Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1916-06-09
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Y ~ ntAl1n INSTRUCTION DuRtAuV ~
NSsTS/ He.psaRnou n DIRECTOR @
INSPECTING HUMAN MACHINERY

INSPECTING HUMAN MACHINERY
Milwaukee has manufacturing
plant which is one of series OF
three operated in different parts OF
the country by the same owners. The
present manager Of the Milwaukee
factory has managed each of the
other two. Under his management
each factory in turn has been made
to produce more and at lower
cost than it's rivals. Nothing
pleases this man so much as to place
one factory at the top Of the lst
and then go to one of the other
two and make his new shop beat his
previous one.
A brief consideration of his meth
DDS would seem to promise profit to
other managers and owners and TO
be in place here because his sue
cess according to his explanation, de-
ponds entirely upon the time and at
tention he gives to the health and
physical welfare of the factory
workers.
while other managers are giving
their main attention to the condl-
ton of their machines and to the
inspection of the product, I study
the operatives he told me in the
course of a discussion of his bust
ness. ''By observing the girls at
work, rather than the product of the
work itself, I can form a more cor
rect estimate of what our output is
and will be than by any other meth
cd of inspection. To illustrate:
few days ago I spent several min
utes watching a girl at process
which calls for especially good eye
sight. I observed that every few mo-
ments she moved her head Or Wrln'
killed. her brow in manner which IN
Dictated defective eyesight.
When 1 considerably asked he1
about her eyes she told me with
some surprise that they were perfect
| ly good. I urged her to visit an oc-
culist for an examination. She pro
tested that this was unnecessary
Nevertheless, upon my insistence she
went to the eye specialist We re
tain by the year He told me that
the condition was very bad. When
the glasses were ready the doctor
took the girl to the window, raised
| the shade and asked her to look out
She gave little cry of happy
amazement. For the first time in
her life she was really seeing the
beauties of the world about her. I'm
not worrying now about the amount
and quality of the output of he1
bench.
another girl showed evidence OF
headaches By a little kindly ques-
tioning, 1 found she was coming to
work on breakfast of coffee and a
little piece of bread or toast. The
addition of a couple of eggs to that
girls breakfast has made her a
crackerjack operator.
NOW we're working upon the con
dition of the air. This presents some
difficulties because of the nature OF
our product and manufacturing
processes. But we're getting it. Ev-
cry hour the welfare worker takes
record Of atmospheric temperature
and moisture. By attention we're
bringing down the heat and increas-
ing the humidity with the result
that they do more and better work
than when they tire out too early
in the workday.
'Of course, it's a bigger job to
keep human machines in fine run
ming order than it is the iron and
steel ones. Perhaps that's why so
many owners and managers neglect
them. My company, however, pays
me to do the things most important
to make their business profitable. It's
some personal satisfaction to me to
know that aside from profits and
my own increasing salary checks, I'm
doing something to make the en-
ployees healthier, happier and more
prosperous than they are in the
plants of our competitors"
He chuckled gleefully at this point
in his talk Besides" he said, I'm
getting tho craam of the workers."