Efficiency Methods
An Introduction to Scientific Management

CHAPTER XII STANDARDIZATION OF METHODS (Continued) D. The Instruction Card The worker who is to operate by standard methods, and to aim at accomplishing a standard task or achieving an operation in standard time, is provided with an Instruction Card. Specimens of the forms used in different works may be found in books or magazine articles describ- ing and illustrating their working.1 They follow much the same general lines. The more elaborate ones are usually chosen for reproduction. The extent to which cards like these are actually used varies somewhat with the kind of job for which directions are issued. On a job which is simple and means a good deal of repetition work, an operative may soon dispense with his card, because he knows it by heart; on the other hand, a very unusual job may not have had its details standardized to the 1 For instance, Ferracute Machine Co., in " Applied Methods of Scientific Management ” by Parkhurst; “ The Making and Use of Instruction Cards,” by F. B. Gilbreth, Industrial En- gineering, vol. xi., p. 381 ; “ Instruction Card for a Turret Lathe,” by H. W. Reed, American Machinist, vol. xxxv., p. 688, vol, xxxvi., p. 915. Mr. H. L. Gantt has several in “ Work, Wages, and Profits,” pp. 264-267, and another in his article, “ Practical Application of Scientific Management,” Engineering Magazine, vol. xli., p. 6, and another in System, vol. xx„ p. 402 ; this last is reprinted in the popular book, " How Scientific Management is Applied,” p. 27.