Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 18, Number 86, Decatur, Adams County, 10 April 1920 — Page 9

G. E. EDITION

Volume XVIII. Number 8(i

AN IDEAL FACTORY FOR SMALL MOTORS - « .... _ . ———————

A FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP EXISTS BETWEEN EMPLOYER ANO EMPLOYE DECATUR PEOPLE WILE WORK FOR AN INSTITUTION THAT HAS THEIR VERY INTERESTS IN MIND, FIRST, LAST AND ALL THE TIME, SAYS SUPERINTENDENT BARNES.

As I prepare to write a few words descriptive of the General Electric company’s policy with regard to its employees, the findings of President Wilson’s second Industrial Commission have been released and are being discussed in the press. It is interesting, therefore, to compare these recommendations with the conditions that have existed in our plant for some years; namely, the recognition of the advantage of a friendly relationship Existing between employer and employee which can best be promoted by a deliberate, although not aggressive organization in the plant itself to bring about this friendly spirit of cooperation; the object being to utilize the common interests centered in our work and diminish the area of activity. In other words, bringing about on a large scale the humau relationship that existed between the employer and the employees when is dustries were much smaller and th. employees were necessarily closer in touch with the aims and the ambitions of the employer, and vice versa. As executives we should know the peculiarities and feelings of our employees nst as intimately srs we know the advantage of employing one kind of material or metal for a specific purpose in producing the output which vye manufacture. iW this I not. mean that we should think of our em-' ployees in terms of raw material, but in the past there has been a tendencv / Y / * Jr -Wf I . J \ E A. BARNES General Supt.. of Fort Wayne Works to know all about the raw material entering into the produf 1 ‘ ’ but little or no attention i 1 - ■- paid to studying, helping am vanning the interests of ti e ■ • themselves. As general stipenn dent of this plant the ™ na '' )o has, in a great measure. delegame the study and adoption of these conditions, and while v that a situation of this K'nd must be approached in such a l ' 3 ' " . jt favor of paternalism, neve:‘- 1 ’. * must be approached fearless > to insure-the best results.for he gre«‘ est number of people. I ' ’ ‘ below to describe a few o j

tivities. First comes our Fire Department. This fire department has bet a or i Sanized and active J 1895. These men are specia. from among our employe’’ . < scattered throughout the work- • to have available, immedx ately <n case of an incipient who can take charge. numer- < our-fire department has pu ldence ( ous fires in these years is that they are not kept on ises for show purposes but for acts* work. With the exception three men every shop work ; department is employe I and only r «® pon .‘ t ls fully eauipped I, necessity. The plant ' sering fire with Metropolitan aflarm systems, and lllftr j ze our drills, which drills tn people with exactly {c cffse of fire. No J g . can exist under these conditions.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

Medical Care. Under this heading we have two dispensaries fully equipped, in charge or trained nurses. We have on industrial nurse to investigate sickness of our employees on the outside, and among our employees there are a number of men and women who are able in case of emergencies to give their services and assist the medical department. We also have a physician on the premises at all times'who has authority to call into consultation the best surgeons in the city. This work, as far as first aid and visiting nurse is concerned, is absolutely free to our employees. Employment Department. Our employment department has a very important function to perform; namely, the selection for work in tho shop of people who need work, and who will develop into faithful and proficient employees. We look up the record of prospective employees so far as possible to find ont just who they are and what their previous experience has Heen, and then start them out in the plant with some assurance of success. Personnel Workers. Just after the singning of the arm istice it was found that a great manv of our women employees (we had jover 1400 of them), were leaving, anfl that the new girls employed to take their place did not stay with us, but left after a few days. It was discovered in many instances they left because they felt lonesome and strange in their new surroundings. To over ■ome this difficulty we picked out from a number of volunteers, 12 young women who had been with us for ■lome years, and delegated one to each department where girls are at work, to take care of the new girls from the time they were employed until meh times as they became fully .acquainted with their duties. At ail’ times these personnel workers are smoothing out trivial disagreements nid questions that come up, which, it not taken care of promptly, might lead to serious misunderstandings. We have found that this service is a very valuable one and we are entirely satis- ( Ted with the results obtained. Industrial Service. Under the general heading of industrial service we have male and female Investigators who help in the matter of advertising, arranging for club outings, sports, pastimes and similar functions. These investiga tors work through the organization and keep in touch with the suggertions and recommendations of our club members, safety committees and others who may have something which they wish to suggest. We have, schools for the training cf machiifists. pattern makers, foundry workers, draftsmen and specialists. These young men, who are selected because of their promise, are given a regular course in these crafts, at the same time they get one hour and a quarter a day in mathematics, dra - ins and other education! subects thpt

go “hand in glove” with their machau ical training. We have a department in the works where our employees can ' get an upgrading or intensive training in machine shop practice. Many a ' young man who has toiled faithfully ' without much apparent prospect of ' advancement has taken advancement of this training class and is ndw earning good wages, and has in nis possession skill and ability to do things that were heretofore virtually denied him. Compensation and factory laws are taken came of by the industrial serv. ico department. Cases are investigated, and in every instance the interest of the employee is given first I c onsideration. As stated before, it is one of the fundamental principles of our organization to foster and promote confidence and contentment among our employees, and to en- ~ (Continued on page 2, section 2) ’ /

DECATUR 6, E. PLANT IS A REALIZATION OF THIS IDEA-LOCAL FACTORY THE MOST NDERI OWNED DY GENERAL ELECTRIC

For a number of years there ex-1 isted in the minds of all of our engineers and officials a mental picture of an ideal factory for the production of small motors; a plant wherein, a given production would be produced with a minimum amount of labor; where the facilities and the arrange- < ment of these facilities would be. such that the material would progress from 1 one end of the plant, from operation to operation, and the result would be a finished product ready for shipment 1 to the consumer, at the other end of I the plant. With the completion of]

Lit? ' f ' L f -r A... rI g .. -* - -- —— - •■■■■&■ •- -wwa- . w*— --- VIEW OF DECATUR PLANT, GEN ERAL ELECTRIC CO., ERECTED IN 60 DAYS BY H. K. FERGUSON CO.

Size of the Plant and Type of Buildings. After our engineers had satisfied themselves regarding the general facilities which were necessary for the operation of a plant, the management decided to build a tflant that would produce 500 small motors per daj; this plant to be so arranged that it could be extended to an ultimate capacity of 2,000 small motors per day. From this information the of the plant was very readily determined, white from experience and with the desire to produce the most efficient and modern plant conceivable the onestory building seemed most desirable. This type of building built according to what is known as the saw tootli type of building seemed to best, fill of the requirements. This type of j building also had the advantage of properly distributing the light throughout the plant and providing proper ventilation. In fact, it seemed best adapted for making an ideal workshop Construction of the Building. At this stage Mr. H. K. Ferguson of the H. K. Ferguson company, Cleveland. Ohio, who are specialists ,in standardized buildings and short-time contracts, was called into consultation, and after several meetings tho contract was finally entered into between the General Electric company and the H. K. Ferguson company, covering the construction of a one-story saw tooth type of building for completion in sixty working days, and a

few days later, on December 15th, the actual work of construction was begun. After the building was actually started the contractors encountered a great many difficulties. Weather conditions were adverse, in fact, throughout the entire period of construction the temperature remained at a very 10-w average, while snow was lying on the ground almost the entire winter. Nor were the weather the only difficulties to overcome. T|ere has been a scarcity of material, railroad facilities have not been the best, in fact, it has been necessary to send out personal tracers in order to bring in the material. Regardless of difficulties however, the contractors have persisted and in the sixty working days they itave practically completed all work under the contract. Design of Building. This saw tooth typo of building is .one story in height, has a total floor ■area of 63,000 square feet, exclusive

Decatur, Indiana, Saturday Evening, April 10, 1920.

the plant at Decatur we hope that we will have attained a realization of this big idea. Selection of Building Site. About six months ago it became apparent that we must supply additional floor area and equipment to meet the jcver-increasing demand for small mc--1 tor production. Our engineers began ' looking for a site on which to erect a plant that would produce a given output. The industrial committee of I the city of Decatur called our attention to the ptqt of ground oa which | the plant has been built. This plat

of the platforms. It is d e-1 signed with a self-supporting steel structure, brick curtain walls up as high as the window-sills and continuous sash, the sash being supplied by the David Lupton’s Sons company. Philadelphia. Pa. The roof is constructed of 2’’ yellow pine sheathing, the entire roof reing weather-proofed with an asphalt and asbestop built, up roof. The end walls above the continuous sash are constructed of wood I en sheathing, the outside being flre-| proofed with asbestos shingles intend-1 ed to imitate slate. They are abso-l lutely fire-proof. The floors are constructed of L” thick Creosote block, the product of the Midland Creosoting company, Toledo, Ohio. These blocks are laid it/' the most approved manner on a fi" ' concrete sub floor. The inner ’spaces between the blocks are filled with pitch. This floor represents a very

-4 !"■ ! / -T / \ W y 'A sT.iWiW • C. H. MATSON Supt. Blds, and Maintenance Fort Wayne Works. high initial cost which, however, is expected to render excellent service. It Ms not an experimental floor. Heating Plant. The heating of this building presents quite a problem. The great amount of glass surface in the building as well as the large exposed wall and roof area makes it necessary to prpvide a large* amount of radiation for heating purposes. It was therefore necessary to install approximately 18,000 square feet of cast iron and pipe radiation in order to maintain a mean temperature of 70 degrees F. in zero weather. The cast iron radia-

seemed to our engineers and officials to be ideally located. The plat of ground being adjacent to the railroad lines, switching facilities were easily attainable, while such other facilities as the proper amount of gas. proper fire protection and water supply, power or energy for running the machinery and lighting the plant seemed to be present in sufficient quantities to meet our early requirements. Investigation of the labor market also showed that it appeared to be such as io warrant the construction of this plant. »

i tion is placed on the walls under, the windows while the pipe radiation ir placed in the trusses overhead. / boiler of approximately 200 horse power will be required io generate th steam necessary to heat this building The system employed in heatiiig_ii known as the Warren-Webster system. By this system steam is supplier to the radiation by mean:, of overheat i supply lines at low pressure, while tin condensation is returned to the boil" I by means of vacuum pumps and spe Icial vplves. A vacuum of ai>prox I mately 8" is maintained en the return lines. Automatically the condensatioi is discharged into the heating boilc as required. The heating system hat pbeen installed by A. Hatter.-dey 4 Sons, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Wein shank & Fenstermaker of Indianan oils, Indiana, werfe consulting engin eers. Fire Service Protection.

The building is entirely protects from fire by a complete system of an tomatic sprinklers installed by Tin Grinnel company, -Providence, R. 1 By this syste man automatic sprink ler head is installed over appYoximate ly every 50 square feet of floor space This nead is equipped with a fusabh link which in case of fire melts and discharges the water over the area it is intended to protect. Approximate ly 90‘G heads are installed in this building. All heads are connected t< a series of piping inside of the build ing and are controlled by valves placed at convenient points outside. Thes< lines are in turn connected with ar outside underground fire service pip< consisting of cast iron pipe 10” ii diameter and under. Hydrants, hose houses and fire hose are located at convenient points about the outside of the building.-- The whole system is connected to the city fire service To provid ) an adequate source of supply that would be immediately available in case of fire, an elevated steel tank having a capacity of 75.000 gallons will be installed. This tank will be built upon a steel tower 100’ above the yard level. This tank will be fitted with a small pump which will take the water at city pressure and ’ elevate it into the overhead tank. The water in the tank is intended to supply water to the open sprinkler heads until the secondard source of supply, which is the pumping station, has time to build up sufficient water pres(Continued on page 4, section 2).

A WASHING M‘CHIME MOTOR WILL BE MANUFACTURED AT DECATUR PLANT BUILDING IS SO CONSTRUCTED THAT RAW MATERIAL IS BROUGHT IN AT ONE END AND COMES OUT AT THE OTHER A FINISHED PRODUCT READY FOR MARKET.

The officials of the General Electric company in designing and equipping the Decatur plant have given first consideration to the economical and rapid production of one type and size of washing machine motor. The building is so situated that raw material is brought in at one end of the building and the finished apparatus delivered at the other door. The raw material, consisting of a special grade of sheet iron used in making the rotor and stator cores, round steel for shafts, bronze rod for bearings, copper strip for end rings, copper rods for stator rivets, sheet brass for collector rings, castings for bearing brackets or end flanges, insulated copper wire for rotors and insulating material (consisting of both treated and untreated fibre and varnished cambric), is unloaded and placed in stock in the north end of the building. We will now .endeavor to follow up some of this material through the factory, beginning with the sheet iron. This slieet iron is delivered to the •'actory in sheets about 33 inches wide ind about 8 feet long. The first operaGon is to pass a sheet through a gang .litter, which slits the slieet into five • ieces approximately 6 inches wid* There is attached to this slitting ma hain a device for placing upon the sheet the small amount of lubricant which is necessary to the proper op '’ration oj the punches and dies. From the gang slitter these narrow pieces , are delivered to the punch press de-1 '•artment, where they are fed through | nowerful punch presses which punch nit two pieces. The inside piece is ermed the rotor blank and the outside piece the stator blank. From this press these blanks are taken to smallr presses, which repunch them into rotor punchings and stator punchings. These finished punchings are then deivered to the core stackin;; depart•nent, where they are 'Assembled into lundles of definite height. The rotor unchings arc then assembled in a special fixture and pressed down to size, after which the shaft is pressed nto position. These rotor tores are ow carefully inspected, and, if satisactory, delivered to the winding department. The stator punchings are 'ssembled in a fixture and the copper I nd rings put in place, and after the i opper rivets have been assembled j nto the slots this stator is taken to a ' /ery powerful hydraulic press, where ■ he core is pressed to a specific dimen-1 ion and the rivets are all headed >ver. From the hydraulic press these iveted stators go to the soldering de aartment, where they are properly luxed and dipped in a tin bath to in <ure satisfactory electrical connections between the rivets and the end | -Ings TTiese stators are now taken to I t broaching machine, whit h broach ss I

- c p the inside, giving them the exact re- , tuired diameter. From here they are 1 aken to a specially-equipped turret', lathe, where the outside is finished ( ind thd rabbets made for the bearing , lange fit. As explained later on. the ( nside diameter and ijie diameter of . he rabbet fit must be very nearly ex- , ■ct in order to secure a motor which will operate satisfactorily. The name ( date holes are now drilled, and drills are also passed through the clamp bolt holes to remove any excess solder. These stators are now delivered to the sand blast department for sand blasting to remove any oil or dirt that may have accumulated, and after the sand blast they are dipped in a lacquer, and as soon as they are dry they are delivered to the assembly department. In the manufacture of shafts automatic machinery is used extensively. The bars are taken from the stock room and pointed. In other words, the square corners of the ends are ground off so that, the bars may feed ’ properly on the automatic machines. One type of automatic is used in cen- , tering and machining one end of the shaft and cutting off to length. These

’SECTION TWO

short pieces are then taken to another type of machine, where they are placed in a magazine, from which they are automatically fed into the machine proper. This machine will finish up and center the other end of the .-■haft. From here these shafts are taken to the grinding machines, where they are ground to very accurate dimensions. They are now delivered to the rotor stacking department, where they are pressed into the rotors, as explained elsewhere. ( lamp bolts, acorn nuts, rivets and other small parts are made on automatic machinery and delivered to tho departments where they are needed. The acorn nuts, after having been properly inspected, are delivered to the nickel plating department, where they are nickel plated and polished. The various collector ring parts are made up frdm slieet material which is taken from the store room and sheared to proper sizes. From here the.-’ ire delivered to the punch press department, where the many intricate pieces are punched out. Some of these parts must be zinc-plated and some of them given a bright dip. Other parts for the collector tire made in the automatic screw machine department, such as hubs and clamping washer These hugs, in order that the collec tors nitty be properly riveted, must b<* very carefully annealed. This is done by placing them in an air tight container and bringing them to a high Tv • MeW’ '' IB \ E. L. SIMPSON i Manufacturing Supt. of Fort Wayne j Works. | temperature, after which they are allowed to cool slowly. These various collector ring parts, after having been completed in the various departments, are brought to the collector ring asi cntbly department, where the different parts are assembled by girls, each

girl having her particular portion of the work. As the operation allotted to any one operator is completed the work is passed to the next operator, who performs her particular portion, so that in a very short time we have a completed collector. The collectors, after having been assembled, are carefully inspected and delivered to the armature winding department for assembly with the armature. The castings for the bearing brackets, or flanges, are first very carefully annealed to make them more easily machined. The first machine operation is to drill the four clamp bolt holes. This is necessary for the reason that during the subsequent operations these holes are used in locating and holding the castings. After this first operation the castings are ground to remove any rough spots that may be on them. This is done in order that the, castings may take a high finish when japanned. There will be two different types of machines in the Decatur factory on which the ma- ’ chine work on these flanges may be 1 done. One is what is termed a Bullard 1 Multa-au-matic, which is a multiple ■ spindle machine, on each spindle <f ‘ i which work is being done on different * -x.z-.zx.. X.-X. » (Continued on page 5, section 2).