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Hardwood Record — Veneer & Panel Section 



November 10, 1921 



Industrial Engineers in Woodworking 



By WillJaw Snaith 



Woodworking is at last attracting the services of the indus- 

 trial engineer. Why one of the oldest branches of industry should 

 be among the last to use the technical man in solving its prob- 

 lems is more or less of a mystery. Maybe it wasn't realized that 

 there were problems. More than one executive of the old school 

 has proudly claimed to have no trouble drying lumber in an oven- 

 like contraption that just naturally had to check and caseharden 

 it. Because it always did this more or less and generally more, 

 there wasn't any problem. To an industrial engineer the fact that 

 any system or method has been followed for a long time is suffi- 

 cient cause ot warrant its being looked into for possible improve- 

 ments. The older a method the more likely that it can be im- 

 proved. Of course, this is not always the case, but such an 

 attitude of mind makes for alertness in finding places where further 

 progress may start. 



Of the four divisions of business finance, accounting, selling 



and production it is the last which is the foundation on which 



the others build. Without production there is nothing to finance 

 or sell and no need for records of accounting. 



During the war production regardless of cost w^as the rule and 

 this fact has probably led to the formation of some bad habits 

 among producers w^hich are going to prove costly to eradicate. 

 In the coming years it will be more necessary than ever to study 

 production with a view to reducing costs, and it must be to the 

 industrial engineer that manufacturers must turn for the solution 

 of the problem. From the records prepared by the production 

 department the accountant will be able to get accurate knowledge 

 of costs and the sales-manager the data on which to base prices. 

 Analysis of Product 



The first step in studying production is to know what is to be 

 produced. This may sound somewhat trite, but the mere cata- 

 loguing of all the articles to be made in an average plant serves 

 several purposes and will likely reveal old lines which are obsolete 

 and should be dropped, articles which are so nearly alike that it is 

 unprofitable to continue the distinctions, the main product for 

 w^hich the demand is know^n and new^ lines for which demand is 

 to be created. 



This list will vary from one single article to several hundred or 

 thousand, with the size of the business. After this has been gone 

 over carefully and all deadwood eliminated, a list of all the com- 

 ponent parts of each article is made. In the discussion of stand- 

 ardization we shall see that as far as possible the designs are modi- 

 fied to permit the same part being used in a number of articles. Our 

 third list gives us all the operations on each separate part, in their 

 proper sequence. 



A survey is next made of the machines and tools available for 

 turning out the product. The speeds and feeds are determined and 

 the capacities noted. Their condition is investigated as having a 

 direct bearing on quality. The layout of the whole plant also calls 

 for study under this head. If possible the raw materials should 

 enter at one end and the finished product leave at the other, but 

 in actual practice this condition is a rarely attained ideal. 



The extent to which back-tracking and unnecessary moves can 

 be avoided is usually considerable. It is to be borne in mind in 

 this connection that if the moving of machines is called for, such 

 expense will be incurred but once, while the cost of any addi- 

 tional handling or trucking is a continuing expense that may be 

 sufficient, in even a short time, to pay for the change. 

 Standardization 



The foundation stone of modern manufacturing is standardiza- 

 tion. It is not enough to standardize the product itself; the 

 methods and machines must be standard also, as well as the mate- 

 rials used. To a certain extent the men who do the work must 

 come up to a certain standard, althpugh it is likely that some of 



the steps in this direction by some authorities go further than is 

 necessary. It is the part of wisdom to select men with some re- 

 gard to the work they will be expected to perform, using size and 

 strength for heavy work and skill and experience for the finer 

 lines. It is variously estimated that the cost of breaking in a new 

 employee runs from $50 to $250 and in special cases to much 

 higher figures. Cutting down the labor turnover results in a sav- 

 ing which can almost be measured in dollars and cents. 



In the case of materials, when once the most suitable material 

 has been found, a brief specification covering it is prepared and 

 future orders must conform to this. In the case of small parts, 

 such as nails, screws, bolts and nuts, a complete description is 

 prepared so that no difficulty will be encountered by a firm receiv- 

 ing an order for them in filling it. In these days of specialization 

 there are so many varieties of even the simplest things that the 

 chances are multiplied of getting something sufficiently different, 

 although of the same class, for the variation to be serious. 



After trying out various methods or different series of opera- 

 tions the best and most economical is chosen as the standard and 

 this will be adopted for all future work until a cheaper or better 

 way is devised. The extent to which it will pay to experiment in 

 determining the best method of performing an operation will de- 

 pend on the number of times it is performed. 



The industrial engineer is not usually responsible for matters of 

 design, but as a general thing the establishing of a system of 

 standards will reveal possibilities of changes in existing designs 

 in the direction of further standardization. The same part can 

 perhaps be made to fit into several articles either without change 

 or with only slight modifications. Where a varied line of goods 

 has been made for some time without any special attention to this 

 feature, the standardizing of designs is likely to result in some sur- 

 prising economies. It is not at all uncommon to reduce a diversi- 

 fied list of similar parts to one-quarter or even one-tenth w^ithout 

 perceptibly changing the appearance or in any w^ay detracting 

 from the quality. 



Wage Payment Systems 



It is perhaps not too much to say that without standard times 

 in which operations are to be performed, and rates of pay based 

 thereon, it would be impossible to plan accurately the sequence 

 of a series of operations or to make much better than a guess as 

 to the probable cost. 



What opposition there may be to piece w^ork has its source not 

 in anything inherently wrong with the system itself, but in unfair 

 w^ays in which it is commonly used. Piece rates have been based 

 on past performance without a proper study of that performance 

 to determine whether it represented a fair output produced under 

 proper conditions. Very few men w^ork at a rate more than half 

 that of which they are capable, and the difference between a man 

 merely holding down his job and another actively interested in 

 getting all he can out of it, is surprising. 



If a rate is calculated from the output of an operator working 

 under unstandardized conditions and only moderately interested, 

 there can be only two results. The operator, w^ith only slightly 

 increased effort and taking advantage of the incentive to devise 

 better methods, will increase his production perhaps to double 

 what it was before. 



The man who set the rate, apart from any criticism he may come 

 in for, is bound to feel that the operator did not previously work 

 at a fair rate and almost inevitably the rate w^ill be cut. This w^ill 

 seem like an injustice to the operator and he \vill see to it that he 

 does not further increase his production and thus forestall further 

 cuts. Manifestly under such circumstances it is extremely difficult 

 to reduce costs. 



{Continued on p'if/c 4U) 



