As an illustration, the steel tires used on car wheels and locomotives
were originally turned in the Midvale Steel Works on piece work, a
single piece-work rate being paid for all of the work which could be
done on a tire at a single setting. A fixed price was paid for this
work, whether there was much or little metal to be removed, and on the
average this price was fair to the men. The apparent advantage of fixing
a fair average rate was, that it made rate-fixing exceedingly simple,
and saved clerk work in the time, cost and record keeping.
A careful time study, however, convinced the writer that for the reasons
given above most of the men failed to do their best. In place of the
single rate and time for all of the work done at a setting, the writer
subdivided tire-turning into a number of short operations, and fixed a
proper time and price, varying for each small job, according to the
amount of metal to be removed, and the hardness and diameter of the
tire. The effect of this subdivision was to increase the output, with
the same men, methods, and machines, at least thirty-three per cent.
As an illustration of the minuteness of this subdivision, an instruction
card similar to the one used is reproduced in Figure 1 on the next page.
(This card was about 7 inches long by 4 inches wide.)
[Transcriber's note -- Figure 1 not shown]
The cost of the additional clerk work involved in this change was so
insignificant that it practically did not affect the problem.
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