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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 6 (October 1, 1928)

Production Engineering — Part XXV. — Planning Out Work

page 29

Production Engineering
Part XXV.
Planning Out Work

I Don't care what your job is—or, if you like, what your position is—you must plan your work if you wish to get results.

The longer I live, the more people I meet who think planning out work on a chart a fine system. “Yes, very fine,” they say. “It tells you just where you are,” and so on; “but,” they usually add, “of course I don't need it, it wouldn't apply in my department.”

I could say things—sometimes I do—to the men who:

“Don't need any plans.”

“Who can keep it all in their heads.”

“Who know just how long everything should take.”

“Who know when everything should be finished.”

“Who have got everything going right.”

“Who make all their deliveries right when they promised to.”

“Whose costs are not excessive.”

The Chart described in concluding paragraph of accompanying article.

The Chart described in concluding paragraph of accompanying article.

Let me tell you that in all my experience on production work (and that dates definitely from the year 1909), I have never yet met one individual whose qualifications were such that he could “keep it all in his head” without planning. Oh, yes, I have met plenty who thought they were the perfect “IT,” and who knew, as I said before, that “it didn't apply to them.” But after a little analysis what do we always find? We find there is lost time between their jobs; that promises are not kept; excesses in the amounts charged; delays in starting work; the time a job takes is not known; and so forth. The wonderful house of cards comes tumbling down. It was a game of bluff.

What I want to have realised is this. The type of man referred to usually honestly thinks he does know. He undoubtedly does know something, but not all about it. There is not one of us who does not need all the assistance, of the right kind, he can get.

Assistance.

Any assistance we can get that will prevent us overlooking one point, that will indicate any shortcomings on the part of individuals or plant —is that much more energy available to production. You may have a wonderful memory—which is a splendid asset—but what happens when you are away sick or on leave? Of what use, in such circumstances, is your good memory to the man who relieves you? Besides, organisations can't place absolute dependence on any one person's memory.

If you think of it in a bigger way you must realise that the whole work of the railway is a planned business. Every department must plan its work, and its output. Therefore, by the same reasoning every shop in the works, every department in every shop, must plan, or work to prepared plans.

Don't think that what I have been saying applies only to Workshops. It applies to railways, to outside businesses, to offices, theatres, to everything. But don't say “it does not apply to me.”

(The chart illustrated is taken from Wallace Clark's book on the Gantt Chart. It shows that in the shop to which it refers each day's job consisted of the work received up to 3 o'clock that day. The figures at the left of each space represent the number of orders, etc., received day by day. The lines represent the amount of work done, the light lines showing the daily production and the heavy lines the amounts done since the beginning of the week.

Taking, for instance, the orders for “A” on Monday, 420 orders were received, and 252 were passed through to the shop. As 252 is 60 percent. of 420, a light line is drawn through 60 per cent. of the space for Monday. A heavy line is drawn below the light line to indicate the cumulative work done.)