MILK-PLANT OPERATION. 19 



In the case of the plants using the brush washer there is no definite 

 relation between man-hours used and the size of the plant. It will be 

 seen in the columns ''Number of bottles washed per man-hour" and 

 "Number of man-hours used per 1,000 bottles washed" that there 

 is no regular increase or decrease in those figures with the size of the 

 plants. At small plants using the brush washers the men are usually 

 shifted from one Kind of work to another and the work of bottle 

 washing is not so well systematized as is the case at larger plants. 

 At the plants using the automatic machinery the larger plants are 

 able to economize on labor. On account of the large volume of 

 work of a similar nature that has to be done, such plants naturally 

 use special efforts to eliminate all labor not essential, and use special 

 men for each type of work. 



One of the outstanding points illustrated by the data in Table 6 

 is the large variation in the quantities of labor required at the various 

 plants of similar size using the same type of equipment. For example, 

 at 12 plants washing from 10,000 to 20,000 bottles daily with auto- 

 matic washers, the number of bottles washed per man-hour varies 

 from 780 to 2,169. Apparently the less efficient plants in this group 

 could reduce their labor costs by adopting the methods used at the 

 more efficient plants. The most obvious cause of such variations 

 seems to be the arrangement of the various plants. Many plants 

 are very inconveniently arranged, so that extra men are required to 

 transfer the bottles from place to place, and in many instances some 

 of these men could be eliminated by a rearrangement of the rooms 

 and equipment in the plant. 



It will be noted in the table that at plants washing more than 

 5,000 bottles daily with brush washers the work is done even less 

 economically than at the smaller plants. The average number of 

 bottles washed per man-hour at the larger plants is only 297, while 

 the average for all plants using brush washers is 323. From a study 

 of the figures in Table 6 it seems evident that such plants could operate 

 more economically if they would install automatic bottle washers. 

 In the group of plants washing 10,000 bottles or less daih' with 

 automatic machines, an average of only 1 man-hour is required per 

 1 ,000 bottles washed ; while in the group of plants using brush washers, 

 an average of 3 man-hours is required to wash 1,000 bottles. 



Table 7 shows the average numbei's of bottles washed per hour 

 and per man-hour at 111 plants, using the methods (1) automatic 

 machine, (2) brush washer, and (3) swabbing out with a hand brush. 

 The variations in the man-hour requirements with the various 

 methods are also shown. 



Table 7. — Hours of labor {average) used in xvasMng bottles, also variations in number 

 of bottles ivashed per hour, man-hour, and machirie-hour, at 111 plants iising the different 

 ynethods. 



Method of washing. 



Automatic ma- 

 chine. 



Brush washer. Hand washing. 



Nunilier of plants 56 1 .49 



Number of cities 15 10 



Bottles washed per hour [ 4,628 I 928 



Variation i l,296toll,lll j 233to3,200 



Variation in number of bottles washed per macliino- 



hour ' l,296to 7,916, 233to2,400 



Bottles washed per man-hour 1,0()2 : 323 



Variation 281 to 2,519 200 to SCO 



Man-hours used per 1 ,(100 bottles washed 1 3 



3 



4:« 

 ISO to 9.J0 



199 

 135 to 266 



