i Problems in the Yeneer Business 



HANDLING THE • OVERS ' AND -OUTS' 

 A corolLiry of the proposition that one way to make more mouey 

 out of the veneer business is to utilize as far as possible all waste 

 material, is the proper handling and use of stock which is rejected 

 for a particular job for which material is being cut. The assortment 

 and storage, and later on the withdrawal, of the material manufac- 

 tured in this way has become one of the most important parts of the 

 veneer manufacturer's business, and the man who is developing it 

 properly is making money. 



It goes without saying that in cutting veneers for a given use, a 

 lot of material will be produced which is not available for that par- 

 ticular purpose. For example, if 60"xl8" panels are to be made up, 

 the production of the face veneers for this order will involve turn- 

 ing out a good many which are defective, and which cannot go into 

 that work. They may be used later on, however, either as backs or 

 in smaller panels to which they may be ai)plied by being cut to dimen- 

 sion in such a way as to enable the defective part to be eliminated. 

 There is nothing new in this, of course, but the point lies in the 

 methods used in preparing for use the material which goes temporarily 

 into the discard. If it is simply stored, and the quality, character and 

 amount of it held carelessly in mind and no special effort is made to 

 move it as rapidly as possible, trouble piles up invariably. The so-called 

 efficiency engineer would have many opportunities to take a dig at 

 the veneer man who used a system of that kind. Yet it is not unusual 

 for veneers to be treated in just this slip-shod way. 



The assortment of the individual pieces as they come to the storage- 

 room, according to size, grade and character, should be as carefully 

 done as though the stock were to be used immediately in an important 

 job. The fact that such treatment will open the way for more rapid 

 use than otherwise is a sufficient reason for the employment of this 

 method, while the very item of storage space, while not a pressing 

 factor, is nevertheless one that comes into play. It is needless to take 

 up valuable space with material that could be gotten out of the way, 

 as well as to tie up capital in stock of this kind when it could be 

 turned over quickly by intelligent handling. 



The man in charge of this department should be one chosen for 

 intelligence and judgment, and should be one of the high-priced men 

 in the plant. The idea of referring that kind of work to a cheap or 

 inexperienced employe, because it is not regarded as a "productive" 

 job, is a fallacy. There is no place where a manufacturer can lose 

 money, any more rapidly than in this part of the plant tlirough the 

 ineffieieni; or unintelligent handling of stored material. 



The approved plan for getting the most out of this proposition 

 consists, first, of getting the right man in charge of the work. He 

 should be, in fact, a sort of assistant superintendent. He should 

 know what kind of jobs are being handled, and what kind of ma- 

 terial is used in each department, so that he may know more ac- 

 curately where the material he has can be used to best advantage. 

 When unused veneers come to him from the cutting department, and 

 are separated according to the plan suggested above, they should be 

 stored in compartments or racks so as to make access to them easy, 

 and enable the division lines to be plainly in evidence. 



There should be no rule of thumb method about it. A carcf'vil 

 record should be kept of all the stock that goes into the department , 

 and additions to it and withdrawals from it should be made up daily, 

 so as to show at all times just how much and what kind of stock is 

 on hand. A copy of these records should be on file in the office as 

 well a.s in the .department, so that if the manufacturer sees that his 

 stocks arc getting unwieldly steps may be taken to reduce the amount. 

 This system of maintaining a constantly corrected record is alwo- 

 lutely necessary to the proper handling of reserve stocks. 



The head of the storage department should receive a co|)y of all 

 the cutting orders sent to the superintendent. From this he can 

 determine whether any of his stocks are suitable for use, and can 

 select the veneers which are available. Sometimes this involves cut- 

 ting to dimensions or other operations, but the plan is easily worked, 

 as the veneers provided are delivered to tlie superintendent with .-i 



statement of tlu' number and quality and the work roquivcd to be 

 done upon them. Thus the superintendent gets in short order an 

 idea of the amount of new cutting which must be done, and need not 

 produce more material than is necessary for the work in hand. 



"I had a lot of trouble in that department," said a well-kuoun 

 member of the trade recently, "because I didn't have the right man 

 in charge of it. Stock kept piling up; it was badly arranged, and 

 before long the room was crowded to the ceiling. It looked as 

 though we simply couldn 't get the pile down to respectable propor- 

 tions. Finally 1 adopted heroic measures, and put in charge of the 

 work a bright young chap who was familiar with the general busi- 

 ness of the plant, and who knew the practical details of manufacture. 

 He went through oUr stocks, sorted them more carefully, made a 

 record of what was on hand, and began to weed out the stuff that 

 could be used. Before long the pile began to lose its top-heavy pro- 

 portions, and in the course of a few months it was lower than it had 

 been for some time. 



' ' That fellow is earning his pay and a good deal besides, while the 

 other man was costing me money. I am getting full value out of my 

 stocks and am putting them to use within a reasonable period after 

 being cut. With the cost of material rising higher all the time, there 

 is no good reason for tying up a lot of needed capital in veneers 

 which are not being held for the use of a customer. 



' ' The man who is best fitted for the position is one \vho knows 

 the. business — who has intelligence and can think out plans for using 

 the stock. Sometimes a rejected back veneer will do as a face veneer 

 on another job, by cutting it down to a smaller size. Other plans can 

 be used to utilize the stock, and the better head a man has on his 

 shoulders, the more of those plans will he evolve. ' ' 



The question of the value of material of this kind and the price 

 at which it should be figured into an order of panels, is occasionally 

 a pretty hard one to solve. When veneers are cut up for use on a 

 given order, there are a considerable number of rejects, which are 

 absolutely unavailable on the work. One of two things is done. 

 The veneers used on that order are either charged for on the basis 

 of the cost of all the material cut, so that the rejects involve nothing 

 except the labor and handling expenses, or the possible value of the 

 rejected veneers is figured and that amount is deducted from the 

 price of those used out of the lot. This is an unsafe proposition, 

 however, and can hardly be recommended. Much of the material may 

 turn out to be absolutely worthless, even though the veneer man may 

 manage to make use of most of Jt later on. 



"Now, then, assuming that the original cost of the veneers has 

 been taken care of by the sale of the good stuff which was produced 

 at the time, on what basis are you to sell the rejects, which are cut 

 to dimension, worked in for backs and otherwise utilized, one, two or 

 half a dozen months later? I personally believe that we ought to 

 charge for them on the basis of the original cost of manufacture. 

 If we put them in on any other basis, we run the risk of demoraliz- 

 ing the business, and making it impossible to get the prices that 

 ought to be i>aid for stock of the same kind which had 'to be cut 

 fresh for the order. We can shade the price enough, perhaps, to give 

 the consumer a better proposition than it would otherwise be, but 

 it is bad for the veneer nuin to give away whatever profit he may 

 make on the rehandling of the stock which has been held in storage.'" 

 The question is an interesting one, as the endeavor of the trade to 

 reduce losses of nuxterial will undoubtedly result in a nuich greater 

 percentage of the sum total of veneers manufactured, especially those 

 iif high cla.ss being made use of finally, than heretofore, when reduc 

 lion of waste was a prolilem not given much consideration. There 

 is always a temptation to throw away the margin secured by making 

 nse of slock of this character; yet for the sake of competitors who are 

 selling veneers and panels at prices based on the cost of stock upon 

 which the full original charges of manufacture and overhead expense 

 arc made, as well as in order to conserve whatever additional profits 

 may be secured on the business, it is by all odds licst to sell (lie 

 ;;oi)ds at a fair market price. — G. D. C. Jr. 



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