He must continually and systematically go over his bulletin board. He must permit neither man nor machine to run short of work if it can be provided, nor must he permit an important job to stand waiting while one that is less important is being worked upon. The great economy effected by the bulletin board is the saving of the time generally lost between the com pletion of one job and the starting of the next, the rule being to have preparations made in the plant for two or more jobs ahead for each workman.
20. The recording clerk.—On the route sheet, each step in the progress of the work to be done on a lot or part is indicated, so that what has been done and what remains to be done is always evident. Each step and the time it is to be taken are clearly indi cated. Along with this information, which has been filed in the envelop sheet by the route-file clerk, comes also other important information, such as the tool list, instruction cards, designs, etc. Upon the infor mation thus provided the record clerk performs his functions, which are mainly to record the progTess of the work, to issue and receive operation orders, in spection orders, move orders, etc., at each. phase in the progress of the work.
21. The cost clerk.—The cost clerk is held responsi ble for all cost records. A system of management which employs a planning department uses its cost records for two purposes : (1) for keeping the records of the work which has been done during various periods of the past ; (2) to show the condition of the work at any particular period when a report is called for by the manager. The operation orders, and other slips which are used in the administration of the opera tions in the shop, etc., at length become the basis on which the. work of the record clerk rests. As a job is finished, these slips recording the workingman's time, his rate of pay, his bonus, etc., come directly to the cost clerk.
22. How cost sheets are kept up to date.—Thus all cost sheets are kept up to date. All labor and other charges to the job, at the close of work each night, must be posted on sheets up to and including the prog ress of the day previous. The division of the cost clerk's work, mentioned above, forms the basis for a further duty, namely, managing the cost files. These files are of two kinds: (1) the live file; (2) the dead file. Only work in process must remain in the live
file. When work is completed, ready to be shipped, or the job is otherwise closed, the slips are removed from the file as. soon as the cost clerk is satisfied that all charges that belong to them are posted. They are then put in the dead files and stand as records for future reference.
The cost clerk generally has an assistant who fig ures up the payroll and makes out the bonus rewards, etc. The cost records kept under a system of this kind are very simple. All materials, requisitions from stores or from outside places, all time expended in the shop, either as expense or as work in process, will be posted on the cost sheet. A second sheet, known as the distribution-sheet, will then show all the time as it is distributed daily.
23. Duties of cost clerk.—To describe the full duties of the cost clerk would take us too far into the field of accounting. A brief summary of his duties, as laid down in the book of instructions of one large company, will suffice : The cost clerk should make it a point to close daily all cost sheets for work completed, after being sure that all the charges for these jobs have been received and posted by them. This cost includes material, labor and sundries which, totaled, represent time cost. To this opposite expense must be added the prevailing overhead burden per hour. This burden, added to the time costs, represents the total manufacturing costs. Differential burden or machine hour is posted in each labor-operation column. Each month the cost clerk must make a report to the general manager.
24. Timekeeper.—The first duty of the time clerk is to regulate all the clocks in the shop. The time clocks on which the men register as they go in and out, he is required to watch closely. Each day the clock cards are checked up and totaled, the total being checked against the individual time-card for each man and turned in by him or tbe gang boss or foreman each day. This insures the proper distribution of the exact amount of time, which is shown by the time-clock card, and for which the men will be paid. This time is totaled daily and distributed-upon the distribution sheet mentioned above in connection with the cost clerk's duties. This, of course, must agree with the cost clerk's entries.