The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-02
Much Depends Upon
Foremen, Professor
Tells Arms Co. Club


OF the Forernen's club OF the Reming
ton Arms Co.. Walter Rautenstrauch,
professor Of machine design at Co
lumbia University, addressed the
members very interestingly on the
subject of organization and costs
Professor Rautenstrauch stated that
much had been said on the resources
of our industrial enterprises and Of
the enormous value OF them. but he
emphasized that the real value did not
lie In the cost Of the factory building,
the equipment, or other facilities. but
was entirely dependent upon the moral
fibre Of its personnel. He said that
this asset Is becoming OF so much i'm
recognized that it is only matter Of
time before an appraisal of a plant
would give to this feature a certain
definite worth. The foremen were
the men in whom this characteristic
should be most prominent, he said, for
on them rest the responsibility for put
ting into effect the plans and ideas Of
the management Any organization,
the foremen Of which did not show to
high degree this moral fibre or the
ability to ana1yze each problem in de-
tail, is apparently weak
Professor Rautenstrauch said that
the opinion that machine shop is
duh, dirty, and uninteresting is too
general :. It was not until the time of
Taylor that scientific study had been
applied to the problems of the ma
chine shop: and it was not until this
was done that areal knowledge Of the
very interesting conditions present
was available. After years Of expert
menting and spending about a quarter
OF million dollars, Taylor brought
to light the theories in shop practices
that are responsible for our present
era Of scientific management. After
this pioneer work had been done, the
way was paved for other studies to-
ward this end. It is known that only
by devoting to each separate problem
much thought and minute study can
the most efficient method Of doing
work in each case be procured.
AS an illustration Of the application
of these principles to the most COM
mon detail Of shop work, Professor
Rautenstrauch chose a lathe and by
careful analysis Of each step showed
clearly to his audience the relation
between the predetermined plan Of ac-
i. ton and cost. all reduced to the unit
of cost in cents per pound Of metal re-
moved. An enormous increase in the
cost Of this unit under certain unfa-
forable conditions, particularly when
!. the machines were idle during some
part Of the day, was shown to be the
principal cause Of monetary loss; and
. this loss was further augmented by not
! taking the proper size cuts. It was
shown how these conclusions were de-
rived by the engineers and experts in
charge Of these features of work, and
were passed on to the foremen for
them to carry out. The principal
thought OF the talk was that the fore
men, If possessed Of the proper moral
fibre could be relied upon to carry out
these standards Of feeds and cuts, and
If this was done the proper efficiency
OF this shop could be reached.
Professor Rautenstrauch was intro
duced by President Wells Of the Fore
! mems club, and the meeting was pre-
ceded by the usual dinner in the plant
in which the two hundred foremen
participated as guests Of the company.