WAR OUTPUT UP 200 PC.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 48, 4 May 1942, Page 3

WAR OUTPUT UP 200 PC.

HOW BRITISH MUNITIONS FAC-

TORY MAKES 20 TIMES MORE

SHELL FUSE CASES Output of shell fuse cases in a British munitions factory has been increased twcntyfold after industrial psychologists had suggested improvements in methods of working. The job required careful hand-sol-dering of scams, and, as the factory had lost most of its experienced solders, the weekly output was onty 1000 good cases, with a several thousands rejects. But after various changes, of which the most important was a systematic training scheme based on careful study of hand and body movements, the output was raised to 20,000 cases a week, passed by the inspectors. This is only one example of how trained psychologists from Britain's National Institute of Industrial Psy-chology-have helped to speed up production in the war factories. Although the results arc sometimes startling there is no particular magic about their job. Tt is based: rather on a careful study of the physical movements entailed, on proper methods of instruction, and above all on interesting the trainee in the work. Hours of wasted time have been saved merely by getting the trainees into the habit of arranging their tools around them in an orderly way and replacing them after use. Training is made interesting by interspersing handwork Avith general instruction so that trainees understand how their work fits into the general scheme. In tank factories, for example, they not only see their particular part assembled intei the completed job, but are shown the tank in action. Coil winding operatives trained by these methods were found to reach a standard of proficiency in only live days which previously had taken live weeks. Moreover, this was not achieved at the expense of output, for a (i;> per cent increase in the average output of good pieces was obtained, while the scrap rate fell from 5-2 per cent.