March 10, 1922 



Hardwood Record — Veneer & Hanel Section 



35 



Efficient Layout for Medium Sized Furniture Factory 



By Alec Williams 



THERE are a great many firms in the furniture manufacturing 

 business that are not in the million dollar class, and as effi- 

 ciency in production methods is just as important a factor 

 in their plants as it is in the factories of the very large concerns, 

 perhaps the plan reproduced herewith will be of interest to them. 

 I have been in a great many furniture factories, big and small, and 

 I consider this about one of the best arranged medium-sized plants 

 I have seen. 



It was not all built at once, but in co-ordinating the various 

 parts the owner of the plant has shown good judgment. Both case 

 goods and chairs are manufactured in this plant. The name of 



the concern the Blank Chair Company — would lead anyone to 



believe that chairs were the only product. They w^ere at one 

 time, but now the company's line embraces quite a range of 

 medium-priced case goods. 



Considerable skill is called for in laying out a plant in which 

 both case goods and chairs are to be manufactured. It is a diffi- 

 cult matter to tell just w^here to separate the machine operations, 

 as a good deal of special equipment is required to prepare chairs 

 for the assembling operations and this equipment would be in the 

 way in the ordinary machine room. 



In this plant ! have reference to, the chairs and case goods are 

 produced without any friction whatever. The stock for the chairs 

 is cut up in the same break out room as that for the case goods 

 and the two pass along together until the chair stock reaches 

 the point where it is ready for the special equipment peculiar to 

 chair work. This equipment is located directly above the ma- 

 chine room shown in the drawing on the second floor. The stock 

 reaches this department by the elevator shown near the break 

 out department. The assembly benches for chairs are located 

 around the walls of the department on the second floor and when 

 the chairs have been assembled they go to the finishing room by 

 the same elevator and thus they do not come in contact with the 

 case goods again until they reach the shipping room. 



Doubling Back Is Minimized 



One of the outstanding features of this plant to my mind is the 

 minimum of doubling back, in spite of the different nature of the 

 stock handled in the machine room. Starting where the lumber 

 first enters on the company's property, at the railway siding shown, 

 it can be piled in the yard if desired, or, it can be taken direct 

 to the dry kilns via the transfer tracks shown. Then when the 



Superintendent's 



office 



ancf 



Drdftinq f?oom 



An Efficiency Layout for a Medium Sized Furniture Factory 



