i-iitiiiiipe.- 111. lirj: 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



The Layout of a Woodworking Plant 



from the Standpoint of Safety 



and Efficiency 



*By Btirritt A . Parks, 



Byron E. Parks & Son, Grand Rapids, Mich. 



So much has been written of late coneerning safety and efiieiene.v 

 in manufacturing institutions that it would be presumptuous on 

 my part to assume to advance any new principles or ideas along 

 these lines. It may be of some value, however, to place emphasis 

 on the interrelation between safety and efficiency in laving out a 

 woodworking plant. 



The woodworking industry, as is well known, is one of the oldest 

 in existence, and yet in many ways it has been slow in development 

 and loath to adopt new principles of manufacturing. The principal 

 causes of this condition are that many of the men in the industry 

 are of the pioneer type who have grown up in the trade and are to 

 a certain extent satisfied with conditions as tliey exist and also 

 because technically trained men in the executive positions are few 

 and far between. The development of practically all modern indus- 

 tries to their present states of efficiency has been largely due to 

 the technically trained engineer and it is only in recent years that 

 the engineer's influence has been felt in the industry. 



The majority of woodworking plant executives do not full.v ap- 

 preciate the intimate relation existing between safety and efficiency 

 in the designing of their plants or the production of their product. 

 It may be stated as a maxim that what is done to promote safety 

 for the employee or plant will also increase efficiency. Accidents 

 cannot help but have a demoralizing effect upon the emplovees, 

 depending in amount upon the seriousness of the accidents, their 

 frequency, and the extent to which the employees learn of acci- 

 dents throughout the plant. 



Management Must Promote Safety 

 The attitude of the management is always retlet-ted throughout 

 the organization and a management which is indifferent to the 

 adoption of safet.y measures and the promotion of accident preven- 

 tion may expect a smaller production per man, a greater spoilage 

 of materials, a greater labor turnover, increased overhead, and a 

 general lack of esprit de corps on the part of all employees, on which 

 a maximum of production and effieienc.y in manufacturing so much 

 depends. 



Safety promotion, as I take it, not only considers the preven- 

 tion of accidents to employees, but also takes cognizanee of the 

 prevention of accident or loss to plant and equipment. We may 

 therefore apply the principles of safety and efficiency from the 

 lumber yard right through to the shipping room. 



Much thought may well be expended on the layout of a lumber 

 yard, although in many cases I am inclined to believe it receives 

 the least attention of any part of the plant. A proper arrangement 

 of sidings, storage yards, dry kilns, routing of lumber into the 

 plant, fire protection, etc, will pay excellent dividends on the studv 

 and expense involved in obtaining the best solution of the problem 

 that the site will permit. In the first place, economy in purchasing 

 will dictate the size of the lumber storage facilities, which should 

 probably hold a year's supply. This will allow of taking advantage 

 of market conditions and avoid dela.vs incident to transportation 

 difficulties. To my mind the ideal storage yard should be equipped 

 throughout with industrial trackage laid parallel with the receiving 

 siding. With this arrangement lumber is unloaded and sorted di- 

 rectly onto small lumber trucks on "bunks" and then bv means of 



* Address delii'ered before Woodworking Section. Eleventh Annual National 

 Safety Congress. Detroit. Mich.. August 28 to Sept. i, ig2j. 



properly located transfer tracks the truck loads are placed in the 

 storage ready to be taken to the dry kilns. 



Placing the Dry Kilns 



The dry kilns should be so placed in a battery as to be readil.v 

 served by the same system of transfer tracks that serve the storage 

 .vard. A dry storage shed of ample capacity, also equipped with 

 trackage, will allow for an accumulation of dry material and thus 

 avoid delays in receiving lumber at the cut-off saws. 



The same system of transfer tracks that serves the storage yard, 

 kilns, and dry storage may be advantageouslv extended to the 

 cut-off saws, where there should be provided hydraulic or screw 

 operated lumber lifts. 



It will be apparent that the arrangement of storage yard, kilns, 

 dry storage, and cut-off saws outlined above will necessitate but 

 one handling of the lumber from the railroad car until placed on 

 the table of the cut-off saw. The efficiency in handling lumber and 

 the decrease in opportunities for accident in this part of the plant 

 are self-evident. This arrangement has the further decided advan- 

 tage in that in case of fire in the storage yard the truck loads of 

 lumber ma.v be quickly moved, partially isolating the fire and allow- 

 ing for access to same by whatever fire fighting methods are avail- 

 able. 



If the lumber storage .yard is not equipped with trackage the 

 height of lumber piles should be limited to 18 or 20 feet with spaces 

 between as ample as possible for ease in handling lumber to and 

 from the piles and for access of fire fighting equipment in case of 

 fire. 



The receiving and handling of lumber should probablv be given 

 the greatest thought in providing transportation facilities to and 

 from the plant, yet railroad sidings to the power plant for the de- 

 livery of machinery and coal, and to the shipping room for shipping 

 the finished product, should receive careful consideration, keeping 

 in mind that sidings to the lumber storage, power plant, and ship- 

 ping room should have separate access to the main tracks, if pos- 

 sible, so that switching may be done on any siding without its 

 being necessary to disturb the cars on any other. 



Let Use Govern Types of Buildings 



The type of buildings for any manufacturing plant should be 

 carefully chosen to suit the purposes for which the.v are intended. 

 In the past the purpose of a manufacturing building seemed to be 

 little else than that of keeping out the weather and supporting the 

 machinery and equipment inside. The modern manufacturing 

 building must comply with several more requirements than those 

 mentioned. A building should not only keep out the weather but 

 should let in plenty of light and ventilation; it should not only 

 just support the loads required of it but should do so with a proper 

 margin of safety and as great an absence of vibration as possible; 

 it should not only provide space for machinery, but should also pro- 

 vide ample space around machinery, with generous aisleways, in 

 that greater efficiency in movement of materials and safety to em- 

 ployees will result; and, in short, it should be designed in advance 

 for the work to be done — not simply built and then attempt to 

 crowd in more machinery and equipment than the building will 

 properly accommodate. 



In order to comply with the above requirements, the building 

 should be so designed that the glass area is a maximum with win- 

 dows extending to the ceilings. Also to insure proper davlighting 



