14. Classification by kind.—Materials should be classed by kind, not by size. Some unit, such as 24 inches, should be adopted, and the shelves should be divided into square compartments. These compart ments can then be subdivided, as the necessity arises, without changing the shelving. There are two sys tems involving such arrangement.
The way to number bins in stock warehouses is to divide the whole cubic volume of the house into spaces and allot a certain number of spaces to each volume, whether the volume is to contain large or small bins. In this way, no matter what changes or rearrangement in the sizes of the bins there may be, the same number will always designate the same space in the warehouse. For instance, all bins numbered in the ten thousands would represent bins in aisle 10, those be ginning with 10,500 representing the bins on one side of the aisle, and those beginning with 10,000 the bins on the oppo site side of the aisle. If the bins are large, of course, a great many numbers will not be used. This is practically the same principle that has been finally adopted as the most satisfac tory method of numbering houses in city streets, and will be found equally satisfactory in storage and warehouses.' The placing of even numbers on one side of the aisle and odd on the other, as is done, for example, in the numbering of theater chairs, has, however, some ad vantages over this method.
It is also well to place near the delivery point those goods which are much used and to locate at the back of the storeroom those which are seldom used. Where this system is adopted it is necessary to have "finding lists" or card indexes giving the location of the sup plies. Where the stock room is large or where there are several floors, it will save time to have several such "finding lists" at convenient points.
The second method is alphabetical and calls for an arrangement in accordance with the material or tool symbols. These symbols are marked on the end of the tiers so that anyone, even if he is not familiar with the stock-room layout, can find anything in stock ex actly as he would locate a name in the city directory. This system follows the general tendency to simplify the work and eliminate the index which is discernible in .loose-leaf ledgers, in card systems and in the open shelf fiction classification of the public libraries. The procedure is the same whether a lead pencil or a. blow valve, a box of envelops or a rough casting is cata loged. Of course some kind of symbol system is a prime requisite.
15. Size materials when checking.—The handling of materials is facilitated by sizing materials the first time they are checked; this eliminates the need of doing it again. The Salford, Rolling Mills, Man chester, paint the weights on all castings when they leave the foundry. The Thompson-Starrett Com pany paint the length of all heavy timbers on both ends so that one can tell just what is in the yard. by looking at, the ends of the piles. Some companies indicate the kind of steel by painting one end a certain color. The Tabor Manufacturing Company of Phil adelphia paint their bolts, washers, clamps, etc., used in setting up work in machine tools, with bright colors, such as red, blue, green, which immediately designate them as tool equipment. Adequate hoists, tool boxes, etc., for the handling of the material should be pro vided.
16. Stock ledger and inventory-taking.—The stock
ledger is usually kept in the dispatching or planning department to facilitate routing. Where the system of dispatching has not yet been introduced, the stock ledger is usually kept in a card or loose-leaf ledger.
Standard designs are carried in stock by most of the manufacturers of loose-leaf and card systems. A useful stock form of the C. E. Sheppard Company is shown in Figure 24. The sequence of the items varies in different companies. C. B. Cottrell & Sons place the balance between the received and delivered col umns. The C. W. Hunt Company places the order number after the amount delivered but before the balance on hand. The Wells Brothers Company provides separate date columns.
In order to verify the stock on hand, the balance-of-stores clerk spends an hour a day in the storeroom checking up.
Each day he takes a certain number of items and counts and weighs them, comparing the results with the figures on his sheets. To go thru the whole stock room requires six months, so that during the year two full inventories are taken.' Another method is' to check- each article when the quantity on hand is low; this system involves a mini mum of work. Slight discrepancies are bound to oc cur, because fallibility on the part of a stock clerk is far more common. than infallibility of records. When discrepancies are marked, or appear as continual shortage in the more valuable materials, they should, of course, be investigated, but in general they should simply be written off. In either case, that bugbear, the annual "taking account of stock," is entirely un necessary.
17. Losing time on cheap rather than expensive two men are dependent upon each other, the less expensive must wait upon the more expensive. Theoretically it should be possible for them to exactly tie into each other. Practically this is not so. Unless the cheaper serves the more expen sive, the more expensive man or machine will do the waiting. For instance, if men were loading trucks with dirt, it should be possible to proportion them ex actly so that one truck would drive on to be loaded while the one ahead was driving away full. As an actual fact it is not possible and under such circum stances the men will be waiting for the trucks or the trucks will be waiting to be loaded; they will be wait ing for one another during different parts of the day. It is therefore necessary to decide which of the two causes of delay is the more expensive, and supply either enough men to keep the trucks moving or enough trucks to keep the men busy.
18. Principles of general application.—These prin ciples apply thruout business. If the man's time is more valuable than the material used, he must be given a leeway; otherwise he will have to adapt himself to the material. If the material is more valuable than the man's time, he must adapt himself to the material; otherwise he will waste it. Such is the case in gold smithing ; the workbench is laid out, not so much for the man's convenience, as' to save the gold filings. This reasoning applies with special force to office work. If an executive's time is worth more than a clerk's he must be supplied with a sufficient clerical force; otherwise he will be doing the clerical work himself at the expense of more important work. The less expensive unit should be made to wait upon the more expensive.