How shall the customer's order be received and recorded? 

 How shall the operator reach the called place? 



What combination of plant and method will result in the best 

 service at least cost? 



Interrelation of Method and Equipment Design 



The operating method and the design of the equipment must be 

 considered together. In many cases the design of the equipment must 

 be changed to permit the use of an improved operating method. In 

 other cases redesign of the equipment is not essential to the improve- 

 ment of an operating method but in nearly all cases some change in 

 equipment design or arrangement is desirable to permit the best service 

 and the most economical operation of the method. In the normal 

 evolution of the business, improvements in methods and equipment 

 design follow along concurrently. It is not unusual that the greatest 

 amount of work in connection with the improvement of a method has 

 to do with the study and design or redesign of equipment rather than 

 with the study of the operating method alone. 



Rearrangement of Plant Brought About by Changes in Method 



Various types of switchboard equipment are designed to serve 

 specialized functions in the toll operating room. These various types 

 of equipment must be arranged so that the toll calls can be handled 

 most speedily and economically. Most of the equipment used by 

 operators is provided to make possible the interconnection of a tele- 

 phone with any other telephone wathin the exchange or toll network. 

 In addition, however, certain auxiliary equipment is provided which 

 facilitates such interconnection. At information desks no connection 

 is made between telephones but this equipment is provided to make 

 available to operators and subscribers the telephone numbers required 

 in completing connections. In the long distance office the route desk 

 is provided to perform a similar function in connection with the routing 

 of calls. The various operating methods are designed to use these 

 auxiliary equipments to best advantage and the various items of 

 equipment must, therefore, be arranged in such a manner as to meet 

 different operating conditions as methods are changed. Occasionally 

 an improvement in method makes it possible to eliminate one of these 

 auxiliary equipments. An example of this will be shown below in 

 connection with the combined line and recording method. The 

 manner in which various types of equipment are arranged in the 

 operating room, their proximity to each other, their relative locations 

 on different fioors of the building, the arrangement of the trunks that 



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