DIVISION OF SIMPLIFIED PRACTICE

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Washington

MONTHLY NEWS BULLETIN October 15, I925. No. 7.

MANAGEMENT WEEK

Next week, in a hundred or more cities of the United States there will he

observances of Management Week, a movement which was begun in 1922 by a small

group cf organisations whose influence has spread in an ever-widening circle.

The subject of this nation-wide observance will be “Wastes in Distribution".

In many cases the groups cooperating in the movement will divide the topic for

special consideration by sectional meetings into such sub-topics as; unnecessarily

large varieties of stock, wasteful development, lack of scientific sales methods

or use of unsuitable methods, sales policies as to meeting wasteful competition,

eliminating wastes from fields served by the middleman, training and other

features of salesmanship.

The meetings are being sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical

Engineers, American Management Association, National Association of Cost Accountants, Society of Industrial Engineers and the Taylor Society, and the joint

permanent committee has an its honorary chairman Secretary of Commerce Hoover.

Chambers of Commerce. Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, executive clubs, trade groups

and other bodies have joined the Management Wesk movement in many cities, while

in other cases the program will bring together the business and industrial men

of an entire district.

The purpose of Management Week a s to bring about a better understanding of

the problems of business management, and to develop a closer cooperation in

meeting these problems for the improvement of the entire community.

The sponsors of Management Week have given gratifying recognition to the

work of the Department of Commerce along just such lines as those which the

various programs will be centered around. The Division of Simplified Practice,

because of its cooperation with, industry in eliminating excessive and wasteful

variety, has been asked to supply speakers in various cities and to assist local

committees elsewhere in securing men who have been leaders in waste elimination

programs. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce through its district

offices has also been invited to have a part in several programs. Various publications of the Department of Commerce which are aimed at “Wastes in Distribution17 are also being used extensively in studies preparatory to these meetings.

That tbs various local committees should have drawn so heavily on the Department

of Commerce for speakers and material is the best evidence of the value of the

policy “Government Cooperation with Business"; and is sincere ju-oof of the

belief of the American Business man that the Department has the prosperity of

the nation close at heart in all its work.
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The American Home Economics Association, through a recent meeting of its

executive committee, has placed itself on record in favor of a closer cooperation with the Division of Simplified Practice in efforts to bring about

simplifications which are of the greatest interest to its members. Through

the Journal of Home Economics, the Association will seek from its readers

information as to items which cause them the greatest inconvenience, by reason

of their overdiversification and lack of interchangeability. A special com- mittee of five members will develop a program as relates to the home.

Shovel manufacturers, representative distributors and users will meet next

week in Atlantic City to consider a proposed simplification from 223 sizes to

127 and the elimination of one of four grades cow made in shovels, spades and

scoops. They will also consider the possibility of dropping one or more of

the four finishes now used.

After working for a number of months, the Agricultural Insecticide and

Fungicide Manufacturers Association simplification committee has asked the

Division to call a conference of distributors and consumers to act on proposals

that 39 package sizes be reduced to IS for Arsenate of Lead. Calcium Arsenate,

Paris Green and Bordeaux Mixture. The Committee estimates that the 18 packages

proposed will account for 8 / "jo of the shipments.

During the past few weeks the newspapers have carried stories about

James Garfield Brown, Oneida Indian, champion bricklayer, who, after laying

36,000 paving bricks in 8 hours , won a contest from Frank Hoffman of Eldorado,

Bans-, on September l4, by laying 46,644 paving bricks in 406 minutes to

Hoffman's 44,889. What the newspapers missed, we are informed by E,E. Duff,

secretary of the national Paving Brick Manufacturers Association, Cleveland, C. » was that the brick laid by these two contestants was of the recognized 3x4x8-l/2

inch^piain wire-cut type, one of the four ’’recognized sizes'’ which now supplant

the 66 in use three years ago.

Manufacturers of carton commutator brushes met on September 30 in the

offices of the Associated Manufacturers of Electrical Supplies, New York, and

took the initial steps toward reducing the hundreds of existing variations in

size

The Division was represented by an exhibit at the Chemical exposition in

New York, September 28-Gctoter 3- Notable among the incidents of the exposition

was the knowledge displayed by visitors to the Division's booth of simplified

practice and what it is- The principle is winning on its merits.'

John H. Eirby of the Central Committee on Lumber Standards at the request

of Secretary Hoover, has agreed to become chairman of that body. John V7. Blodgett,

who has served as chairman for three years, has resigned because of the pressure

of personal business. The work of the Central Committee is going forward for

the further extension of American Lumber Standards. The Division has also been

'•’-nformed of an intensive campaign among retailers for the endorsement of the

principle of grade marking lumber, which has already been put into use by one

of the great manufacturing associations. Other Associations are now arranging

to follow suit."
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Through the cooperation of the Bur ©au of Standards and the Bureau of

foreign and Domestic Commerce, there has ben a issued a national Directory of

Commodity Specifications, containing the best Knowledge available as to specifications for b,t>50 commodities. It also tells not only what specifications are

in general use, but by whom they were prepared and where copies can be obtained.

Twenty- seven thousand specifications used by the Federal Specifications Board and

other Federal Department, state and city purchasing agencies, public utilities

and technical and trade organisations, are included. The price is $1-25 and the

directory may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Government .Printing Office, Washington.

The California Manufacturers Association has appointed a general advisory

committee of 17 leading business men to assist the Department of Commerce in its

Waste Elimination program. These include purchasing agents, manufacturers, distributors and others. The Committee is pressing a campaign among its members to

adopt Simplified Practice Recommendation?, already in effect and to cooperate in

other phases of the simplification movement*

Producers, distributors and users of grinding wheels meeting on September 23,

voted to eliminate 459 » 000 sires and styles from stock sizes. Steps were also

initiated for development of standards in the size of arbor holes and other

matters. Estimated savings are in millions annually.

Laurence A. Adams, in a recent issue of a bulletin issued by the Kardex

Institute, devotes an entire issue to Simplified Practice and its benefits to the

business and industrial world. Business educational agencies in many fields are extending real cooperation to the program.

The paper trade, including manufacturers, distributors, purchaser s and others,

adopted a simplification which recognizes but two basic sizes of sheets, establishes basic weights and counts per package, and LABELS each container to indicate

that it is in accord with the Simplified Practice Recommendation.

The tack industry, meeting last week, adopted reductions from 485 to 1*5

sizes of tacks and small nails, and reduced the packing units from 4?3 to 127*

The hardware retailers and jobbers hailed this with great enthusiasm, envisioning

further cuts in their stock investment.

Simplification in a new aeroplane , by which all control surfaces arc interchangeable, and by which one spare part replaces seven formerly used, is noted

by the n American Machinist'1 as a step which reduces cost of manufacture and does

not sacrifice efficiency. In sc young an industry, this action ic particularly

significant as pointing the way for some of the older ones.

The Electric Povsr Club

two of the latest of the big

possibilities of simplif icati

groups late this month.

and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts arc manufacturing groups to chow marked interest in the

on. Speakers from the Division are to address both