The Washington herald., 1921-08-13
The Herald
'ScIeMfffR'
LlNotsa1M
50IllnlleHt
Aeflulfl<s q S>ulr6l~
n HsuAlspss.
SATURDAY. August n Iszi.
Low PRODUCTION CAUSES
WASTE IN INDUSTRY.

shTthDAf. AUGUST n 1874.
Low PRODUCTION CAUSES
WASTE IN INDUSTRY.
Faulty control Of materials sun
piled TO the workers OF the different
Industries. lack OF knowledge OF the
cost df operation. lack OF research.
and poor control and selection OF
labor are factors that cause low
, production in the Representative in
dustries investigated by the COM
mittee on the elimination OF waste
In industry Of the Federated Am.ri-
can Engineering Societies.
This committee Of engineers
found that the average building
contractor has no calendar OF
operations except the dates Of start
ing and finishing a job. He largely
regulates deliveries Of materials by
visits TO the job. or through state
ments received from the job super
intendent Haphazard methods of
planning result In delays for want
OF material or in burdening the lob
. By an oyersupply OF material
The waste caused by gambling In
raw materials, especially cloth. "a
POINTED out in the report. and loss
In the shoe industry caused by wait
ing for work and material amounts
70 some IS per cent Of the time.
When IL comes to designing Of
buildings and plsnnitg for printing
these are some OF the possible i'm
provements pointed out:
Standardization OF the thickness
Of certain walls might mean a saw
ing Of some $500 in the cost Of the
average house. Standardized mill
work. such as window frames. doors.
and other similar items would re-
duce the cost.
There are approximately 5000
brands Of paper; so per cent OF
which are more or less inactive Th.
duplication of brands serves no use
full purpose and ties up money in
unnecessary stock.
The Federal Reserve Bank check
will not cut without waste from
any Of the regular paper sizes 4
draft Questionnaire issued during
the war was Of such nonsta ndard
/ size as to require special filing cab
inets. The Technical Publishers
Association on measuring s27 cata-
loCues found 1l7 different sizes A
trim OF One-Qusrter inch on a sxs
page is equal TO per cent Of the
total cost Of the paper.
Among current magazines there
are eighteen variations in width and
seventy-six in length Of page or
column. Among trade paper publi-
cations. there are thirty three vari-
atiOns in width and sixty-four in
length. Among newspapers. there
are sixteen in width and fifty five in
length. These variations cost the
public not less than 500. .OO0. 600 each
year.
The Standardization Of newspaper
columns TO one size would make
possible an annual saving Of $1,000
600 to $4,000, 900 on composition and
plates alone.
The waste Of time and money
through duplication OF estimates
and of designs in the building
trades runs into the millions every
year. Frequently the architect
makes a general design, and Tor
lack of knowledge OF how TO keep
down its cost, asks all the bidders
10 design the structural details In
order 20 get their quantities. Thus
not only must the bidder include the
cost OF the design in his proposal.
but he must allow. in addition. an
overhead to cover the cost Of va
rious similar designs he made for
unsuccessful bids. This duplication
Of design is waste for which owners
must eventually pay.
Failure to properly plan and
route work in tailoring shops wastes
much time and money. Production
control in shoe factories is poor, and
thousands OF pairs Of shoes are
often delayed during manufacture
by congestion Of operations. Aver
age loss in clothing factories dur
ing running time is so to IS per
cent. and il is estimated that an in
crease of 20 per cent in production
is possible.
Fixing the value of annual out
put in the mems ready made cloth
ing industry at $500 OOO. 600 il should
be relatively easy 20 save $3.50. 900
: a day. an increase OF 90 per cent in
effectiveness" the report declares.
/ The engineers found that the ma
jority Of the industrial plants
I studied lacked a knowledge Of costs
and have no cost control. Therefore
there is no adequate method OF
Z judging fairly and accurately when
improvements are needed and when
waste is occurring.
While certain industries are ahead
| of the rest in plant research. the
need for more intensive research
activity il apparent in every in
( dustry. One Industry which is back
ward in this respect is clothing.
! Control Of labor was found 20 be
poor in most industries, and labor
turnover was found TO be high. Few
1 Of the plants have employment man
ayers and the hiring and firing"
is usually at the will OF the forems n
or superintendent.
j This is the second OF q series OF
articles appearing in this column
giving a summary of the report on
the elimination OF waste in indus
( try The third. telling OF the waste
caused by interrupted production.
will appear tomorrow.
BUREAU or MINES STUDIES
BLAST-FURNACE COKE.
C. ST. J. Perrott. associate physical
chemist of the United States Bureau
d