Shop Management

SHOP MANAGEMENT 167 and he must take it for granted that later many short-cuts can be found, and that a man with an average memory will be able with practice to carry all of the important time units in his head. No system of time study can be looked upon as a success unless it enables the time observer, after a reasonable amount of study, to predict with accuracy how long it should take a good man to do almost any job in the particular trade, or branch of a trade, to which the time student has been devoting himself. It is true that hardly any two jobs in a given trade are exactly the same and that if a time student were to follow the old method of studying and recording the whole time required to do the various jobs which came under his observation, without dividing them into their elements, he would make comparatively small progress in a lifetime, and at best would be- come a skilful guesser. It is, however, equally true that all of the work done in a given trade can be divided into a comparatively small number of ele- ments or units, and that with proper implements and methods it is comparatively easy for a skilled observer to determine the time required by a good man to do any one of these elementary units. Having carefully recorded the time for each of these elements, it is a simple matter to divide each job into its elementary units, and by adding their times together, to arrive accurately at the total time for the job. The elements of the art which at first appear most difficult to investigate are the per- centages which should be allowed, under different conditions, for rest and for accidental or unavoidable