Part 10

The steady type is preferable to the more brilliant operator who lacks staying qualities. The operators are trained in the class of work they are expected to follow, and this training is valued in proportion as it increases production from the first in the production rooms, and enables the operator to face actual working conditions without hesitancy and without fear of handling the machines.

The total cost of installation for our school to date has been approximately $2,000. With us, the cost of training (being the amount paid operatives above their earnings while in the training room) is approximately as follows:

Engine lathe workers $34 average.

Toolsetters $25 average.

Female screw machine operators $10 average.

The average number of female operators in the school is nine and their average length of time for training is eight days.

The male operators, both engine lathe workers and toolsetters, require from three to six weeks’ training before they are sent out to the production rooms.

For tool room purposes we have not taken up the training of women and have only taken up the training of men along the lines of simple punch turning and straight work. We find that the men we instruct in this line of work are very interested and stick closer to the job than the average apprentice in the tool room.

(Signed) WM. COLINA.

THE RECORDING & COMPUTING MACHINES CO.

Dayton, Ohio

Several years ago we had over 200 toolmakers in our tool room engaged upon high grade jigs, fixtures, gauges, etc. The demand for toolmakers became such that the men were leaving us and it became practically impossible to get an adequate supply of this highly skilled labor.

My engineers, superintendents and myself made a study of the proposition and found that on the work that the tool room was doing it was unnecessary to employ such highly skilled labor on 70 per cent. of the work on the average. We, therefore, differentiated the work into its component elements and made a careful line of cleavage between the highly skilled work which the toolmakers were doing and the work which could be done by ordinary machinists. We then brought in men who were machinists, separating them into several necessary grades. We had sufficient work of a minor character to keep the lower grades busy practically all the time. We, therefore, taught them just how we wanted the work done.

As a result of this differentiation of the elements going to make up tool room work and the shaping of a distinct line of cleavage between the work requiring high skill and that requiring skill of a lesser grade, we were able to reduce our toolmaking force to less than fifty.

I am sure that a close study of the work done in any tool room and a division of the work same as along the lines indicated above will result in a decrease of the number of toolmakers required.

August 7, 1918.

(Signed) C. U. CARPENTER.

OHMER FARE REGISTER COMPANY

Dayton, Ohio

The training department occupies a space of 25x60 feet and has the following equipment installed as a beginning:

1 13-inch lathe. 1 20-inch lathe. 1 36-inch lathe. 1 No. 5 Cincinnati Milling Machine. 1 No. 24 Osterlein Milling Machine. 1 No. 5 Brown & Sharpe Vertical Milling Machine. 1 24-inch Shaper. 1 Bathe Universal Grinder. 1 4-foot Cincinnati Bickford Radial Drill. 1 20-inch Barnes Drill. 1 Brown & Sharpe Hand Screw Machine. 1 14-inch Wet Tool Grinder. About 30 feet of benches with vises, etc.

At one end of the space they have an office and class room, 15x20 feet. In it they have chairs, blackboard, drawing board, etc. It is their practice to assemble all of the students in the class room for a few minutes each day and give them short talks about the work and the fundamentals of the business. These talks are made as pithy as possible and only one main fact is presented at a time.

They are taking in green help, either from the laborers in the shop or hired from outside, both men and women, and are training them for machine operators and bench hands. Their conditions are such that they cannot do as many concerns do, train for a single operation, as they must make all-around operators.

Their method is such that if the foreman of the lathe department is in need of a man he makes out a “request for help” form and has it sent to the school where his needs are supplied if possible; the “request for help” is then sent to the Employment Agent stating that the request has been filled and the Employment Agent fills the vacancy in the school.

In teaching the names of parts of the various machines, they are going to give each student a picture of the particular machine he is to work on; these pictures are numbered and on a separate sheet are the names of the corresponding parts. This is done so that they can be examined in the names of parts and not have the name in front of them to refer to.

Only regular factory production which must pass inspection is used for instruction.

In regard to instructors, they have taken a man from the tool room who is a mechanic and a good teacher. He can handle any and all of the machines and has the ability to tell what he knows in a clear way that is readily understood.

Most of the students in the training room at present have been hired from outside but as it is becoming better known among the men, the laborers are applying for admission in rapidly increasing numbers. They have several traveling salesmen, office men and a few who have taken their degree. These latter are not very satisfactory, however—they are not nearly so amenable to instruction as are men who have been brought up to work.