SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT AND THE LUMBER 



INDUSTRY 



By Prof. R. C. BRYANT 



ifCIENTIFIC management applied to manufacturing industries has re- 

 ceived much attenton during the last few years and has met with signal 

 success. The central idea in this movement has been the increase in 

 efficiency of the individual workman and of the shop, by collecting and re- 

 ducing to a standard, facts concerning the best practice among the competent 

 workers performing a given class of work; by the introduction of modern 

 types of machinery operated at its highest eflBciency; and by improvement of 

 factory organization and supervision. 



Individual lumbermen have done much thinking along these lines and 

 have put some of the principles into practice. However, as a whole, the 

 industry has not profited greatly from work of this character, for it is still a 

 mooted question to what extent scientific management can be applied to the 

 industry. 



It is doubtful if there is any close analogy between the workshop, or 

 factory with its specialized product, continuous operation without reference 

 to climatic conditions ; and the camp in the forest with its constantly changing 

 crews, with climatic conditions which may hinder, or prevent operation for a 

 certain period, and where every acre logged and every tree felled may present 

 a new problem. 



At the plant of the lumberman methods of manufacture can be standard- 

 ized to a degree at least ; the labor is more stable and the work may be under 

 cover and thus adverse weather conditions overcome. However, even in the 

 mill the problem is not so simple as in a factory. Each log presents a new 

 problem to the sawyer who aims at the best results, because the position, 

 number and character of defects are rarely the same in any two logs. 



The lumber industry in the past with its abundant and cheap raw material 

 did not devote a great deal of time to the development of the finer points of 

 organization and administration, especially in connection with the logging end 

 of the business. The time has now come for the lumberman to perfect his 

 organization and eliminate all wastes, if he is to succeed in a business in 

 which the price of raw material is constantly advancing, labor charges increas- 

 ing and its efficiency decreasing. 



The methods of work outlined for manufacturing plants may not prove 



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