l:\GlXl■:l:Rl.\^; ri.iwi.w; ii>u M.ixri-.u iih'i-. 547 



l".\( loKv .\Ki<\\(.i:Mi;Nr 



Before (li'srril)iii^ our |)l. inning work mori' in (k'tail, a fi-w wonlN 

 should Ik- said al)oul our arrani;rnu-nl of tnachiiu' (-(iiiipnu'iit. Our 

 iiu'tal working maoliiiu- (U-parliiu-nts are laid out in siieh rnanuer 

 that the niaiuif.u'lurin^i; oiK-ratioiis arc grouped into departments by 

 class of work or operation and not by class of prcnluct. Kach dejiart- 

 mcnt jx'rfornis some definite kind of operation, and each handii's all 

 the parts that re(|uire that particular operation. Thus we ha\c 

 punch press departments, screw machine departments, a milling 

 department, a drilling department, etc. 



The parts prcnluced in these specializetl departments pass in proper 

 sequence through all the departments that have work to do on them 

 and finally reach the assemlily departments, where they are made 

 up into finished units of apparatus. 



The ad\antages of this metho<l of di\-i(ling ni.mulacturing work 

 are that it minimizes investment by avoiiling duplication, increases 

 machine acti\ity, provides greater flexibility of equipment, and 

 permits the training of unskilled labor to the |ioint of full productivity 

 in the shortest time. 



The conclusion may have been reached that departmental groupings 

 by classes of machines such as ha\'e been described is all right for a 

 business of little \-ariety. but that in such a large endeavor haTidling 

 so diversified a product, it would seem nearly impossilile to maintain 

 a proper balance of equipment in all the departments. 



As a matter of fact, adjustments are frequently made due to in- 

 creased or decreased demands, and we frequently have to step up or 

 down both our rate of production and our capacity for certain lines 

 of products or certain definite articles. 



To meet this situation, we have capacity data giving the number 

 of hours required by machine operations, assembly operations, etc., 

 for one thousand pieces of each kind of apparatus. With this informa- 

 tion, we can readily compute the increase or decrease in shop ecjuip- 

 ment due to changes in schedules. 



There are, of course, some departures from this general practice of 

 functionalizing our machine departments in the case of certain products 

 that require a large amount of special machinery. In these cases, 

 the few "general use" type machines required are grouped with the 

 special machinery into a department for the complete manufacture of 

 the article. 



This special practice is also carried out in connection with the 

 manufacture of certain piece parts. These cases are confined to a 



