Efficiency Methods
An Introduction to Scientific Management

 EFFICIENCY METHODS have some respect for them; and he will not have to waste time trying to procure them at the moment he ought to be using them. f But this solution of the difficulty does not meet the case of modern tools. These are the appur- tenances of a machine rather than of a man, and it is not easy to assign them for personal use. Also, using the wrong tool, or placing it in a wrong position, may cause very extensive damage to a machine. Therefore each tool is put under the control of a skilled tool-setter. There are many appliances, such as jigs and gauges, which now have to be considered as tools, and these differ for different kinds of work. But probably the most important factor in this change in the way in which tools are regarded has been the discovery of high-speed steel, of which cutting tools are now made. This steel is very expensive; the number of tools kept in stock is therefore more limited, and it would be unnecessary extravagance to give every man or machine a com- plete set to meet all possibilities. More significant still is the fact that the grinding of high-speed steel tools is a special art. It has been said that not more than one in ten workmen, even skilled workmen, grinds the tools properly, as it is essential for econ- omical working that the form of the tool should be accurately ground to a gauge. A specialized function of tool-grinding has arisen, and is conveniently carried on in conjunction with the storage of tools. Once again, the special new function and the