Cyclopedia of Commerce, Accountancy, Business Administration, v. 02 (of 10)

by American School of Correspondence

PRODUCTION TIME RECORDS

10. All records of time on individual jobs or operations may be termed production time records, since the ultimate object of keeping such records is to determine the cost of production. To the manufacturer, these records are fully as important as those showing the total time worked by each employe. Without such records, a satisfactory cost system is impossible.

When the importance of obtaining costs of production—knowing what it costs to manufacture a given article—began to receive consideration, systems for recording the time spent by the worker on each job were attempted. There being no other method available, the records were at first made on cards or slips by the employes themselves. In all essential features the same system is still largely used; nearly all cost systems require that the employe keep a record of the time worked on each job.

Fig. 10. Daily Record of the Time of One Man

11. Time Record on Work Orders. One method of keeping time on individual jobs is to make the record on the work order. When a job is assigned to a workman, a written order is issued to him. This order, Fig. 9, instructs him to do certain work and gives him authority to draw the necessary material, provided the material is not issued with the order. He is instructed to report his time on the order, and sometimes to report the material used.

This form can be used successfully only when one man does the entire job. It is used principally for repair jobs.

12. Daily Time Card. One of the methods of obtaining production time records is to use daily time cards. Each employe is supplied with cards, similar in form to Fig. 10, on which he is expected to record his time for an entire day.

Fig. 11. Daily Time Card for Machine Operations

At the top, the card bears the name and number of the employe, and the date. Below the heading, a form is arranged for a record of the order numbers on which he is employed, a description of the work done (usually the name of the operation), the time of starting and finishing, and total time worked on each job.

In some classes of operations it is necessary, if accurate cost records are to be obtained, to keep a record of performance of the machine, as well as of the man. A form for a record of this kind, covering the operation for a day, is illustrated by Fig. 11. This form includes the number of the machine and a record of the number of pieces produced. Such a record is used for machine operations when a large number of similar pieces are operated on by a single machine. The time record is made when one order number is finished and a new one started. The form shown provides for an extension of rates and amounts, the extensions being made in the cost department.

Fig. 12. Coupon Time Card
for a Day's Operations

Fig. 12 is a card for recording a day's operations, arranged on somewhat different lines. This card is a series of perforated coupons, one for each job on which the employe works. When a job is finished, the record is made, the coupon detached and turned in. At the close of the day the top of the card, with all unused coupons attached, is turned in.

All of these forms for recording the time of an employe for an entire day are handed to the foreman, who turns them in to the cost department. Here, the time cards are compared with the clock records to find if all of the time for which an employe is paid has been accounted for. The time records for individual jobs are then transferred to the cost records. For the latter purpose, the coupons can be distributed by order numbers. This makes it convenient to retain all time coupons until the job is finished, when the amounts can be transferred to the cost records with a considerable saving of labor in the cost department.

There is one serious objection to any form of time card designed for a day's record. Too much depends upon the accuracy and clerical ability of the employe. The average factory or shop operative has had no experience in keeping records. He does not appreciate the importance of the time records he is expected to keep, and, naturally, becomes careless. Knowing that a record is expected, his card will show full time, but the distribution of that time to separate jobs is not accurate. Frequently, he waits until the close of the day and makes as close a guess as possible as to the time worked on each job. His failure to keep accurate records is not due to unwillingness, but to his lack of training in such work.

Fig. 13. Job Card with Time Chart

Exceptions are found, as a matter of course, and in some industries the general character of the operatives employed is such as to practically insure intelligent record keeping. As a rule, however, it is unwise to expect the factory employe to keep accurate records.

13. Job Time Cards. A method of time keeping which is an advance over the daily time card, is the use of a separate card for each job. With this method, accuracy of the records can be practically insured and the employe relieved of much of the clerical labor.

To attain satisfactory results, it is necessary to operate this system along somewhat different lines than that described for the daily time card system. Instead of issuing cards for the entire day, the workman should be given a new card with each new job on which he works, and not until he has completed the job last worked on. The time must be recorded and the card turned in to the foreman on completion of each job.

It is the duty of the foreman to keep his men supplied with work, and to have at all times a job ahead. The workmen, knowing that a record of his time on each job is kept and compared with the clock record, will naturally insist on having a new job card when each old one is turned in. If no job is ready, it will be necessary for the foreman to issue an idle or non-productive card—a condition which he will strive to avoid—all such time becoming a direct expense charge against his department.

Fig. 14. Job Card Showing Names of Operations

To relieve the employe of clerical labor, a card, similar in form to Fig. 13, is used with quite satisfactory results. The special feature of this card is the provision made for obtaining a record of time. Below the heading there is a form representing the time of day, each hour being divided into ten minute periods, and the whole divided between forenoon and afternoon.

When a new job is started, the workman makes the record by checking the time in the proper space. On completion of the job, he makes a similar check mark in the space that indicates the finishing time. The exact time is computed in the cost department. To illustrate: Suppose a job is started at 7 A. M. and is done in 6½ hours. The time will be checked at 7 A. M. and again, if an hour is allowed for lunch, at 2:30 P. M. This really shows 7½ hours elapsed time, but in the cost department, the lunch hour will be allowed for, and the computed time will be correct.

Another form of job card, intended for use where jobs require more than one day, is shown in Fig. 14. With this card, it is intended that the starting and finishing time shall be entered in the ordinary way, and the name of the operation checked.

Fig. 15. Day Time Register for Production Time Records, Manufactured by International Time Recording Co.

14. Mechanical Time Recorders. For the same reasons that they are best for making records of total time, for pay-roll purposes, mechanical time recorders are best for obtaining production time records. Whether the responsibility of making the record rests on the workman or a clerk, it is always better to have the actual recording done automatically whenever it is possible to do so.

While the time recorders used for keeping total time are also used for obtaining production time records, there are certain advantages in using recorders of slightly different types. Manufacturers have made great progress and are now supplying machines which answer every requirement.

One type of recorder designed for production time records is shown in Fig. 15. This outfit includes, in addition to the recorder, a rack for jobs ahead and jobs started, a rack for finished jobs, and a distribution rack. The first rack contains pockets of the right size to hold time cards or tickets. These pockets are numbered to correspond with the men's numbers, two pockets being provided for each man, one for jobs ahead and one for jobs started. The rack for finished jobs is divided into compartments bearing the men's numbers, with slots through which the cards are inserted. The distribution rack is divided into compartments numbered for the different jobs.

Fig. 16. Individual Job Card Used with the Day Time Register

The recorder and card racks are placed near the foreman's desk, which should be at a central point in the department. The foreman prepares cards for the different employes and places a card for the next job in the jobs ahead pocket. The workman, when starting to work, takes the card for the next job, records the starting time, and places the card in the jobs started pocket. When the job is finished he again records the time, on the same card, and places the card in the compartment bearing his number in the finished jobs rack. At night, if he has an unfinished job, he records the time, the same as for a finished job, and either turns in the card to the foreman or places it in a box kept for suspended jobs. The foreman then makes out new cards and places them in the jobs ahead rack, while the suspended card is placed in the finished jobs rack.

Every morning all cards of the previous day are taken from the finished jobs rack, the time recorded on each man's cards is computed and compared with the record of the total time recorder, and the cards distributed by job numbers in the distribution rack. This checks the job time with the pay-roll time, and permits of leaving the cards in the distribution rack until the entire job is finished. The cards are then taken to the cost department and the time records distributed on the cost sheet.

Fig. 17. Job Time Sheet Used with the Day Time Register

One form of card used with this type of recorder is shown in Fig. 16. One card is used for each job on which a man works. It will be noted that the time is recorded in decimals. Instead of the usual 12 hours, the recording wheel is divided into 24-hour periods, or if desired, into 23 hours, automatically eliminating the noon hour. The 23-hour wheel prints 12 at noon and again at one o'clock, 13 at two o'clock, etc. At 3:30 P. M., for instance, the clock would record 14.50, meaning 14½ hours. On the card illustrated, the record shows the job to have been started at 8.08 and finished at 11.40, the elapsed time being 3.32 hours.

Fig. 18. The Calculagraph,
Manufactured by the
Calculagraph Company

A clock of similar type accommodates a sheet of any size, and provides for as many separate time records on the same sheet as may be desired. A sheet may record the time of a single employe for an entire day and show the exact time worked on each job. Or, in some industries, the card may be made for a job and arranged to accumulate the time of all employes working on the job. Fig. 17 shows how several time sheets of this class can be bound together, making a daily time and pay sheet for each employe. From this sheet the time is distributed to the cost sheets.

Still another type of time recorder, which offers certain distinct advantages, is shown in Fig. 18. This machine is used to obtain a time record for each employe on each separate job or operation.

The distinctive feature of this machine is that it records the elapsed time. When a man commences work on a new job, he places his card in the machine and by moving a lever registers the starting time. When the job is finished, he again places the card in the machine, this time moving a second lever, and registers the exact time that he has worked on the job. The advantage is apparent. With an ordinary time stamp printing the starting and finishing time, it is necessary for a clerk to mentally compute the elapsed time. With this machine the elapsed time is mechanically computed and printed, saving the time of the clerks and doing away with all possibility of clerical errors.

THE MECHANICAL DRAFTING DEPARTMENT AT THE PLANT OF THE GREEN FUEL ECONOMIZER COMPANY, MATTEAWAN, N. Y.

Fig. 19 illustrates the form of record made by this machine. The record shows that workman No. 38 commenced work on job No. 530 at 9:45 A. M., that he was employed on this job 2-8/10 hours, and that the operation was milling.

Fig. 19. Time Record Made by the Calculagraph

The machine is made to register either hours and minutes, or hours and tenths of hours. For cost-keeping purposes the latter is preferred for the reason that it is much easier to figure time at a given rate in tenths.

A form of card, without the record, is shown in Fig. 20. The card can be of any size desired, the only requirement being a blank space for the time record in the upper left-hand corner.

As with other recorders, one of these machines should be located at a central point in each department. It is advisable to provide a card rack with compartments bearing the employe's numbers, and to place cards for jobs ahead in these compartments. The cards for the day are first sorted by employe's numbers to verify the clock record, and then by job numbers for the use of the cost department.

Fig. 20. Time Card Used with the Calculagraph

Another elapsed time recorder, which was placed on the market after the above was put in type, but before this book went to press, is shown in Fig. 21, the form of record being shown in Fig. 22.

The device is operated electrically, the impulses being furnished by a master clock. This may be located anywhere in the building, preferably in the office, as it will be less affected by vibration and dust. To the master clock is also fitted the 24-hour elimination or cut-out wheel described later. This clock transmits electric impulses each minute all through the building to the various elapsed time mechanisms. Thus all the machines are exactly the same time and cards may be registered in on one machine and out on any other and correct results obtained.

Fig. 21. Elapsed Time Recorder
with Master Clock.
Manufactured by
International Time Recording Co.

The mechanism is about nine inches square and is enclosed in a dust proof iron case. It may be placed on a work bench, on a pedestal, or it may be sunk flush with the top of the bench or desk. The flat cover has two openings or slots for the insertion of the cards. One opening is marked "in" for the first record of a job, the other "out" for registering when the job is completed. There is also an aperture in the cover through which may be seen a series of indicating wheels showing exactly the time of day. There is only one handle to be operated and, therefore, no confusion can occur in the mind of the operator as to which handle to pull.

Fig. 22. Time Card Used with
the International
Elapsed Time Recorder

The cards used in the machine may be of any length desired but can only be of one width, 4¼ inches. In registering in, the card is placed in the front or starting slot, and the lever pulled over. This prints the starting time at the top of the card in the space to the left. At the same time four small holes are punched in the card which individualize the record. After a job is completed the card is placed in the rear or stopping slot, the lever pulled over once more, and the stopping time and actual elapsed time are both printed on the card by one pull of the handle, thus enabling anyone to compare the two records and prove the accuracy of the machine for every record.

One of the salient features connected with this device is its ability to compute only the actual time worked in the factory irrespective of the times of registration. That is to say, in a factory working ten hours a day from seven to twelve and one to six the elapsed time will only be computed during these hours. Any registrations made before seven o'clock will not begin to count elapsed time until that hour, and the computation of elapsed time automatically stops at noon to be resumed at exactly one o'clock, and then continues until quitting time at night, when again it stops automatically. The clock movement, however, does not stop, but always shows the correct time exactly the same as the master clock, and is entirely unaffected by the elimination of the non-working hours in figuring the elapsed time. The machine can also be set to record overtime at night if so desired.

In case work on a given job is not completed on the day it is begun, it is not necessary to ring out on the elapsed time machine until the job is completed as the machine computes up to 100 hours. A job beginning on Monday and running through the week until Saturday night, when it is finished, may be registered on one card, or even for a longer period up to 100 hours.

The elimination or cut-out wheel referred to as being a part of the master clock, is responsible for this wonderful piece of work. The wheel makes one revolution in twenty-four hours and is graduated in fifteen minute divisions for the purpose of setting the contact breakers. The contact breakers are bits of hard rubber which are fastened around the rim of the wheel, and may be moved about at the will of the custodian of the apparatus by simply loosening the set screw. These blocks are set on the starting and stopping time and when they pass the contact breakers the electrical circuit is broken, and the computing device started or stopped as the case may be.

15. Cumulative Time Records. In some factories and shops, the work is of such nature that economy results if the work order and the time record follows the job through all of the operations. For example, hosiery and underwear go through the factory in dozen lots; in a shoe factory a lot of shoes is kept together until every operation is finished; in a harness factory, a bridle goes through all operations on one work order; in a machine shop, one or more rough castings may pass through several operations in the process of converting them into finished parts.

Fig. 23. Calculagraph Time Card with Coupons

When these conditions exist, it is practical to attach a time card to the work, and to accumulate the time of all employes for the entire job. At the same time, individual time records are obtained.

A form to be used with the mechanical time recorder, Fig. 18, is shown in Fig. 23. This form consists of the usual work order to which is attached a series of coupons, perforated for easy removal. Each coupon is of the right size to accommodate the time record, and particulars as to the order number, operation number, man's number, and number of pieces.

Fig. 24. Cumulative Job Time Card

Fig. 25. Operations Tag Used
in an Underwear Mill

The man who has the first operation enters his number and records his starting time on the first coupon. When the operation is finished, the time employed is recorded, the coupon is detached, and the job goes forward to the next operator. If the operation is not finished at the close of the day, the time record is made and the next coupon used by the same operator.

Each day, all of the detached coupons are sent to the cost department, where they serve several purposes. They are first sorted by employes' numbers, to compare the time reported with the clock record; then sorted by job numbers, to obtain time records for each job. From the coupons, all necessary information is obtained for a record of jobs in process, showing just where each job is at all times.

Another form for a cumulative, as well as an individual time record, is shown in Fig. 24. This card is for use where no time recorders are provided. Each employe records his time, and, when the last operation is finished, the card goes to the cost department. If desired, this card might be made with detachable coupons for the different operations.