2 6o WILLIAM D. ENNIS 



materials in pounds or feet, product in units of weight or 

 measure, sales in gross — furnish a key to the efficiency of the 

 department chief, the superintendent, and the salesman, re- 

 spectively; but the cost of raw materials, the value of product, 

 the profits on sales, are the measure of the individual compe- 

 tence of the purchasing agent, the manager, and the capitalist. 

 Into the problem enter at least six factors of personal effi- 

 ciency. 



One of the first lessons in engineering training is that of 

 continuity of records. The operation and economy of machin- 

 ery must be measured from day to day — sometimes from 

 hour to hour. Wastes must be anticipated, and prevented 

 rather than cured. Possible economies must be perceived 

 sufficiently in advance to permit of making the proper prepa- 

 rations to realize them. No possible training could be more 

 typical of what is required from an executive head. The cost 

 clerk discovers these things only after they have passed into 

 history. His lessons are learned too late. If the engineer or 

 superintendent is pre-eminently obtuse, the cost clerk may be 

 able to tell him things that he has himself overlooked; but 

 the average competent man of the former class will have gone 

 through the battle and have gained his experience before the 

 figures reach the office. He learns, as well, the tangible value 

 of an experiment or a test. It may be worth a considerable 

 loss merely to know and recognize the conditions which make 

 for such loss. 



In every industry, there must be an ability to retain a 

 constant record of, and acquaintance with, the variations in 

 efficiency. The yearly balance sheet is not sufficient. The 

 economy of the plant must be known for each month, each 

 week, and each day. This knowledge must include the con- 

 sumption, production, and disposition, in units of quality 

 and of value. The working day should not close without a 

 calculation of what the record of that day has been, in every 

 department. It is never impossible to obtain the data for 

 such knowledge, although at times it may be expensive and a 

 matter of some complication to do so. The system, if one of 

 approximation, must be fair, so that consumption of raw 

 materials can be apportioned pro rata with output without 



