It is clear, then, that in carrying out the task idea after the required
knowledge has been obtained through a study of unit times, each of the
four systems, (a) day work, (b) straight piece work, (c) task work with
a bonus, and (d) differential piece work, has its especial field of
usefulness, and that in every large establishment doing a variety of
work all four of these plans can and should be used at the same time.
Three of these systems were in use at the Bethlehem Steel Company when
the writer left there, and the fourth would have soon been started if he
had remained.
Before leaving this part of the book which has been devoted to pointing
out the value of. the daily task in management, it would seem desirable
to give an illustration of the value of the differential rate piece work
and also of the desirability of making each task as simple and short as
practicable.
The writer quotes as follows from a paper entitled "A Piece Rate
System," read by him before The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
in 1895:
"The first case in which a differential rate was applied during the year
1884, furnishes a good illustration of what can be accomplished by it. A
standard steel forging, many thousands of which are used each year, had
for several years been turned at the rate of from four to five per day
under the ordinary system of piece work, 50 cents per piece being the
price paid for the work.
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