20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



March 10. 1922 



Most concerns engaged in manufacturing have come to realize 

 that time is the element upon which depend all costs and all pro- 

 duction; time is always working. When used effectively through- 

 out a manufacturing plant it is working for both the firm and the 

 employee, but when wasted or misspent the result is an increase 

 of labor cost and overhead expense; in other words, a loss of pro- 

 duction and profit to both employer and employee. When profits 

 consistent with the amount of capital invested are not forthcoming, 

 a manufacturing enterprise loses its attraction and incentive, and 

 eventually operations must be discontinued. 



As a matter of fact, the use of time and how it is accounted for 

 are the determining factors in the adjustment of any industrial 

 plant to conditions which prevail today — namely, increased labor 

 and material costs, shorter working hours and keen competition. 



To account for every factory worker's time at a plant, and how 

 to know just how much of it is spent productively on various jobs 

 and operations, is indeed a problem, especially to those engaged in 

 operating woodworking establishments. A practical and effective 

 solution which has been adopted by many large manufacturers 

 consists of an installation of modern time-recording equipment. 



If you wish to run a plant smoothly with every job or operation 

 planned in advanced and scheduled so that all departments will 

 correlate perfectly — to keep a check on the factory to see that it 

 does not lose time by waiting on one department or another for 

 delivery of parts, raw material, etc. — to know exactly how much 

 time is being spent by each department productively and non- 

 productively — to know exactly how each operator's time is divided 

 between various jobs and whether or not his work is up to standard 

 of production — to know just how much was day work and how 

 much piece work or bonus time, etc. — to know just how much wages 

 each employee is entitled to — to determine accurately the cost of 

 every part or article manufactured — then to do all these things 

 accurately, impartially and inexpensively, you must have some 

 form of time-recording. 



A certain extensive plant decided to install a time-recording sys- 

 tem, and this article tells of the methods employed. 



The System Installed 



They installed a complete Stromberg electric automatic time 

 system, this consisting of sixteen "in-and-out" time recorders, 

 forty job time recorders, sixty secondary or wall clocks and a 

 system of factory signal horns and bells, all operated electrically 

 from a central master clock. 



The master clock is automatically wound by the same electric 

 current that operates the recorders, clocks and signal horns. Since 

 this is the only clock works in the entire system, and as the second- 

 ary units are automatically regulated by it, perfect synchronism of 

 time is obtained throughout the plant. The recorders and other 

 secondary apparatus, not having any delicate clock works, but 

 being driven instead by powerful electro magnets, operates under 

 any condition of dust, vibration, varying temperature, or abuse, 

 with practically no maintenance or repair expense. Electric cur- 

 rent for operating the system is supplied by batteries, which are 

 automatically charged from the regular 220 volt electric light 

 current. 



A record of the exact time of arrival and departure of employees 

 is made at the "in-and-out" recorders. Railings around these 

 recorders, and aisles leading past each one, serve to prevent con- 

 fusion and crowding at registering time. Each employee has a 

 weekly attendance card. These cards are kept in numbered pockets 

 of convenient "out" racks near the "in-and-out" recorder, while 

 the employee is not on duty. When a workman comes in the morn- 

 ing he takes his card from the "out" rack, inserts it in the recorder 

 and, by pressing a lever, stamps the exact tiiiu' on it. He then 



places it in a similar "in" rack near the foreman's desk, where 

 it remains until he is ready to ring out at night. By having these 

 cards so filed close to the foreman's desk the foreman is able to 

 determine at a glance how many employees have not reported for 

 work, and thus he can rearrange their work and plan the day's 

 operations accordingly. The cards can be used for ringing out and 

 in at lunch also, but this practice is not followed at the plant in 

 (luestion. The lunch period is only a half hour, and most of the 

 employees eat liincli at or near the plant. 



Reward for Promptness 



As an inducement for every ein|iliiy<'e to be in his respective 

 department and on the job full time, the company adds an hour to 

 the day 's ]>ay of every workman who registers " in " on or before 

 7:20 a. ni. — ten minutes before actual starting time — and "out" 

 on or after 5:0.5 p. m. — five minutes after actual quitting time. 

 There are many advantages in this plan. While it does not exactly 

 penalize the individual who prefers to register in and out "on 

 the dot," or on barely enough margin of time to avoid being docked 

 for lateness, it rewards those who are willing to get in a few min- 

 utes early and remain a few minutes late in order to be 

 in working togs and engaged in productive work the full nine hours. 

 An hour's bonus pay for fifteen minutes' extra time is, of course, 

 equivalent to <iuadruple pay for that period. This plan also has 

 the effect of i)reventing over-congestion at registering time. 



In order to make it easy for the pay-roll clerk to readily distin- 

 guish between different registered time entries — these ten minutes 

 or more early, those barely on time and those late — the recorder 

 is adjusted to print each class on a different line on the attendance 

 card. At exactly 7:20 a. m. the mechanism automatically changes 

 so that all registrations before that time appear in space No. 1 on 

 the card, and after that time they appear in space No. 2. At 7:30 

 there is another change so that late arrivals are registered in 

 another space. No. 3. A similar automatic classification is made 

 at ringing-out time. Th» recorders automatically set themselves 

 to the proper "in" and "out" spaces for all classes, and also 

 automatically distinguish tardiness and other irregularities of all 

 employees. This plan greatly facilitates the work of the pay-roll 

 clerk in taking off time from the attendance record cards and 

 entering it on the employee's pay-roll card, as he need only deal 

 with the exceptions. 



Work Order Time Cards 



The starting and stopping time of each job is stamped on work- 

 order and time card with job time recorders. These recorders are 

 distributed throughout the various departments of the plant. The 

 work-order time cards are compiled from current cutting bills and 

 operating records by the departmental planning clerk, and filed in 

 proper rotation in pockets (there being a pocket labeled for each 

 machine in the machine department) on the dispatch board. When 

 a workman i)resents his attendance card in the morning he is given 

 a work -order time card, which is then stamped with the starting 

 time on the recorder. When the operation designated on the card 

 is completed the workman returns his card to be stamped with 

 stopping time and gets another card. This route continues just 

 like clock work throughout the day, and at quitting time the last 

 card is turned in and stamped, regardless of whether or not the 

 operation is finished. If unfinished, the space under "continued" 

 in thi' lower left-hand corner is check-marked and a new card is 

 issued next day for the completion of the operation. 



Up-to-date unit standards of tjme for all operations are kept on 

 file at the desk of the planning clerk. The unit standard for the 

 kind of work designated is entered in the proper column of every 

 work-order time card, and by multiplying this by the number of 

 pieces or units in .-i run, the total st:in(l:ird time is found. A cler- 



