Efficiency Methods
An Introduction to Scientific Management

64 EFFICIENCY METHODS has been pointed out by C. Bertrand Thompson in his paper, “ How to give a Business a Memory,” 1 that classification leads at once to standardization as ordinarily understood—the establishment of definite normal amounts or sizes or types of the things classified. A Government department finds by classifying that 76 kinds of pen-nibs are used by its clerks ; direct economy and the simplification of storage follow by reducing these kinds to seven or eight, with little or no inconvenience to anybody. A printing plant finds, by classifying, that it has stocked 200 types of paper, whereas 85 will cover all possible needs. In fact, the process of identifying carefully all material in store tends to get rid of all non-useful variation. The same is true of non- useful processes, or even persons. Mr. Thompson urges, with much weight, that to classify functions first is the best way to proceed, and gives the diagram reproduced on p. 65 to illustrate his method. He says that every practical man must, finally, superintend and adjust his own classification to suit the needs of his business, but that the work entails a high degree of ability, both in mastering and in modifying other people’s classifications. A general distinction is made in the essay between the systems necessary for the assembling industries, in which different parts are made and finally put together, and the systems for the industries in which the product is built up in successive operations. 1 “ Classification and Symbolization,” System, vols. xxii. and xxiii. See also his Collection. Classification is Mr. Thompson’s special subject, to which he has made great practical contribution.