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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 2363.PDF
AUGUST 22, 1940 TRACK ASSEMBLY (CONTINUED Every operation, however small, must be considered. The work for each stage must be most carefully balanced and so arranged that the operatives do not get in each other's way. At the same time, as much work as possible must be catered for at each stage, because an unnecessary position means a waste of valuable shop space. To give an imaginary example—an aircraft requiring 1,000 man-hours for its final assembly, and required at the rate of, say, 10 per week of 48 hours, might have its final assembly line split up into 50 stages, each occupied by two to five men. The work would be carefully distributed to take each man about four hours as soon as he has settled down to the job. He would do exactly the same work in the same manner on each aircraft twice a day. Consequently, his efficiency should be found to grow throughout the term of any contract likely to be placed for one type of aircraft. That is, provided the co-operation of men and manage- ment is obtained to the full. The main difficulty likely to arise is that of the line speeding-up beyond the hard-pressed sub-contractors' powers of supply. Good planning, however, should not permit a wide variation from the planned output, but should try to ensure a steady improvement. It is better to reduce man-hours temporarily rather than to exhaust stores and supplies by producing beyond plans. Otherwise there is a serious risk of a stoppage after a few weeks. Planning must be prepared constantly to re-balance out- put and, although it can be flexible to a certain degree, it cannot allow one or another department to run ahead of or lag behind the rest. If it should become necessary to re- duce man power, an elementary point of social justice arises ; the management must co-operate with and study the employee if they expect to get any real advantage from any planned system. It is not human nature to work oneself out of a job. Ideally, the line must not be slowed up by removing operatives for less important work, or by discharging them. Man power should only be taken from the line for a similar or a better job, unless these is inefficiency, bad workmanship, or some such reason. It is not intended here to go into the morals or details of incentive payment, but it is obvious that the payment for the form of assembly described cannot reasonably be straight piece-work because the management set the stan- dard for an operation from time to time and should be free to improve the working conditions or supply new aims. However, it is important to shorten the stage times as • the men become more skilled, and there is no doubt that an ample reward is justified. Once the track is laid, the work planned, the pre-selec- tion stores loaded and the starting gun fired, the onus passes to the chief production engineer, the progress depart- ment and the works management through the departmental manager and his foremen, superintendents and the like. Unless all these are prepared to accept the fact that a fundamental change in method has now to take place, the works are in for either a crashing failure or a prolonged battle of personalities. Discipline A new type of discipline has to be enforced, and all sorts of things that used to be hidden up encouraged into the open. Waiting time is no longer a sign of foremen's ineffi- ciency ; it is a signal for the progress department to pick up and remedy the shortage troubles at once, or the line will not move along at its appointed hour. It is best to arrange that no one person in the shop has the power to move the line if any stage is incomplete at the allotted time for any reason whatever. One way to do this is to require a signature from the chief progress man and /or planning engineer to ensure that they have indi- vidually been warned of shortages at this late hour. The delay involved will be amply recompensed by the urgency with which the action is forced. If the departments con- cerned are worth their salt they will endeavour to make sure of the future position as well as taking the most desperate emergency steps to clear the present shortage. It seems to me essential that men working on the stages should not be permitted to work in any other position, at any rate during the early stages after the initiation of the line. Otherwise it is impossible to get accurate enough information to re-balance and adjust discrepancies. There is a very great temptation to all concerned to use up spare moments in getting the next job ready before it arrives at the next stage. This must be checked by ex- plaining how necessary it is only to do the work as planned. Until they really see the necessity for real planning, and Nearing the final stage, where Rotol airscrews are fitted tothe Rolls-Royce engines. hand the responsibility for waiting time or a check on the line back where it belongs, there is no hope of finding the real snags. •'. • : -... The simplest form of the system is:;— f • . (1) The work is split up into stages. (2) Each stage is carried out by men who do only that work. (3) The work on a given stage is always carried out in the same geographical position. Until the whole line moves, no work may be done on other aircraft than that in the given stage by the associated group of men. (4) The moment trouble of any sort occurs it must be notified. This can be done by a visual indication such as shortage boards located on the stage. If remote indi- cations showing a stoppage or shortage can be fitted in managerial offices, so much the better. (5) Waiting time must be shown as clearly as possible —and no blame attached to those waiting. (6) Discipline on these points must bs agreed. By dis- cipline I mean willingness to keep exactly to instructions mutually agreed or accepted. (7) Outside the shop, whoever is appointed to give the all-clear to move the line, even if there are shortages, must make arrangements to make them good without obstructing the normal stage work later down the line, before signing. I have stressed the word " discipline," and it may appear that I advise a strongly regimented shop. This is not the meaning I intend. We found that certain fundamental rules were required to make the line system work.- The objection was nearly always that the work would stop, time be wasted, waiting time booked, unless the rules were left to those most intimately connected with the shop to alter or amend at their own discretion. The " discipline " neces- sary was nearly always aimed at preventing work going on except to the plan.
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