APPENDIX D 

 Labor Productivity in Loading Live Birds 



The techniques and methods used in loading live hirds at farms is 

 universally the same regardless of plant size, crew size, farm size, or 

 geographic location. Moreover, these same techniques have been used for 

 many years. The major activities at the farm in loading are: 



1. Preparation 



a. Truck positioning 



b. Crate positioning 



c. Catching pen positioning 



2. Catching and loading 



a. Driving birds into a catching pen in the poultry house 



b. Catching birds 



c. Passing birds to one or a series of men which moves the 

 birds to the crates located on the truck 



d. Crating the birds 



3. Securing load and leaving farm 



For all loading operations specified in this study more than one 

 load is required. The pickup laborers and foreman stay at tlie job of 

 loading as the several trucks arrive, load, and depart. In the loading of 

 each truck the truck driver is part of the crew. In addition to the above 

 activities the crew must have some time for coffee breaks and the like as 

 regular features of a work day. This time cannot be considered waste 

 time, regardless of the quantity of poultry to be loaded. In this study, 

 this amount of time is specified as 40 minutes per man per day on a full- 

 day basis. Productivity coefficients include this time. 



The daily time records of a New Hampshire assembler were exam- 

 ined and a number of trip observations were taken from them. This firm 

 kept complete time records of all activities of all trucks and all crews 

 with number of men in each crew. From these data the amount of time 

 spent by the crew in picking up and loading poultry was determined, 

 including time for personal needs, and is shown in Table D-1. 



The productivity rates determined under New Hampshire conditions 

 were compared with those in North Carolina, Connecticut, and Maine 

 reports. Henry found that with crews of six men the over-all average 

 time was 5.17 man-hours per 100 crates in on-truck crating. ^ He specified 

 that "Those time requirements include all labor from the time that the 

 crew began unfastening the empty crates on the truck to the time that 

 the crew fastened the last stack of filled crates into place; they also in- 

 clude time spent in getting drinking water and going to rest rooms." 

 Converted to output per man hour this is 860.6 pounds. This is shown in 

 Table D-1 along with the New Hampshire data. 



1 On Truck Crating Reduces Broiler Hauling Costs, William R. Henry, North 

 Carolina State College, Department of Agricultural Economics, A. E. Information 

 Series No. 63, February 1958, pp. 13-15. 



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