SAVINGS IN TIME—ROUTING 1. Time-saving by "routing."—London and Paris first learned of the death of Pope Leo XIII from New York, altho New York is 3,000 miles farther from Rome than either of those two cities. This was because the Associated Press had routed the news.
As a courtesy to the Church, in order that Cardinal Rampolla might have time to notify the papal dele gates, the Italian Minister of Telegraphs refused to allow any news of the Pope's death to pass until two hours had elapsed. When the Pope died, an attache immediately telephoned the Associated Press repre sentative two miles away, who in turn cabled to the New York manager personally, as had been previ ously agreed, "The number of the missing bond is 404 Montefiore." To avoid any suspicion, the number which gave the time of the Pope's death was to be written backward, as 352 for 253, or 53 minutes past 2. It happened that this made no difference. When the telegram arrived in the New York office its con tents were shouted to the sending room and each oper ator flashed the news over his circuit. Altho the mes sage was relayed -at Havre and again at the French Cable Company's office in New York, the New York papers knew of the Pope's death nine minutes after it had happened, and the San Francisco papers, eleven minutes. The foreign newspaper agents in New York sent the news to their respective cities long be fore these cities had heard directly from Rome.
In the Associated Press methods we find an admir able illustration of efficiency gained thru careful plan ning and routing.
The routing of news seems easy, perhaps, because of the nature of the substance routed. The routing of ,materials over a line of railway is the next best illustration. Since the elements here involved per tain to industrial routing as well as to transportation it is well to study them carefully.
2. Essentials in routing.—Railroad dispatching has three factors: 1. A route carefully laid out.
2. A prearranged time schedule of all trains, based on the experience of the road.
3. A train dispatcher, whose duty it is to keep the trains moving according to schedule and, if this is not possible, at least to move them to the best possible advantage.
The proper routing of work thru shop or office is char,acterized by the same three features: 1. A prearranged route.
2. A predetermined time schedule.
3. A dispatcher.
A near approach to the railroad schedule in the com mercial world is the delivery-routing system of a big retail store.
3. Securing a good plant layout.—The physical routing of the work in a business is determined mainly by the plant layout, in exactly the same way that the railway train route is determined by the track, and the same care should be given to laying out the plant that is given to a railroad survey.
Mechanical helps are of great assistance in arriving at the best solution of the factory problem just as the chart is of great assistance to the railroad man in connection with his time-table. It is well to cut tem plets to the scale of the machines, including their nec essary clearances and working spaces, and then to shift these until the best departmental arrangement is found. A symmetrical arrangement means always the most economical use of space. Then cut templets of each department and fit them into one another in the same way as in determining the complete layout. It is much easier to shift paper than to carry the idea in one's head or to work up a sketch with pencil and rubber. Another method is to prepare several dis tinct layouts on tracing paper and then, by superim posing them, make a final sketch including the best features of each. This method is followed by most architects. When the ultimate solution is determined by the site, as in a city lot or in rented quarters, this method works well; but where perfect freedom is pos sible it is not likely to give so good a layout as the first method, since it works from the wrong end. The ultimate solution of the layout problem of any busi ness will be determined by the interplay of the same four factors, work to be done, straight-line movement, gravity and cost. But while this is true in general, differences in application of the principles arise as soon as they are applied to industrial conditions.