166 Materials and Thrir Handling 



absolutely held up by the lack of even the smallest 

 part necessary. The failure to have this one 

 piece ready when needed may delay the finishing 

 of every other piece in the machine. It is, there- 

 fore, in the assembling industries that the problem 

 of scheduling the movement of material (having 

 all of it where it is wanted and when it is wanted) 

 becomes most vital. 



Assembling industries may be direct and involve 

 no steps which do not appear in the final product, 

 as, for instance, the manufacture of shoes; or they 

 may include indirect work and materials which do 

 not appear in the final product, as, for instance, 

 the pattern shop and molding floor in a foundry. 

 Patterns and molds must be made before cast- 

 ings can be produced, but neither is shipped with 

 the product. The principal raw material, pig iron, 

 appears in the castings, but the pattern lumber 

 and molding sand do not appear, although they 

 are absolutely necessary in the production of the 

 output. 



Assembling Industries Require More Hand 

 Work. In an assembling industry, machinery can 

 be used in the production of the separate pieces, 

 but in the assembling of these pieces a large 

 amount of the work must be done by hand. As- 

 sembling industries, as a rule, employ more opera- 

 tives for a given value of output than a continuous 

 industry. It is apparent that, in an assembling 

 industry, it is very important that the departments 

 manufacturing the pieces should he arranged in 



