December 10, 191 6 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



Demand for Speed in Gluing-Up Operations 



Lack of Speed in the Glue Room Is Not Neces- 

 sarily Essential to a High Grade Product 



VER since the use of laminated woodwork be- 

 gan, the operations of the glue-room have 

 tended to hold back the process of getting out 

 the completed goods. Of course, the finishing room has 

 contributed its part to the delay, and in connection with 

 the manufacture of high-grade cabinet work, where 

 many coats of varnish have to be applied and rubbed 

 dow^n successively, the finishing is the most time-consum- 

 ing process of all. But the gluing-up work certainly 

 does its share to make progress through the factory slow. 



The interest- 

 ing thing about 

 this end of the 

 work, too, is that 

 slowness and 

 quality work 

 have always 

 been associated 

 in the minds of 

 most manufac- 

 turers, as well as 

 artisans hand- 

 ling that feature 

 of the proposi- 

 tion. The gen- 

 eral tendency 

 has been to as- 

 sume that if the 

 work were not 

 rushed, it would 

 be done well. 

 There is no dis- 

 position to quarrel with this "safety first" idea, for while 

 slowness is not necessarily a guarantee of good work, 

 it is certain that rushing the job without regard to the 

 time element will produce poor panels. 



However, modern-day factory methods do not dis- 

 regard the fact that speed is one of the most desirable 

 features to be sought. The twentieth century superin- 

 tendent endeavors, without sacrificing quality, to get a 

 little more hurry-up into his plant system, because he 

 realizes that the cost of running the factory is expressed' 



principally in terms of time the payroll, insurance, taxes 



and practically all overhead expenses — and that cutting 

 down the time required to perform a certain task is there- 

 fore the best way to insure a low^er cost of production 

 and a reduced burden. 



It is certainly true that it is not necessary to use the 

 old, slow methods of manufacturing glued-up work any 

 more than it is necessary to use hand-methods in the 



glue-room in place of the modern machinery which is 

 now available. Everybody knows that it is better to 

 spread glue mechanically than by hand, and that the big 

 hydraulic presses now used in the principal plants are 

 better than the hand presses formerly available. And it 

 is also true that improvement can be made which will 

 cut down the time required to manufacture glued-up 

 work without in the least destroying or interfering with 

 the production of quality. 



The whole proposition is based on accuracy. TTie old- 

 time factory man 

 was working 

 along lines estab- 

 lished by expe- 

 rience. He did 

 not have any 

 fixed rules to 

 guide him in the 

 productioji of 

 his stock but he 

 knew that by 

 following a cer- 

 tain plan he 

 would be pretty 

 sure to get good 

 work. This 

 meant, necessa- 

 rily, that there 

 was a consider- 

 able margin of 

 safety provided 

 at every step, for 

 since approximations were constantly resorted to, these 

 had to err on the side of safety rather than in the other 

 direction. Consequently a little more time than neces- 

 sary, rather than a little less, was allowed. 



If it w^as a question of whether veneers and corestock 

 were dry or not, the plan decided upon was to wait 

 until there was no doubt about it before using the mate- 

 rial. Everyone is familiar with the fact that many wood- 

 workers, especially piano manufacturers, formerly carried 

 immense stocks of lumber, so as to be able to use only 

 material which was five or six years old, and had been 

 thoroughly air-dried. This was, indeed, one way of 

 getting dry lumber, but, of course, the cost of investing in 

 a stock of that size was tremendous, the interest item 

 alone being great, while loss through depreciation of 

 grade must also have been something to figure on. The 

 plan which is usually considered satisfactory is to buy 

 lumber that is pretty well dried, say from four to six 



^?7— 



SUCCESSFUL P.\XEL PLANT WIIICU, WHILE IT HAS ITS OWN KILN FACILITIES AND 

 DOES' NOT HAVE TO TIE UP A FORTUNE IN LUMBER, IS NOTED 

 FOR ITS EXCELLENT PRODUCT 



