One of the most difficult works to
organize is that of a large engineering establishment building
miscellaneous machinery, and the writer has therefore chosen this for
description.
Practically all of the shops of this class are organized upon what may
be called the military plan. The orders from the general are transmitted
through the colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants and noncommissioned
officers to the men. In the same way the orders in industrial
establishments go from the manager through superintendents, foremen of
shops, assistant foremen and gang bosses to the men. In an establishment
of this kind the duties of the foremen, gang bosses, etc., are so
varied, and call for an amount of special information coupled with such
a variety of natural ability, that only men of unusual qualities to
start with, and who have had years of special training, can perform them
in a satisfactory manner. It is because of the difficulty--almost the
impossibility of getting suitable foremen and gang bosses, more than for
any other reason, that we so seldom hear of a miscellaneous machine
works starting in on a large scale and meeting with much, if any,
success for the first few years. This difficulty is not fully realized
by the managers of the old well established companies, since their
superintendents and assistants have grown up with the business, and have
been gradually worked into and fitted for their especial duties through
years of training and the process of natural selection.
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