New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-02-09

"tops OF our roltop desks" continues the
guide you've got lots OF stun filed
away I'm the pgeonholes that you can't
find when you want 1t, and no one else
can find it when you are away from the
office Clean Il all out and empty the
drawers too File Il away I'm an informa-
ton bureau. where any one who needs II
can get It when he wants it, That was
what Mr. Gilbreth directed should be done,
and we did 1t. Now when we want any
thing we all out slip. indicating whether
Il Is an original tracing, a blueprint a
photograph, a bill of material a cata-
logue, n book or any other thing, mark
the day and hour on II. put e into the
out basket. painted red. and the messen-
ger boy who makes round Of the shop
| every fifteen minutes takes it away to the
information bureau.
There were several details about the
planning room that seemed strange for
a factory office. even to one who had 1T
tie acquaintance with the details OF a
manufacturing plant There was curl
Gus time clock on the top OF the desk
on the right Of the door. At first glance
It seemed to DO "all off," for its hands
indicated the hour to be five minutes OF
5, although It was not yet noon. Sec
ond glance indicated that there was a
cipher where the IL should be. Whenever
anything was stamped with II. however,
neither the hour OF the day nor the min
utes were revealed. Mr. Aldrich said that
II really was five minutes Of L. although
Il looked like five minutes OF 8. for the
hands indicated the length Of time In
hours and hundredths of hours since the
whistle had blown in the morning to be-
gin work.
7 Every days work in this factory Is
like the book of life. Each day begins
with a clean sheet and it is what you do
that counts. Every days work is for a
record and II begins at zero. No more
like the galley slave do you go in and
await your turn to indicate the moment
OF your arrival on the time clock. The
time which counts now is that consumed
on the job. When a given piece of work
Is assigned to you your work slip is
stamped with the hour and hundredths
OF an hour which have elapsed since zero.
or 7 a. m. If ii is a. m. when you get
to work. the ticket Is stamped something
like this, Jan 81, 90, 1913" When the
job Is finished you have your ticket
stamped say. Jan 81. 40 1873" which
would mean that It had required four
and seventy one-hundredths hours for
its accomplishment.
All this is explained by Mr.. Aldrich, and
he adds that this method of computing
the time is necessary, not only because
II makes It possible to determine the cost
Of the particular piece of work, but be-
cause the workmans compensation is
based upon the length OF time required.
for he will receive extra pay for cutting
down the time. BY computing the time
by the decimal system time Is saved in
the department where the cost and wages
are figured out In order to simplify 1t
In deductlng for the noon hour. the noon
hour is made seventy one-hundredths OF
an hour in length. This lie forty-two
minutes instead of forty-fve. which was
the length Of the noon interval before
the new system was introduced.
"Our Hall of Fame" Mr.. Aidrich points
to q checkered space on the wall in the
corner. Closer observation reveals the
fact that the red rectangles bear certain
names: that the white rectangles under
them are slips Of paper labelled Opera
ton order" and bear other legends. such
as Amount Of bonus" all In open face
gothic. Over the red spaces are certain
arrangements Of letters and figures that
might be football signals set down in
black and white SO far as their intelligi-
bility Is manifest to the visitor. They
also are In open face Gothic. for this type
has been chosen for every piece Of printed