WORK-STUDYING THE DUSTMAN
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BECAUSE successive generations of transport operators have applied their skill and experience to improving efficiency and lowering costs it is likely that only marginal improvements remain to be made in the immediate future.
Therefore it is necessary to take a more detached look at efficiency than an executive with day-to-day responsibility for operations normally can do.
An opportunity is provided by the findings of work study consultants or work study departments of the same organization. Last month I examined the results from a work study of the maintenance of Liverpool's fleet of 1,160 buses, when an annual saving of 25,000 was achieved.
This week I examine .a work study by Liverpool Corporation of its city engineer's department.
Incentive scheme
The department controls over 140 refuse collection and associated vehicles, about 40 5-ton lorries together with vehicles such as vans, gully-emptying machines, fuel tankers and low loaders. Work study investigation has been applied to the refuse collection vehicles and the majority of the 5-ton lorries on roads and special works section service.
First job to be tackled involved the refuse collection vehicles, and this was done in conjunction with an incentive scheme for the refuse collector. To obtain maximum efficiency from the refuse collection gangs, co-operation was needed from the drivers: so an incentive scheme was devised for them.
This scheme is based on two parts, one indirect and the other direct.
Method study of the vehicles showed the best use must be made of the types already available. For example, investigations proved that the refuse from smokeless zones in the area was more bulky than that from a non-smokeless zone and so, where practicable, one of the larger vehicles was used for collection in this area.
Variable distance
Another consideration was the variable distance of a collection area from the disposal tip. Effort was therefore made to allocate a larger type of vehicle to those areas which were farthest away to obtain an optimum time for emptying bins throughout the city.
In certain circumstances it was uneconomical for the smallest type of vehicle to make regular journeys to the disposal tip. A system was accordingly devised whereby the collection vehicle deposited a trailer at the nearest depot. Another vehicle was then used primarily to tow this trailer from the depot to the disposal tip. This enabled the collection vehicle to spend more time on its basic collection work.
Work study investigations on the 5-ton lorries showed that 80 per cent of their loads on any individual journey were below two tons. Efforts were made to make full use of the vehicles and increase the load per journey, but owing to the nature and variety of materials carried this did not prove to be a practical proposition and consideration is now being given to using smaller vehicles in certain cases.
Before the work study investigations it was normal for each foreman to have a 5-ton vehicle at his disposal. But it was found that under this method the vehicles were not fully utilized—they were frequently waiting instructions for the next delivery.
So a scheme was brought in with vehicles centralized under the control of the senior foreman of a division and the foremen were asked to co-operate by giving advance information regarding loads, distances and priorities. This had resulted in a 20 per cent vehicle reduction despite an incentive scheme for road workers causing the use of more materials for each hour worked.
Shortest routes
To encourage drivers of the 5-ton vehicles, an incentive scheme was introduced for their work which was in two parts, the first being based on the average miles travelled per load delivered. This encouraged efficient driving by the shortest route, the lower a driver's average miles travelled per load delivered the higher being his bonus payment.
Second part of the scheme was based on the average number of loads delivered per hours worked—to encourage the driver to deliver more loads. This part of the scheme could reduce the bonus he already earned on the first part of the scheme.
In this report on work study as applied to the transport of the Liverpool city engineer's department, it is claimed that the centralization of the 5-ton vehicles along with the incentive scheme has reduced the actual hours worked by the vehicle by approximately 40 per cent relative to 100 productive standard hours.
Regarding bonus schemes generally as distinct from this specific example just summarized, the following distinctions need to be made when work study investigations and subsequent incentive schemes are applied. Transport is a service industry and as such its mode of operation is conditioned and circumscribed both by the requirements of customers and the law concerning travel on the public highway.
Nevertheless such special conditions should not be used as an argument against a thorough-going investigation of the possibility of improving efficiency. Equally, having started such an investigation, what would normally be the logical sequel—an incentive scheme of one sort or another—should not be a predetermined requisite.
Avoid it if. . .
In other words, if it is subsequently shown that for practical purposes the proposed incentive scheme is unlikely to be a runner then however much it may seem a wasted effort the imposing of an unsuitable scheme should be avoided at all costs. This is because making the men disgruntled could result in decreasing the efficiency below the original level.
Road safety is becoming more important both in the eyes of the Government of the day and subsequently in the regulations which govern transport operation. More than ever it will be necessary to ensure that schemes do not conflict with the underlying principles • of road safety.
This is not to say that the interests of road safety and incentives to higher efficiency in road transport operation are diametrically opposed. To take a random example, while a drive for increased tonnage regardless of all other factors might well be, and often is, opposed to the best interests of road safety, a scheme dependent on achieving lower fuel consumption could even improve safety standards by inculcating more judicious driving habits.
The expense Large transport departments, such as those run by municipalities and oil companies lend themselves to comprehensive and periodical surveys by work study experts whether on their own staff or by consultants. But both the cost and time involved should not be underestimated.
Operators of small fleets will not be able to undertake such comprehensive schemes because of the expense. Operators of small but efficient fleets can exploit their inherent asset of retaining personal interest in the job on hand to the benefit of customer and themselves alike.
The benefits from a personal interest in day-to-day working are accumulative. they will be expressed in a higher standard of service, and greater profitability—or both.
Though "personal interest" is not readily associated with incentives allied to bonus schemes, it has nevertheless proved a vital factor in the success of many small and medium sized transport operators. In effect it avoids the disincentive through lack of interest in one's job which can so easily prevail in large scale organizations when collection, conveyance and delivery is seldom undertaken by one member of the staff.
The satisfaction from seeing a job through from start to finish is admittedly becoming increasingly rare in trade and industry because of the continuing trend towards larger operating units.
Where small operating units still persist, as in road haulage and many C-licensed fleets, the potential incentive inherent when each member of the staff has the satisfaction of seeing the value of his own contribution should be recognized and exploited to the full.
Then "incentives" are no longer part of an ancillary scheme almost in the category of second thoughts as to current levels of efficiency. Rather they become the essence of the job.