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.