PLANNING PRODUCTION-THE FACTORY 1. Planning department of a factory.—In thoos ing an example to show the methods followed in the planning department of a factory we may select an engineering enterprise. Here the work is more mi nutely subdivided than in other enterprises and affords better opportunity to study the detail of the planning organization. In such a concern we find the follow ing positions: (1) production clerk, (2) route clerk, (3) foundry clerk, (4) balance-of-stores clerk, (5) instruction-card clerk, (6) route-file clerk, (7) order of-work clerk, (8) recording clerk, (9) mail carrier, (10) tickler clerk, (11) time-and-cost clerk, (12) stenographers, messengers, etc.' 2. Coordinating duties of production clerk.—As soon as the process of specialization has divided the duties of one man or of one department among several men or several departments the chief prob lem of management is to bring about an efficient cooperation among the various parts which have thus been separated. VVhen an enterprise grows to anything like normal proportions, it is necessary to separate the sales department from the manufac turing department. No sooner is this division made, however, than difficulties arise. The sales depart ment sends in orders and expects the manufacturing department to get them out on schedule time. As every business man knows, these expectations are not uniformly realized, and friction results. A reduction of this friction and the bringing about of a greater amount of cooperation between these two depart ments is one of the chief functions of the production clerk. He is in a true sense a coordinator, the con necting link between the sales force and the shop. The sales department depends upon him for informa tion upon which to base its promises of delivery. He is, in fact, responsible to the sales department for making these deliveries at the time promised.
3. Setting sales-delivery dates.—To set his dates, however, the production clerk must have information other than that supplied by the sales department. He therefore first consults the stores clerk and learns what manufactured articles are required for stock. With this in mind he then sets to work to prepare a schedule, or, as it is called, an order of work. This schedule contains a list of all orders in hand for each department, arranged according to their relative im portance. The importance of an order is, of course,
determined by many conditions, but in general the classes into which most of the manufacturing orders may fall are as follows: (1) the emergency work, (2) tools or appliances, (3) manufacturing orders, (4) orders for stock parts, (5) orders for stock ma chines. As soon as an order comes to the production clerk, he classifies it under one of the above divisions.
4. Relative importance of orders.—It need hardly be said that the emergency job has the right of way thru the factory in preference to any other job. But the production clerk must consult the manager before an order can be placed under the emergency class. An order in class 2 would have preference over any orders of the later classes, for such an order would arise only when the work under way was being held up because of a broken tool or a lack of appliances, etc. Class 3 comprises all those orders for products not carried in stock, but which must be made up after the customer's order has been received. This class may be further subdivided into definitely dated orders and orders which can run on and be completed at the manufacturer's convenience.
At regular intervals whenever the need arises the production clerk revises the order of work for each department.
5. Further duties of production clerk.—The sched ule having been made out, the production clerk must see that its requirements are observed in the drafting room, in the planning department itself and in the shop. In fact, his duties now are largely those of "checking up." Having fixed a date for the com pletion of the job, and having placed the date on the shipping order, he files tbe memorandum away in the tickler. When the date arrives for this job to be started, his record appears automatically and Ile checks up the drafting department by it. A like method is pursued in checking up the planning and the delivery of materials. The tickler is to the pro duction clerk what a cab window is to an engineer on a locomotive; both men must be constantly looking ahead to assure themselves that the track is clear. If obstructions appear the production clerk must ar range to have them removed in plenty of time so that they may not interfere with the general order of pro duction.