Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1912 — Higher Earnings [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Higher Earnings

' ' • . . . « -• ’ . ~ ———— Proper Training of Working Force Assures Future

By H. G. SMITH, Boston, Mass.

THE establishment of a successful shipyard at Quincy has meant of necessity the application of every possible principle of scientific management in all the many branches involved. We feel that only by constant betterment of our efficiency and the consequent training of a proper working force, are we assured of a proper future. ' Scientific management, to my mind, is the application of certain principles to the and guiding and the assisting of labor along proper business and economic lines. These principles are universally recognized in the business world today, and are necessarily becoming more evident in every American shop as the competition grows keener and the necessity for the utmost proficiency correspondingly greater. This is especially true in a plant where so many deferent trades are involved as in a shipyard. Only by dint of constant attention to details and careful booking of results for future comparison can efficient results be arrived at. The difficulty? of obtaining such results is greater in proportion as the repetition, is less. For years past we have endeavored to keep careful account of work done and the tifne spent,thereupon in every department, and the use of this information has given us a definite idea of the efficiency of our working force, and has allowed them in turn to make higher earnings, with correspondingly greater satisfaction to us both. Specialization of the work to whk-h this points the wav, elimination of unnecesary processes, and the •necessity for proper aids to efficiency are three of the cardinal principles oFscientlfic management which wehave used, and are using more : and more every day in the development of this shipyard. '. ~ . ' . . AA e have not adopted the Taylor system as such, as our work is so complex a variety that we cannot employ any such general scheme in all our departments. e are, however, as is everyone else at present, constantly striving to increase the efficiency of the labor empldyed, and, with very few exceptions, in every case where a systematic study of the question has permitted the introduction of premium or contract work lessened

costs have meant greater earnings to the workers who brought them about, and this with no injurious results to them.