Shop Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor (top books to read .TXT) 📕

to do the various jobs which came under his observation, without

dividing them into their elements, he would make comparatively small

progress in a lifetime, and at best would become a skilful guesser. It

is, however, equally true that all of the work done in a given trade can

be divided into a comparatively small number of elements or units, and

that with proper implements arid methods it is comparatively easy for a

skilled observer to determine the time required by a good man to do any

one of these elementary units.

Having carefully recorded the time for each of these elements, it is a

simple matter to divide each job into its elementary units, and by

adding their times together, to arrive accurately at the total time for

the job. The elements of the art which at first appear most difficult to

investigate are the percentages which should be allowed, under different

conditions, for rest and for accidental or unavoidable delays. These

elements can, however, be studied with about the same accuracy as the

others.

Perhaps the greatest difficulty rests upon the fact that no two men work

at exactly the same speed. The writer has found it best to take his time

observations on first-class men only, when they can be found; and these

men should be timed when working at their best. Having obtained the best

time of a first-class man, it is a simple matter to determine the

percentage which an average man will fall short of this maximum.

It is a good plan to pay a first-class man an extra price while his work

is being timed. When work men once understand that the time study is

being made to enable them to earn higher wages, the writer has found

them quite ready to help instead of hindering him in his work. The

division of a given job into its proper elementary units, before

beginning the time study, calls for considerable skill and good

judgment. If the job to be observed is one which will be repeated over

and over again, or if it is one of a series of similar jobs which form

an important part of the standard work of an establishment, or of the

trade which is being studied, then it is best to divide the job into

elements which are rudimentary. In some cases this subdivision should be

carried to a point which seems at first glance almost absurd.

For example, in the case of the study of the art of shoveling earths,

referred to in Table 3, page 164, it will be seen that handling a

shovelful of dirt is subdivided into, s = “Time filling shovel and

straightening up ready to throw,” and t = “Time throwing one shovelful.”

The first impression is that this minute subdivision of the work into

elements, neither of which takes more than five or six seconds to

perform, is little short of preposterous; yet if a rapid and thorough

time study of the art of shoveling is to be made, this subdivision

simplifies the work, and makes time study quicker and more thorough.

The reasons for this are twofold:

First. In the art of shoveling dirt, for instance, the study of fifty or

sixty small elements, like those referred to above, will enable one to

fix the exact time for many thousands of complete jobs of shoveling,

constituting a very considerable proportion of the entire art.

Second. The study of single small elements is simpler, quicker, and more

certain to be successful than that of a large number of elements

combined. The greater the length of time involved in a single item of

time study, the greater will be the likelihood of interruptions or

accidents, which will render the results obtained by the observer

questionable or even useless.

There is a considerable part of the work of most establishments that is

not what may be called standard work, namely, that which is repeated

many times. Such jobs as this can be divided for time study into groups,

each of which contains several rudimentary elements. A division of this

sort will be seen by referring to the data entered on face of note

sheet, Fig. 2 (page 151).

In this case, instead of observing, first, the “time to fill a shovel,”

and then the time to “throw it into a wheelbarrow,” etc., a number of

these more rudimentary operations are grouped into the single operation

of

a = “Time filling a wheelbarrow with any material.”

This group of operations is thus studied as a whole.

Another illustration of the degree of subdivision which is desirable

will be found by referring to the inserts, Fig. 5 (opposite page 166).

Where a general study is being made of the time required to do all kinds

of hand work connected with and using machine tools, the items printed

in detail should be timed singly.

When some special job, not to be repeated many times, is to be studied,

then several elementary items can be grouped together and studied as a

whole, in such groups for example as:

(a) Getting job ready to set.

(b) Setting work.

(c) Setting tool.

(d) Extra hand work.

(e) Removing work.

And in some cases even these groups can be further condensed.

An illustration of the time units which it is desirable to sum up and

properly record and index for a certain kind of lathe work is given in

Fig. 6.

SIGNED TOTAL FIGURE 6. -INSTRUCTION CARD FOR LATHE WORK (not shown)

The writer has found that when some jobs are divided into their proper

elements, certain of these elementary operations are so very small in

time that it is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain accurate

readings on the watch. In such cases, where the work consists of

recurring cycles of elementary operations, that is, where a series of

elementary operations is repeated over and over again, it is possible to

take sets of observations on two or more of the successive elementary

operations which occur in regular order, and from the times thus

obtained to calculate the time of each element. An example of this is

the work of loading pig iron on to bogies. The elementary operations or

elements consist of:

(a) Picking up a pig.

(b) Walking with it to the bogie.

(c) Throwing or placing it on the bogie.

(d) Returning to the pile of pigs.

Here the length of time occupied in picking up the pig and throwing or

placing it on the bogie is so small as to be difficult to time, but

observations may be taken successively on the elements in sets of three.

We may, in other words, take one set of observations upon the combined

time of the three elements numbered 1, 2, 3; another set upon elements

2, 3, 4; another set upon elements, 3, 4, 1, and still another upon the

set 4,1, 2. By algebraic equations we may solve the values of each of

the separate elements.

If we take a cycle consisting of five (5) elementary operations, a, b,

c, d, e, and let observations be taken on three of them at a time, we

have the equations:

[Transcriber’s Note: omitted]

The writer was surprised to find, however, that while in some cases

these equations were readily solved, in others they were impossible of

solution. My friend, Mr. Carl G. Barth, when the matter was referred to

him, soon developed the fact that the number of elements of a cycle

which may be observed together is subject to a mathematical law, which

is expressed by him as follows:

The number of successive elements observed together must be prime to the

total number of elements in the cycle.

Namely, the number of elements in any set must contain no factors; that

is, must be divisible by no numbers which are contained in the total

number of elements. The following table is, therefore, calculated by Mr.

Barth showing how many operations may be observed together in various

cases. The last column gives the number of observations in a set which

will lead to the determination of the results with the minimum of labor.

[Transcriber’s note — Table omitted]

When time study is undertaken in a systematic way, it becomes possible

to do greater justice in many ways both to employers and workmen than

has been done in the past. For example, we all know that the first time

that even a skilled workman does a job it takes him a longer time than

is required after he is familiar with his work, and used to a particular

sequence of operations. The practiced time student can not only figure

out the time in which a piece of work should be done by a good man,

after he has become familiar with this particular job through practice,

but he should also be able to state how much more time would be required

to do the same job when a good man goes at it for the first time; and

this knowledge would make it possible to assign one time limit and price

for new work, and a smaller time and price for the same job after being

repeated, which is much more fair and just to both parties than the

usual fixed price.

As the writer has said several times, the difference between the best

speed of a first-class man and the actual speed of the average man is

very great. One of the most difficult pieces of work which must be faced

by the man who is to set the daily tasks is to decide just how hard it

is wise for him to make the task. Shall it be fixed for a first-class

man, and if not, then at what point between the first-class and the

average? One fact is clear, it should always be well above the

performance of the average man, since men will invariably do better if a

bonus is offered them than they have done without this incentive. The

writer has, in almost all cases, solved this part of the problem by

fixing a task which required a first-class man to do his best, and then

offering a good round premium. When this high standard is set it takes

longer to raise the men up to it. But it is surprising after all how

rapidly they develop.

The precise point between the average and the first-class, which is

selected for the task, should depend largely upon the labor market in

which the works is situated. If the works were in a fine labor market,

such, for instance, as that of Philadelphia, there is no question that

the highest standard should be aimed at. If, on the other hand, the shop

required a good deal of skilled labor, and was situated in a small

country town, it might be wise to aim rather lower. There is a great

difference in the labor markets of even some of the adjoining states in

this country, and in one instance, in which the writer was aiming at a

high standard in organizing a works, he found it necessary to import

almost all of his men from a neighboring state before meeting with

success.

Whether the bonus is given only when the work is done in the quickest

time or at some point between this and the average time, in all cases

the instruction card should state the best time in which the work can be

done by a first-class man. There will then be no suspicion on the part

of the men when a longer “bonus time” is allowed that the time student

does not really know the possibilities of the case. For example, the

instruction card