18 BULLETIN 1095, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
should obtain all available information regarding the present and 
prospective local market demands and sources of market supply. He ° 
should formulate and execute plans for the most economical methods 
of collecting, processing, and manufacturing by-products, and of 
selling and distributing the products of the plant. In order that he 
may justly be held responsible for the successful conduct of the busi- 
ness as a whole, he should have authority to employ and discharge 
all labor. 
In small and medium-sized plants, where it may be necessary for 
the manager to give direct personal supervision to the many minor 
details, and where he may be required to put his hand to any task, 
it is obviously desirable for him to be thoroughly experienced and 
able to handle every physical and mechanical detail. In larger plants 
the responsible supervision of the detail work in the milk-handling 
department is intrusted to a plant superintendent or foreman, and 
the larger duties of the manager are executive and administrative, 
having to do more with questions of business policies which require 
a knowledge and training in business administration than with fac- 
tory detail which requires technical training supplemented by fac- 
tory experience. It is always desirable that the manager have an 
extended knowledge of, and be familiar with, detail plant operations, 
in order that he may be fully conversant with the problems of the 
various departments of the business and be able to formulate plans 
and policies with the various superintendents for the more efficient 
and economical conduct of their departments. 
The duties of a milk-plant manager in small plants obviously may 
be numerous and varied, while in larger plants they become more 
executive in character, with the routine and detail duties performed 
by other employees. In small plants the overhead costs, including 
salaries of manager and employees, must be kept at a minimum; 
hence the manager may be obliged to perform much manual labor in 
addition to supervising the work of other employees. 
The manager of a milk-distributing plant has perhaps greater re- 
sponsibilities than any other employee. In small plants he is obliged 
to assume full responsibility for all work done, while in larger plants 
this responsibility may be shared with the superintendents and fore- 
men. 
The manager in every plant, whether large, medium, or small, 
must be in close touch with each operating department, for responsi- 
bilities can not be assumed safely unless the activities of the depart- 
ments are conducted in accordance with well-defined policies. He 
must also have access to reports or records of the entire business, in 
order to formulate plans and policies for its successful conduct. 


