SAVINGS IN TIME-DISPATCHING-AUXILIARY APPLIANCES .1. When special dispatching is necessar,y.—As in railroading, so in manufacturing the time schedule is the important thing, and the more spectacular method of special dispatching is resorted to only when unfore seen circumstances occur. Therefore, personal dis patching is of comparatively little importance in man ufacturing for stock, especially where automatic machinery is used which sets the pace for the oper ator. It is, on the other hand, an important adjunct to manufacturing for specific orders, because the gen eral and repair work, on account of its irregular na tuFe, cannot be mapped out in advance and because the elaborate schedule of a building or other work maybe entirely invalidated by the carelessness of one worker. Like the train dispatcher the industrial dis patcher must know his shop, its exact condition, its capacity, special characteristics of men and machines and the amount of work and materials he has on hand.
2. How to plan the routirig.—But the dispatcher, or the order-of-work clerk, is not supposed to work out his schedules alone. The planning department provides him with all the necessary information as to what work is to be routed and how it is to be routed. The order-of-work clerk dispatches his jobs in ac cordance with these instructions. He must keep in mind a multitude of details regarding the machines, the men and all the jobs which have been routed for him, for it is his duty to keep the work moving. Ac cordingly, he is supplied with a dispatch or "route" board, the instrumental means by which the planning room controls the operating departments.
3. What the route-board is.—The route-board, which contains many groups of hooks—each group being composed of three sets, placed one above the other—shows the progress of all work and the move ment of all material from point to point. When a job is assigned to a machine, the operation card is hung on the lowest one of a series of three hooks, each machine or working area in the shop being represented on the bulletin board by one of these sets of hooks.
Thus the assignment of a job to a machine shows that all drawings, instruction cards, etc., are ready; that the materials are on hand and everything prepared for the machine to begin its work. It is then that the "operation order" which covers a given operation goes on hook No. 3, the lowest hook and the one which represents all " jobs ahead in the shop" for that ma chine. Next, when the materials have been moved to the machine, the operation order is put on hook No. 2, "jobs ahead at machine." Finally, when the job is actually begtm the operation order is moved to the top hook, No. 1, "job on machine." The order-of-work clerk, or for that matter any person interested, can follow the movement of a job thru the shop by watching the operation orders on these three hooks. If the job should be moved to an other machine, then the operation order would be as signed to another group of three hooks, corresponding to the second machine.
4. Planning-board signals all movements.—Thus tbe planning-board signals the movements and in dicates the sequence in which the jobs are done. This it does for the planning room; but the man in the shop must also be informed of these movements, for his activities depend on them. He must know whether he is to work at the same machine or at a different one after one job is completed. He cannot run to the planning room every time. Hence a miniature bulle tin board is placed in the shop ; and when an order in the planning room goes to hook No. 2, "jobs ahead at machine," a duplicate order goes upon the shop bulle tin board notifying the worker what jobs have been planned ahead for him.
5. Questions answered by route-board.—By means of this route-board, a whole series of questions vital to the management can be answered immediately: (1) what job shall be done first; (2) if a machine breaks down what other machine can do the work; (3) if a man is absent what other man can do the job; (4) what is the cost of any operation on any machine for any hour, or what is the total cost of all operations going on at all machines in any hour.