Part 15

6. The _Pattern Storage Room_. In this department, often occupying several floors of a building specially constructed for this purpose, are stored all patterns for the iron and brass foundries, and also those sent to outside foundries for malleable and steel castings.

7. The _Carpenter Shop_. This is a general utility department making boxes and crates for shipping; doing carpenter work in keeping the grounds and buildings in proper repair, and making necessary changes therein; making and repairing flasks for the foundry; and similar work.

8. The _Paint Shop_. A small room serving little more than as a storeroom for paints and painters' materials, as their work is principally done at various points in the shops, wherever the machines or parts may happen to be.

9. The _Shipping Room_. In a plant building large machinery, the shipping room is simply an office for the shipper, the physical work of shipping being done in the shops, wherever the machine may happen to be at the time.

Referring to the plan given in Fig. 1, it will be seen that the Administration Building is placed in substantially the center of the front line of the plant. The first and second floors of such a building are usually devoted to administrative, commercial, and accounting purposes. The upper floor is usually occupied by the Engineering Department and drafting room.

The three Manufacturing Buildings numbered 1, 2, and 3 are devoted to the various operations of making the parts of which the machinery product is composed. These parts are then sent to the Erecting Building (No. 4).

The system of shop transportation consists primarily of shop tracks and cars, and is extended to the yard, being so designed as to connect all buildings of the plant with one another and with the yard. It also reaches the railroad tracks at numerous points. Overhead traveling cranes cover the manufacturing buildings, and extend into the erecting building far enough to form a connection with the large traveling crane serving it, by which the large parts of machines are carried from place to place as may be required by the erecting men. This crane serves to load the finished machines upon the railroad cars, when they are to be shipped, the railroad track being extended within the building for this purpose, as shown in Fig. 1.

The Tool Room is given as central a location as possible, and would naturally be near the junction of building No. 2 with the erecting building.

The Experimental Room has no particular place, but is frequently so placed as to be away from the active manufacturing operations, with which it is liable to interfere if too closely related.

The general Store─Room for purchased material may be in the erecting building, but is frequently located, for convenience of communication, nearer the general offices──as for instance, in front of building No. 1.

The smaller parts are stored in a Finished Parts Store─Room, usually located in this building. Thence they are issued to the Assembling Department as required.

The Pattern Shop building will often be composed of three floors. On the ground floor will be the Carpenter Shop and flask making and repairing work. On the second floor will be the pattern─making shop, and on the third floor will be the pattern storage rooms. A large elevator serves all three floors.

The Paint Shop is sometimes located in one of the manufacturing buildings or the erecting building; but as the painting of machine parts and complete machines is generally done in any one of the departments where the work may be, and the paint shop is hardly more than a storeroom for paints, a due consideration of the question of fire protection would indicate that it had better be placed in a small building entirely detached from all manufacturing buildings.

The Power House, in the former method of transmitting power by shafting and belting, was located as nearly as possible in the center of the space over which power was to be distributed. Since the advent of electricity and its common use for transmitting power, the question of the location of the power house is relieved from this condition; it may be located at the point most convenient to railroad facilities for receiving fuel, or for obtaining the necessary water for boilers, for fire purposes, etc.

In a plant manufacturing small machines or a kind of product which is shipped in small quantities, it is obvious that the Shipping Room must be convenient to the point from which these goods are to be taken by railroad cars, by boat, or by teams. If most of the shipping is of large machines or articles which must be handled by cranes, the railroad tracks will be run into the erecting building, and the machines loaded there, in order to avoid the expense of extra handling and moving them. This is the arrangement shown in Fig. 1. In this case the shipping room may be in the Administration Building, so as to be convenient to the other office departments. In some kinds of business it is convenient to have the shipping room and general storeroom near each other, as there is considerable business done in each that is quite closely related to the other.

The Iron and Brass Foundry is usually located at some distance from the manufacturing buildings, in order that the latter may be as free as possible from the annoyance of smoke and dust. It is connected with the other departments by the system of shop and yard tracks, and the railroad siding track passes through one end of the building as a matter of convenience in shipping castings. There is also a branch track running along the side of the foundry building for the purpose of delivering coke, coal, moulding sand, pig iron, scrap iron, and other foundry materials.

It should be noted that the buildings shown in the plan are located in a compact mass, with considerably less than the usual yard room. In this instance, however, the plan was so drafted to economize space on the drawing. It is the law in some European countries that not over 50 per cent of the area of a manufacturing site shall be covered by roofs. Such a law would be of much value in this country, to prevent the crowding of buildings to such an extent as to be unhealthful to employees.

While factory buildings are frequently erected of from three to to six floors, the modern tendency is to reduce the number of floors in all shops and manufacturing buildings; and in the case of machine shops, a large majority of them are built of only one floor. Some, however, have wide galleries at the side, by which considerable second─floor space is added; while the central portion remains open to the roof, and supplies ample space for the accommodation of the overhead traveling crane, as well as the necessary added height needed for erecting large machinery.

Foundries are necessarily built of a single floor, although there are several in different parts of the country where moulding rooms are located as high as the third floor. This latter arrangement is usually made for brass moulding, rather than for iron moulding.

=Organization of a Manufacturing Plant.= Having the design of the plant, and assuming that the required buildings have been erected in accordance with this plan, the next step will be to organize the management both in a general way and also as relates to the various departments usually necessary to inaugurate the business of manufacturing.

As the scope of this treatise covers only the shop and its management, we need not take up the commercial organization of the company by which it is capitalized and maintained. We shall therefore consider the General Manager as the head of the organization, and proceed to examine the methods usually adopted for the division of authority and responsibilities from him to the actual workmen at the bench, at the machines, and on the floors.

The chart shown in Fig. 2 illustrates the plan of the organization. Nearly all minor officials and office employees, such as bookkeepers, clerks, stenographers, etc., are omitted from this chart, to avoid confusion and to simplify the understanding of the organization plan and its numerous details.

The General Manager has a personal Assistant, and, for his commercial affairs, the service of a commercial Accountant and a Cashier. Other office employees are similar in number, duties, and responsibilities to those in the usual commercial office.

By referring to the chart, it will be seen that the organization is divided into two distinctly different parts. First, that of _production_ or _manufacturing proper_; and second, that of _selling_ or _marketing_ the output produced.

In this case the production division is by far the most numerous and complex. This, however, is not always the case──as, for instance, in the case of a manufacturing concern selling its product through local agents. Frequently the territory over which sales are made is divided along state lines, and a _District Agent_ appointed for each state. These, in turn, appoint the _Local Agents_. This necessitates an organization of hundreds of local agents, supervised by state or district agents, and these in turn by a _General Agent_. Thus a very large organization is built up for disposing of the product.

[Illustration: Fig. 2. Chart Illustrating Plan of Organization of a Typical Manufacturing Plant. Showing channels of authority connecting officials and departments.]

Another plan is the employment of _Traveling Canvassers_, each having a certain territory to cover, who make their reports to either state or district agents, or to the general agent located at a central point──sometimes at the factory, but not necessarily so.

As competition becomes stronger and net profits smaller, the problem of marketing the product becomes more and more important; greater and more complex selling organizations are necessary; and the expense of selling increases. The advertising organization, or what has come to be known as the _Publicity Department_, is a most important adjunct to the modern manufacturing business; and large amounts of money are annually expended in its maintenance.

In the case under consideration, the selling of the product is in charge of a _Sales Manager_, who has as his office staff the _Publicity Manager_; the _Preliminary Engineer_, and the draftsmen and estimators who assist him; the _General Salesman_, who is in reality the personal assistant to the Sales Manager; and the _Credit and Collection Clerk_.

The _Publicity Manager_, sometimes called the _Advertising Manager_, has charge of all advertising of whatever kind, demonstrations at expositions and at agencies, and, in fact, all work that may be properly comprised under the term "publicity"──that is, keeping the public informed as to the product of the company and its adaptability to meet the needs of the public in the special lines it manufactures.

The _Preliminary Engineer_ is in charge of such engineering matters as are necessary upon new work, or work upon which the Sales Manager desires to estimate. It frequently happens that considerable designing and drawing are necessary in this connection, previous to definite orders being given or contracts signed. It often happens that the product of the concern must be changed in certain details so as to adapt it to the uses of various customers, to the different local conditions under which it is to be used, and to the various purposes for which it is to be used. In case an order is given and contracts signed, the preliminary drawings thus produced become a part of the transaction, and are used by the Production Department in getting out the machinery to fill the order.

The purpose of the _Credit and Collection Office_ is to canvass the financial standing of customers and prospective customers; to make collections when necessary to do so; and generally to advise the Sales Manager on these important matters. The official in charge of this office is frequently called the _Credit Man_, and must be a person of peculiar ability in his special line in order to protect the concern from fraud, imposition, and financial losses when dealing with customers of commonly unknown or doubtful financial ability and standing.

The Production Division is under charge of the _Factory Manager_, who has for his personal assistant a _Production Engineer_ or _Superintendent_, who plans the productive scheme of the factory and supervises the departmental distribution of the work and the shop operations necessary for the routine work upon it. In a large manufacturing establishment, the Production Engineer will be at the head of a considerable force of draftsmen and clerks comprising what is sometimes called the _Planning Department_, which arranges all operations, shop routine, time schedules, premium rates, and similar matters. The Factory Manager will also have the usual office assistants, and have direct control of the _Purchasing Department_, the _Time and Cost Department_, the _General Store─Room_, and the _Shipping Room_. In some concerns the Time and Cost Department is a part of the Planning Department, as the records of this department cover nearly every kind of information required for the Time and Cost systems.

All other departments of the factory are divided into two general classes. The first comprises the general departments, as follows:

The Engineering Department, or Drafting Room.

The Experimental and Development Department.

The Power Plant, for both the generation and the distribution of power.

The Iron and Brass Foundries.

The Forge Shop and Cutting─Off Rooms.

The Carpenter Shop (including sometimes the Flask Making and Repairing Departments).

The Paint Shop and Painters' Supply Room.

The Transportation Department for shops and yards.

These are under the supervision of the General Superintendent, who has charge of all mechanical matters except those strictly pertaining to production or to the actual manufacturing of the product.

[Illustration: Fig. 3. Chart Showing Official Channels of Communication and Authority from Superintendent to Workmen in a Typical Manufacturing Establishment.]

The second general class is that of Production, and will ordinarily consist of the following departments:

The Planing Department, including shapers and slotters.

The Drilling and Boring Department, including vertical, horizontal, and radial drills and boring machines.

The Heavy Turning Department, including lathes of less than 24─inch swing.

The Milling Machine Department, including horizontal, vertical, and special milling machines, profile machines, etc.

The Gear─Cutting Department, for the making of all classes of gears.

The Grinding Department, including cylindrical, disc, and surface grinding.

The Polishing Department, which includes polishing, buffing, etc.

The Assembling Department, in which parts (usually comparatively small) are assembled in groups of related parts and stored, pending the final erection of the machines.

The Erecting Department, in which the entire machine is erected and usually tested, and inspected, receiving the final painting and other finishing work ready for shipping.

Should the character of the product be such as to require it, there will be also a Plating Department, usually located adjoining the Polishing Department.

This class of departments will be under the direct supervision of the _Production Superintendent_.

Each department is in charge of a _Foreman_, who is responsible for the discipline, the work, and the efficiency of the force under him. Frequently the department is large enough to require one or more assistant foremen. Under these may also be _Gang Bosses_, each of whom will have a small force of employees, called _gangs_, for whose work and efficiency he is responsible.

=Shop Management.= Referring to the Chart, Fig. 2, it will be noticed that the rectangular figures representing different offices, departments, or officials are connected by lines. These are commonly called _lines of authority_, and a careful study of them will show in what manner and through what channels the orders of an official pass to the employees for whose work he is responsible.

Tracing these lines from the head of the establishment through the various offices and officials to the different departments, we get a fundamental idea of _Shop Management_.

This system will be rendered somewhat simpler by reference to the Chart, Fig. 3, which shows the path or official channel of communication and authority from the Superintendent down to the workmen. It also emphasizes the fundamental idea of all official business passing through the officials in charge of intermediate departments.

Thus, if the Factory Manager desires a certain thing done, he does not give the order to one of the workmen, nor to a foreman, but to the Superintendent. The Superintendent will give his orders to the foreman of the department wherein the work is to be done. If this is a department in which there are gang bosses, the Foreman will give his orders to the proper gang boss, who will select a suitable workman, or as many of them as may be necessary, and instruct them as to the work, and will personally see that it is performed promptly and in the proper manner. When the work is completed, he will report the fact to the foreman, who will in turn report to the Superintendent, who informs the Factory Manager that his orders have been executed.

This process may seem unnecessarily complicated, and in consequence it is sometimes referred to as _red tape_. It is, however, necessary to have a well─defined and properly understood system and channel for all routine business, some of the reasons for which are as follows:

_First_──it has been said that "no man can serve two masters," and this is quite true in all questions of shop management. Every loyal workman has learned by precept and tradition to look to his immediate superior for all orders and instructions relating to his work, and he naturally and properly resents any attempt to ignore or belittle his legitimate "boss."

_Second_──As the efficiency of the workmen depends to a great extent upon their loyalty to the management, and as that loyalty can be secured and maintained only by a spirit of justice and fair─dealing to all, including officials and workmen, all authority and responsibility should be sharply defined and properly limited, to the end that the business and work may proceed in an orderly and efficient manner; that all officials and workmen may know when they are within their proper limit of rights; and doing their duties without fear of overstepping their due bounds or interfering with the rights and privileges of their fellows.

Nearly all rules are subject to some exceptions, and the above have theirs. The discipline of the shop, or what is sometimes referred to as the _police regulations_, are expected to be enforced by _all officials at all times_.

Two of these exceptions are of such a general nature and application that they are here noted.

_First_──Any official noticing an infraction of the discipline of the plant may call the attention of the employee offending, without regard to the department in which he works, and require him at once to cease violating the rules. But the official should, as soon as possible, report the matter to the head of the department in which the offending employee works.

_Second_──Any official noticing work being wrongly done, or material wasted, or machinery obviously injured, or the safety of the workmen, the building, or the machinery endangered, may peremptorily order the action to cease, and at once report the fact to the head of the department or to the Superintendent, as he may judge proper.

[Illustration: Fig. 4. Form for Ordinary Official Communications. A carbon copy is made on tinted paper.]

=Official Communications.= For ordinary communications other than General or Special Orders, Production Orders, letters, etc., a written form should be habitually used. The usual form is shown in Fig. 4. These forms are put up in pads of alternate sheets of white and light─tinted paper, the former being perforated at the top so as to be readily torn out while the tinted sheet remains fast at the stub. Both sheets are printed with the same form, and all are serially numbered in pairs of one white and one tinted sheet. Carbon paper is used, the white sheet being written upon and the tinted one receiving the carbon impression. Each official is supplied with these pads, and by their use he always retains a copy of any memorandum or communication he makes to another official or department. The serial numbers are intended to aid in the identification of any memorandum that may have become somewhat illegible. The use of these blanks saves any misunderstanding that might occur from giving and receiving verbal orders; and serves to prevent errors and mistakes, and to fix the responsibility for their occurrence upon the party in error.

=Successful Management.= The spirit of shop management should always be a spirit of _leadership_. This cannot usually be obtained unless the manager possesses natural ability as a leader. Successful military chieftains are examples of this condition. They _lead_ the men instead of _driving_ them, and the result is a condition of enthusiastic loyalty.

It is also quite as necessary that a leader should be a practical man with sound technical training and practical experience in the business which he undertakes to manage. If he is not thus equipped for his duties, the facts soon become apparent to his subordinates, and his reputation suffers accordingly. The workmen lose confidence in his leadership, and lack enthusiasm in the performance of their duties, going about their work in a listless and perfunctory manner that is very detrimental to the efficiency of the plant.

Still another quality necessary in the successful manager, is the ability to judge men and their capacities for various duties. To get always the right man for the position, the machine, or the job, is a valuable trait in any man who is to direct the work of even a moderate─sized establishment. The larger the plant and the more diversified the business carried on in it, the more valuable and indispensable this characteristic will become. The manager who is continually or frequently changing his subordinate officials, and consequently producing changes in the working force, will always find his duties arduous, and will also find it well─nigh impossible to get the plant up to the degree of efficiency that is to be reasonably expected. The volume of output will continually fall below the normal point, and the quality of the work will also deteriorate. The work of management should be a constant upbuilding of the force, and of development and education along the lines of advancement in the special output of the concern. This cannot be carried on if the composition of the force, or the officials who handle it, are in a transition state of change, doubt, and uncertainty.

[Illustration: SHOWING USE OF PIT LATHE IN MACHINING A CENTER OF SWING BRIDGE Chicago Bridge & Iron Works, Chicago, Ill.]

There is, on the part of many officials having charge of men, a propensity to interfere too much with workmen and their work, and thus to hinder rather than help them. While it is quite true that every official from the Gang Boss up to the Factory Manager can, at various times, help the workmen in their allotted tasks by timely advice and suggestions, it is also true that this is a matter that can be easily overdone, until it becomes an annoying nuisance and unnecessarily interferes with the men in the discharge of their legitimate duties.

Workmen are quick to discern when suggestions and advice are well meant and instructive, and when they come as a kind of veiled criticism. The official who permits himself to indulge in this sort of dictation soon falls into a practice of _nagging_ that is most exasperating to the men. It is a practice that first weakens and then destroys the official's influence with the men, who obey only from necessity. When this condition exists, the working efficiency of the force is at a very low ebb.