The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-05-25
REMINGTON PLANTS SET :. EFFICIENCY EXAMPLE TO
 MANUFACTURING WORLD

the management could not be found in his establishment, then I think it Is perfectly safe to say that he is mistaken.
 ''It is very important to have com plete control of all these administra- tive functions before beginning time study and bonus work, because, for the accomplishments of tasks, the whole organization must effectively and unfailingly cooperate. When we have not secured such control of our administrative functions and the handling of the materials, then spe- cial preparation will be made for any job it is proposed to study, and spe- ciaI conditions will be set up for that job, which conditions cannot be main tained afterwards; and unless you can permanently maintain the conditions
 which were obtained when you were studying the job, you will surely have trouble.
 s.fWe spent two years in this prelim-
 mary work of getting. control of things; but this was by no means Host time; our cost accounts showed that 1t paid and paid well. For this is not merely time study proposition nor a device for driving men, but is far different and irnmeasurably su- perior to that.
 .In each factory there was estab- lished a central planning department, which controls the beginning and ev- cry subsequent movement of a lot of parts through our factories. It has charts showing the capacity of every
 machine in the factory-how much lit can do in a unit of time. It has charts showing to what date or time the capacity of every machine has been taken by work already assigned to- it, and when planning the pro- gress of a lot of work through our factories, the jobs are distributed among available machines as shown by those charts, to the best advan- tage- One chart shows when each operation upon a lot of parts should
 be completed. and the daily reports show how nearly this time has been met Thus any serious failure to
 maintain the schedule Is at once de- tected, in time to do something. about 1t and to avoid serious delay. Also all interference of one job with an- other is done away with, and the plan ming department knows positively that when it arranges a schedule for a lot of parts to go through our fac
 tories, those parts will go through in accordance with that schedule, unless
 some unforeseeable accident occurs. l And when such an accident does hap pen, then is the time for appropriate executive action, until the schedule | is restored Thus all foremen are re- lieyed of the work of planning which | usually they are lily fitted to do. They
 are not in possession of the facts for
 broad planning; they haven't the breadth of view, and know little ot
 the relation of their department to
 the other departments of the work. l Thus also we do away entirely with that system of factory manage
 ment which might be called the, sys- tenn of browbeating or 1ollying by I foremen, the system by which the besi l lbrowbeater seems to get along besi land is usually considered the best
 man, whereas a matter of fact, when the smooth working of the entire fac tory is considered, he is usually far
 from the best and very often the worst.
 S4After we had our administrative
 machine constructed and in good or l der to begin time study work. we not ] only took certain jobs, but where pos
 sfble workmen whom we believed to
 be open-minded and who would give
 a fair trial to a fair proposition. Our
 proposition was something like this: Now, we don't pretend to know very
 much about the job you are doing We don't know what is fair days work
 and we don't know the best method of doing the job. We don'tA believe that you know much more than we do. We would like to find out, and
 we presume you would like to find
 out all about that job, and we pro- pose to make a study with that end 1 in view. We ask your cooperation in finding out all about it, and during the process we assure you that your learnings will be maintained. Now
 when we have found out all we car tabout the job. we will tell you all Il that we know about it, and, if you ! wish, you shall see the records or which we base our conclusions about the job. We will then make you, g proposition for carrying on this work and you can either accept or reject that proposition, without prejudice ! Some at first declined our proposi- ton. and were persuaded to try it 4 But where they permanently and per. lsistent1y declined, it was against oul ! principles to discharge them. We I made up our minds at the beginning il that we would not prejudice the case \ by discharging anybody for refusing I this business proposition. The mar I refusing was given different jot equally as good, or we made the of. \ fer to another man of the same group and we thus got it started Usually that was all that was necessary There was one exception to the dischargine business A girl who had rather per.
 emptoriIy refused this proposition when made to her by her foreman was discharged, either through excess
 of zeal on the part of the foreman or his failure to understand our phi. Ilosophy. When we discovered that 'l we reinstated the girl, explaining tt 'l her that it had been a mistake. She came back and went to work at the old job in the old way, but in a few days asked to be put on bonus work and became one of our most efficient bonus workers By that means we converted her from an enemy of tasl , and bonus work to friend and de.
 fender of it, and to have friend.
 among the work people is always vel ! worth while in installing any new sys I tenn factory
 "Our people discovered one man fl
 this factory who had been working or piece work for several years, and 4 whose piece work price had been re-
 duced from time to time. He was good soldier, and he had increased hi. rate of working to. maintain his earn. II ings. When we discovered him. hs