By A. J. SHO RE (Member)
When establishing any com m ercial under- purposely stressed, because there is a chance that taking, the aim is to make a profit. The foundry foundrym en, w hether metallurgists, scientists or is no exception. T he percentage profit is the practical men, m ay get so involved in the prob-index of success of the venture. lem on hand th a t they fail to appreciate its
One often hears the expression that “ you financial significance,
can’t run a works on paper.” H ow ever true that F urther, the author has suggested that the may be, it is certain that the indicator which percentage profit is roughly the index of the determines finally w hether a business can run success , or efficiency of the venture because he at all is a piece o f paper—the balance sheet, wished to introduce the idea o f indicators at an The rather obvious fact that the raison-d'etre early stage. In fact, a better title perhaps would of a com m ercial undertaking is profit has been have been “ Indicators as an aid to control,”
for indicators are a real aid to control and control is the essence o f management.
Indicators
Consider this analogy: A well-equipped m o to r
car has a dashboard on which are m ounted a num ber o f meters or indicators. These meters indicate the car’s perform ance and aid in its control. T he test o f a good car is the ease with which it can be controlled to meet the dem ands put upon it, and it is suggested this is also the test o f an efficient foundry. There is no obvious dashboard in a foundry; nevertheless the elements of one should be in every foundry m anager’s office, if he intends to m aintain effec
tive control.
On a dashboard the m ore im portant meters indicate “ rate,” i.e., a dimension com pared with time, as the speedometer—miles travelled per hour, revolution-counter—revolutions of the engine per minute, and am m eter— quantity of electric flow per second, etc.
O ther meters do n o t indicate rate, bu t still em body the idea o f a ratio, for example, the oil pressure gauge which shows lbs. per sq. in.
There is a third class which does not indicate a ratio at all, but rather a quantity o r state, as the petrol gauge showing the available stock o f petrol and the therm om eter showing the tem perature o f the circulating water.
These indicators have their parallels in fo u n dry practice and it is w ith some o f them that it is proposed to deal.
One im portant factor m ust be borne in mind when considering indicators; to be effective
F i g . 1. S u g g e s t e d T y p e o f O p e r a t i n g C o s t there m ust be a m inim um of time lag between
______________ ________ Re p o r t__________________ an occurrence and its indication. F o r instance,
* The author was awarded a Diploma f o r this paper. a speedom eter w hich showed only w hat speed 109
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a car was doing live m inutes ago w ould oe useless, and a petrol gauge still indicating a tank half-full, w hen it was in reality em pty, would no t be looked on w ith m uch favour.
Likewise, considered from the point o f view of control, the original exam ple of an indicator, nam ely, percentage profit on a year’s trading, is useless.
A Profit and Loss A ccount and a Balance Sheet taken together are capable o f giving a true picture of the state o f a business. T hey are usually got o ut at intervals o f as long as a year, so the tim e lag between an occurrence and its inclusion in the balance sheet m ay be
Weekly C ost Sheet
T he first indicator then to set up is a “ Weekly C ost Sheet ” or “ O perating C ost R eport ” (Fig. 1.) This is an exam ple of its general lay
out, though in actual practice it w ould show much m ore detail and w ould be m odified to suit any p articular fo u n d ry ’s requirem ents. (The au th o r’s personal report has 50 items.) It will be noted th at ratios are given prom inence be
cause it is on them that reliance is placed for detecting variations in the functioning o f the foundry. M erely reporting figures on individual pieces o f paper is insufficient.
It is essential th a t all relevant figures are
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considerable. V aluable as these sum m aries are for determ ining general policy, they are prac
tically useless as w orking indicators because of this tim e lag.
M ost foundries have a record of their m elt and outp u t expressed in term s of weight. It will be recognised im m ediately that the mere statem ent o f output w ithout reference to time is valueless. O utput is expressed invariably as so m any tons per day, per week, or per m onth, as the case m ay be— it is, in fact, a rate.
A t the outset, therefore, it is necessary to fix a period of reference; wages usually are paid by the week and a week is suggested as a con
venient period for com parison for such items as output, melt, wages and m aterials consum ed.
assem bled on one sheet o f paper and th a t they are neatly arranged in colum ns. M ore im por
tant figures can be m ade to stand ou t either by the use o f coloured ink or variation in spacing.
Ju st as one learns to tell the tim e by a glance at a clock, o r m aintain 30 m.p.h. in a built-up area, by noting alm ost unconsciously the posi
tion of the speedom eter finger, so will one gain a com prehensive view o f the foundry activities by a swift perusal of a well-laid-out report sheet.
W asters R eport
A nother useful indicator is a “ W asters R eport ” (Fig. 2). T he percentage wasters, back scrap and overm etal can be incorporated in the W eekly R eport sheet, bu t percentage scrap is
no t m uch use in itself. If scrap is to be held at
joint.” Cross-joint indicates plant inefficiency, whereas “ M alform ed ” is mostly concerned with the m oulder.
In the au th o r’s foundry every item of scrap over 2 cwt. is recorded separately under the following headings; D escription, Weight, M oulders’ N am e, O rder N o., Date, Scrap R e brought to the executive autom atically.
Stock C ontrol
Nowadays, considerable interest is attached to the petrol gauge of a car. As m entioned these requests with the smallest possible outlay of cash. Pencils would be pulled out, calcula relationships of figures, and saved considerable time, reducing the meeting time to i hr., and use— com m on, siliceous, hem atite, engineering, refined— though these are, of course, sub-divided and stacked in the yard according to their analyses. Suppose the form ula for a mixture was 1 com m on, 1 siliceous and 2 engineering, yet a m ixture of 2 com m on, 1 hem atite and 1 engineering m ight give sim ilar physical results.
A fall in price in hem atite might m ake this second form ula the cheaper mixture. The line
“ recom m ended purchase ” wi'l provide the
elasticity necessary to accom m odate changes of this sort.
T he Exercise o f C ontrol
Indicators will show w hen to exercise control and how the control is functioning, b u t they have nothing to do w ith the m eans o f control.
F o r instance, suppose a car is descending a steep hill a t 60 m .p.h. T he transm ission is broken and the brakes are b u rn t out. T he speedom eter correctly registers the speed, b u t provides no m eans o f controlling it.
In a foundry, control is effected by m eans of orders w ritten and verbal. F o r sm ooth w o rk ing, it is essential that these orders should be unam biguous an d rapidly and accurately tra n s
m itted. Some sort o f system m ust therefore, be devised and an efficient office routine m aintained.
M any foundrym en profess a m istrust in system, describing it as so m uch red tape. It is certain, however, th a t system o f som e sort is necessary. These gentlem en, who scoff, would be distinctly disconcerted if the car they were driving suddenly went into reverse when they moved the gear lever into a position usually associated w ith top; yet, unless a definite system be established and adhered to, it is by no means certain that an order issued will be carried out.
In fact, prom ptness o f response m ay be taken as a m easure o f m anagem ent control.
D iscipline is the keystone o f the A rm y, and a modified discipline is essential in the foundry.
A loyal staff is o f prim ary im portance—-but which m en are the m ost useful— those w ho do exactly as they are told, or those who carry out the spirit o f the instruction and report any varia
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tions? W ith some possible exceptions in the
Personal experience has been largely derived from a foundry producing a wide variety o f
recur a t intervals of perhaps two m onths, when general jobbing foundry to specialised repetition foundry.
This simile brings out the essential difference
changeable terms. The introduction of plant autom atically stiffens control, but at the same vertical columns, each representing one working day and headed with the date. H orizontally it constant-air-weight blower and balanced-blast cupola, the same furnace is able to melt at 4 tons
its purpose, an d is no longer used. M ixtures are changed a t approxim ately the sam e tim e each day, bu t the precise tim e is determ ined by in form ation supplied by the charge-hand of labourers. H e goes round in the aftern o o n to the m oulders ab o u t an h o u r and a half before the final change o f m ixture and com piles an estim ate o f the m etal still required. This total is given to the cupola charge-hand, and the num ber o f ladles required by each section is entered on a blackboard to aid distribution.
In practice this m ethod is superior to the chart because when laying ou t the ch art one has to estim ate all the m etal required, w hereas with the second m ethod one only needs to estim ate the difference from standard. T he ch a rt,•h o w
ever, had its use in determ ining the standard in the first place. A simple m echanical recorder (Fig. 7) has been rigged up by the P lant D e
partm ent on the wall o f the foundry office. It has been invaluable in keeping the cupola staff efficient. Before the new m elting plant was installed the au th o r could never be sure who was determ ining the foundry output— the m oulders or the cupola men.
The m oulders said they could m ake m ore castings if they got the m etal when they wanted it. T he cupolam en said it was no good melting any m ore because the m oulders did no t use the m etal fast enough as it was.
N o w , each cupola has its own constant-air- weight blower. A certain weight o f air p ro
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duces a definite melting rate—in other words, the weight o f air is the factor which controls the pace of the chargers. A chemist sets the blower; no one else is allow ed to touch it. The cupola m an can only start and stop the blower;
he has no control over the air once the blower has started. W hen the blast is off the cupola is not melting. W hen the blast is on the cupola is melting at a definite rate. M ercury switches are fixed to the autom atic control valve of each cupola, and are connected electrically with the recorder.
As soon as the air is being delivered at the correct rate, the valve moves, the switch opens and the pen is deflected. The recorder is
w orked by a.c. and gives out a slight hum , which ceases, o f course, as soon as the air is cut off and the pen returns to norm al.
In the early days as soon as the hum stopped, the author used to hurry to the cupola and ask why it was not working. H e usually found they were w aiting for scrap, or so and so was just putting on the top p art o f a m ould so they had no t got the big ladle back yet. If the cupola m an had been allowed to alter the air to his liking, the m anagem ent would never have found out these delays; perhaps the cupola would have been blam ed for m elting only five tons per hour when it was rated at six.
The obvious aim of the constant-air-w eight
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installation, including recorder, is to econom ise m elting o f iron, but its real value lies in its contrib u tio n to the shortening o f the w orking day by show ing up avoidable delays— thereby keeping overheads an d expensive overtim e to a m inim um .
It is surprising how m any cupolam en, crane- drivers, labourers an d the like, are kept hanging ab o u t if one m oulder is late putting a top on to his mould.
D ay W orkers’ B oard
T he proportioning o f unproductive to p ro ductive labour is one o f the m ajor problem s of foundry m anagem ent. T o aid in its solution, a “ D ay W orkers’ B oard ” (Fig. 8) has been de
vised.
This b oard is divided into a num ber o f ver
tical colum ns form ed o f slots into which cards
Fi g. 9 . — Ph y s i c a l La y o u t o f a Sm a l l Co r e Sh o p.
determ ine w hether or no t a preconceived plan is being adhered to.
Core Shop C ontrol
As a concluding exam ple an application of m anagem ent to a small shop is given. It is a core shop em ploying ab o u t 15 men dealing with cores \ in. dia. by \ in. long, w anted 1,000 at a time, to cores say 6 ft. by 4 ft. by 2 ft., wanted one at a time.
T he physical layout is roughly as is sketched in Fig. 9. One pendulum conveyor takes sand to the core-m akers, green cores to the stove, dried cores to storage, and returns core plates and dryer shells. T here are two large batch- type stoves and one vertical continuous stove.
Fi g. 1 0 .— Co n t r o l Im p o s e d o n t h e Co r e Sh o p s h o w n i n Fi g. 9 .
can be put. Every day-w orker is represented on the board and allocated to a specific section;
his absence is indicated by turning the card upside dow n w hen his nam e then appears with a red line through it; enforced absence is shown by reversing the card, the w ord “ suspended ” showing. T he tim e clerk is responsible for keep
ing the board up to date and in practice it can be said that it is correct 5 min. after starting time. T he charge-hand o f “ unproductive ” labour adjusts the b oard w hen he m akes any m ajor alteration o f the disposition of personnel.
T he num ber o f m en required in each section to m eet the foundry “ load ” is roughly calculated and large tacks w ith red leather covered heads are stuck into the board to m ark these n u m bers. A glance at the board is sufficient to
O ther plant com prises a sand m ixer, a h o ri
zontal core blow er and a “ sausage ” type m achine for extruding cores. A second diagram (Fig. 10), w hich, for lack o f a better title, has been called “ Design for C ore-m aking,” refers to the sam e shop.
It will be seen at a glance th a t it is con
siderably m ore com plicated than the first. It is an attem p t to portray the various functional relationships, the position o f control points, and the arrangem ent of suitable indicators.
Notice, the charge-hand is the m ost skilful core-m aker in the shop; is a piece-w orker, and earns his living like the rest.
A com m on erro r when putting a skilled o perator in charge of a shop is to invest him with a certain am ount o f authority and then
tu rn him into a second-rate clerk. In this case capacity w hen occasion requires.
In the actual shop on which this “ design for core-m aking ” is based, the function o f rate- fixing and tim e study is exercised by a m em ber o f the Planning D epartm ent. It is largely due to his efforts and influence that the present arrangem ents have proved so successful.
The function o f inspection is well know n and psychological aspects of foundry management.
Suffice it to say th a t the author is a great valuable if used with discretion.
CO N C LU SIO N S applied to the foundry organisation itself, rather than merely to its products? M ay no t m athe International Conference last year, said that com plete uniform ity of pattern caused weakness, and spoke of the strength o f “ organised m uddle.”
It is thought a parallel principle is apparent in foundry m anagem ent, which means that the organisation o f personal initiative is superior to the perfect uniform ity of dictatorship— or, to borrow a thought from politics, a dem ocratic system is best.
The question of “ how m uch to control ” can
no t be answered generally. I t m ust be deter
m ined for each foundry individually.
F u rth e r N ote
The relationship of overheads to m echanisa
tion is dealt with fully and a m athem atical theory w orked ou t by Erik Aug, o f Sweden, in his P aper on “ T he Econom ic Limits of M echanisation,” presented to the Scientific M an
agem ent Congress in 1935. repairs, tools, power, light, rent, etc The fundam ental idea of m echanisation is to corresponding to this) will m anufacturing costs be the lowest? ” and concludes with, “ F o r the
The proposition having been heartily received, Mr. G. R. Shotton opened the discussion by questioning the validity o f the equation S = t,r — tv, on the ground th a t it did not take into account overhead charges. Regarding his analysis o f wasters, the table did no t give the distribution of wasters am ongst moulders, etc. D etailed reports on each of the men
S hotton had questioned the validity o f the equation S = tor - rP on the ground th a t it did n o t ta k e into acco u n t overhead charges. I t was ad m itted th a t it did not. T he equation w as no t intended to be used as a general fo rm u la fo r determ ining the cost o f a job. It was introduced m erely as a sum m ary o f personal ideas— it was n one the less true. N o greater claim was m ade fo r it th a n th a t it clarified one aspect o f the
“ n atu re ” o f plant.
T he Chairman rem arked that, as far as the science o f fo u n d ry m anagem ent w as concerned, he was learning a great deal. H e began to realise th a t foundries were n o t places w here, as
he once gained the im pression, a m an strolled in a t a certain h o u r in the m orning, set to w ork to m ake a casting, an d got it through during the day o r the week, bu t th a t the whole thing was planned. Success in a fo u n d ry could n o t be achieved w ithout the use o f science and thought.
In reply to M r. J. G ardom , Mr. Shore em phasised th a t the problem in a fo u n d ry often
In reply to M r. J. G ardom , Mr. Shore em phasised th a t the problem in a fo u n d ry often