Several years ago we had over 200 toolmakers in our tool room
engaged upon high grade jigs, fixtures, gauges, etc. The demand for
toolmakers became such that the men were leaving us and it became
practically impossible to get an adequate supply of this highly
skilled labor.
My engineers, superintendents and myself made a study of the
proposition and found that on the work that the tool room was doing
it was unnecessary to employ such highly skilled labor on 70 per
cent. of the work on the average. We, therefore, differentiated the
work into its component elements and made a careful line of cleavage
between the highly skilled work which the toolmakers were doing and
the work which could be done by ordinary machinists. We then brought
in men who were machinists, separating them into several necessary
grades. We had sufficient work of a minor character to keep the lower
grades busy practically all the time. We, therefore, taught them just
how we wanted the work done.
As a result of this differentiation of the elements going to make up
tool room work and the shaping of a distinct line of cleavage between
the work requiring high skill and that requiring skill of a lesser
grade, we were able to reduce our toolmaking force to less than fifty.
I am sure that a close study of the work done in any tool room and
a division of the work same as along the lines indicated above will
result in a decrease of the number of toolmakers required.
August 7, 1918.
(Signed) C. U. CARPENTER.