(3) REPORT ON STANDARD METHOD For performING MAINTENANCE OF WAY WORK FOR THE PURPOSE

OF ESTABLISHING UNITS OF MEASURE OF

The American Railway Engineering Association from its beginning in 1899 until 1917 devoted practically its entire time and effort, through some twenty standing committees, to the study and establishing of plans and specifications for the materials and structures that are used in the construction and maintenance of railroads. As a result we have complete plans and specifications embodying the most advanced state of the art for the various items of materials that make up railroad structures and in many instances for the assembled structures. The use of materials is readily susceptible to control. The economics of materials, therefore, seems amply provided for.

The cost of materials, however, averages not more than one-half the cost of construction and will run as low as 35 per cent of the total cost of maintenance. The remaining percentage of maintenance and construction costs is largely that of labor and it offers a most prolific field for the application of economies. This fact was finally recognized by the Association when it created the Committee on "Economics of Railway Labor."

Maintenance of Way expenditures and consequently the amount of labor employed fluctuates during the year on account of the seasonal character of the greater part of the work, principally the track work, and other fluctuations from year to year rise and fall in unison with the financial conditions.

Any form of budget that may be adopted has for its determining factor this same financial condition. A carefully prepared budget covering a year's work, although approved, is subject to modification from month to month, often causing abrupt and violent readjustment of force.

Although these are natural phenomena, they are none the less disconcerting to the maintenance engineer, and the more so to the supervisor and the foreman who bear the brunt of the effects of this instability.

All this results in lack of uniformity of force, the demoralization of an everchanging personnel and the impossibility of that continuity of program so essential to economy.

Work done under such conditions entails great waste, which added to the waste arising from misdirected effort and useless and ineffective motion due to lack of proper methods and gang organization, amounts

to a large and an incalculable sum. It is sought to overcome this waste and effect a large saving to maintenance costs by introducing a system of standardizing methods of performing the various items of work, outlining the proper gang organization for such work, establishing time schedules or units of measure of the work to be performed and keeping of records of the performance for comparison with the standard to determine the rating of the performance.

On account of the diversity of conditions under which work is done on the various railroads and in the various parts of the country, it is not practicable for the Committee to attempt to establish for general application standards of performance for each item of work. The Committee submits certain principles, supplemented by sufficient detail, which are flexible enough for application to any condition of work or size of force.

These are submitted in the following outline of methods for standardizing the performance of the various items of Maintenance of Way work for the purpose of establishing units of measure of work performed. For the present report the application is confined to track work, although equally applicable to all kinds of work.

The principles which have been so successfully used in shop operations, namely, the principles of so-called "Scientific Management," are the basis of this plan. It embodies both descriptions of standardized methods and standardized schedules for the measurement of the units of work performed.

For the purpose of illustrating the application of this plan, examples of methods, schedules and forms of reporting are submitted as an essential part of this report. It is not intended that these examples are necessarily to be taken as the standard to be followed, but rather as guides to those who seek to apply this plan to their own uses.

The main features of this plan are as follows:

(1) Standard methods and time schedules for each item

of work.

Examples of typical methods and schedules are given as:
Exhibit "A"-Method-Making Time Studies.

"B"-Method-Renewing Rail Out of Face.
"B-1"-Schedule-Renewing Rail Out of Face.
"C"-Method-Cross-Ties-Renewing.
"C-1"-Schedule-Cross-Ties-Renewing.

(2) Instructions to foremen to enable them to submit accu-
rate reports of performance.

An example of typical instructions is given as:

Exhibit “D”-Instructions for Reporting and Distributing
Track Work Time Charges.

(3) Closer supervision by means of planning and dispatching the work in advance.

Examples of typical forms are given as:

Exhibit "E"-Planning Sheet.

“F”—Work Örder or Dispatching Sheet.

(4) Sample forms for the notation of records and performance for comparison of results.

Examples of typical forms are given as:

Exhibit "G"-Daily Record of Track Work Performance.
“H”—Monthly Record of Track Work Efficiency.

Taking up these various features in order.

(1) Standard Methods and Schedules

Standard schedules, or units of performance, should be established with great care, as it is essential that they be correct and that the organization of the gang and method of doing the work are the best that can be worked out.

The standard performance, or 100 per cent efficiency, is the output of a first-class gang working at a speed which can be continuously maintained without physical harm to the men, following an approved method of doing the work and consisting of the most effective number of men for the kind of work to be done.

To arrive at the 100 per cent standard, first-class gangs are to be selected and detail time studies made of the performance, the time studies being divided into as many moves and as much detail as possible in order that the various studies may be compared in detail and a standard method worked out which will eliminate all unnecessary moves. If it appears that an improvement can be made, the organization of the gang and the method of doing the work should be altered and new studies made. When the most satisfactory organization and method has been found, a final detail study is made of the performance of the gang and this is established as 100 per cent efficiency and issued as a standard schedule. In this way schedules may be established for all of the more important items of maintenance work. A "Method for Making Time Studies" and a sample “Time Study Sheet" are shown in Exhibit "A."

In preparing such schedules it may at first be thought that, owing to the wide variation in conditions, there would be a number of items of work for which it would be impossible to work out standard schedules, but the study of performances will develop a remarkable uniformity in the output of gangs working under apparently widely varying conditions, and there are relatively few items of maintenance work which cannot be standardized. In cases where one standard schedule cannot be made to apply, as, for example, in ditching, a schedule should be made for the individual job and be based on previous records, performances under

similar conditions, or observations after the work is started. For individual pieces of work of this kind, after careful study and planning of a method to be followed, a schedule or standard of output for 100 per cent efficiency should be established and the foremen's reports graded on this basis.

Going to and from work and clearing the track for passing trains, represents considerable lost time which is beyond the control of the foreman and men. This lost time is classed as detention, and studies should be made to determine the amount of detention for each gang. This detention is expressed in per cent of total time and, in grading the foreman's reports for comparison with the standard schedule, a credit of the detention per cent is allowed. On terminal and yard sections the detention is usually much more than on road sections.

(2) Instructions to Foremen

To form an accurate comparison of the performance of the various gangs, uniformity in the reports submitted by the foremen is necessary. Owing to the difficulty some foremen have in making reports, it is desirable to have all forms used by them as simple as possible.

A daily report by the foreman of time spent and the work done by each gang is necessary. Where there is in use a form of daily time report, it can readily be made suitable for this purpose.

It is, however, necessary that the distribution shown on the daily time report be made with care, so that each item of work can be correctly graded. To secure this result detail instructions governing the distribution and reporting of the time charges are required.

Typical instructions for reporting and distributing track work time charges are given in Exhibit "D."

(3) Planning and Dispatching

To outline the order of the work and to assign it to the gangs to follow in sequence, so as to reduce the loss of time consumed by the unnecessary movement of the gangs from place to place, a system of planning and dispatching is needed.

Early in the year the program of work for the season should be decided upon and charted on a planning sheet (Exhibit "E"), the proposed work being shown in yellow. Thereafter as the work progresses, monthly planning sheets are prepared; the completed work is shown in green and the monthly program in red. A few days before the close of the month the Division Engineer calls a meeting of the supervisors for the purpose of planning the work for the month. The work to be done, the location and the relative order in which it is to be undertaken is decided upon and shown in red on the chart. The quantity of work to be accomplished is computed from the standard schedules and the force allotted for the month. The direction in which the work is to progress,

the date on which it is to be commenced and the calculated date of completion are to be shown on the chart.

The chart is prepared in duplicate, one copy to be retained by the Division Engineer and the other for the use of the supervisor. Upon his return to headquarters, the supervisor transmits the program to the foreman by means of work orders, giving him the program for the entire month, or any part of it, as he may see fit. For this purpose a work order, or dispatch book, is provided (Exhibit “F”). The book is bound in stiffback, note-book form, and contains 100 perforated leaves.

The work order is made out in duplicate, the carbon copy being filed on the dispatch board, serving as a ready reference showing the work being done by each gang and where working. The work order states the kind, location, amount of work to be done and the time to be consumed. Upon completion of the work the foreman dates and signs the order and returns same to the supervisor. The foreman is given a work order for all work to be done. This, however, does not relieve him of the responsibility of making unforeseen and emergency repairs.

(4) Forms and Reports

For the purpose of recording the performance of the gangs two forms are used-one, a Daily Record of Track Work Performance (Exhibit “G”), the other, a Monthly Record of Track Work Efficiency (Exhibit "H").

The result of each day's work as sent in by each foreman on the Daily Time Report is posted on the Daily Record Sheet, and the efficiency per cent of the day computed. For example: A gang of a foreman and nine men, working ten hours per day, holds a work order to renew ties without raising track. The schedule under which the work will be done is that given as an example of a Standard Schedule (Exhibit "C-I"), and is eight ties per ten hours. The foreman's daily report shows that his gang renewed 64 ties in 100 hours. The standard time required to renew 64 ties in stone ballast track not raised is 80 hours, whereas the actual time consumed was 100 hours. However, 10 per cent. of this was consumed by clearing passing trains and other delays chargeable to "Detention," leaving 90 hours actually devoted to effective work. On the Daily Record Sheet, under the heading of Renewing Cross-Ties, 80 is recorded as "Standard Time" and 90 as "Actual Time," indicating an efficiency of 89 per cent. All other work is recorded in the same way.

At the close of the month the "Monthly Record of Track Work Efficiency" is compiled from the totals of the "Daily Record." The monthly record shows the percentage of efficiency made by every gang on each class of work, the average of every gang on all work, and the average for the supervisor's sub-division-in other words, a detailed and an accurate record of the actual performance of every gang as compared with the Standard Performance. The "Standard" divided by the "Actual" gives the efficiency per cent.