Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 01 (of 10)

by American School of Correspondence

EFFECT OF PHYSICAL ARRANGEMENT

24. However efficient the personal organization, satisfactory results can be obtained only under proper environment. It is not merely a question of pleasant surroundings for employes, but a financial proposition; not a reform or a fad, but a money-making plan that governs the engineer in laying out a plant.

This is not to be a discussion of welfare work, about which much has been published. Our purpose is to point out the business economy of a proper physical arrangement of office, store or factory as against the wasteful methods of a systemless grouping of men and machinery.

The question of physical environment is a practical one that has been solved by many enterprising concerns, and the subject is deserving of careful study by the student of business organization. While some hard-headed business men may regard the question of minor importance, it is significant that the largest and most successful enterprises, financially, are those in which employes have been supplied with the most comforts, surrounded with approved safeguards, and aided in their work by the latest appliances of proved worth.

There is an old axiom to the effect that even a good workman cannot be expected to do good work with poor tools. It is equally true that he cannot be expected to do good work in either unsanitary or inconveniently arranged shops and offices.

25. Factory Plans. The planning of a manufacturing plant is a question for the engineer, rather than the accountant or business organizer, but a few general remarks on the subject will not be out of place in this paper.

It may be stated as a fundamental principle that the factory should be planned to facilitate the movement of raw material from one department to another. In the ideal factory, storage for raw material will be provided where it can be economically received and easily procured when needed in the factory. It should, if possible, be close to the department in which the material is subjected to the first operation.

The shops themselves should be arranged to facilitate the movement of partly completed parts from one department or shop to another. To illustrate, a foundry should be so located that castings can be taken direct to the machine shop, or smith shop, not through another shop or in a round-about way.

Likewise, the machine shop, if the process be continuous, should be located next to the assembling department. Or, if a "parts" storeroom is maintained, it should be located between the machine shop and assembling department. Storage for completed goods should be adjacent to the assembling department, and convenient to the shipping room or platform.

The chart, Fig. 9, shows a typical layout of a manufacturing plant operating both a foundry and wood shop. Naturally the foundry and wood shop are as widely separated as possible. Storage of foundry materials is provided for just outside of the foundry, while lumber is convenient to the wood shop.

The arrows indicate the movement of raw materials through the shops to the finished goods storeroom, and from thence to the shipping platform. If these lines are traced it will be seen that at no point is the material twice moved over the same ground. Each move takes it to the next operation and one step nearer completion. Where materials and parts enter a shop at two or more points, the lines are merged, showing that these materials leave that shop as one piece, part, or finished article. A feature underlying the whole plan is economy in the movement of work in process. All work moves through a shop, not back and forth in the shop.

The ideal conditions do not always exist, neither can they be brought about in every case. Many plants, built in the past, have been planned without due regard for these matters; their importance was not appreciated and the buildings are so located that it is impossible to secure entirely satisfactory results. However, if present conditions are studied carefully, many improvements can be brought about at slight expense. While, as we have intimated, this is a problem for engineers, a number of cases might be cited where the accountant, called in to systematize the accounting methods of a manufacturing business, has suggested physical changes in the shops that have resulted in marked reductions in costs.

26. Planning the Office. The average office is arranged in a very haphazard way. Departments are located with little regard for their departmental relations; desks are placed where they fit best rather than according to any preconceived plan.

Fig. 9. Layout of a Typical Manufacturing Plant

Logical arrangement of the office has as great an influence on the economical conduct of the work as does the physical arrangement of the shop. The most important requisite in the layout of an office is good light. While ideal conditions are impossible to attain in some buildings used for offices, much can be accomplished by placing the desks to take full advantage of the light that is available.

The writer once visited an office in which sixty or more people were employed in one big room. Most of the light came from the rear and practically all of the desks faced the light, which is recognized as most injurious to eyesight. The manager of the office was asked why the desks were not placed in proper position, and he replied that they were placed so that the employes would sit with their backs to the entrance, and not have their attention detracted from the work by visitors. He considered this an important move, but overlooked the more vital fact that his employes were not only ruining their eyesight but were actually doing less work than would have been done under more favorable conditions.

A change was consented to. As many of the desks as possible were so placed that the worker would receive the light from the left; some received it from the right and a few from the back. Three months later this manager readily admitted that his employes were turning out at least one-third more work, and their general health was greatly improved.

The location of the departments and the private offices should be carefully considered. Departments in which the work is of a nature requiring frequent inter-communication should be located as closely together as possible. For instance, the sales department should not be placed between the order and accounting departments, but the order department should be close to the accounting department, with which it is in constant communication.

The workers in a department should be placed to facilitate the movement of their work from one desk to another. Heads of departments or chief clerks should be within easy reach of all employes in the department, and accessible to the executive.

Offices of executives should be located with reference to their duties. The sales manager and purchasing agent should be accessible to the public. The general manager should be within easy reach of other officers but not necessarily accessible to the public.

The importance of conveniently arranged offices is receiving much serious thought, and many of the larger industrial enterprises are erecting ideal administration buildings. In all specially planned buildings, the tendency is toward large rooms, rather than smaller rooms separating the departments. A large room insures better light and air, and space can be utilized to much better advantage.

Fig. 10 is a sketch of the first floor plan of the administration building of one of the large industrial enterprises. This is, in many respects, an ideal arrangement.

A noticeable feature is the location of the filing department in the center of the main room. Here it is easily reached by all departments.

At either side of the filing department are the sales and accounting departments. In the sales department several sales managers' desks will be noted, with desks for their assistants across a narrow aisle. It happens that, in this particular business, sales are divided into departments corresponding with the classes of goods manufactured, with a sales manager for each department.

The accounting, order, and credit departments are conveniently arranged, and the auditor is located where he can overlook the entire office. Executive offices, across the front of the building, are accessible to the public and those in the general offices.

27. Store Plans. The subject of store plans is one of utmost importance to the merchant. His success is influenced to a great extent by the first impression received by the prospective customer. If that impression is favorable, if he is greeted by an orderly, well arranged store, if his comfort and convenience have been considered, the customer will return and give to the store at least a part of his patronage.

The old-fashioned general store, in which all sorts of merchandise was sold, offered little to commend in respect to orderly arrangement. As a rule, the goods were jumbled together in a confused mass with no thought of segregating them in departments. Yet this country store, found in every hamlet, was the forerunner of the department store of today.

Fig. 10. Floor Plan of a Modern Administrative Building

The advent of the department store was a case of adapting the merchandising methods of the country village to the needs of the city. A miscellaneous stock of merchandise, greater in size but similar in character to the country store stock, was gathered in one big store and subdivided into departments. To compete with one-line stores, stocks must be equal in volume, which meant that the department store must carry as large a stock of clothing or of shoes as the exclusive clothing and shoe stores. The stocks must be as complete and as well displayed; each department must be a fully stocked store, prepared to meet the usual demands of a store of that character.

The department store of today is a model of systematic arrangement. Not only are the goods grouped in departments, but the departments are logically grouped and located to suit the convenience of the customers. If one wishes to buy house furnishings, hardware, or dishes, he will probably find them in adjoining departments.

But the departmental idea is by no means confined to the recognized department store; it is a feature of every well regulated store dealing in exclusive lines. Stocks of shoes, hardware, clothing, and furnishings are all divided and the classes segregated by departments.

The departments themselves are subdivided. Goods are classified, and each class placed in special compartments. Goods most frequently called for are near at hand on shelves where they can be easily reached. Top shelves, space under counters, and other inaccessible corners are reserved for goods called for less frequently.