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In a line of manufactures where the labor is less than per cent. of the cost of production, for example, rubber goods, brass, etc., a scientific study and a systematic correction of the unnecessary and useless movements of each machine operator and each employee naturally would not produce very striking results, The scientific methods should be first directed a t the material wastes and losses and the operating and expense items, or to that portion of the factory which contributes the largest proportion to the cost of production. Obviously, if large results are to be obtained, such methods might be applied to the best managed factories in the country with profit, while in many of our plants the applications of the scientific studies which lead to the highest efficiency have not been undertaken a t all. The term Scientific methods” sounds more formidable than it really is. To be sure, in a great many cases in factory management, improved efficiency is based on the application of sound-though not always profound-chemistry, physics, mechanics, thermodynamics, psychology, etc. In a great number of other cases it is based upon the consistent application of that extra college attainment-“horse sense.” An example of the latter may be cited in which a manager noticed that all orders on works stores for expense supplies, such as soap, oil, waste, repairs, renewals, etc., were signed by the office boy, using the superintendent’s autograph rubber stamp. Presumably, the various departments were not using any more of these supplies than they needed; nevertheless, the impersonal way in which the orders were put through, made direct responsibility easy to evade. The manager decided to apply the “horse sense” phase of ‘‘ Scientific management.” All rubber stamps about the works were collected and sent to the boiler room, with instructions t o the firemen to realize on their heat value. Each department foreman was advised to sign his own orders for anything he wantedand only his own. Individual ledger accounts were then opened in the office for each foreman, his department being charged a t the purchase price with every order he signed. Transcripts of these accounts were given to each foreman monthly. -4s soon as it became apparent to the foreman that he had a personal responsibility, there was not only a marked falling off in the amount of material ordered, but the purchase price was noted, and the purchasing office given the benefit of many suggestions which resulted in more careful buying. The net result of this transfer of responsibility from the impersonal rubber stamp in the hands of the office boy to the foreman personally was the addition of $35,000 dollars per year to the profits of the works. N o manager would be quick to admit to the public, or t o the lay stockholders, that great changes and improvements could be made in the efficiency of his pIant operation ; but every manager admits to himself, when confronted with impending tariff changes, or growing foreign and domestic competitih, that he must look for means to reduce the cost of production. The cost of selling increases with the severity of com20
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T H E J O U R N A L OF I S D U S T R I . 4 L L-la\-DE.\-GI.YEERI.\-G
CHEMISTRY.
Mar., 191 I
petition, and this adds an additional burden, which must be shouldered by the factory if profits are to be maintained. The application of the “Scientific method,” as interpreted in connection with improved factory efficiency, does not involve a profound scientific research. but invokes the use of the “eagle eye” of a sensible man to every nook, corner, operation, and product of the plant, with special attention to the coal pile, the drainage sewers, and the factory gatesthe three great escape valves for chemical factory profits. Such a study, and the application of remedies based upon sound scientific principles, will give profitable results of a surprising magnitude in many, if not all factories, and will suggest the solution for great problems of factory development in the face of falling prices and increasing competition.
DR. RICHARDSON. I t is a matter of regret that Dr. W.D. Richardson, who has been head of the editorial staff of the J O U R N A L since its organization, could not be induced to continue the responsibilities of that position. His withdrawal from the chief editorship will not entirely deprive us of his’services and advice, as he has consented to devote a portion of his time and interest t o the J O U R N AinLthe capacity of an associate editor. The Society owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Richardson for his services in organizing the J O U R N Aand L , administering its affairs during its infancy. LEONARD PARKER KINNICUTT.
Dr. Leonard P. Kinnicutt, an associatk editor of THISJ O U R K Asince L its. beginning, a leading authority in sanitary chemistry, especially sewage disposal and water supply, and director of the department of chemistry of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, died a t his home in Worcester on February 6th in his fifty-seventh year, after an illness of several months. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1 8 7 5 he then studied in Germany until 1879, a t first with Bunsen a t Heidelberg, where he was a fellow student of Treadwell, now of Zurich, and Bedson, of Sewcastle on Tyne, then a t Bonn with Kekule and Anschiitz, with Japp and Richardson as fellow students: He returned to this country in 1879 and spent a year a t Johns Hopkins, going from there t o Harvard where he remained for three years, taking the degree of Sc.D. and serving as instructor in quantitative analysis. In 1883 he was appointed assistant professor a t Worcester, and became a full professor in 1886 and director of the chemical department in 1892, the position he filled a t the time of his death. With the establishment of sewage disposal works in Vorcester his attention was drawn t o sanitary problems and he devoted the remainder of his life to them. He was recognized, both a t home and abroad, as a leading authority on such subjects, as is shown by the fact that he had been chosen as vice-president of the
