average pig-iron handlers, were under an excellent foreman who himself had been a pig-iron handler,
and the work was done, on the whole, about as fast and as cheaply as it was anywhere else at that time.
A railroad switch was run out into the field, right along the edge of the piles of pig iron. An
inclined plank was placed against the side of a car, and each man picked up from his pile a pig of iron
weighing about 92 pounds, walked up the inclined plank and dropped it on the end of the car.
We found that this gang were loading on the average about 12½ long tons per man per day. We
were surprised to find, after studying the matter, that a first-class pig-iron handler ought to handle
between 47
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and 48 long tons per day, instead of 12½ tons. This task seemed to us so very large that
we were obliged to go over our work several times before we were absolutely sure that we were right.
Once we were sure, however, that 47 tons
was a proper day’s work for a first-class
pig-iron handler, the task which faced us
as managers under the modern scientific
plan was clearly before us. It was our
duty to see that the 80,000 tons of pig
iron was loaded on to the cars at the rate
of 47 tons per man per day, in place of
12½ tons, at which rate the work was
then being done. And it was further our
duty to see that this work was done
without bringing on a strike among the
men, without any quarrel with the men,
and to see that the men were happier and
better contented when loading at the new
rate of 47 tons than they were when loading at the old rate of 12½ tons.
Library of Congress
“Loading the pigs,” Pittsburgh, 1905
Our first step was the scientific selection of the workman. In dealing with workmen under this
type of management, it is an inflexible rule to talk to and deal with only one man at a time, since each
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Many people have questioned the accuracy of the statement that first-class workmen can load 47½ tons of pig iron from the ground on to
a car in a day. For those who are skeptical, therefore, the following data relating to this work are given:
First. That our experiments indicated the existence of the following law: that a first-class laborer, suited to such work as handling pig iron,
could be under load only 42 per cent. of the day and must be free from load 58 per cent. of the day.
Second. That a man in loading pig iron from piles placed on the ground in an open field on to a car which stood on a track adjoining
these piles, ought to handle (and that they did handle regularly) 47½ long tons (2240 pounds per ton) per day. . . .
A pig-iron handler walks on the level at the rate of one foot in 0.006 minutes. The average distance of the piles of pig iron from the car
was 36 feet. It is a fact, however, that many of the pig-iron handlers ran with their pig as soon as they reached the inclined plank. Many of
them also would run down the plank after loading the car. So that when the actual loading went on, many of them moved at a faster rate
than is indicated by the above figures. . . .
If any one who is interested in these figures will multiply them and divide them, one into the other, in various ways, he will find that all
of the facts stated check up exactly. [Footnote in original]
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