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Corning Glass Works' suggestion plan is always in the employees' view—from large signs at the plant entrance to colorful posters which are keyed to seasonal events. These events include baseball, football, and hunting seasons, elections, and vacations of $17.43. Highest award to date is $650. In 1953 Spencer's 981 em ployees contributed 1487 ideas.
Suggestions M a k e Money Direct savings hit $ 3 0 0 million in 1953— improved safety, morale are indirect benefits of suggestion systems
M
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good suggestion system taps a huge reservoir of creative ideas. It builds job awareness, safety mindedness, and morale. It is a money maker. In 1953, about 4000 U / S . firms used formal suggestion systems, racked up over $300 million in direct savings. Indirect savings do not lend themselves well to cost accounting, but they must have been substantial. Management knows too that it cannot simply hang the old suggestion box on a convenient wall and open it every Friday like a Christmas stocking with any hope of success. Suggestion systems must b e well publicized. Employees must know their ideas will get serious, impartial consideration. They know worthwhile ideas will be rewarded, and the firm right hand of friendship is not enough. The 4000 U. S. firms mentioned paid $15 million in awards in 1953. Chemical industry was but an infant when the suggestion system came to life in a Glasgow shipyard in 1880. The industry has multiplied many times since then, while suggestion systems have gained real impetus only during the breakneck production race of World W a r II and later. Today, however, formal suggestion systems 30O
seem firmly entrenched. T h e National Association of Suggestion Systems in Chicago compiles statistics on the systems of its 8 5 0 member companies, who employ a total of more t h a n 5.5 million people. Number of suggestions per 1O00 employees, perhaps the best measure of employee reaction, averaged 217 per 1000 in 1953 among Ν AS S members. Chemical Employees Average 5 3 8 Suggestions per 10OO
NASS' chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and allied products group, 14 com panies employing 134,431 people, more than doubled this average with a 538 per 1000 ratio. Spencer Chemical and American Cyanamid, who stood first and second in this group in 1953, were far above average with ratios of 1516 per 1000 and 1048 per 1000 respectively. Corning Glass, to a large extent a chemical process firm, al though not so classed by Ν ASS, com pleted last fall a very successful new product idea drive, a one shot supple ment to its regular suggestion system. Spencer Chemical's suggestion plan is 12 years old. From its birth until November 1953, Spencer had adopted 19.9% of the 8710 suggestions re ceived, had paid an average award
Employee Respciise Varies Inversely w i t h Time to Act
All Spencer plants have identical suggestion programs, administered locally and coordinated by C. T . Campbell, suggestion system super visor. Each plant has an investigating committee, which represents a cross section of its particular operation. Seven members has proved to b e optimum committee size. Spencer finds that degree of employee response varies inversely with the average time taken to act u p o n suggestions; in vestigating committees make every effort to hold this period to 45 days or less. Most plans c a n be divided into three groups: those in which individual suggestions are either anonymous, identified, or identified at t h e em ployee's option. Spencer finds t h e fully identified technique most benefi cial to both the company and its em ployees. T o ensure impartiality, sug gestion investigators are not told t h e suggester's name until they have taken action. Daily, except Saturday and Sunday, suggestion boxes in each section of Spencer plants are opened a n d t h e envelopes forwarded to the suggestion secretary. Here, entries are duly proc essed for submission to the investi-
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gating committee, which meets weekly. Spencer uses suggestion posters lib erally, c h a n g e s them once a week. Summaries of program activity are posted m o n t h l y . These describe briefly all ideas that will b e adopted, as well as those t h a t a r e still in process or have been rejected. For those rejected, a brief explanation appears, together with a request for more information at t h e employee's option. Rejected sug gestions are answered also by personal letter. Employee response to Spencer's plan has been very gratifying, says super visor C a m p b e l l . T h e plan owes its success, h e a d d s , to t h r e e fundamental principles: t o p management endorses it, line m a n a g e m e n t supports it, indi vidual supervisers ensure their em ployees' awareness of its advantages. American C y a n a m i d ' s system, ad ministered by Virgil A. Moore, d r e w 22,520 ideas from a 21,496 m a n work ing force in 1 9 5 3 . Moore initiated a system at Cyanamid's Latrobe, Pa., electric b l a s t i n g c a p plant, where he was plant m a n a g e r . It proved so suc cessful t h a t n e was moved to N e w York to install a company-wide system.
weeks, or months. Plant managers meet with their supervisors to open local campaigns. Letters to supervi sors, and then to all employees come next. Posters go u p throughout the plant or office. Company newspapers carry publicity. Pencils, match books, and other promotional gimmicks are distributed. Stuffers are enclosed in pay envelopes. Interplant competition, a fine suggestion breeder, is stimulated
Coming's 11,550 employees. Adminis trative expense, publicity, a n d prizes were b u d g e t e d at about $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 . A letter from W . C. Decker, Corning president, to every eligible employee's h o m e opened the c a m p a i g n . Liberal use of posters and c o m p a n y organs highlighted a n aggressive publicity drive. Suggestions w e r e screened carefully t o weed out t h e m a n y dupli cations t h a t poured in from Coming's
Spencer's Best Production Award Clair E. Jackson ·( center) receives a check from his supervisor, Craig P. Howes (left), and superintendent of Spencer Chemical's nitric acid plant, Charles Synnamon. Jackson receives this as an additional award for submitting the Best Production Award for the year. In a certain process at Spencer's plant a condition existed which was confusing even to experienced operators. This condition was a shortage of compressed air caused ordinarily by one of two situations. Each situation called for a different course of action. Jackson suggested that a series of signals be installed which would indicate t h e source of trouble. He included detailed plans for installation with his suggestion. Spencer says that since the system was installed many hours of down time have been averted at the plant
CysriarnEd A d e p t s a b o u t 2 3 % O f Suggestions Received
Cyanamid a d o p t e d about 239fc of t h e suggestions received during Moore's first three and a half years at t h e helm. I t adopted 2 5 % in 1953, paid an average a w a r d of $14.70. Safety sug gestions m a d e up 4 0 % of t h e 1953 total, time a n d materials saving ideas another 17%. Awards are in cash, and have no limit. Largest so far is $3500, paid to a L e d e r l e division shipping clerk in N e w Orleans. His idea elim inated t h e n e e d for Parcel Post in surance in a Lederle operation. "All the big ones/ 3 " says Moore, "have been simple." A committee at each Cyanamid plant or location stirs u p and evaluates suggestions. Awards of more than by monthly scoreboard reports sent to $200 m u s t b e approved by t h e division all plant managers. manager; if f o r more t h a n $1000, they must b e passed by the company's Supervisors Can Collect on b u d g e t committee. More than 20ι Ideas for Other D e p a r t m e n t s awards over $ 1 0 0 0 h a v e b e e n made. Since supervisors cannot collect for Every suggestion is answered b y an ideas that apply within their own expert in the field involved. Suggest- jurisdiction, they must b e convinced ers are paid i n full, regardless of h o w that suggestions from their personnel much d e v e l o p m e n t their ideas may[ reflect credit on t h e boss. Supervisors require. O n e recent idea involved can collect, however, for ideas that use of p r e s s u r e sensitive tape in pack apply outside their fields. One Cyan age labelling. Six months of engineer amid supervisor has clicked with 11 ing was n e e d e d to make that one prac out of 14 suggestions for $1350. tical, b u t t h e printer and researcherr Coming's new product idea contest who h a d jointly m a d e t h e original sug supplemented a suggestion system that gestion split $2500. has produced $250,000 in awards Suggestion programs must have3 during 25 successful years. Between management backing. Cyanamid1 June 1 a n d Nov. 1, 1954, t h e drive campaigns p r o m o t e suggestion days,;, netted more than 27,000 ideas from VOLUME
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18 plants. Final judging was u p to a committee of seven t o p m a n a g e m e n t m e n , among them four vice presidents. First p r i z e , an all-expense trip for t w o to California and t h e Pacific North w e s t , or $ 1 0 0 0 , has been d u l y awarded, as have 3 0 other prizes. W a s t h e new product d r i v e a success? Corning won't divulge t h e a w a r d w i n n i n g ideas. "It m i g h t t i p o u r hand," says a company spokesman. A firm of C o m i n g ' s size, $ 1 5 0 million sales in 1 9 5 3 , is n o t so c h a r y of giving away i d e a s unless they are good. T h e suggestion system h a s apparently c o m e of a g e . NASS represents less t h a n one quarter of all U. S. companies u s i n g suggestion systems; its m e m b e r s h i p alone h a s grown from 400 in 1949 to 850 in 1954. All of t h e s e firms have o n e objective: efficiency. 301
