4. Job tickets.—The more modern and also more accurate method of obtaining time distribution is by means of the work card, or "job ticket," as it is often called. There are three types of these tickets which may be noted: (a) The work card which is attached to the ma terial when it is issued from the storeroom, and which accompanies it thru the shop, the labor of each man who works upon it being recorded as the material progresses.
(b) The work card which is issued to the individ ual workman daily by the foreman, and on which the workman records the details of his day's work, giving the order number of each job worked on and the time expended upon it.
(c) The individual-job work card issued by the foreman to the workman for each and every job worked on, and on which is recorded the order num ber and the time expended on one job only.
The limitations of the first type are obvious. In small shops and for certain classes of work it is ap plicable, but the constant handling of such cards, in a machine shop, for instance, reduces them in a short time to an unintelligible state. Furthermore, the ac curacy of the information thus gained is open to ques tion and it cannot be recorded conveniently until the job is finished; as a result, therefore, there is a lag in the cost records.
The second form of job ticket is shown in Figure 13 (page 129) . Upon this ticket provision is made for noting the time expended on the several orders on which the man has worked during the day. Its sole advantage, therefore, over the trav eling-timekeeper method is that the workman is pro vided with a systematic method of keeping his own time, but it is open to the same criticism of possible inaccuracy as is the timekeeper system. The second form of card is superior to the first, however, since by means of it returns are made daily, and can be checked more readily by the foreman as they are turned in. These returns can also be used to check up the time recorded by the workman on the time clock or checkboard at the shop entrance. The work of post ing up the time charges against the several order numbers is cumbersome, however, if there are many such orders in progress ; moreover, they are awk ward to analyze for the purpose of making cost re ports, because the work on several order numbers may be placed on the same job ticket, as shown in Figure 13. It is difficult, also, to trace disputed items
after the job tickets have been posted, since they can not be filed under separate order numbers.
The third type of ticket is by far the most flexible and the most commonly used. As before stated, a separate ticket is issued to each man for each job worked on each day and all tickets are collected daily. Figure 14 (page 130) illustrates such a card arranged for day work. It bears the workman's name and number, the date, and the order number of the job. It may be arranged, as in Figure 14, so that the work man may check off not only the elapsed time ex pended on the job, but also the character of the oper ation involved. Thus the need of any writing on the part of the workman is obviated and by so doing much time is saved and mistakes due to illegibility are avoided.
Figure 15, opposite, shows a similar card arranged for pieceworkers. In addition to the general infor mation given on the dayworker's card this card re cords the number of pieces, the rate per piece, and also the elapsed time. This last has nothing to do with the workman's pay, but is recorded so as to check up the total time against the clock record, for reasons already noted.
Figure 16 (page 132) illustrates a work card which has been used by Mr. Gantt for recording bonus time. It records the time allowed, the time actually taken, the bonus and the total time for which payment is to be made. Provision is also made for the inspector's approval for both quality and quantity.
All of these cards, as will be noted, record full in formation regarding the job. They all record the workman's name and number, the order number, the part and drawing numbers, as well as full information regarding the operation performed. The operation and its cost are therefore identified fully with the or der number, and full information is recorded for tistical use, if this be desired. The forms of job ticket shown in Figures 14, 15 and 16 lend themselves admirably to statistical purposes, for, since only one order number is recorded on each ticket, the sorting and arranging of these tickets by order number and classes is an easy matter.