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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 11 (June 1, 1930)

Repair Costing Systems

Repair Costing Systems.

As regards locomotive repair costing systems, Sir Henry Fowler stated that, at all the workshops on the L.M. & S. Railway, a uniform method of compilation of workshop expenses was in operation, by means of which, expenditure on maintenance and operation of workshops, plant and machinery, was ascertained for each shop under about one hundred separate heads. This information was compiled every four weeks and was circulated among works managers and shop foremen for the purpose of checking and, where necessary, explaining any exceptional expenditure incurred. The percentages of workshop expenses to direct wages were ascertained for each shop and applied to these wages. A uniform system of costing of manufactures was also in operation at each works, all stock articles being made to specific stores department orders and passed to that department on completion. By this means no new page 30 materials could be obtained without the authority of a stores requisition, data was provided for comparing costs with prices paid for similar articles purchased from private firms, and, as far as practicable, articles were ordered in such quantities as permitted of economical production. The rough material drawn from stores was charged to the particular stock order, together with the wages spent in converting the material into a finished article, and the workshop expenses percentage applied to these direct wages, thus making up the
Locomotive Repair Shop Practice. The “Belt System” in operation at Crewe Works.

Locomotive Repair Shop Practice.
The “Belt System” in operation at Crewe Works.

total cost at which the article was handed to the stores department. Boiler repairs were costed to stores orders in a manner similar to all other manufactures. The repair system and costing arrangements in force at the Crewe shops are especially well thought out, and they are worthy of the closest study on the part of railway mechanical engineers generally.