The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-09-25
verting them to his own use OF sell
Tools 4 Big Expense.


OF 100000 year was cut down to
| 100000. 1t isn't that the railroads
have not at present sufficient shop
equipment They have too much.
When the larger locomotives and
freight cars were introduced and
heavier rails were employed, the ma
4 chine shop departments argued that
they should be enlarged as well, when
as a matter of fact there should have
been fewer repairs for them to
handle. But they have not been run
on a proper system"
j The remedy Mr.. Emerson has for
all these troubles is Standardization.
He points out that it Is impossible for
the higher officials to attend to petty
details. They must, therefore, dele
gate them to their subordinates. He
says one cannot expect a vice-presi-
dent, drawing his $4,000 or $4,000
a year, to give much attention to the
make of a file or lathe needed. He
will delegate such questions to his
! superintendent, and they will pass
them on to their master mechanic,
! who will ask the foreman's views,
/ until finally ffry-dollar a month
man has the last word, and the great
railroad is ruled by a ffty-dollar a
month judgment.
/ What is wanted, in Mr. Emerson's
opinion, is the settlement of all such
problems by high-priced man picked
for his special knowledge, laying
| down a rule which can be referred
to on every occasion when the same
matter comes up afterward. Thus a
| railroad shop will be fitted out with
| precisely the tools which thorough
trying-out has proved to be the best,
and the most satisfactory results in
efficiency and the saving of time will
be reached.
In the same way every regular job
in railroad shop may be studied
with regard to the time which it
takes. In recent article in the
American Engineer and Railroad
Journal Mr.. Emerson has given the
results OF some of his observations.
He found that in finishing an air
compressor piston rod fifty-seven
minutes time was taken, but of these
twenty-five minutes time was abso-
lutely wasted in looking for chain to
sling the rod and for pad to put
between the chain and the piston,
which should have been on hand.
Consequently he reckoned the actual
efficiency of the operation at only
63.2 per cent.
A Test of Efficiency.
Next he set thoroughly skilled
man on slotting brass collar for
driving boxes He found that he
could accomplish it in one hour
and twenty-eight minutes. Then he
watched an ordinary man at work and
found that it took him two hours and
thirty-seven minutes. His poor rec
ord was partly caused by the fact that
spring broke and had to be changed,
and this wasted forty-six minu ,e.
The result was that his efficiency was
only 56.S per cent, and the loss to
the company of having defective
equipment could actually be trans
| ldtCO 1utO q llOACy value.
Scores of these observations have
been observed in this way by Mr..
Emerson and other workers on these
lines, and there are now on record
thousands of tables for the use of en-
ployers, by which they can ascertain
how long an operation should take
and how much it ought to cost. Only
by the use of some such records can
they hope to approximate to the
greatest efficiency of production and
the lowest cost.
It has been claimed that the rem
| edy may be worse than the cure, and
that the expense of setting UP such
system would outbalance the saving.
Mr.. Emerson points in answer to
small shop where his system was in
troduced. In 1906 the wage bill was
$167,780 and in 1907 $136,135, a
decrease of nearly nineteen per cent,
while the actual work accomplished
increased over forty per cent. A spe-
cialist was introduced into a large
railroad shop to attend to nothing
but the belts. The failures we're re-.
duced from $500 year to $50,
and the cost Of renewals from $4,000
to $4,000, the expense of the super
vision being included in the latter
figure.
Another point which, according to
Mr.. Emerson, needs looking to on the
part of the railroads is the co-opera-
tion of one official with another He
disbelieves that there is at the present
time any real car shortage. If only
the best use was made of the rolling
stock now existing it would be suf-