Too much emphasis cannot be laid upon this function of the planning department. The successful outcome of the adoption of Scientific Management is largely dependent upon keeping the shop uniformly busy assuring all workers of steady employment. This is of course equally important under any form of management, but under the old type of management particularly in plants where piece work prevails-if it is realized at all-irregularity in the flow of work, dull seasons and periodic unemployment are too often regarded as conditions inherent to the business over which the management has no control and for which it feels little or no responsibility. Once a planning department has been established and is properly functioning and particularly where the task and bonus system of payment based upon time study supplants the old scheme of piece work, the condition cannot be ignored and the management's responsibilities are forcibly and continously brought to its attention. The production clerk arranges the "order of work" or schedule indicating the order of preference to be given to each of the various manufacturing orders started out. This schedule must of course take into account the amount of work to be done and the time when the order must be finished. It serves as a guide to the planning department order of work clerk in arranging for the progress of an order through the various stages of planning and also for the shop order of work clerk in starting orders out in the shop and in laying out the work ahead for each of the machines and work places. The production clerk must each day check up the progress being made on the various manufacturing orders going through the planning department and in the shop to assure himself that his assistants are correctly following out his instructions. He must also take care of the exceptional or emergency orders coming in from time to time and instruct his assistants as to the action to be taken where things have not worked out as planned. THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT ORDER OF WORK CLERK While strictly speaking the planning department has no one person at its head, that is in the sense of the old time boss of a department, the planning department order of work clerk may in a certain measure be regarded as being its head. He is responsible for work proceeding through the planning department with out delay, for the work of each of the functions being kept up to date and in case of any failure to do so it lies with him to initiate and follow up such action as may be necessary to correct the trouble. Naturally he cannot be responsible for the quality of the work done by the route clerk or the time study man nor give them orders as to how work shall be planned, but he is responsible for seeing that these and all other functions in the planning department are adequately manned and that the personnel attend to business. He must indicate to each of the people in the planning department the order in which they are to undertake the work ahead of them and he must advise them as to the time when each order must be completed so far as their respective part of the planning is concerned. He must maintain such records as will enable him at any time to locate any order that is going through the planning department and he must see that orders move from one planning function to another without delay. In addition to the follow up manufacturing orders going through the planning department, he must also look after the planning for the correction of any damaged or defective work reported by the inspectors as well as for the planning of any changes in work already in process. SHOP ORDER OF WORK CLERK The shop order of work clerk really controls the operation of the shop, the mechanism through which he does this being the bulletin board, and the route files. He has as assistants, the window clerk, who receives time cards, move orders and inspection orders as work progresses and issues to the workmen, movemen and inspectors these orders for their next jobs; the recording clerk, who upon receipt of a time card, move order or inspection order, pertaining to work that has been done indicates the progress by checking on the appropriate route sheet, removes the operation order for finished work from the bulletin board, issues through the window clerk the time cards for jobs to be started, the move orders for jobs that have been finished and inspected, inspection orders for jobs started, etc. He also has an assistant generally termed the messenger, who delivers to workmen, the drawings, specifications, samples or other information as well as instruction cards and tool lists pertaining to work ahead. (In a plant manufacturing a limited line of product where the same jobs are frequently repeated this sort of information is maintained in the shop where it is accessible to the operators and functional foremen of the section or department to which it pertains and is not issued from the planning department for each individual job as is the case in a plant where a large variety of work infrequently repeated is done.) On starting an order out in the shop, the shop order of work clerk arranges the operation orders for the first operations (on the parts for which material is available) on the bulletin board for the machines or work places concerned, in the order indicated by his order of work or schedule, with respect to other jobs already ahead of the machines, or work places in question. He also sees that the moving of materials as well as the work of the inspectors is controlled in accordance with the order of work and kept up to date. As jobs progress from one operation to another he arranges on the bulletin board, the operation orders for each successive step in accordance with the order of work. Another important duty of the shop order of work clerk is to check up or to follow up through the route sheets the progress of work on all manufacturing orders, assuring himself that they are progressing at such a rate as will insure their completion in their proper order and by the time required; to bring to light any cases where the lack of materials or tools have prevented the progress of work, and above all to detect any cases where through error delays have occurred, or where the operation orders for work have not been arranged on the bulletin board in accordance with the order of work. In every instance where he finds any condition which is not right he must initiate and follow up the necessary action to correct the trouble. He is responsible for seeing that each machine or work place is kept properly supplied with work and for bringing to the attention of the production clerk any case where there is an excess or a shortage. In cases of break-downs of machinery or anything going wrong he must see that whatever action may be necessary is taken to correct the trouble. TIME STUDY There is probably no branch of Scientific Management more interesting or which has been more misunderstood and misapplied than Time Study. While time study is most often thought |