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY 81 duplicate sheet of this bill of material and the following routine ensues: 1. The cost department pastes at the right-hand edge of the blank bill of material a large ruled and printed form (Fig. 12) made especially for the purpose of cost figuring. 2. All notes that the shop has made on the original bill of material are transferred to the blank bill of ma- terial. Next, all the machine job numbers are trans- ferred from the shop bill of material to the blank list. Then all the items mentioned as being sent on the fit- ting list are entered. 3. All the flat cost cards are taken out of the files pertaining to this bill of material. Only those are used that have the same job number as the job number given on the bill of material. Where no job number is given it shows that the shop got the piece from finished stock. In this case the latest cost on the piece is used. Next, all weight items from the flat cost cards for each piece and also hours' labor for each piece are en- tered. The columns are then added and the totals are entered. The adding machine is used on the long addi- tions to save expense and to insure accuracy. The final condensed cost of the completely finished machine is put on a card about 4x6 inches. On it are the following items: Size and style of machine and order number. Machine labor value. Assembling labor on parts, value. Erecting labor. Machine hours. Assembling hours. Erecting hours. Total productive labor hours. The total productive labor hours are multiplied by the pro rate per hour, which gives the overhead ex- gg SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT pense that the machine has to carry. This value is en- tered on the card. The following items also appear: Value of purchased material. Value of rough material. Weight of cast-iron castings. Rate figured at cents. Weight of brass castings. Rate figured at cents. These items are put on so that if the rate changes the corrected cost can be figured. Weight of other material. Rate figured at cents. Painting and skidding. Freight. Weight of finished machine. The hours of erecting can be sub-divided if the firm builds a machine that sometimes has extras, that at other times are omitted. The erecting of these extras can be kept separate and entered as separate items on the card. On the back of the card are written details that tell how the machine is built. These main items are copied direct from the totals at the bottom of the large bill of material cost sheet, Fig. 12, excepting the erecting time and value. This is taken from the erecting flat cost card. The pro rate is figured from the yearly cost sheet, as previously men- tioned. All special notes are added to the cost card, such as time and value of extra machine work that had to be done after the parts were considered finished; testing and cleaning, second erection, second testing, pattern time and pattern labor cost. Where a machine is made by changing the pattern of some other machine, the cost of alteration should be added to the cost of the machine, as the customer should pay the expense of pattern changes. COST KEEPING IN A FACTORY 83 — 1— O COST SHEET O OF ONE COMPLETE APPARATUS ►-J s°« jjjjjz III SS2 < 2 S \ S|3 1 *! 1 D'^S \ US IC * . ftp © p l-H ■p Pi 03 O *» H >o o t- i-i ' i* o .c si 10 o 1- > c E 4- DC H if « m w c a i § CD +3 CO N W 10 r- > c +3 4= ft "C ej c K 1= L E 5 cr u CO 1 (-* r4 O ft, c o •p i CO CM in 8 c -H K t c 5 o a Ph CO * I CM CO 8 PC t. p V ft Si Ph a 'C +- i <\ IT c o 43 CI * £ e a 43 cr i- c M CO CO ~-H rH CO (H in « c pi cc > u c N CO K *f o © <3 t> lO o CO CM PC p 4- cr T C PC a «■ B > •0 c c pc V £ V cp 4- 1 \ PC J V < c PC p c 4J Pl- CC c CO CM 6 pq vi i-i B CO •a o PC c o 43 »■ Ph e a! CO 4^ CO CO to p C! e i- £ V to CO 4= g B n- cr to t^ t ■P p c r cr £ C IS c\ 1 1 cr ir r- •C P 4= cr f IS c to CM 4J c PC 1 C a ■ci cr • 4' • 4' • 4* Fig. 21 — Suggested Table for Pattern Pin Distances It makes no difference where H comes on the line DE. It can come at C if necessary. In practice FG is gen- erally located on the line AB. The pin holes then come on the line AB. Placing Pins in Patterns The procedure in placing pins in split patterns is as follows : 1. Place the pins in the cope pattern a distance apart equal to the distance from F to G on follow board. That is the distance between pins in the cope pattern must be such that they match the pin holes in the follow board. 2. Pin holes in the drag pat- tern must match pins in the cope pattern and the drag pat- tern must match the cope pattern. Note: It makes no difference where these pins and pin holes in the pattern come in relation to the pattern. L F H 9 i Fig. 22 — Locating Pins in Follow Board PATTERNS FOR MOLDING MACHINES 141 That is they can be out of parallel with center line of pattern. They can be nearer one end of the pattern than the other. 3. Exchange pin holes in the drag for pins. The procedure in the case of half patterns is as fol- lows: 1. The distance between pins in the pattern must match the distance between pin holes F and G in the board. 2. A line through these pins IO in Fig. 23 must be parallel with the center line NJ. 3. The distance from I to the cross center line LKM (that is IK) must be exactly the same as OK. Note : It makes n M u Fig. 23 — Diagram for Locating Pins in Pattern no difference where K comes on the line LM. It can come at the point where NJ crosses LM, if neces- sary. All the dimensions of the pins for the patterns and the pin holes for the follow boards are made to exact size. The flange around the bottom of the pin is perfectly true with the pin. The pin hole is exactly central in its piece of brass. The process in detail of putting the pins into the pat- terns is as follows : Tram points are set accurately to a steel rule. The distance is marked on the drag pattern from the center K out to the correct location of pattern pins I and O. Circles are described at I and O the exact size of the pattern pin plates. With a very sharp tool the pattern is routed out inside these circles the exact diameter of the flanges on the pattern pins. Before plac- 142 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT ing the pins into these routed depressions, special tool steel disks are inserted having sharp raised edges on them that will describe a circle the exact diameter of the outside of the flanges of the pattern pins. The sharp edges stand above the surface of the drag pattern 1/16 to % inch. The cope half of the pattern is now laid on and the edges carefully matched. When it is perfectly set it is hit with a rubber maul. This jams the patterns together and the tool steel disks describe circles on the cope pattern, locating exactly the pins that go into this half. The foreman patternmaker keeps a couple of hard- wood blocks, each block having a hole drilled through it the exact size of the pattern pin. He drops these blocks over the drag pattern pins and places the cope pattern upon the drag pattern. The cope pins enter the holes in the blocks. The blocks locate the pins of the cope pat- tern opposite the pins on the drag pattern and hold them slightly apart from each other. When this is done he sights around the edges of the patterns and sees that there is no shift. A pattern can be rammed on the jarring machine by fitting pins into the old pin holes if they be spaced cor- rectly to match the follow board, holding the pins in place by wood screws running lengthwise through them into the wood at the bottom of the holes. In this way a pattern can be either hand or jar rammed. When follow boards become worn where the flask rests, lay strips of old leather belts on the worn places. This will raise the flask enough to insure the mold joint being sand to sand and not flask to flask and prevent runouts. Suggested Sizes of Flasks In order to make a small equipment of flasks cover a wide range of work, plan their sizes and shapes accord- PATTERNS FOR MOLDING MACHINES 143 ing to a system. Three shapes will probably cover all your needs : a flask nearly square, one a little less than twice as long as it is broad, and one more than twice as long as it is broad. Adopt a system of spans for pins and make the flasks to suit them — something like this : c- c Distance fl Sl f ° f between flask, in. pins, in. . e Distance a Sl f -Jl £ a '•+3 cj u r~ — ■ « 1 a o 03 m a) .a -a <3 Ol 0) H '3 0> M la .SB i< C3 1 1 Chuck i^ 14 2 Rough turn j [a K 0.111 8 3 3 Rough face \ simultaneous cuts b H 0.111 8 iy 2 Rough face J [ c 3^ 0.111 8 iy 2 3 Finish turn 1 1 A 0.005 0.333 8 iy 2 iy 2 Finish face > simultaneous cuts . . 1 B 0.005 0.333 8 % Finish face J 1 c 0.005 0.333 8 H Rough bore 1 . ,, _, , -, } simultaneous cuts Round edges J f D 5/16 0.111 45 8 2 % 2 fi Truing cut D 1/64 0.056 53 1 1 fi Ream D 0.005 0.216 30.7 H w 7 Remove 14 Vo ?, 1 Chuck M 14 2 Rough face ) . ., t, , » } simultaneous cuts . . Rough face J {; H 0.111 0.111 8 8 iy 2 i 1H 3 Finish face F 1/64 0.333 8 14 14 4 F 1/64 0.333 8 14 14 5 Round edges H M 6 Remove y 2 14 Total time (individual operations) Actual time 13 These instruction sheets should be pasted on the draw- ings. They give, in the minutest detail, not only each step in each operation, but the jigs, tools and fixtures, speeds, feeds and depths of cut, the time required for and the sequence of operations. The jigs and tools will be numbered and referred to by number. 168 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT Many jigs are made at great expense and never used a second time because they are forgotten. This is espe- cially true where the jig is made to save time on some minor operation. The system of having a complete in- struction card on each drawing will eliminate this waste- ful condition. Pasting the instructions on the drawing will allow changes to be made in this sheet without mak- ing a new drawing each time. This system will allow the chief of the producing end to be a hustler rather than a fine mechanic or engineer. ARTICLE XV CUTTING THE COST OF POWER Economies Effected by the Judicious Selec- tion and Use of Electric Motors or Other Equipment — Hints on the Prevention of Smoke DRIVE all small tools requiring less than 5 hp. by belts from a line shaft. Drive all tools requiring 5 hp. or more by individual motors. Never use the group system of electric drive except in an isolated department where the group motor can be shut down half the time. For instance, the pattern shop, where the men are doing handwork most of the time and all the machines are idle a great part of the time is a good place for the group drive. More power is wasted and lost in driving a machine by electricity than by belts and shafting direct from the engine. This is true during the time the machine is run- ning. When it is shut down the reverse is true, as then a great amount of power is being wasted by the shaft- drive system. To get any benefit from electric drive, the machines must be shut down a portion of the time. An individual motor-driven machine that runs continu- ously will have a greater power loss than that same ma- chine driven direct from the engine through belts and shafting. Power Loss from Engine to Tool Point Fifteen per cent, of the energy is lost in a generator running under half load. A generator that is receiving 100 hp. from the engine will deliver but 85 hp. to the 170 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT switchboard. Five per cent, of the energy is lost in transmitting the electricity through the lead wires in a plant, so that of the 85 hp. at the switchboard, but 80% hp. is available at the motors. If the motors are running on one-third load, which is generally the case, the power loss, changing from elec- trical power to mechanical power, in the motors will be about 17% P er cent. The 80% hp. at the motors will drop to, roughly, 66^0 hp. mechanical power at the mo- tor pulley or gear, a net loss of 33 1/3 per cent, from en- gine to motor armature. The loss in each pair of gears and journals will aver- age 7 to 10 per cent. The friction in well-cut gears will absorb about 3 or 4 per cent. Adding the friction in the bearings or journals the friction in the machine will be about 7 to 8 per cent, on the average. As the gears wear the power loss increases. Thus 66 2/3 hp. at the driving pulley of old machines, will, when transmitted through five pairs of gears in each machine tool, shrink to about 33 hp. at the tool points. When driving electrically therefore over two-thirds of the power is lost before it gets to the tool points. The only thing that saves the electric drive is the fact that power waste completely stops when the motors are shut down. The loss when driving tools by shafting and belts will run about 50 per cent, in the average case. About 5 per cent, of the power can be saved by changing the oil in all the lineshaft bearings four time a year, instead of once a year. Roller bearings will cut the friction loss in half. It is practical to use them on new installations only It is best to try a couple of roller bearings in a very hard place for a year or two to make sure of getting a durable style. A bearing that will not wear well must be avoid- ed, as a shutdown due to trouble with the line shafting is very expensive. CUTTING THE COST OF POWER 171 Advantages of the Three-Phase Motor Use three-phase alternating-current induction motors on all equipment except the cranes. Use direct-current motors on the cranes. The alternating-current motor is cheaper than the di- rect-current motor. It will stand a bigger overload. The cost of repairing, when burned out from an overload, is less than the cost of repairs on a direct-current motor. The greatest point of all is that the alternating-current motor requires no more attention or expense for up-keep than the old-fashioned grindstone. Two ring-oiling bearings are the only points of wear. The electric cur- rent goes into the stationary part of the machine only. The revolving part of the machine has no wire on it at all, so that the troublesome brushes and commutator are entirely eliminated. A plant fully equipped with alter- nating-current induction motors will have no trouble, whereas one equipped with direct-current motors, espe- cially where there is iron dust in the air, will have to keep a man continually busy repairing short circuits on the commutators and fixing up the brushes. Alternating-current motors are not adaptable to vari- able speeds, and for this reason they are not satisfactory for cranes or for doing work where they have to be run slowly at times ; but for all other work, they are ideal. Motor Costs and Efficiencies A 5-hp. alternating-current motor costing $64 will safely do the work of a 7V2" n P- direct-current motor costing $156. A 7l/o-hp. alternating-current motor costing $121.50 will do the work of a 10-hp. direct-cur- rent motor costing $166. The reason for this is because there is nothing on an alternating-current motor to spark and burn. Alternating-current motors of 5 hp. and smaller require no starting boxes. For this reason they are cheaper per horsepower than larger motors. 172 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT The author knows of a firm which buys nothing but 5-hp. motors, or smaller. They put two motors on one machine if they find that one motor fails to pull. Two 5-hp. motors cost $128. One 10-hp. motor costs $166. A destructive overload on an alternating-current mo- tor makes itself evident in the shape of heat in the motor. The solder starts to fly out into the field winding. A 75- hp. motor, if burned out, will cost only $40 to repair, so that it is best to risk putting in motors that are a little small for the work to save first cost, and thus get a bet- ter power efficiency. The overloaded motor uses elec- tricity economically. The motor running light is ex- travagant in the use of electricity. The makers will guarantee motors to stand a 25 per cent, overload for 2 hours. Motors will actually stand an overload of 25 per cent, for 4 hours ; 50 per cent, for 1 hour, and 75 per cent, for 10 minutes. This would mean that a 7l/r n P- motor can deliver 9.4 hp. for 4 hours; 11.3 hp. for 1 hour and 13.1 hp. for 10 minutes. The efficiency of a motor is the percentage of the elec- tric energy delivered to the motor that is turned into me- chanical energy. The efficiency of a 7%-hp. motor on different loads is : 1/10 load, or 3/4 hp about 60 per cent. 3/4 load, or 2J^ hp about 82 >£ per cent. 3/4 load, or 5M hp about 88 per cent. Full load, or 7J^ hp about 88 per cent. 1/4 overload, or 9.4 hp about 87 per cent. 1/2 overload, or 11.3 hp about 87 per cent. Larger motors have slightly better efficiency ; thus the efficiency of a 75-hp. motor is : 14, load, or 373^ hp 89 per cent. % load, or 57 hp 90 per cent. Full load, or 75 hp 90 per cent. \i overload, 94 hp. . . , 89 per cent. CUTTING THE COST OF POWER 173 The efficiency of direct-current motors is about the same as that of alternating-current motors. The same is true of generators. An alternating-current generator will stand a 50 per cent, overload for 2 hours; 75 per cent, overload for 1 hour and a 100 per cent, overload for 1 second. The following efficiencies can be obtained with gener- ators : Efficiency, per cent. Percentage of full load 30-kw. generator 50-kw. generator 100 87.4 90.5 75 86.0 89.0 50 85.5 85.0 25 81.0 83.0 10 50.0 50.0 When figuring on the size of an alternating-current generator to be used for driving motors, a margin must be allowed for power factor. A larger generator has to be installed than would be necessary if there was no such thing as power factor. Power factor does not increase the load on the engine. Its effect is purely local in the generator. A plant with a 100-hp. compound condensing engine run in a somewhat slipshod way, with the engine in rather bad condition, the boiler setting leaking air more or less, the feed water not heated with steam from the auxiliaries, can make power for less than 2 cents per kil- owatt hour. Smoke Prevention Smoke can be prevented or reduced by the observance of a few simple rules. 1. Fire five shovels of coal on one side of the furnace, covering the fire evenly and keeping the fire level. Five minutes later five shovels of coal should be fired on the other side in the same way. Keep this up as long as the demand for steam is heavy. As the demand for power 174 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT decreases, reduce the number of shovels at each of the 5- minute periods, but do not lengthen the space of time between firings, until the call for power is so light that two shovelfuls are enough every 5 minutes. If this rate of firing still gives too much steam, lengthen the time between firings. After each firing leave the fire door open about 2 inches for 1 minute, or until the smoke- producing gases have left the coal. Fasten a door check upon the boiler front in such a way that it will swing around slowly and close the fire door automatically after the heavy smoke producing gases have passed off the coal. This apparatus makes a very efficient smoke pre- ventor. 2. Shake the shaker-grate once an hour. Do not over- do this, otherwise the grate bars will be burnt, and un- burned coal wasted through the grate. 3. Clean the boiler flues once a day, either before starting in the morning or during the noon hour. The foregoing rules of firing will reduce smoke to practically nothing and will keep the fires clean, which is economical of coal. It is a good idea to rig up an alarm clock to ring elec- trically every 5 minutes to notify the fireman of the exact firing time. Solder a long finger on the minute- hand setting the knob at the back of the clock. Arrange this finger to make the electric contact at 5-minute inter- vals to ring a bell. ARTICLE XVI LOWERING MACHINE WORK EXPENSE Use of Automatic Machines and Tool Hold- ers — Establishing Fitting Allowances — Things Which the Machine Designer Should Consider GENERALLY speaking, there are few jobs that an automatic or semi-automatic machine will turn out faster than a standard type of machine, provided the standard type is as powerful as the semi- automatic in drive and has quick changes of speed and feed. In other words, the greatest advantage of the spe- cial machine is its power and quick changes of feed and speed. Automatic Versus Standard Machines A powerful, standard machine, provided with quick changes of speed and feed, will generally turn out work cheaper than an automatic or semi-automatic, because: 1. The average machine job, having few operations on it (it should be redesigned if this is not so), rarely brings the special features of the semi-automatic into play. 2. In general, the number of pieces to be run through are too few to pay to set the stops, etc. 3. The machines seldom are properly equipped, be- cause each new job generalty takes a complete outfit of sj)ecial tools. 4. On account of these machines being more compli- cated than the average standard tools, often some one part is out of order, not badly enough to pay for over- hauling, but enough to interfere with the running. 176 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT 5. The price of such a machine is generally prohibi- tive. It is safe to say that in three cases out of four, ex- pensive machines are run the same as common machines, thus getting 1 no benefit from their special features. A powerful engine lathe equipped with a four-sided turret tool post and plain cross feed stops will turn out duplicate work very rapidly. Add a home-made bar holding chuck and the machine is practically equal to a very expensive bar stock machine. Longitudinal stops are not very necessary as length is easily gauged while the lathe is cutting. A clamp can be put on bed for one stop and the tools located at different points in the turret to cut shoulders at various points. Fitting Allowances Make a table giving the allowable looseness of the dif- ferent parts on the machine you manufacture. Some parts do not require a close fit. On these a saving will be made by not working too close. Accuracy, as a rule, cuts down speed and increases costs. Put this matter down in black and white, else the workmen will have no way of knowing what work is particular and what is not. Wherever possible have each jig so made that it tests th accuracy of previous operations. Make the jig so that it will not fit the piece or so that the piece will not go into the jig if the previous operations have been done inaccurately. This method discovers faults in work- manship immediately, without the expense of an inspec- tor. Number each jig and put these numbers on the draw- ings. This will insure the jigs being used. Three Machine. Shop Suggestions A boring bar guided close to the work will stop all chatter, and will allow an increase in output of about 30 per cent, over boring with a bar not so supported. The LOWERING MACHINE WORK EXPENSE 177 casting can be much out of true in the rough and not affect the speed of production. There will be no neces- sity for cutting down the speed or feed in taking the fin- ishing cut. In fact, the feed on the finishing cut can be doubled and still make a smooth job. The boring can be done in two cuts instead of three. This is not possible when the bar is not so guided. On duplicate work, where the tool need not be dis- turbed, put a clamp on the lathe to act as a stop for the cross slide. Accurate work can be turned out very rap- idly by this method, as it eliminates calipering. The planer type milling machine, with a number of cutter heads, reduces the milling cost on work having two or more faces to be machined, provided there is enough work to keep the machine continually busy. Tool Holders Use tool holders on all small and old machine tools. Probably 95 per cent, of the work done in a machine shop is light enough to be handled with tool holders in- stead of solid tools. They are great savers of tool steel and save even more in wages which must be paid out for forging and grinding solid tools. They keep the man at the machine. A %-inch bar of square steel on a long continuous cut on rather hard cast iron, at 70 feet per minute, a 1/9-inch feed, and a l/g-mcn depth of cut, will remove 11 cubic inches per minute. A stream of chips, literally red hot chips, will come off the tool point. On soft cast iron, a good grade of %-inch square high- speed tool steel will run 110 feet per minute, 1/9-inch feed, and a depth of cut of 11/64 inch, removing at this rate 25 cubic inches per minute. Thus there are few places where the full size forged tools are needed. 178 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT I know of a firm that uses %-inch steel with no tool holders. They place a piece under the bar of tool steel in the tool post of the lathe to bring the height of the steel up to the correct point. This works very satisfac- torily. Any firm 'that uses a good grade of high-speed steel in this way will have a smaller tool steel bill than in the days before high-speed tool steel. The reason for this is that high-speed steel is ground very little as compared to the carbon steels. This freedom from grinding is just as true of high-speed steel drills, especially the twisted types, as it is of cutters. General Machine Specifications to Be Laid Down The product of the designer must be an article that is readily salable as well as easily made. Certain general specifications will have to be kept in mind, which make a strong, smooth-running easily operated machine. The more important points follow : Have quick speed changes. Have quick feed changes. Speed steps should not be greater than 50 per cent, from one step to the next that is, 2 to 3. Have all operating handles within easy reach of the operator. Have power pass through as few gears as possible from motor to work. No gear should run higher than 1000 feet per minute tooth speed. Above this speed use belts or the silent chain. All gears must be protected. Worm gear drives should be avoided, as they wear rap- idly and require excessive power. Machine tool makers, on some of their heavy machines, are cutting the gear teeth on an angle. This prevents chatter and the mark- ing of the work by the gear teeth. Make all sliding surfaces, such as ways, etc., of ample area to take care of thrust pressure and wear. Have lubrication well taken care of. On all high-speed bear- ings use ring oilers. LOWERING MACHINE WORK EXPENSE 179 Equip all feed screws, etc., with index dials graduated to 0.001 inch so that accurate movements can be made without calipering or measuring the work. In addition, duplicate cuts on different pieces can be taken without waste of time. Make all bolt slots so that the depth of the narrow part is at least 30 per cent, greater than the width of the slot, to prevent the breaking of slots. It is becoming the rule on lathes to design the spindle one-quarter the diameter of the lathe swing for machines that take enormous cuts. The tailstock barrel is made one-sixth the swing of the lathe. The tailstock is locked down with plenty of heavy bolts. In choosing the motor for a machine, a rough rule is to allow l/o hp. to remove 1 cubic inch per minute of cast iron, and 1 hp. to remove the same amount of steel. This estimate may be 50 per cent, in error either way, depend- ing on the shape of the cut, the hardness of the metal and the loss of power in the gearing, bearings, etc. The power lost in gearing is greater than is usually realized and for this reason slow speed motors are de- sirable. To remove 126 cubic inches of steel per minute in an engine lathe at a cutting speed of 28 feet per min- ute ll/o-inch depth of cut, 14-inch feed per revolution, using a single tool, 80 hp. is required. To reduce a bar 2% inches in diameter to 1 inch, with 11%-inch feed per minute, or at the rate of 35 cubic inches per minute, in an engine lathe, requires 20 hp. About 92 hp. is required to remove 400 cubic inches of steel per minute on a milling machine. Tool Pressure The tool pressure on a lathe is 75 tons when removing 11 cubic inches per minute with a cut % inch deep, and 0.05-inch feed per revolution at 185 feet per minute cut- 180 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT ting speed. This is on mild steel having a tensile strength of 56,000 pounds and 44 per cent, elongation. The end thrust when drilling with a 3-inch drill, at 100 r.p.m. and 0.03-inch feed per revolution or 3 inches deep per minute, is about 5000 pounds. Such work would require a 50-hp. motor on the machine. ARTICLE XVII CAPACITIES OF MACHINE TOOLS Ways in Which the Superintendent Can Learn the Most About Feeds and Speeds — Some Un- published Tests — The Shape of Tools A CUTTING speed of 100 to 120 feet per minute is about correct for outside turning of soft steel, while 75 to 80 feet per minute is about right for soft cast iron. For inside or boring work, 40 to 60 feet is the proper figure, and 500 feet per minute is the speed for brass turning. Recently a satisfactory high-speed steel for brass has been made. The tool steel maker is improving tool steel so rapidly that these speeds prob- ably will be increased 15 per cent, in the next five years. Tool Steel Tests For testing tool steels a casting made especially for this purpose should be kept on hand. It will be a mas- sive disk of cast iron, say 18 inches in diameter and 8 inches thick, with bolting-down ears cast on it and a tapped hole through the center for a lifting eye-bolt. The analysis of the iron in the test casting used by the writer is as follows : Silicon 1 . 480 per cent. Manganese 1 . 070 per cent. Graphitic carbon 2 . 560 per cent. Combined carbon . 910 per cent. Phosphorous . 328 per cent. Sulphur . 069 per cent. 182 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT This, however, is not the mixture used in the regular castings, the silicon being lower, the manganese higher and the sulphur lower. This casting was made espe- cially to test tools on. Any mixture would do as the test is a competitive one of each tool against every other tool. Test the tool steels by starting a facing cut at the cen- ter of the disk and face out toward the periphery. Adopt a certain standard speed, feed and depth of cut. The different kinds of tool steels will break down at different diameters. The steel that stands up on the cut of great- est diameter is the one to adopt. This method of testing gives a true result. The test piece is the same for all steels. It is handy to set up and take out of the machine. It is the only good way to settle the tool steel question. By means of this test piece and other observations de- scribed later, the writer had cutting speed tables for Mushet self -hardening steel pretty well made up before F. W. Taylor published the results of his experiments. As a result of his tests the author patented a cutting tool using self -hardening steel that would cut nearly as fast as the present high-speed steel. A piece of Mushet steel was cast in a heavy copper holder so that only the bare cutting point or edge of the steel showed outside of the copper. The copper carried away the heat as fast as it was generated at the point and thus allowed an in- crease in cutting speed. About a year after this patent issued Taylor and White's articles on their tool steel ex- periments at the Bethlehem Steel Works were published, and this resulted in our dropping the tool holder and adopting high-speed steel when it came onto the market. The Best Shape of Tool The best shape tool is one ground to a round nose at the end. The top of tool is the shape of the end of a man's thumb. The top surface should slant some so as to give a lifting effect on the chips, not a scraping effect. CAPACITIES OF MACHINE TOOLS 18-3 The clearance between the end of the tool and the work should be very small. We now use high-speed cutting steel altogether in our work, except on brass. On this we use self -hardening steel. High-speed steel fails to hold a keen edge and cannot be used on brass, as a dull tool on brass will bur- nish the work. Things the Superintendent Should Know The superintendent must become not only a hard- working student on the subject of speeds and feeds and cubic inches per minute ; he must become an authority on it. He must know the exact capacity of each machine tool in his plant. He cannot carry all of this knowledge in his head, so he should make out a book ruled as here Cubic Rough- Name Feet Total Inch Feed ing or Diam. and Per Cubic Per Total For Depth Finish- of Shape Re- Min. Inch Min. Feed Each ing Work of marks Per Each Cutter Cut Tool Min. Cutter Steel shown and having the same headings across the top of the pages. Accumulating Machine Data Each machine in the plant should have a separate page or a number of separate pages in this book to re- present it. The pages should be numbered with the same numbers that have been given the machines. This book should be of the loose-leaf type, as on some of the im- portant machines there will be three or four pages of these statistical notes. For instance, the cylinder boring lathe page will read as shown in Table II. The space under "Remarks" will gradually fill with such notes as : Limit of power of the machine ; hard cast iron; tool O. K. ; cut ten minutes; made machine quiver; broke driver ; very heavy cut ; belt broke after nine min- 184 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT min. on Held led five 1 steel. wheat. cut. HARD. steel. PACE. F c3 t7Q43 Kyi 0) npQ , CD 4h .2^, , , — i t — t • . wn 03 . **> VI +3 > - tJ "S"S'rta)aj - G^ai •£ ipl ,S ^ ^SS ^qq p 3 ««« CO Q .'o i-i ■W NMM NiM^'* tH (M- o,o • ■ r^ £H ■ ■ o bDbCbD MM PH f-. 1+ !-< f-< (-i 333 3 3 S3§t3 o3 ■ rt id PQ pqpqpq pqcq d-^ d „ a. a 3 \oo ro^-cO CO00 CX)CO00(M .> O id .Si— i a !h — 1— I • i— 1 I— 1 i-l i— 1 i—l en 1— 1 ~ ' rj-s r-i l-2< *to° ■ °° -3 M 43 •O -g £42 U _ WT5 .r^ 1. °43 pC rn-43 'S^-d 43^3-3 ^3 -S^^g^^S .g • O SOO OOOO Or-MOo- ^ :p4 oqP^Pm PmPhPhPh gpcVg^pc; 3 a 3 O Q a) . a i— i £3 cc hi i— i bC"S 3.3, ^ c CD 1-H cd PC H ,3 a> i— i T3 >0 -jf O) o n d-.S W^ ^03 •^H __ t^ 03 h o EH T3 . 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HS abacs h5 o P +3 C4-4 o ^ . 03 H a)" ; £|SH» HS ^|S H5 HS Hs^ X HS I1-1 h"|n"|H w o rH^ m H (3 *"" .,<££ 2 10 Jz) CO (M CXI CO t * h '5 HHO0CO w :!f N « (N CO Kh cD^ (M • Oh CO _^ CO CD CN 10 • O , CM'* (M Tt< CO Tti p^ CO CO CO IO 1-1 CD -8 1 /2 step the spindle runs 1321/0 revolutions per minute with the back gears out and 8!/2 revolutions per minute with gears in. These speed figures are put at the bottom of the table -for the Drapier boring lathe, as shown above. Holding Machines to Their Work This seems like a lot of work, but there is nothing the superintendent can do that will prove so profitable to the firm. It will bring him face to face with the fact that the output of his plant is mighty poor. The foremen will get interested in the output at the point of the tool and become faddists on the subject. The workmen soon learn what the correct cutting speeds are. A plant is like a family with a lot of children. All cannot become great producers. Some are weaklings. The machines are the children of a plant. They all have different capacities for work, and no fixed iron-clad rule can be laid down for all alike. A machine having the power of drive and power of feed capable of taking off 12 cubic inches of cast-iron chips per minute should be held up to this rate. Not only the cutting capacity of 188 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT each of the older machines, but the cutting capacity for each step of the cone on each machine has to be found by- test on the machines regular work, and a table made out for the machine. Cutting capacity ( cubic inches of iron removed per minute) is more important than cutting speeds. It is possible, even on an old, weak machine, to take a cut at over 1000 feet per minute if the amount of metal removed per minute is kept small. Nothing counts but cubic inches of metal removed per minute. Superintendent vs. Machine Salesman A great thing about the superintendent's taking up this work personally is that it puts him in a position where he knows absolutely what to specify when he or- ders new machine tools. New tools are not as yet up to the capacity of the tool steel, except in a very few cases. Any one who buys a heavy cutting tool that is not able to burn the tool steel easily is buying what will be an ob- solete machine in a few years. One cannot depend on what the tool salesman says, yet, if the superintendent is not an authority on cutting speeds, feeds, cubic inches per minute and capacity of modern tool steels, how can he intelligently select a machine tool to do his work? The machine salesman will tell him that a feed of 5 inches per minute is the practical limit on milling work. He will try to sell a machine to run at a cutting speed of 60 feet per minute when it ought to run 75, 80 or 90 feet on cast-iron milling. His reason is that he knows that his machine lacks the horsepower to take the heavy feeds and speeds. The salesman will say that this is what certain other shops, which he mentions, are doing. Now here is just the point: The firm should be turning out 20 or 50 per cent, more on their machine tools than these shops. ARTICLE XVIII CORRECT SELECTION OF MACHINES The Economical Range of Production for Which Each Machine in the Shop Should Be Adapted — What Limits Machine Production THE different operations in a machine shop are few in number. They are the machining off of a flat surface, the turning off the outside of a cylin- drical surface, the machining the inside of a cylin- drical surface (boring) , drilling, tapping and threading. For each of these operations there are a number of styles of machine tools from which to select. For machining a flat surface the milling machine, the planing machine or the shaping machine, the lathe or boring and turning machine, or the different forms of grinding machines may be used. In general, the disk grinding machine will turn out two to three times the work that the milling machine will do, and the milling machine twice as much as the other machines in a given length of time. The Field of the Grinding Machine The disk grinding machine will surface pieces 6x6 inches and under, of unrelieved surface, or 36 square inches in actual surface, at a speed of 18 square inches per minute. On larger work than this the grinding pres- sure becomes so reduced that the work will be turned out more slowly than on the other types of machines that do surface machining. 190 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT The grinding machine's field of work is on pieces that may be trued up by taking off but little metal. One of its advantages, over the other forms of machine tools that do surface machining, is that it requires practically no chucking fixtures. The time and expense of chuck- ing the work is eliminated, the work being held on the grinding table by hand. This makes machining prac- tically a continuous process. For small faces that are to be hand scraped, inexpen- sive little emery wheels are available. These are equipped with a longitudinal and cross slide carriage that will finish the work as true or truer than can be done by hand scraping, and in one-third the time. Such a machine will pay for itself in two or three months. For larger surfaces expensive cup-shaped wheel grinding machines of great output capacity and low operating cost per piece, are on the market. Advantages of the Milling Machine The milling machine is a rapid producer because cut- ting speeds of 70 to 90 feet per minute can be used where 60 or 70 feet per minute is the limit of a lathe or boring mill. Several cutters are working at the same time, com- pared to one, or at the most two, in other forms of fac- ing machines. One piece can be chucked and unchucked while the machine is working on another, making the machining practically continuous. Two or three faces of a piece can be machined at one pass on a planer type milling machine with a number of heads. With this style of machine the machining cost is extremely low. High cutting speed is possible on the milling machine because each cutter cuts only part of the time, and the cutter edge has a chance to cool between cuts. The milling machine has an enormous output when used with the cutter head or facing head. It will operate with a CORRECT SELECTION OF MACHINES 191 linear feed of 10 inches per minute on cast-iron surfaces on coarse work and 4 inches per minute on fine work, such as surfaces that are to be hand scraped. The lathe or boring machine can not compete with the milling ma- chine feeding at these speeds. The spindle of the milling machine should be at least one-third the diameter of the cutter head. A weak spindle will spring, making an untrue milled face, unless the rate of feed is reduced. This is especially noticeable when machining a face that is partly interrupted and partly solid and broad. If the cutter head were backed up near its edge with a bearing shoe the maximum speed and feed could be taken with no danger of the spindle springing. The spring back of the cutter head would be no greater than the down spring of a planer table. A feed of 10 inches per minute can be maintained with a stiff spindle A feed of 2l/o inches per minute only can be maintained if the head and spindle springs. This is a 400 per cent, difference in the output of the machine. Different Styles of the Milling Machine The vertical milling machine is best adapted to small and flat work. If the surface milled stands high above the table, the horizontal pressure of the cut throws a heavy strain on the chucking fixtures or strapping-down bolts. High work tends to lift the table from the bed, and this produces chatter. The horizontal spindle machine is free from the above faults. It is the ideal machine for fast and heavy cut- ting, as all the strain comes straight down upon the table. This strain, when cutting steel, may run as high as 100 tons on a powerful machine doing heavy work. The milling machine table should be 6 or 8 feet long. The long table keeps the wrench, used in strapping down the work, away from the revolving cutter head, and 192 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT gives the workman plenty of room to chuck and un- chuck pieces while the machine is on other work, thus getting a continuous output from the machine. In handling a machine under the continuous system of cutting it is better to do the work in two sections, one at each end of the table. The machine should mill the piece or pieces at one end while the workman is chuck- ing and unchucking at the other. Having a piece or pieces at each end of the table is better than placing them in a continuous line. In this way the operator will not drop into the habit of waiting for all the pieces to be fin- ished before chucking a new lot. He will not hold the machine idle while he chucks these. The advantage of the above method of arranging the work, instead of filling the table in a continuous line from end to end, is shown in the following example of work done on a Brown & Sharpe No. 5 milling machine. Pieces with a 5% x 6 inch face were to be machined by a cutter head 7% inches in diameter, running at a speed of 40 r.p.m. This gave a cutting speed of 77 feet per minute. The depth of cut varied from to % inch, or an average of % inch. Each piece required 2 minutes when arranged in a continuous line, as against l 1 /^ min- utes when chucked in two groups, one at each end of the table. The two operations may be analyzed as shown below. Two men, a machinist and a helper, operated each machine. Continuous line milling: Start cut on 7 pieces. Helper starts unstrapping. Both wait for cut to finish. Cut finished. Start taking off the three remaining pieces and brushing off the chips from the table. Pieces all off, still brushing off chips. Start placing seven new pieces. Square pieces up with a straight edge. Both men pull straps down tight. min. sec. 4 min. 25 sec. 6 min. 25 sec, 7 min. 15 sec, 9 min. 15 sec 9 min. 55 sec, 10 min. 40 sec, 11 min. 55 sec. 1 min. 25 sec. 1 min. 30 sec. 1 min. 45 sec. 2 min. 35 sec. Cycle completed. CORRECT SELECTION OF MACHINES 193 13 min. 10 sec. Pieces secure. Run table back and feed up to take cut, using index dial on feed screw to set machine for cut. 13 min. 25 sec. Start cut. Cycle complete. 1 minute, 55 seconds on each. Below is the cycle of operations analyzed when ma- chining the same job one piece at each end of the table: min. sec. Run table to right end by power rapidly. This mechanism was put on the machine after it was installed in the shape of two sprocket wheels and a chain belt. min. 10 sec. Feed in casting to correct depth of cut. Set this by mi- crometer dial. min. 25 sec. Cut started on left end casting. Operator and helper change casting at right end of table. Cut finished. Run table rapidly to other end by power. Cut started on casting at right end. Run table to right end. 1 minute, 17 J^ seconds on each casting. Cutter Heads The cheapest way to make a small cutter head or fac- ing head is to machine slots in the edge or circumference of the head, drive in steel cutters and peen the metal in the cutter head along the side of the cutters. All cut- ters should be put in at an angle so that the chip will be lifted from the work — not scraped off as is the case where the cutter is put in square. The easiest way to cut the slots is to first drill holes where the ends of the slots are to come, and then plane from the edge back into these holes. Afterward fill the holes by driving pins in- to them. Avoid the all geared headstock lathe. It has too much machinery in it. The three-step cone pulley head lathe with a two-speed countershaft is better even for electric drive because it costs less and is more durable. The modern powerful engine lathe equipped with cross- feed and longitudinal stock will turn work out so fast that the operator will be kept busy taking pieces out and putting them in. 194 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT I have seen the work come from such a lathe so hot on account of the high cutting speed that the operator had to wear cotton gloves. Working with two arbors and two lathe dogs he would barely have time to press out one arbor from a piece, put it into another piece and put on the lathe dog during the time the lathe was doing the machine work on a piece on the other arbor. The Gang Drilling Machine Gang drilling machines are gigantic producers. So much so that they are used for all sorts of machine op- erations that in former years would not have been thought suitable for a drilling machine. 650 bushings 3 inches long, having a 15/16-inch hole through them can be bored, reamed and faced in a day. 400 bushings 4!/o inches long, having a 2 7/16-inch hole through them can be bored, reamed and faced in a day. All the 32 machine operations on 70 pump cylinders, such as are used on the tank wagons of threshing en- gines, can be done in a day by a man and his helper on a gang drill. This shows what a gigantic output such a machine has. Gang drilling machines are suitable only where du- plicate pieces are turned out by the thousand because the expense of jigs, fixtures and tools runs very high. A four-spindle gang drilling machine generally requires four or five expensive jigs for each individual size of piece turned out. This means four or five times the jigs and tools that a regular drilling machine would take on the same work. In most plants the gang drilling machine stands idle because duplicate work enough cannot be found to pay for the expensive equipment of jigs, fixtures and tools. CORRECT SELECTION OF MACHINES 195 Limit Machine Production by Strength of Piece Worked A machine should be powerful enough to do the work rapidly. The point that limits the output of a machine tool should be the strength of the piece worked on after it has been strengthened to resist a heavy cut. It should not be the power of the machine tool or the strength of the chucking apparatus. The work should be held in a fixture so secured and the machine should be so power- ful, the feed and speed of the cut should be so great that any increase would distort the work or break it. This rule secures the cutting limit, but how little is it being followed ! The writer recalls a chucking lathe that was boring a 2-inch hole in a steel bar, using a Celfor drill. The feed was % inch per minute. The correct feed for this size of drill in steel is 3 inches per minute. On speeding up the machine and increasing the feed, the belt slipped. By tightening the belt the feed was brought up to % inch per minute, but the strain was so great on the machine that the teeth on the back gear tore out. The %-inch feed was too heavy for the machine. The %-inch feed was about the limit of its capacity. Here was a machine whose output was only one-eighth of what it should be. The output on this operation could have been increased eight times. This is not an increase of 25 per cent, nor 50 per cent, but 800 per cent. If one of the office employees worked one hour per day and demanded eight hours' pay he would be thrown out. Yet that is what the chucking lathe was doing every day. Make the piece worked on decide the limit of the speed and not the machine tool. In this case it was the ma- chine tool that settled the speed of output. The limit of speed at which a piece of work can be machined is probably from ten to twenty times faster than is done on the average. The limit is unknown. Take, for instance, the boring of a 22-inch cylinder. One 196 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT roughing cutter in a boring head, cutting 35 feet per minute with a depth of % inch on a side and 9/32-inch feed, will remove 14.72 cubic inches of metal per minute. Put in six cutters, each with a feed of 9/32 inch, or a total feed of 1 11/16 inches per revolution. If the cylin- der is 15 inches long, the roughing cut would be taken in one minute. This is ten to twenty times faster than is done on the average, and shows what is possible if we go to the limit. The casting might have to be straightened and well supported in a jig. Assuming % hp. per cubic inch of metal removed per minute, this machine would require a 45-hp. motor. The drive and feed gearing, the whole machine, in fact would have to be designed to take care of this power. ' The same proposition is true on the milling machine. Say 10 cubic inches per minute is a conservative estimate of the capacity of a single cutter. With cutters located close together in the cutter head so that six cutters would cut at the same time, 60 cubic inches per minute would.be the output. Sixty cubic inches per minute means machin- ing a face 10 x 48 inches to a depth of % inch each min- ute. This would take a 30-hp. motor and a machine built in proportion. If the milling machine were built strong enough and the piece worked on stiff enough to stand the strain of the cut, the above would be practical; that is, the tool steel would stand this cut. Are many doing this ? No. That is why I say the average output can be increased ten to twenty times. We do not know what the limit of drilling speed is. In a test, on cast iron, a l^-inch drill drilled 30 inches deep in one minute. This was the limit of the drilling machine, but not the limit of the twist drill. ARTICLE XIX MACHINING OF CYLINDERS Proper Sequence of the Various Operations — Advantages of Different Types of Drilling Machines — A Cheap Tapping Machine WHEN machining cylinders, it is best to mill them first and bore them afterwards. The fol- lowing is a good sequence of operations : Catch the cylinders on the flanges in a line of chucks on the table of the milling machine. The chucks could be sim- ilar to the one shown in Fig. 24 so that the cylinders would rest on four fixed points, two at each end of the cylinder. These bearing places catch the under side of the flange about 45 degrees on either side of the vertical axis. Mill off one end of the cylinder. Chuck the flange end against an angle block and mill the other end. Finally mill the re- maining faces. If there is enough duplicate work to make it pay, the cylinders should be milled in a machine with a cutter head on each side of the table and possibly with the third cutter on top. One pass will then finish both ends and one side of the cylinder. Such a machine would cost $10,000, however, and the firm should have enough work to keep all three heads going all the time in order to make it pay. No matter what kind of machine is used, the op- Fig. 24— Jig for Holding a Cylinder During the Milling Operation 198 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT erator should take off the machined cylinders and put on the rough ones while the machine is cutting, thus making milling a continuous operation. Boring the Cylinders From the milling machine the cylinders go to the bor- ing machine. Several methods may be used for this pro- cess. The cylinders can be chucked in a lathe and re- volved, the boring being done with a stationary bar and cutter. They can be bored four at a time in a fixture on the carriage of a standard high power engine lathe. The lathe should be rigged with four parallel boring bars geared to the lathe spindle. They can be bored in a special boring lathe, having two spindles that bore from one end The carriage of this machine has a turntable with bolted-on angle plates against which the ends of the cylinders are strapped, the castings having been milled before boring. While the machine is boring cylinders at the headstock end of the turntable the operator is remov- ing the bored cylinders and putting on rough ones at another point on the turntable. This gives a maximum output from the machine and operator with a minimum pay-roll expense. One man on the milling machine and one man on the boring lathe can turn out 100 4 or 5 inch cylinders per day ready for drilling. A small floor area thus is very productive. This special boring lathe in some cases is made very elaborate by having a milling head travel across the end of the cylinders at the tailstock end of the table. The machine then bores and mills the cylinders at one chucking. Using the Drilling Machine A powerful three or four-spindle heavy gang drilling machine might be used, the cylinders being set on end on the machine table in a suitable set of chucks for bor- MACHINING OF CYLINDERS 199 ing. With this outfit the output would be controlled by the speed at which a man can chuck and unchuck cylin- ders and change cutters. If the cylinders are cast in pairs, they will be bored one casting at a time. If the cylinders are single bore castings, two castings are bored simultaneously. Cylinders can also be bored vertically under very heavy drilling machines made for this work. Three sin- gle machines, side by side, run by one operator, will turn out more work and cost less than the two double special vertical machines usually bought. The jig may be arranged so that after boring one side it can be moved over a fixed distance to bore the other cylinder. This style of boring machine allows the work- man to chuck and unchuck the work while the machine is cutting on other casting. The number of machines that one man runs can be increased until the maximum output is obtained from the man. Vertical boring has the advantage over horizontal boring of letting the hot chips drop clear. This keeps the cutter cool. Advantages of Different Machines Machine tool makers have not taken full advantage of the improvement in tool steel, especially as to drilling machines. Few radial drilling machines will drill to the destructive limit of a 2%-inch drill in cast iron, say, a feed of from 15 inches to 30 inches per minute. Such a machine would do all the work for a large plant, one man running it and a second man bolting down the pieces and removing them. The drilling cost on a piece would be practically nothing. Many pieces under such circumstances would be drilled rather than cored, as drilling would be cheaper than coring. A radial drilling machine will turn out work nearly twice as fast as a machine with a fixed spindle, because 200 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT the moving of the drill from one hole to the next is done quickly on the radial tool and very slowly on the other style. For all small drilling, say %-inch holes and under, use a fixed spindle, light, sensitive, hand-feed drilling ma- chine. On a sensitive machine the operator can feel when the drill catches and can prevent its breaking. From %-inch holes up to and including about %-inch holes there are powerful little radial drilling machines on the market, which can be quickly handled. They have a large box table so that the operator can be strapping and unstrapping his work while the drilling is going on. This machine will drill a l^-inch hole 20 inches deep, a %-inch hole 12 inches deep, or a 1-inch hole 6 inches deep in 1 minute in cast iron. For %-inch holes and larger, and for pipe tap work, use a powerful radial or a powerful fixed spindle drilling machine with a table that can be moved across under the spindle in two direc- tions. The combination of a radial drilling machine set next to a horizontal one having a car with a turntable on it will save about three-quarters of the chucking and handling time on all large work if the car track runs from the horizontal drilling machine to and under the radial tool. The horizontal machine will drill all the holes in the sides of a casting and the radial will drill holes in the top. The casting is strapped down to the turntable and revolved to present the four sides to the horizontal drill- ing machine. Tapping the Cylinders A cheap tapping machine can be made on the end of a double hinged arm attached to a post. The arm is hinged like a jointed wall gas fixture, so that the end can MACHINING OF CYLINDERS 201 be moved over any point of a surface to be tapped. The post end will be attached to a heavy vertical bar of fin- ished shafting so the machine can be set at any height to correspond with the work. The tapping machine, at the swinging end of the arms, is driven from the ceiling through a telescoping shaft, knuckle jointed at each end. This shaft is made from a square bar of key steel, which slides in an iron pipe with lead poured around the square shaft. Such a machine will do the work of three or four hand tappers. It is sometimes found better to tap the holes on the radial drilling machine at the time of drilling, for this saves an extra handling of the pieces. Studding may be done on this machine at the same time that tapping is done, although not always, as the exact length of the studs may not be known. Quick change collets, or couplings for drills, taps and stud drivers, speed this class of work. ARTICLE XX BUSINESS MAXIMS How Buying for the Factory Should Be Con- ducted — Attitude Toward Selling and Manage- ment of Salesmen — Fundamentals in Advertising IN every plant money may be saved by obtaining bids on all material bought; a difference in prices is al- ways found for the same grade of material made by different firms. Never buy in excess of your needs. Over-buying is a common fault and a bad one. Every dollar's worth of unnecessary stock represents idle capital unnecessarily risked. It would be better to place the money that is uselessly tied up in rough or finished material out at interest. Let it bring in an income. A hand-to-mouth plan of ordering is best, provided that sufficient material is always on hand or on order to keep the machines sup- plied. An idle machine earns no money for the plant. Order so that you will receive a small, steady stream of material for the machines, just enough so that the machines will keep the assemblers busy making finished product. Have no stock on hand in the rough or finished state except that which is necessary for work moving through the plant. This insures all money spent for ma- terial and pay roll showing up in finished machines. Watching the Cost of Material in Stock Bins A %-inch nut costs one cent. A bin full of %-inch nuts is the same as a bin full of pennies. Look at your piles of stock on hand in this light. Go from bin to bin, 204 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT shelf to shelf, and rack to rack, with a pencil and paper, and estimate the cash value tied up in each. You will then begin to see where you can cut down this tied-up capital. Let the firm from whom you buy carry your stock. A system used by some firms is to mark the material bins with the maximum and minimum amounts of each class of material, rough and finished, to carry in stock and the amount to order. This is a good practice, and it prevents too much money being tied up in unused stock. The clerical labor necessary to carry out this scheme, though, should be watched, so that the pay-roll is not in- creased. If you have to put on an extra man to look after these maximum and minimum quantities, he will cost from $700 to $1000 per year. A lot of stock could be bought for less than this amount. Every added ex- pense of this character should be made to pay for itself, and to yield a profit in addition — not a bookkeeping profit, but a profit of real dollars at the end of the year. If you increase the pay-roll to take care of the stock, you must, by means of this added expense, be able to increase the profit of some or all of the manufacturing depart- ments. If this cannot be done, the change is not worth the expense. Manufacturing Finished Machines Not Finished Parts Run your product through in exact lots. If you de- cide to make 25 machines of a certain size, get out the material for all the parts of the 25 machines down to the last small piece. Run no more parts through than are enough for the 25, no matter what the temptation may be, to run more of any one piece. If some parts have to be scrapped, start through enough more to bring the number up to 25. Besides the advantage of the great reduction in the running capital needed to carry on the business, there BUSINESS MAXIMS 205 will be an enormous gain in space that was previously- occupied in storing finished parts. This will give room for putting on more men, and thus increase your output, and likewise your profit, with no additional buildings or ground space. Keep in mind that the object of manufacturing is to make finished machines, not finished parts. Not long ago the author received from an establishment that had failed a list of material that it had on hand of which it wished to dispose. It showed that the firm had violated this rule. They had an overstock of everything. The Selling Department A firm must have a persistent determined selling sys- tem which will dispose of its full plant capacity at the least expense. The head of the selling department should not spend too large a proportion of his time at correspondence with customers, or actual selling, but should occupy himself in establishing more and better agents and dealers, and in writing to them often. He should see that the amount of goods which they sell is in correct proportion to the population of the district. Each agent and dealer should receive a letter of some sort, about selling, from the sales head every few days. The firm should have a system of keeping track of the daily operations of its traveling men. It is well to send out three traveling men, first giving them complete in- structions on all the selling points of the product, with the route of each laid out. An expense and sales record of each man is necessary in order to ascertain the per- centage relation between his expenses and the value of his orders. After three or four months' trial, the traveling man whose orders cost the most to get may be replaced by a new man. A schedule can be made in time giving the 206 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT rate of improvement a new man must make to hold his job. The standing of a salesman should depend upon the value of his sales as compared with the business popula- tion of his district. The salesman who has the best dis- trict should send in the greatest value of orders. A well- established district will make selling easy. A man who is placed in a district from which few orders in the past have come should not be expected to make the sales of one who is in a well-established district. A salesman should be kept in one district as much as possible. He becomes more valuable as he gets ac- quainted with the people in the district. People will lis- ten to a pleasant fellow the third time he comes around, when possibly they won't the first. Questions for the Traveling Man The traveling man should ask the following questions of the possible customer, if he can work them into his conversation without causing offense : 1. "What trade papers do you pay the most attention to?" The object of this is to find what papers are best to advertise in. 2. "What time of the year do you generally do your overhauling or buying?" The object is to find out when to go after this particular man's business; when is the best time to send business-getting letters and traveling men to his style of business. Selling to be done right, should be handled systematically. The salesman, the ad- vertising literature, and the trade paper advertising, should be sent forth at the time when each dollar spent will bring in the greatest return. 3. "What do you pay for competitors' goods?" 4. "What objections have you to our product?" These objections will be entered in a book kept for this purpose. A convincing answer will be thought up for BUSINESS MAXIMS 207 each objection and entered in the book. Make a correc- tion in the design of the product, if there is any founda- tion for criticism. 5. "What objections have you to our competitors' make of machinery;" Enter these in the book. Sales- men must learn the contents of this book, for it will con- tain a good series of selling arguments. Routing the Traveling Man Use the map and tack system for routing traveling men. Divide the country into districts, with a very large city as a center for each district. Let the traveling man for the district live in the large city. This will give a low cost of selling in the large city, with no hotel ex- penses, and with short trips. Credit the salesman for all orders that come from his district. Each district must be charged with a pro rate to cover advertising, cata- logues, circular letter writing, and expense of head sales manager. The pro rate charge will be proportioned to each district in accordance with the density of the buy- ing population of the district. The district where the factory is located will be the educational district for new salesmen. Better weeding out can be done here, as the new man is under the im- mediate eye of the sales manager. There are wonderful salesmen in the world ; geniuses in their line ; men that can sell anything. A firm must never be satisfied with those who barely make good, but must keep trying until their men are all wonders. The sales manager should instill enthusiasm into trav- eling men by frequent talks. When on the road they should receive a letter daily from the home office. A let- ter received by a man each day about his work is the same as a foreman coming around looking over the work. Nothing will boost him along like these letters; 208 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT they prevent discouragement. Dealers should also be written to often for the same reason, as stated. The names of the firms that are enormous buyers should be known, and the amount of business they prob- ably could give, and also how much should be spent each year in order to obtain their business. Some of these concerns may buy enough to make it pay to have a man constantly sitting on their door step. Selling Just as Tangible as Manufacturing Selling must not be considered in a hazy sort of light. It must not be considered a case of luck that orders hap- pen to come in. Selling is just as tangible a business as manufacturing. In proportion to the number of sales- men out, agents taking the goods, advertising, etc., will be the volume of business taken in. If a manufacturer had to double his plant output, he would have to double the force of workmen in his plant. The same is true of selling. Four salesmen will sell twice as much as two, provided they are good salesmen and are well directed, and salesmen have to be directed the same as producers in the shop. The sales manager has to give his full time to directing. The sales manager is a foreman over the salesmen. Work would soon be turned out at a loss in the shop if the men were not directed. The same is true of selling. Like manufacturing the selling must be directed on the most economical lines. The money spent for ad- vertising must be spent where it will bring in the greatest return. Each year a firm should have more and better dealers than they had the year before, and more and bet- ter salesmen. If a firm does not reach out in the selling department, it will never be able to reach out in the man- ufacturing department. Circular letter writing should be pushed to the limit. The letters should be written on the regular paper that BUSINESS MAXIMS 209 the firm usually uses, not on a cheap grade of paper. A large mail sack of letters should leave the office every day. The selling price of the product must be as low as that of competitors. To make a profit, selling at this price, the product must be of an inexpensive design to build, the most inexpensive manufacturing methods must be used, a maximum output per man must be obtained, the overhead expense must be kept down, the material must be bought at lowest possible prices and the stock on hand must be kept at the minimum. The Personality of the Salesman The salesman must have energy and enthusiasm. He must be of a very pleasing personality. He must be a kind of person delightful to have around ; a kind of man whose arrival the buyers look forward to. When the best salesman comes into an office, generally all work stops. He is such a delightful person, such a good all- around talker, that all hands sit down and have a regular talk feast. Half the battle is won if the customer is pleased to see the salesman. I remember one of the largest and oldest lathe build- ers in Cincinnati related a little incident about selling, which illustrates this point of a pleasing personality in salesmanship. A man, who in former times had been on bad terms with the Cincinnati lathe builder, was in the market for twelve lathes and swore that he would not buy a lathe from his old enemy under any consideration. The Cincinnati lathe builder sent his best salesman to see this antagonistic customer. The salesman brought back the order for the dozen lathes. The lathe builder asked the salesman how he managed to get the order. "Tell me just what you said and what he said. Give me the whole conversation. Didn't the buyer show great an- 210 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT tagonism to us." The salesman said: "Yes. He came out to see me and started in a regular tirade against our firm and our lathes. Said he would let his plant rot down before he would buy one of our lathes." The lathe builder asked what the salesman did then. The salesman said: "I just laughed." "What did he do then?" asked the lathe builder. "He just laughed," said the salesman. It was the laugh that sold the lathes. The Points to Be Made in Advertising The object of advertising is to instill into the mind of every possible buyer these four things: The firm's name ; the location of the firm ; the class of goods manu- factured and sold ; and why they are more desirable than other firms' goods. When getting up an advertisement the advertiser should decide what proportion of the space to give to each of these four points. That point should be made the most prominent which is the hardest to impress on the reader ; that point in which he is interested the least. This is undoubtedly the firm's name. No matter how good an advertisement be, it is a failure if the firm's name is not impressed on the reader. A reader will look through pages of advertising and never have a firm's name impressed on him. This is the one point in which he is least interested. A manufacturer becomes so familiar with his own name that he is liable to overlook the fact that he is unknown to the great majority of people. If he doubts this, let him ask his traveling men whether or not they find people who have never heard of the firm. The trav- ing men are coming in contact with such people every day. The author remembers his general foreman saying of an advertisement: "That's a fine, catchy advertise- ment." When asked whose advertisement it was, he said, BUSINESS MAXIMS 211 "Oh, I didn't notice. I was only speaking of the adver- tisement." Once the author's firm sent out a lot of beautiful little glass clocks, with its name across the faces in small, neat letters. One of the firm went to see a large institution in the state which was in the market for its product. The head of the institution said: "I am very sorry, but we have just ordered. To tell you the truth, I did not know there was a pump manufacturer in our state." The member of the firm then said: "That little clock ticking there on your desk is an advertisement that we sent you." The manager picked it up and said: "Well, do you know, I have had that on my desk for six months and this is the first time I ever looked at the name." Few people know the name on their office calendar. It is the firm's name that is the hardest thing to impress on the reader of an advertisement. This must then be given the greatest proportion of the space. The second point is locality, which should take up the least space, because the name of the town is probably fa- miliar to the reader, and is easily impressed on his mind. The advertising space must be economically used. The third point is what the firm manufactures. A small cut of the product, occupying about one-tenth as much space as the firm's name, will catch the reader's eye and impress this point on him Therefore, cuts should be small. The fourth point is the descriptive matter. This should be changed often. Differences to Be Observed in Pamphlets and Catalogues The pamphlet that is sent out by mail, with the cir- cular letter, should be full of pictures. Reading is men- tal work. It requires effort on the part of a person to read something in which he is not interested. On the other hand, looking at pictures is a recreation. If the 212 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT tale can be told in pictures, the busy man who gets the pamphlet will give it a glance at least before it goes to the waste basket. The catalogue that is sent in answer to an inquiry should be different. It should have both pictures and reading matter. In this catalogue should be given all the advantages and good points of the product. In all styles of advertising literature the firm's name should be worked into the reading matter as much as possible. It should appear under every cut. For in- stance, if the engine is built by Jones & Co., under the cut of the 20-hp. engine should be the words "20-hp. Jones Engine." In the reading matter will appear, "The Jones valve gear is such and such. The Jones gov- ernor, etc." The idea when getting up advertising liter- ature is to keep in mind that the whole advertisement will be lost if the firm's name is not remembered. One of the most important points in trade paper ad- vertising is the advertisers' index. It is here that the buyer turns to find the names of the firms to write to for prices. INDEX ■"■ PAGE Advertising 9, 206, 208, 210 Allowance for Fitting 176 Analysis 103, 113 Arbor Turning 96, 147, 194 Ash in Coke 112 Assembling 18, 19, 41, 57, 58, 148 Assistants 9 Automatic Machines 175 Automobile Engine 29, 39, 41, 107 B Bad Castings : 119, 120, 149 Bicycle Cost 152 Bill of Material 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59, 80, 81, 82 Blacking 125, 126, 134, 135 Blast Pressure 116 Blow Holes 105, 115, 120, 121, 122 Boiler Firing Rules 173 Bolt Slots 95, 179 Boring 147, 159, 160, 176, 184, 185, 186, 187, 195, 197 Borings 147 Borings, Melting 114 Bottom Plates for Molds 143 Boys 33 Brass Cutting Steel 181 Brittle Iron 105, 106 Buying 10, 87, 188, 203 C Carbon, Graphitic and Combined 105, 108, 109, 123 Car Wheels 106, 107, 108 214 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT PAGE Cast Holes 90, 91 Casting Cleaning 135 Casting Costs 25, 104, 128, 129, 144, 150, 152 Castings, Heavy 106, 107, 108 Castings, Light 106, 107, 108 Castings, Loss of 119, 120 Casting Reports . . 54, 55, 56 Catalogues and Pamphlets 211 Chatter 148, 178 Chills 108 Chipping 148 Clean Iron 105, 107, 116 Clearance Around Studs and Nuts 95, 100, 101 Clerical Short Cuts .58, 60, 61, 62 Close-Grained Iron 103, 105, 106, 107, 110, 115 Coke 103, 110, 111, 112, 114, 115 Coke and Iron Proportion 114 Cold Iron Causes 115, 122 Cold Iron Effects 115, 122 Complaints 67 Continuous Boring 197 Continuous Drilling 199 Continuous Milling 190, 191, 192 Copper Tool 182 Cores : 119, 199 Costs 10, 25, 104, 151 Cost Card 79, 81, 82 Cost Per Pound 80, 84, 151 Cost System 16, 43, 45, 46, 52, 55, 57, 58, 69, 70, 87 Cracking of Castings 108, 123 Crowded Plant 64, 85, 158 Cupola, Changes in 106, 108, 109, 110, 111 Cupola, How to Run 106, 108, 113, 116 Cutting Capacity 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188 Cutting Speeds and Feeds. .. ..13, 147, 159, 160, 177, 181, 190 Cylinder Finish Amount 93 Cylinder Machining 159, 160, 197 Cylinders 106, 107, 108 INDEX 215 ^ PAGE Depreciation 154 Design 10, 13, 89, 101, 148, 149 Design Number or Combination Number 49, 50, 76, 77 Dirt in Iron 109, 124, 125 Disc Grinder 189 Draft 90 Drilling 94, 95, 96, 100, 147, 180, 196, 199 Drill Spotting Marks 96, 148 Drying Molds 134, 135 E Effect of Different Elements on Iron 103, 109 Electric Power 169 Employes and Assistants 10 Engine Lathe 96, 164, 176, 179, 193, 195 Enlarging Plant 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158 Equipment 153, 154, 155, 156, 166, 171, 175, 176 Erecting Department Reports 18, 19, 57 F Pacing 189 Palse Moves 39, 130, 148, 150 Feeding Speed 13, 147, 159, 160, 177, 179, 181, 190 Filing 148 Finish Allowance 13, 92, 93, 94, 148 Fixtures and Jigs 95, 96, 148, 168, 176, 190, 197 Flasks for Foundry 142, 143 Floor, Charges for Floor Space 154 Fluid Iron 105, 109 Fluorspar 1 14 Flux : 114 Fortune Making 9, 10, 13, 30, 43, 86, 89, 98, 151, 152, 153, 156, 161, 165, 204 Foundry 103, 156, 157 Foundry Cost Reduction 25, 39, 40, 90, 91, 104, 105, 110, 112, 113, 114, 127, 149, 150 Foundry Order System 54, 55, 56 Foundry Reports 21, 22, 23 216 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT G PAGE Gang System Assembling (Auto) 41 Gang System of Molding 127 Gang Drilling 194, 198 Gas in Mold and Cores 120, 121, 122 Gating Molds 124 Gearing 170, 178 Generators 173 Graphic Diagrams 17, 23 Grinding . . . 189, 190 H Hard Iron 105, 106, 107, 109 Heavy Castings 106, 107, 109 Hole Clearance Table 95 Holes Cast 90, 91, 95 Horizontal Drill , 200 Hot Iron 110, 113, 115, 116, 123 Hours vs. Wages 19 Hydraulic Work 106 I Improvements, When to Make 153, 154, 159 Increasing Output 12, 16, 28, 29, 30, 43, 85, 183, 204 Index Dials 179 Inspection 10, 38, 176 Iron Mixtures 103, 104, 105, 107, 109 J Jar Ram Molding 127, 132, 133, 134, 149, 150 Jigs and Fixtures 95, 96, 148, 168, 176, 190, 194 L Lathe 96, 164, 176, 179, 193, 195 Letter Writing ' 207, 208 Light Castings • . 106, 107, 109 Limestone . . . 114 Lining Cupola 116, 117 INDEX 217 PAGE Loafing 30, 44, 148 Losing Money 147, 148, 149 M Machine Castings 106, 107, 108 Machine Location 16 Machine Molding 127, 150 Machine Operations 189 Machine Shop 147 Machine Shop Order System 16, 17, 55, 56, 57, 60 Machine Shop Reports 18, 19 Machine Selecting 153, 155, 175, 188, 189, 195 Machine Tool Specifications 178, 191 Malleable Iron 106, 107, 108 Manganese 105, 110, 117 Milling Machine 147, 177, 188, 189, 190, 196 Mixture of Iron by Analysis 103, 113 Molding 127 Motors 169, 170, 171 N Naming Parts 101 Night Shift 157 Northern and Southern Iron 108 O Off Grade Iron 103, 104, 105, 110, 113 Office and Shop Order Forms 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 54, 55, 71, 75, 76, 79, 81, 82, 83 Order System at Machines 16, 17, 55, 56, 57, 60 Ornamental Castings 106, 107, 108 Output, Average 25, 147, 149 Output to be Attained 25, 144, 150, 152, 157, 159, 161, 164, 195 Overhead Expense 43, 44, 46, 89, 158, 161, 162, 163, 204 Overhead Expense Reports 18, 19, 22, 74, 75, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87 Overload of Motors 171, 172 218 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT P PAGE Pattern Design 90, 92, 93 Pattern Draft 7 90 Patterns for Molding Machine 131, 137, 142 Patterns, Metal 144 Pattern Shop Reports 18, 19, 82 Patterns, Keeping Track of 59, 60 Pay Roll 22, 161, 162 Phosphorus 105, 106, 108, 109, 110 Physical Endurance 28, 40, 42, 132 Piece Work and Bonus System 38, 39, 40, 42 Pig Beds 116 Power 149, 169 Power Consumption 179, 196 Power Factor 173 Pouring Molds 124 Profit 161 Pro rate 74, 75, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87 Publicity 9, 206, 208, 210 Pump, Hand 151 R Radial Drill 199 Red Tape 34, 43, 149 Repairs 96, 97, 171 Reports for Superintendent 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 29, 21, 22, 23 Roller Bearings 170 Routine of Superintendent 14, 15 Routing Clerk's Location 12 Routing System. . . 16, 44, 45, 46, 48, 50, 60, 63, 64 S Samples for Analysis 110, 111, 112, 117 Scrap, Use of 103, 104, 105, 110, 112, 113, 115, 116 Selecting Machines for Work 165, 175, 197 Selecting Workman and Assistants, 9, 14, 19, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 40, 42 Selling 9, 162, 205 Selling Price 9, 11, 84, 151, 152, 209 INDEX 219 PAGE Semi-Steel 110, 111, 114 Seven Points of Success 9, 10 Shaking out Molds 128, 132, 157, 158 Shafting 169 Shot Iron 115 Shipping Date Promise 63, 64, 65, 66 Shrinky Iron 105, 108, 123 Silicon 104, 105, 106, 108, 109, 110 Skim Gate. 124 Slag 113, 114, 116 Smooth Castings 133, 135 Smoke Prevention 173 Soft Iron 105, 106, 107, 108, 116 Southern and Northern Irons 108 Specialty Workers 40, 42 Spongy Iron 105, 106, 108, 109, 115, 123 Squeezer Molding Machine 129, 130, 149, 150 Stealing .- 34, 35 Steel Scrap 110, 111, 114 Stimulating Foreman and Assistants 14, 19, 23, 29, 207 Stone Coal 1, 26 Stops, Tool 176, 177, 193 Stove Plate 106, 108 Strength 98, 99, 105, 106, 110 Studding 201 Success vs. Luck 9, 10 Sulphur 103, 107, 109, 110, 111, 114, 115, 116 Superintendent's Duties, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 24, 34, 48, 49, 183 Superintendent's Office 12 Tapping Machine 200 Tapping and Threading 94, 95, 99, 100, 200 Testing Tool Steel 181 Threads, U. S. and V 99, 100 Through Holes 94, 95 Time Checking 70, 72, 73, 74, 76 Time Schedule 63, 64, 65, 66 Time Slips 71 220 SHOP AND FOUNDRY MANAGEMENT PAGE Time Studies, 33, 39, 40, 42, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 144, 150, 160, 164, 165, 166, 167, 192, 198 Tool Steel 177, 181, 199 Tool Holders 177 Tool Pressure 179, 191 Tool Shape 182 Transmission of Power 169 Training Mechanics 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Traveling Men 205, 209 Treatment of Employes and Assistants .27, 36, 38 Turning 147, 179, 181 Turret Tool Post 176 U Understudies 27 V Venting 123, 131 Vertical Milling 191 W Wage Checking 72, 73, 74 Wage Rates 19, 35, 36, 39, 42, 158 Wages High, Payroll Low 19, 27 Watching Departments 13, 14, 15, 19, 34, 73, 74 Weak Iron 105, 106, 109, 110 Wheel Turning 164 Weight Checking 20, 21 SEP W