NovonibiT 10. 1!»17 



Hardwood Record — Veneer 6c Panel Sect 



ion 



27 



An Efficiency Problem 



Difficulties Which the Successful Veneer Manufacturer Must Overcome. 



HERE IS AN EFFICIENCY problem mixed up 

 with the conditions of temperature and moisture 

 peculiar to the veneer cutting industry Author- 

 ities on accident prevention point to the veneer 

 industry as being hazardous. They claim the hazard in 

 the veneer plant is three times as graat as that in the 

 average machine shop, and base this claim on the state- 

 ment that risk companies charge three times the premium 

 for casualty insurance in veneer plants that is charged for 

 the average machine shop. 



In a safety appliance supplement of American Indus- 

 tries devoted to accident prevention, the point is made 

 that many accidents in the veneer plant are due to 

 fatigue resulting largely from abnormal conditions of 

 temperature and humidity. It is recommended that 

 veneer manufacturers take some steps to improve and 

 regulate the temperature and humidity — a thing much 

 easier said than done. 



If fatigue is a factor in accidents, and the abnormal 

 temperature and moisture conditions around the veneer 

 plant contribute materially to the list of accidents, it 

 naturally follows that all this is a bigger factor yet in the 

 matter of efficiency. No workman is efficient when he 

 is made uncomfortable by his surroundings. 



Peculiarities of the veneer plant in this respect are 

 more noticeable in winter than in summer. We have 

 then the extreme of the outside w^eather as a condition 

 surrounding the getting in of blocks and putting them in 

 vats and taking them out. Then in the cutting room is 

 the moisture incident to cutting the hot boiled blocks, 

 which sometimes make a fog so thick that it is difficult 

 to see through it. It does damage to machinery and 

 makes for discomfort all around. Then further along 

 the veneer goes into the drying room with a high tem- 

 perature and a variable humidity, and finally into the 

 glue room where, if standard glue is used, there is a high 

 temperature with odor and moisture incident to gluing. 



Each department of the veneer plant has its own 

 problems in temperature and humidity. The veneer cut- 

 ting room is a difficult one to keep warm, and one in 

 which it is almost impossible to preserve normal condi- 

 tions of moisture. About the best practical combination 

 so far set up is that of a single story cutting room with 

 the roof high up and provided with a Texas, or with saw- 

 tooth windows that can be ventilated, and with a dry hot 

 air blast to furnish warmth. 



In the drying room the problem is complicated by the 

 fact that most all plans and calculations center on getting 

 efficiency out of the drying process itself rather than out 

 of the men who handle the material. Generally, there is 

 plenty of warmth around the drier and the problem is 

 one of ventilation and temperature. Moreover, since 

 there is no standard or generally used type of enclosure 



or room for driers, each plant has its own peculiarities, 

 and no general suggestion for improvement would be 

 applicable. One idea to be put forth and worked 

 toward is that of getting as near normal conditions of 

 both temperature and humidity as possible. 



The same story, with further complications, is met 

 with in the glue room, with this difference: the glue room 

 is a place calling for thoughtful and efficient work and for 

 that reason it is more important to secure whatever com- 

 fort is practicable than in the drying room, where ihe 

 actual work is merely that of handling the material. Men 

 in the glue room should work in comfort and be relieved 

 from conditions making for unusual fatigue if they are 

 to do good work. It is practically impossible to get ideal 

 conditions in the old glue room, which used standard glue 

 stock, because there must be no drafts and the tempera- 

 ture must be kept reasonably high In many cases, how- 

 ever, the temperature can be reduced to, say, from 70 to 

 80 degrees. The contention of some that a temperature 

 of 1 00 to 110 degrees contributes to better work in the 

 glueroom is losing ground. Later experiments have 

 demonstrated that good results can be accomplished at 

 a temperature as low as 70 degrees in winter and there 

 is not much call to go above 90 degrees. So the tempera- 

 ture may be kept within bounds, leaving only the prob- 

 lem of ventilation and eliminating offensive odors. 



We are discovering that it is practical to vantilate the 

 glue room without producing a draft. Almost any 

 responsible maker of fans and ventilating apparatus can 

 furnish the veneer man with plans and propositions to 

 ventilate a glue room to supply wholesome air without 

 producing objectionable drafts. 



Another thing that is contributing to more comfort in 

 the glue room is the use of vegetable glues, which do not 

 require exacting temperature conditions, nor do they 

 bring with them the offensive odor of the old glues. The 

 veneer manufacturer who tries to be up-to-date can solve 

 most of the problems of the glue room and of other 

 work rooms about the place in the matter of tempera- 

 ture and moisture to obtain comfort and reduce the 

 fatigue of bad surroundings. It is simply a matter of 

 going about it in an earnest analytical way to find the 

 remedy and apply it to these departments. 



Veneer and Panel Meeting 



The .Natlnniil Vi-npor and Vnnol Miiniifnrtiircrs' .\».«oclatlon will hiil<I 

 Its annual convpntlon at Ihn .Mitllturlnm hotol. Chlongo. 111., on TiiesrtnJ . 

 DoicmbiT 11. Si-orotar.v Ilnwanl S. Yonng has nlroixly arrancpd wvpriil 

 InteroRtliiK fi'Utiiros for thp program, anionc which nro a talk on 'rhant: 

 liiK I'lcas of KHiclon.y." h.v E. B. Sann<l<Ts : a talk on srhi.llnB I'.v Mr. 

 Hinnncr, of the fhlniKo Whofl and Mannfncturlnc Conipnn.v. and a inik 

 on Tnlfoini Cost Systems," l>y W. V. l-llnt. spcrotary of thf Mlllwork 

 Cost Inforinatlou Unrcan. 



\ Piiti-h hinch will proluibly li.- sorvod In the mcotinc room at noon, 

 in cird.T to savp timo. and It l.s fxppclid that there will ho a Rood «t- 

 londancp. Vineor ami panel manufaetiirers wh.i are not memhera of the 

 assotlntlon will be innde very welcome. 



