The Principles of Scientific Management

_________ THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT 71 The question which naturally presents itself is whether an elaborate organization of this sort can be made to pay for itself; whether such an organiza- tion is not top-heavy. This question will best be answered by a statement of the results of the third year of working under this plan. The number of yard laborers was reduced from between 400 Average number of tons per man per day ........... Average earnings per man per day................ Average cost of handling a ton of 2240 lbs........ Old Plan New Plan Task Work 600 down to about 140 16 59 $1.15 $1.88 $0,072 $0,033 And in computing the low cost of $0,033 per ton, the office and tool-room expenses, and the wages of all labor superintendents, foremen, clerks, time-study men, etc., are included. During this year the total saving of the new plan over the old amounted to $36,417.69, and during the six months following, when all of the work of the yard was on task work, the saving was at the rate of between $75,000 and $80,000 per year. Perhaps the most important of all the results attained was the effect on the workmen themselves. A careful inquiry into the condition of these men developed the fact that out of the 140 workmen only two were said to be drinking men. This does not, of course, imply that many of them did not take an occasional drink. The fact is that a steady drinker