The Iron Age 1925-01-15: Vol 115 Iss 3

THE IRON AGE New York, January 15, 1925 ESTABLISHED 1855 VOL. 115, No. 3 Continuous Molding and Casting What Conveying Machinery Can Accomplish Shown in Plant of Warren Foundry Co. at Warren, Ohio hand labor has been reduced to a minimum and designed for continuous molding and pouring and equipped with conveyors for handling molds and flasks was placed in operation Jan. 8 by the Warren Foundry Co., Warren, Ohio. This foundry has a num- ber of highly interesting features in the design and in the extent to which the saving of labor has been effected. One of the most outstanding of these is the method adopted for pouring the molds. These are carried on conveyors directly in front of the cupolas, where an unique system of pouring is provided that avoids the lifting of metal in ladles by hand power or by an over head conveying system. In fact, the pouring method is almost as simple and free from manual labor as it would be were the metal run directly from the cupola spouts into the molds. The system for handling and preparation of sand and the sand is delivered to located ; HIGHLY specialized production foundry in which is entirely mechanical machine from hoppers above the machines so that none of the molder’s time is taken up in shoveling sand. With the use of mold conveyors no molds are placed on the foundry floor. The foundry is specialized to the extent that it will make only one grade of iron. It will specialize on auto- mobile pistons made in green sand, but it will make a variety of castings for automobiles and other uses that require grained metal with machinability or qualities similar to those required in piston castings. The plant is equipped for making castings in sizes from 1 oz. to 50 lb. The foundry charge will be stand- ardized for all products and will include No. 2 foundry pig iron, a small quantity of steel scrap in the form of short sections of old rails, Mayari pig iron and chrome nickel steel. The foundry has a melting capacity of 85 tons in 9 hr. and it is scheduled to produce 25,000 automobile pistons in that time. With the saving of labor that is being effected it is expected that the daily output will be 1 ton of castings for 1% men, counting all the employed. close men that are Two Molding Units Looking from the Start of the Conveyor Lines Toward the Cupolas, Which Are Back of a Brick Wall at the Lower End of the Molding Floor. The two irner conveyors are the mold conveyors and the two outer conveyors are the roller carriers for empty flasks 187 | THE IRON AGE January 15, 1925 | ntinuous molding design built in various sizes are used. These have : flanges on each side to guide the boards on the rail, - machines between Six projecting lugs on the under side of the bottom : : ffer ‘rom the conveyor ar- boards take up the wear on the rails. Openings are a ‘nyous foundries, the conveyors provided in the bottom boards for venting. The con- ‘he start in the veyor has a capacity for handling flasks up to 24 x 30 the cupolas and. in., or three snap flasks can be placed: one of the irrangement very 30-in. spaces between conveying blocks. _ineluding the double lin The molders lift the empty bottom boards and flasks 100 x 30 ft. in area and from the return conveyor and after the molds are made veyor U deposit them on the mold conveyor, the cope mold being f the conveyors placed on the drag as the latter passes the cope ma- pouring zone and to the chine. In making the molds and in handling the empty 00 ft flasks and molds the molders hardly have to step out mbination power and roller of their tracks. There are 32 sand hoppers on 5-ft. yor is power driven to a centers or one above each machine. The air for oper- ring zone and from that point ating the machines in each unit is conveniently carried i there is a roller conveying sec- in a 2-in. line that extends under the return conveyor. [he molds as they are delivered from the power Each machine also has a blow pipe for blowing and \ along the roller con- spraying. | they fall off the end on the shake-out grate. The melting equipment consists of Whiting cupolas return gravity conveyor has a power section of lined down to 48 in. and designed for continuous pour- long adjoining the shake-out grates and ing. These are operated alternately, each a 9-hr. day. flask conveyor and a ens APN y i of ; { : right is the revivifier and sand storage hopper, the latter partly — r up close to the roof and there the sand passes to the tributing belts the the remainder of t] nve r including the tior I Ullly , section The cupolas are located between the two conveyor lines and pouring is done from each side of the cupolas. Between the cupolas is located a ladle of 1500 lb. ca- ais catia pacity mounted on a steel frame and the cupola is The drag mold is made on Osborn Mfg. Co. ve ™ poured from its side into this ladle. The ladle which machines and the cope on a special type of iol apa - is called a dispensing ladle has two spouts on opposite machine, the cope and drag machines jot strip sides facing the conveyors. The ladle is tilted either alternately. All are ait operated. way by a rack and arm with a universal joint so that its operator is kept several feet from the hot metal. The dispensing ladle is poured into a pouring ladle of 300 lb. capacity mounted on a pedestal, one of these along the molding machines I the horizontal roller type. The row of empty flag] 1 1 roller convevor aye ae pushed along this ‘ conveyor on their bottom boards as th fla k LU < © 1aSKS are delivered from the power section of ¢} eing arranged There are sixteen each of the drag and the cope machines eight air squeeze machines built Nichols Co., Inc. and in addition Dy the William H ) . f , > : ia 28 a Ine i ; A concrete base extends along the floor o which a veing on each side facing the mold conveyor: the molding machines ar aia. ee nese small ladies hav ; i ' i i S are set Lengthwavse in +h 7 S Nave a spout 48 in. long f ourin sesbuaedieiimemamamen ahs pees ‘ vay i his the molds. The pouring ladle is unique in aoa it Wiles noi a sto the base. has six Separate motions so that the movin mall can ot name me pos be followed until finishe it i . ted wi achine or to take out one machine and substitut i finished and it is so construc with ubstitute a st another in its place. “pring arrangement that it stands at a fixed level endl ss cl 1lY The mold conveyor consists of an during all stages of pouring, regardless of the amount operated between T rails. This is an unusually iaeieen “Gea ‘ conveyor, its width from the outside of the rails being ioe = aa mae g vectec at they will e are during a cunhaeae ladle, keeping the tw. other two pour through the quired for pouring and it is asily handle 85 tons of metal One man serves the dispensing two pouring ladles full of metal. The the molds. The speed of the conveyor pouring zone is 8 to 12 ft. per minute. only 7 in. The bottom boards carrying the molds pushed along on the conveyor rail by push blocks raised links on 36-in. centers that extend up from th conveyor chain. Cast iron bottom boards of a standard January 15, 1925 THE Truck for Handling Sprues and, Overhead hoists are provided for moving the ladles a few inches from one cupola to another as a change in cupola is made. The cupolas and pouring zones are mostly inclosed with brick partitions, openings in which are provided for the conveyors, so that the smoke and heat are well confined to that part of the foundry. The mold is weighted down as it passes from the foundry floor. After it is poured and the metal has set, a man stationed at the side of the conveyor beyond the pouring zone removes the weight, which he places on a gravity roller conveyor that runs above the empty flask conveyor, curving over to the mold conveyor. Here an attendant takes the weight from the conveyor and places it on another mold that is ready for pouring. On leaving the pouring zone the molds pass from the power to the roller section of the conveyor and the row of molds is pushed along to the shake-out grates. The castings and sand drop from the flask in the fall upon the grate. A workman picks up the castings, knocks off the sprues into a side dump car that runs on a track across the foundry floor, and they go back to the cupola charging floor. Castings are placed in pressed steel tote boxes of 1 ton capacity, 48 in. long, The Conveyor Lines at the Shake-out Ends. is in the foreground and the mold conveyor back of it Suspended from the IRON AGE Hoist, One of the Tote Boxes for Handling Castings 28 in. wide and 18 in. deep, slightly wider at the top than at the bottom and having perforated sides, to aid in cooling, and trunnions on the ends for handling. A very complete system of overhead monorail tracks is provided for handling the castings from the shake- out to the cleaning, grinding and assorting operations. This was supplied by the Richards-Wileox Mfg. Co. and is equipped with 1-ton hand hoists made by the Wright Mfg. Co. Cleaning is done in three 48 x 84-in. Whiting tumbling mills, each barrel having an inde- pendent operating clutch. The tote boxes are emptied into the Barrels and the castings are dumped back into the b@xes after cleaning and the latter are deposited on a roller conveyor that is located in front of the grinders, the hoexes being pushed by hand along this roller table as the castings are needed. After grind- ing, the castings are thrown back in the tote boxes. There are three 22-in. grinding machines, two with double wheels and one with a single wheel and disk. These were built by the U. S. Electrical Tool Co. Each grinder has individual push button control. No cored molds will be made in the foundry but a small core ma- chine is provided for making pin cores and drawer gates. Looking at the unit at the right the return conveyor for empty flasks Part of the sand handling system is shown in this picture. Through the shake-outs in the floor the sand falls upon a belt which delivers to the elevator at the left and in turn the riddle, a magnetic separator and the incline belt to the revivifier shown on page 188. Castings are loaded in 1i-ton tote boxes and are carried by the monorail to the on the track in the foreground. Sprues are handied in trucks tumbling barrels located at the right but not appearing in the picture : G() THE : \fter ‘grinding, the hoist places the boxes of cast- gs on assorting and inspecting tables back of the ng machines. A pistonser-other small casting, from the assorting table every 30-min. run, is lathe to determine the metal hardness and a . cut in two b hack saw to check the thick- . é f the metal. A loading platform at the side of : has room for four cars. There is also a spur 1000 ft ng that serves the raw material storage r An el ( yr crane will be installed over ard. 4 complete cupola charge of pig iron, coke, scrap mestone is made up in each cupola charging car, material being weighed separately. The cars are ed to the cupola charging floor on a Whiting air 1 elevator and the cupola is charged by hand. he sand from the shake-outs drop onto a 24-in. new sand being added as required by shovel- the floor to the belt. From the belt it is ele- 8 ft. above the floor and discharged onto a re- g riddle from whict passes through a metallic irator From here an 18-in. rubber belt operated elevates it to a revivifier which conditions Under the revivifier is a main storage hop- er which extends about 10 ft. above the floor level and wn into a concrete pit. From the bottom of the stor- ge hopper the sand passes onto an inclined distribu- ting belt that carries it up to a cross belt that feeds the be hat serve the hoppers above the molding. ma- ne Sand that is not fed into these hoppers 1S. Car- e lower end of the hopper belts and passes to er cross belt that delivers it back to the main hop- ; The tw conve r belts that ce arry the sand from j ne snake-¢ to the ding a of the foundry are 3 a paralle vitn ‘oe ania conveyors. The entire 1 and mold and flask conveyor equipment IRON AGE January 15, 1995 was furnished and installed by the C. O. Bartlett ¢ Snow Co. The roller conveyors were made by the Mathews Gravity Carrier Co. Blast for the two cupolas is supplied by one direct pressure Root blower. Air for the molding machines and for other purposes is supplied by an Ingeréaoll: tand two-stage air compressor with a capacity of 558 cu. ft. per minute at 100 Ib. pressure. Dust is ex. hausted from the tumbling mills and grinding ma- chines by a system installed by the New Haven Sand Blast Co. The foundry is completely equipped electrically for all power requirements and is provided with adequate push button control for moving mechanism. Current is reduced from 2300 to 220 volts on two 150-kva. Packard Electric Co. transformers and there is a 1i- kva. balancing coil for the light circuit. The foundry occupies a one-story monitor type building, 90 x 440 ft. in size, having three 30-ft. bays. It is of steel and brick construction with ribbed glass windows and steel sash, and has a wood floor. The side bays are 14 ft. high and the center bay 23 ft. in height. It will be noted that it was possible to install a com- plete sand handling system without the necessity of a building of greater height. The building is steam heated with radiators the full length on either side. Lockers, lavatories and showers are provided on a mez- zanine floor. With such lighting and heating facilities, together with the general arrangement, the manage- ment feels that it could have done little if anything more in making the foundry a clean and comfortable place in which to work. The builders of the plant have had long experience in operating foundries in automobile production work. F. B. Whitlock, the president, was for many years up to June, 1923, president and general manager of the oar aes 1 Rial (IE } ‘ ' 1 ' “3 a] i a | : | he ‘ ne rf g Department | ' . t i mplete Overhead (Co > r & Grindidg Machines at att Nnveyor Systen at the Let age Sacemaiars ) 1 and Tumbling » i met: tn Ghimh att naee imbling, a monorail hoist places the aie Te - fills at the Right and the | veyor in . srinder eperatene sed aan oxes of castings on the roller con- ‘} t rinding the, throw the casting . — along = the table e points back of me i veyor Thence the hoist takes ¢ box ; } nes back into the boxes and push them to the end f th ll n | senlionn desi o e roller con- hrougl doors ; assorting benches back it the left to the loading platform of the grinding machines. The castings pass ing ble ice january 15, 1925 THE IRON AGE The Cupola House Is Built Into and Forms a Part of the Main Foundry Building Interstate Foundry Co., Cleveland, previously having been associated with the National Malleable Castings Co. E. W. Beech, the vice-president and secretary, was formerly president and general manager of the Manu- facturers Foundry Co., Waterbury, Conn., and later Carnegie Steel Co. Will Proceed with Erection of Mills at McDonald Works YOUNGSTOWN, Jan. 13.—District officials of the Car- negie Steel Co. have received authorization to proceed with the construction of a 10-in. shape, 12-in. strip and 14-in. bar mill at the McDonald works, in Trumbull County. I. Lamont Hughes is district superintendent at Youngstown. Buildings for the new mills were con- structed some time ago. Estimated cost of the installa- tion is $2,000,000. With this addition, there will be nine mills in the McDonald group, as originally contemplated. The present group of six mills receives electrical power from the Ohio Works, at Youngstown, about six miles distant, and the new units will receive power from the same source. Their steel supply will also come from the Ohio Works steel plant. The Carnegie company will have 21 bar mills in the Mahoning Valley upon the completion of this in- stallation. It is not improbable that some of the com- pany’s older-type mills at the Upper and Lower Union plant in Youngstown will be discarded in the course of. time. , The new McDonald mills will bring additional skilled and semi-skilled workers to augment the popu- lation of the village of McDonald, which the company created in connection with its plant. The town site was laid out by the company’s engineers and most of its houses were erected by the Carnegie company’s housing department, or under its direction. Giving Weights in Requesting Bids on Castings What may be submitted as following up recent con- tentions of Thomas E. Durban, Erie, Pa., that the weights of castings should be indicated on blueprints offered in connection with requests for bids on casting work is given in the subjoined. It will be recalled that Mr. Durban has aired this subject in THE IRON AGE and also discussed the question at the meeting of the National Founders’ Association as covered in the re- port of that meeting in early November. Mr. Durban’s further argument is as follows: ; “1 It would greatly facilitate prompt quotation and thus expedite business. Often the foundries re- ceive in one mail a large number of prints, from 10 to 20 is not uncommon. When the casting is somewhat complicated, and many of them are, it is safe to say it takes 3 to 4 hr. to get the weight of each print figured and conveyed to the labor estimator before the esti- mated overall cost can be figured. “9_-The weight must be known if, the.piece has been in the sand before or.must have begn figured by the designing engineer before the design could be accepted was connected in the same capacity with the Ferro Machine & Foundry Co., Cleveland. E. B. Hite, the treasurer and plant manager, was formerly affiliated with the Lancaster Steel Co., Lancaster, Pa. L. C. Miller is metallurgist in charge of cupolas. by the management, as very few designs of any kind are accepted unless the approximate cost accompanies the design, and the approximate cost cannot be given if weights have not been figured. It therefore follows that somebody must have figured the weight, and it would require no time to put the weight on the print. “Now, suppose the print was sent to five foundries for competitive prices. It necessarily follows that five men must figure the weight, and five men are engaged in doing the work that has already been done by one man. The man competent to estimate a comparatively intricate casting from a print would surely command a salary of $3,000 a year, or $10 per day of 8 hr., or $1.25 per hour, and it would consume at least 4 hr. time to figure and check. This would entail an actual labor expense, not including overhead which such a man would have to carry, of $5 by each company. So that if five bid on the work, it would entail a total cost of $25 plus the overhead of 50 per cent, or $37.50 actually wasted on each print. This waste must be covered in the operating overhead and be reflected in the price. “When the total number of prints sent out for fig- ures throughout the industry for a year is considered, it is astounding to think what the waste actually is. “Further, a blueprint should accompany every order so that the foundry may have an intelligent_knowledge of where the casting is to be machined, how the cores are to be set, and further information that would be of assistance to the workmen. The print should be in the hands of the foundry inspector so that the castings may be carefully checked and delays in replacement avoided, if an error be made, thus saving time and freight expense that would accrue if the rejection be made at destination instead of at the source of pro- duction.” Warehouse Business in November Sales of iron and steel jobbers in November, 1924, showed a drop of 11.2 per cent from the volume of sales of October, according to the statistics collected by the American Iron, Steel and Heavy Hardware Association. In a bulletin from A. H. Chamberlain, secretary-treas- urer of the organization, Marbridge Building, New York, it appears that the November percentage of business was 134 compared with 100 for January, 1921, which month was used as a basis, and the October per- centage was 150. As compared with November, 1923, November of the past year showed a decrease of 3.5 per cent. The greatest percentage of decrease oc- curred in the section covered by Pennsylvania and all the states south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi. In-New England, New York and New Jersey, the per- centage decrease was something over one-half as much, while for the rest of the country the decrease was only 2 per cent, comparing the one month with the other. ASO ERROR TERE? ae evn A, ee IES NIE OU NRIITY SRT RE. DRL Fm Ot Tr es SOUNDS NOTE OF WARNING ; , fai President Foster Says Conditions Favoring Pro perity Are Largely Temporary H. Foster, president of the General Fire- » Co., Youngstown, and a former general sales am manager of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., warns against over-optimism with respect to this year's busi- ness prospects. Mr. Foster sees elements of insta- n the conditions which have brought about cur- rent activity in manufacturing. . i “We doubtless will find this year that history will } repe itself and since the history of business is one : and downs, we probably shall have the usual eriod of reasonable prosperity—say, six months- during hich time we will become a little more ex- ‘ ravagant than we should, and then along will come ard times, which will force us to be more economical and live the simple life,” he argues. “For is it not true, that when we come to analyze the conditions that have brought about and are bringing about business \ activity, we find that in the main they are of a tem- porary nature, rather than permanent? i Failure of Crops in Foreign Countries ‘ “The first important element, perhaps, is the high price o f farm products, which is enabling the farmer to increase his purchasing power. These high prices are doubtless due to the partial crop failure in the Argen- tine and Canada, and the almost total crop failure in Russia. If the Argentine crops which are now in the making should prove to be of the bumper variety, and if Canada and Russia have good crops, then naturally the prices of our farm products will again fall. “We are more nearly back to what might be termed | Large Increase in Steel Corporation’s Unfilled Orders Unfilled business on the books of the United States St el Corporation as of Dee. 31, last. aggregated 4,816,- ‘o6 tons, or 784,787 tons more than remained unfilled Nov. 30, and the largest amount recorded since Feb- 1924. In November the unfilled tonnage in- creased 506,699 tons, in October 51,490 tons, in Septem- ber 184,203 tons, and in August 102,505 tons, while in July it decreased 75,433 tons, in June 365,584 tons, in May 580,358 tons, in April 574,360 tons, and in March 130,094 tons. In February there was 114,472 tons in the unfilled business, and month of 1924 an increase of 353,090 tons the unfilled business was 4.445.339 tons, or 371,417 tons ess than for December, 1924. With the exception of February, 1924, the corporation in December had more unfilled business on its books than at any previous time since September, 1923. Following is the unfilled ton- ruary, an increase of in the first A year ago nage as reported by months be i ; I MONntHS beginnings it} ‘ ary 1999 ~ g with January, Ja 1.798 ’ - ; i 12 10.776 cr : Fel Saree ioa7e 4,241,678 March 1,782.80 102°9 494 14 April 30 4,208.44 OLR TO 09" 0% May l , 628 ( 6.98] eo June 30 3262.50 6 386 <o4,228 July 31 18 an a cae ar a Sn : »446,161 Aug. 31 3,289,577 414,663 950105 sept oY 34 ny OOK O35, Jal 6,691,607 (et 1 3.525.270 1672.8 8909 987 Nov. 30 1,031,969 1.368.584 6 '840'94° | Dec 1 $.816.7 147 840,242 : ) 4.445 6,745.70 : i The forty-fifth annual meeting of Rogers, Brown & Co., pig iron merchants, was held in Cincinnati, Jan. 5 i] and 6. In attendance were all members of the firm i branch office managers and salesmen, sessions beine held at the Business Men’s Club. Reports submitted i} to the meeting from all sections of the country were ia] very optimistic regarding the future of the iron indus- | try, salesmen generally reporting th ’ ; |‘ at foundries were getting more business. THE IRON AGE Janvfary 15, 1925 a normal, post-bellum basis than at any time since the war, this due to the fact that, with the exception of Russia, European finances are well on the way toward solution, which will mean a resumption of normal man- ufacturing, buying and selling in the old world. This condition will help, but it must be borne in mind that in assisting these European countries to again stand alone and to increase their purchasing power we are also assisting them to become more active com- petitors. Henry Ford’s Purchase of Rails “More especially is this so when we recall that, with prevailing labor rates at about one-half of those in effect here, they not only are able to undersell us in neutral markets, but can, if they wish, apparently do so in our own country (as is evidenced by the fact that Henry Ford has recently bought a large tonnage of rails in Belgium), pay the ocean freights, pay the American duty, pay the freight from the sea- board to central Ohio, and land goods here at a lower price than that of our own makers. “Also, large quantities of iron, steel, cement and miscellaneous products are being shipped into this coun- try at prices, in many cases, below our cost of pro- duction, notwithstanding the prevailing high tariff rates. “Is it not evident, therefore, that until our costs are so reduced, or foreign costs so increased, that we are able to compete again in foreign markets, as well as secure all of the tonnage in our own country, we can hardly expect, for any long period of time, to enjoy trade activity, especially in the steel business 4 Mr. Foster states that the Fireproofing company !s extending its business in foreign markets and is ship- ping to such far distant points as Bombay, Shanghai, Caleutta, Sydney and other cities. Sheet Steel Executive Meeting Again to Be at White Sulphur Springs The third annual convention for administrative, commercial and operating executives of sheet steel com- panies, like the two preceding ones, is to be held at the Hotel Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., 0” May 4 to 7, inclusive. W. S. Horner, president Na- tional Association of Sheet and Tin Plate Manufac- turers, is general chairman of the general convention committee, other members of which are William U. Follansbee, president Follansbee Bros. Co., Pittsburgh; Walter C. Carroll, vice-president Inland Steel Co., Chi- cago; Charles R. Hook, vice-president American Rolling Mill Co., Middletown, Ohio, and Walter E. Watson, gen- eral manager of sales Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., Youngstown, Ohio. The convention will open with a eet -tgeinen meeting and banquet on Monday evening, May 4. _ Programs, papers and addresses for the three days of the convention proper will be related to problems of administration, distribution and production. A sep- arate committee will have charge of each day’s pro- gram. For the first day’s session the committee is William U. Follansbee, chairman; R. D. Campbell, vice-president Allegheny Steel Co., Brackenridge, Pa., and A. N. Flora, vice-president Trumbull Steel Co., Warren, Ohio. For the second day, Walter C. Carroll, chairman ; G. H. Charls, vice-president United Alloy Steel Corporation, Canton Ohio, and W. H. Abbott, vice-president Wheeling Steel Corporation, Wheeling, W. Va., and for the third day, Charles R. Hook, chair- -president Newport Rolling d H. A. Roemer, vice-presi- Co., Canton, Ohio. Mill Co., Newport, Ky., an dent Superior Sheet Steel The Rockport Steamshi a contract with the Mani tion, Manitowoc, Wis., in the stone and coal p Co., Cleveland, has placed towoc Shipbuilding Corpora- for a large Lake boat to be used trades. 25 the id in- Lis at nd re n- a Getting Castings Out on Schedule Planning and Controlling Production in Plants of All Sizes —Aids in Determining Costs—Improving Production Inspection to make deliveries is when deliveries are promised. The future in this business as in any other is built upon making prompt deliveries. Making promises and then falling down because emergency orders disrupt the schedule is a pretty much broadcasted foundry failing. Many times causes beyond its control make a foundry fall down on deliveries, but in instances where the management has been awakened to the ad- vantages of exercising practically complete control to insure delivery as promised, there have been returns in orders for full quantities to one company in place of partial orders farmed out to several foundries. The following table gives an idea of the proportion of plants giving some attention to the control of pro- duction: 7 the foundry industry the psychological moment Exercise Some Lack of Size of Foundry Control Control (No. of Men) Number Per Cent Number Per Cent Not over 50 0 7 100 50 to 100 f 50 5 50 100 to 150 1 65 6 35 150 to 200 : 75 1 25 200 to 500 5 100 0 0 500 and up 1 100 0 0 Totals 35 65 19 35 The degree of control exercised varies greatly. Completely developed systems of planning and con- trolling production found in large plants permitted maximum use of the plant’s facilities. Making sales fit facilities and planning the time and place when steps in the production program were to be carried out in advance of production insured full utilization. Control of Production in Small Plants Some of the small plants visited had effective sys- tems for planning and controlling production. While resembling the general methods encountered in larger units, they naturally curtailed many of the activities incident to complete control. For instance, time studies had not been made in any of these plants, yet steps had been taken to standardize performance. One plant, having a fairly stabilized run of work, studied the out- put of each department over a period, determined the maximum output and found that 80 per cent of this was a fair standard to set. Performance over this set rate was rewarded by a bonus. While the functions underlying a larger system are maintained in small plants, in the smaller plants a number of functions may be vested in one man. Some of the advantages and economies common to larger plant operations are possible in those smaller units which determine in advance the functioning of the plant in the performance of a given order and organize men, equipment and materials for its execution. A plant typical of the medium size jobbing foundry was operated under a system for planning and con- trolling production which enabled profitable employ- ment of the facilities of the plant. This system, out- lined below, describes in a general way methods used in several of the medium s‘ze plants visited. HIS is the third of a series of ten descriptive studies of management practices in the foun- dry, made by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, as a service to its group insur- ance policyholdere in the foundry industry. Copious abstracts of the first and second appeared at page 1334, THe IRoN AGE, Nov. 20 and at page 1552, Dee. 11. Planning and Controlling Production in a Plant Employing 100 Men The work turned out, the size of departments and the equipment used will give a picture of this jobbing plant. The foundry pours about 15 tons a day. Bench and squeezer molders turn out castings from a few ounces to 10 lb. in weight; this work comprises the majority of the output. There are, however, two other depart- ments—the rollover section, working on medium size plate work and some heavy cored work; the floor mold- ing section, turning out castings on orders requiring small quantities of large castings. Molders pour and shake out castings. Laborers assist floor molders and rollover machine operators = Gen? Mills Bice: § Petes lrgoot oe, » Iron peng Storage b on Sang 1 Coke TAU S rc eh feed —-} Core Oven a ome Lj i A 7 ii B Melding "Core Making (liienlivatlindlinsttienaliaaantinend loor Work Molding Fig. 1. Departmental Layout and help in pouring and shaking out. A night crew cleans the foundry and prepares sand for the next day. The following table shows the size of departments? EXECUTIVES Owner (sales and finance) Production manager (sales, purchasing. production and costs) Superintendent (production, maintenance and employment) FOREMEN Floor molding and rollover Bench and squeezer Cleaning and labor gang Core making CLERICAL Pattern clerk Production and cost clerk Office and billing clerks (2) MELTING MOLDING Bench work (8) Squeezers (18) Rollover (7) Floor (10) CORE MAKING (Two ovens, one small and and one large)... ; ] Bench (6) Large work (4) Oven tender (1) CLEANING ....... Sandblast (1) Mills (2) Grinder (1) SHIPPING I INSPECTION AND WEIGHING wor 2 LABORERS jricsee- Oe Capacities of departments had been carefully in- vestigated and weak points which might prove “necks in the bottle” were built up to rated capacity. Fig. 1 is a sketch of the departmental layout of this plant. Planning for Production —On receipt of an order the prodaction department analyzed the order and pre- pared for its production by determining the following factors: Type of work—whether for floor, bench, a Rees re a en ee cute CCC ATTIC DAC IR he itantarirsto Oe a ; is 4 : ' : i” ; ; ; oyu @ ; basa ermined tor the core depart order with the delivery tively nipping clerk to be used cnart showed ata ylance machine for each through information ised. The the estimated e preparation of suitable flas] \ wa rdered to be on } i wre the beginnit a of equipme!l yout and Distribut of We ited through the patter storage the patterns and cor wa n absolute control. He attached the respective patterns and cor them on the layout floor or layout shelf (Fig layout shelf was designed to hold patter) ea due to go into the sand currently, and « a requiring immediate attention. The superintendent, in making for orders ahead in the layout room attention to this shelf. Reports qa Y y »+ bch lly iIspection would give first f foremer advised oO tae 18 Bg iat oet—heat> (haus | re Dad ee January 15, 1925 Fig. 2. Typical | duction Charts bel i" a ee +112) Fi : A : Sth Pte : SEREEEOD! Te ah chee TehRis ae nh sitwtt ele al 1pm oar 1 29> 1) Bel el Be GSEs izoot 190% low | 50 lsacive ie Bre a Boteeel lake eel? | rose lymel ee ie Ze fn Bs Salm |e P aye | fy | 1 ete Voba altel 1 eee ted | 72> _10r Pas te Boel SMT tio [is | BR] We | Poo Pag bae mea 7715150 sc] ofee [he | 7000 1 Sul Yoni i> PA Lm Mlat last FS | Te | soe 1a Die Me hy Feds AY dest 1 ONYY Lave | boos 1eal ye) solve ee Ba) Ye eee] 1 Adeee | Pe | ke a ee ba | ele eliee ee ae Ri auesc a et _ =a “ i | | |e [es | 2 (a ale [|_| a 19 | see hel 2 Tia [|_| _|Wer? | 6f } 300 |e olde te itt to hie | P22 | £09 Asi) 1 Mabe x U is a him of work needed in their respective departments. Patterns would be assigned by the foreman to the man qualified for the particular type of work. Progress Records.—In the production office a rack held the production orders assigned. A molder’s name was placed over each section of the rack. As soon as the order was assigned to him it was placed in the rack under his name. The production clerk checked molds made at the end of the molding period each day and entered the num- ber of castings made on the production order. He checked bad castings on the following morning and made the entry on the production order. Comparison was made of the actual daily production with sched- PRODUCTION ORDER Lb28 _— \ foo W-/2 UsTOMER ee aed DATE, OF ORDER Yop EN WANTED Fig. 3. Produc- tion Order for Molding | Defectives on last run due | | ‘ ania | to the following causes. I} CR I Tete dead January 15, 1925 uled production as shown on the order, to check delay in delivery. Production of Cores.—Core boxes were assigned to the core department in time to assure delivery of cores when the molders wanted them. The form shown in Fig. 4 was made up with a detachable stub. The pro- duction department was notified of the starting of the cores by the return of the stub. Provision was made also for checking inability of the core department to deliver as scheduled. Cleaning Castings.—Castings were gathered from the molding floors and sent through the cleaning de- partment. The cleaning foreman recorded the number of pounds of castings passing through his department daily. Inspection and Sorting.—The next check on pro- duction was in the inspection and sorting of castings. Castings coming from the cleaning department were inspected and separated into individual orders. An inspection report contained the record of good and bad castings. This enabled the production department to issue a “replace order” to fifl out the amount called for on the original order, in case of discrepancy. Shipping Department.—The shipping department from its file of original orders called up orders previous to shipping date. When castings failed to come through by the date set, the shipping clerk notified the produc- tion department. The shipping department reported to the production department data on weights, quan- tities and method of shipment. Raw Materials.—Metal, coke and sand requirements were estimated from past needs, and orders were given insuring delivery of materials. Contrary to the prac- tice in a number of plants, no inventory of raw ma- terials was kept. Visual inspection was the only check against depletion of stores. Metal Requirements.—Daily melts were made up according to figures gathered from the foremen by the superintendent just before the blast was put on. The quantities for a given mix were set by the super- intendent. He was guided by an outside laboratory retained to make tests of the melt three times a week. Control as an Aid to Cost Determination From the time the order was received until the shipment of the finished castings was made the facilities of the foundry were concentrated on planning and carrying out production of the order to assure delivery at the date wanted. Control in this plant might be strengthened. In If Cores Cannot be Made in Time for Molding tien, Production Department Must be notified s! Fig. 4 Core Box and Core Record passing from the molding floor to the inspection table little control was exercised on an individual order. A tie-up of some of the cleaning equipment might show up this weakness. Data gathered incident to production were as- sembled for cost information. It provided a means for accurate cost determination. Emergency and rush orders made it difficult for the production department to keep to schedule. Intelligent planning and manipu- lation of orders smoothed many rough spots. Four men on bench work were available for short rush jobs. At other times these men worked on repairs or orders due at a distant date. Studying customers’ needs proved a valuable aid in scheduling machine work. A particular order called THE IRON AGE Date. ~ rows. | career ——=*[ rovat eonan Daily Report Form for Causes of Defective Work Fig. 6 for 75 castings per day. The production man knew that 50 were required for current needs and the 25 were excess. In such cases an emergency or rush order was put in the sand after the original customer’s basic needs were fulfilled. Thus through exact knowledge of customer requirements a large amount of emergency work was handled with a minimum of broken schedules. Methods for Improving Production Inspection Inspection proved a control on production in several instances. It was realized that much difficulty and loss of good will were avoided by inspecting thoroughly before shipment. Lack of inspection or loose inspec- tion costs much more than a thorough inspection sys- tem. Fig. 5 shows the layout of inspection equipment for handling small castings in a large jobbing foundry. Castings were dumped on a table behind the grinder. As they were ground they were placed on the conveyor, which brought them to the inspector’s table. The in- spector examined the castings and placed them in the boxes provided for them. Trimmings were thrown on the table back of the castings table. Through this compact system, finishing, inspection and sorting of castings were accomplished. Some plants analyze causes for defective castings. Fig. 6 is the form used in the Wilson Foundry & Machine Co. to record causes of defective work daily.* Fig. 7 is the form used in this plant to summarize the daily reports for a period of one month. On the front of the card is space for the records of the first half with the poensize series of five articles, dealing 23—at 745, March 15; 1037, At . 15.1178 Agen Ae 1562, May 31 and 212, July 26. es ; ; : wy January 15, 1925 i 7 THE IKON 7 Fig ) Layout of Grinding and In- spection I yepartments 1 : ' ' 2} Ty ¥ t oI I * " — ISTIPIGS os T / 4 Grinders “Inspectors pe Reet cocaine seit | { | —————_ ; vif az} teal ys MONTH vj2jaiei sie} oie $j ' } | | | | TO|| DAILY BAY | TAu| CAST ' cast ) |} tt : || OFF. WELD ‘ TTT a 7 2 es BROKEN ake: Jenne t | f ca | || cate sroneh + ae | om ert) 1 1 ttt tae SERBEESE RSH ee Oe Se 2 | || ero. im mite al ] | sacnet THim | " ons’ -+ - > + + - + + + — + —+ + + ae 5 Y misnue | ti ernie | ee es ee es ee ee ee ee eee al | oe aed es mOLO BLOW j ; aeeroum dt es r- * PATCHED | wPL'c’D + + > + + + + —— 4 + 1 —4-—} +4 + P | j | |) PaO. SHORT | f TT ; mumouT | |_| | scas | : SHIFTEO aide 4 | oe | dh a ! ile Sureteo ! common) | i Rings a i Sueina call 4 ec mie) —— a + . a Cn pent or T _ { | SWELLED . 5 ory tt = ae ee a . | The § oooomsg, | ot tt en | \ | warren | es eee eure —+— —4$—4— + +4 + —+ jp ——+ T ee > | || wasHeo { : ee re jp ——-J ¢ Sawing | lloanvorws. | ie ; = a a a —}- = —— | omuvror | |] | poms rot | — TOTAL SCRAP | Tovar Discount _ Paencentaes ; ie f ¥ : Part nO. Past Name back, space for the remainder. put by departments was recorded at the close of - 1} e analysis permits sifting out preventable hour. The figures of the day before were kept on the é‘ | helps eliminate all such losses in the future. chart, to afford comparison. Here again the visual : display of the results of departmental efforts and the rivalry resulting helped increase output and put more In one plant the several departments were arrayed meaning into the work in hand. Records of Defects Help Cut Down Losses mpetitior The arrangement might be called a ; a ‘ = ; irv | } See uaeadie aa Production Control in the Foundry oundry leagut Each wee the plant bulletin board ntained the following records for each department: Planning and controlling production enable foun- rotal production by weight; ght; total defective production dries to specify and live up to delivery dates, to attain y weight; percentage defective production by weight. maximum use of facilities and to lower cost of opera This weekly publication set up a friendly rivalry be- tion. Sales are made more readily when assurance 1S tween departments which effected a marked lowering given of delivery on promised dates. Production in the percentage of work defective. records help determine actual costs. Knowledge of Two automobile foundries plant facilities and capacity, a primary necessity to adequate production control, make possible an accurate estimate of the kind and amount of work necessary hourly out- for effective operation. under continuous opera- ion displayed charts with production ¢ hgures to help e in output. In both tances blackboards were used on which control and encourags ners Domestic Manganese Ore Shipments Increase gross weight, of ores imported, and apparently the n 1924 values of the ores, has been recorded. The estimated = manganese content of manganese ore imported is re- Che shipments of high-grade manganese ore. con- ported by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- taining 35 per cent and more of manganese, in the merce to have been 236,635 tons during the first 11 United States in 1924, ace rding to preliminary figures months of 1924 (January to November inclusive), compiled in the U. S. Geological Survey, wer approxi compared with 206,048 tons in 1923. Assuming an mately 53,000 gross tons, in 1924, compared with 31.500 @Verage manganese content of manganese ore imported ross tons in 1923. of approximately 48-50 per cent, the imports of ore Notable increases in shipments were made by Colo. uring these periods were about 473,000 tons for il rado and Montana producers. In Washington. where ™onths in 1924, and 412,000 tons for 1923. The value a no production of manganese ore had been made since Of the imports is given as $5,505,658 for the first 11 ) 1916, a large quantity was produced and shipped from months of 1924, and $3,874,510 for 1923. : the Crescent mine, Port Angeles in 1924. This is the The shipments of domestic ore containing 10 to 35 first time that Washington has made a notable produc- Per cent of manganese in 1924 dropped to 280,000 tons & tion of manganese ore. It is largely shipments fron from 319,666 tons in 1923. Shipments of ore contain- | ! Washington and the increase in those from M na ing 5 to 10 per cent manganese dropped to 585,000 . | | from 21,916 tons in 1928 to about 34,000 tons in 1924 gross tons in 1924 from 1,072,457 tons in 1923. i] which have caused the increas mManvanese hip a 1] nents in 1924 It will be noted that Montana hip- The Pacific G =" as de ‘ ) | scnihe ‘ahinmn te, SORE ae te ata . he acific Gas & Electric Co., San Francisco, has | total for the countey in 1923. made — a development program calling for a total . Since Sept. 22, 1922, the manganese content, not the budected for exter ee of which Sit Aime budgeted for expenditure in 1925. Steel Makers Lose in Assigned Car Case Decision of Majority of Interstate Commerce Commission Vigorously Attacked by Dissenting Opinions—Action Declared Destructive Attack on Industry WASHINGTON, Jan. 13.—Iron and steel, by-product coking, coal, and railroad interests along with others owning private railroad cars lost their contentions in the assigned car case when fina! decision in the pro- ceeding was announced yesterday by the Interstate Commerce Commission. In a divided vote of the com- mission the majority reaffirmed its previous finding and held that the practice of railroads in assigning private cars and railroad cars to bituminous coal mines in excess of the ratable share to mines not receiving assigned cars is unjust and unreasonable and unjustly discriminatory to mines not receiving assigned cars. The effect of the decision will be to permit the assigning of private cars owned by the steel and by- product and other interests to mines which heretofore have not received them and in such instances to take control of the cars out of the hands of their owners. The commission had postponed the effective date of the original order as to hearing add‘tional testimony, but in the decision yesterday made March 1, 1925, the effective date. May Appeal te Supreme Court The majority opinion was written by Commissioner Aitchison. Dissents were made by Commissioners Pot- ter, Cox and Hall. It is believed that the case will be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. But before it can be taken up, the marked change in the distribution of cars and rules of the railroads in assigning them will have gone into effect. It was pro- posed by the respondents that assigned cars, including those for railroad fuel and private cars, must be placed at coal mines to which assigned and that if the cars thus placed at a mine should equal or exceed the mine’s pro rata share of the available car supply for that day, it should not be entitled to any unassigned cars; but that if the number of assigned cars placed at the mine should be less than its pro rata share for that day it should be given enough unassigned cars in addition to its assigned cars to make up its pro rata share. The commission, however, requires the carriers to abolish the assigned car rule. Companies owning on Oct. 1, 1923, about 21,000 of the total 29,296 coal and coke cars privately owned claimed the right to place such cars without restriction at designated mines unless this re- sulted in preferential use of other equipment and that the commission had no authority to abolish the as- signed-car rule and require pro rata distribution. Among these companies and the number of cars they own were the Carnegie Steel Co. and other Steel Cor- poration subsidiaries, 5200; Bethlehem Steel Corpora- tion, 3975; Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., 1334; Sea- board By-Product Co., 350; Chicago By-Product Coke Co., 650; Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. and sub- sidiary company, 4078; Donner Union Coke Corpora- tion, 500; Rainey-Wood Co., 400; Westmoreland Coal Co., 2019; International Harvester Co. and subsidiary, 500; Ford Motor Co. and subsidiary company, 800; Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., 269, and Steel Company of Canada and affiliated companies, 400. Different Conclusions Reached Both the majority and the minority decisions describe the technical processes involved in the making of by- product coke and the necessity of having a regular sup- ply of coal of proper quality for coking purposes in con- nection with the manufacture of iron and steel, gas, ete. These processes were described at the hearings by such men as Chairman Charles M. Schwab of the Beth- lehem Steel Corporation, President James A. Campbell, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., representatives of cok- ing interests, and others. Details as to production of 197 coal, coke, and by-products by the interested compa- nies, previously set forth by THe IRON AGE, are stated. But far different conclusions are reached by the ma- jority and minority members. The majority, for ex- ample, points out that it is not intended that the find- ing “shall preclude the commission hereafter, in proper cases, in the exercise of the emergency powers con- ferred upon it from requiring the placement of cars for bituminous coal loading at any mine or mines in excess of the current percentage allotment made to mines generally upon the lines of the same carrier, or upon the same division, when the order or direction f