218 



Popular Science Monthly 



"Control Boards" in actual operation in a large automobile factory. Progress on thou- 

 sands of different parts is closely followed, material is provided, and the work is checked 



"schedule tape," mounted at the top of 

 the control board is provided, which in 

 total length equals the number of work- 

 days required to complete one car. It is 

 divided into increments, or small divisions, 

 representing the number of cars to be 

 completed by the date indicated on the 

 tape. This tape is moved one work-day 

 division to the right, each day, so that its 

 reading directly over the zero mark of the 

 control boards specifies the sum total of 

 the cars which should be completed on 

 the particular day. 



In the diagram, the schedule tape reads 

 100 at the zero line, indicating that one 

 hundred of the three hundred and fifty 

 cars in the lot should be completed on 

 the day in which the schedule tape arrives 

 at the position shown. 



The numbers in the upper section of 

 each operation cage indicate the progress 

 of work on the numerous parts and are 

 changed as reports of progress are re- 

 ceived from the factory. For the various 

 operations to be exactly according to 

 schedule, the number posted in the cages 

 should agree with the numbers on the 

 schedule tape immediately above the in- 

 dividual cages. When the numbers 

 posted in the cages are larger than the 

 numbers on the schedule tape immediate- 

 ly above, it means that the progress on 



the part denoted by the particular cage 

 is ahead of schedule, while when the 

 posted number is the smaller, progress is 

 behind schedule and the difiiculty can be 

 investigated at once before there is a 

 serious delay. 



The control board not only definitely 

 indicates the date and size of every shop 

 order which has to be issued, but also 

 shows exactly what progress has been 

 made day by day on ev»^ry part entering 

 into the mechanical construction of the 

 automobile. 



The shop management has thus a con- 

 tinual record and can push or retard work 

 on any part or on any operation so as 

 to efficiently and economically maintain 

 schedule. In a lot of but three hundred 

 and fifty cars, this means a reliable guide 

 and record for as many as ten million 

 separate operations. 



The control board presupposes manu- 

 facturing under the most approved scien- 

 tific methods. Photographs of it are 

 taken frequently as permanent records of 

 the progress, often competitive, made by 

 the various departments. 



Control boards are now being installed 

 in one of the largest of the Government 

 arsenals to govern and "speed up" as 

 much as possible the production of im- 

 peratively needed munitions of war. 



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