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20,5655 2 0584. 410:/011 0. 85 3 Based on assumed iabor rate of $1.50 per hour. 4 Equipment cost equals $0.0029 raised to $0.01. Two-Wheel Handtrucks, Four-Wheel Handtrucks, Dead Skids, and Manual Low-Lift Platform Trucks was used to assemble any of the commodities that were needed for a particular truck. The type of equipment available at the moment usually deter- mined which would be used. The crew assigned as assemblers varied from 2 to 8 men. The lar ger crew usually assembled for the first 1 or 2 truck- 9 loads. For the balance of the loads, the crew dropped to as few as two men. Delays resulting from crew interference were not a factor. Invoices were grouped by route, and items tallied on a truck recap. A checker called off a group of items from the recap and assigned them to a warehouseman to assemble, at the same time noting the items called. The warehouse- man located his handling equipment and moved it to a storage area where all or part of the commodities assigned to him were located. When he reached that area, he picked up those items located there and loaded them on his truck ot skid, and proceeded to the next storage point When the truck or skid was full or when he hae loaded all the items that had been called for, he transported the load to the order assembly area When skids or four-wheel handtrucks were used they were released with the load intact in the order assembly area (fig. 9). When two-wheel handtrucks were the transporting equipment, items in the load were either off-stacked manually or tipped off on the floor as near the truck as po sible. The checker examined each assembled loa d , ‘| Figure 7—A four-wheel handtruck. Figure 8.—Dead skid and manual low-lift platform truck. 10 Figure 9. following tabulation : Labor required Time item (man-hours) Beesuclive labor: 1 man assembles fresh fruits and vegeta- bles, with a transport distance of 100 feet from the order-assembly area to the storage areas when 2-wheel handtrucks, 4-wheel handtrucks, dead skids, and manual low-lift platform trucks are used_ 0. 39 (CUS Day oy 2 OE nn ae a le . 03 ARON LEN ox oy ess yrs eR ec ee . 42 BET SCOunOUTSAe tee a. Se oe ee . 42 _ The tonnage assembled by each of the three equipment types varied substantially. For ex- ample, on the nights when studies were made, 2-wheel handtrucks were used to move 53 percent of the tonnage; 4-wheel handtrucks 28 percent, and dead skids 19 percent. The man-hours re- quired for each ton assembled varied with the type of equipment. If 2-wheel handtrucks had ‘been used alone it would have taken 0.58 man- Method BN 5674 Part of the order assembly area showing loads assembled on four-wheel hand trucks and dead skids. hour (including cleanup time) to move a ton of fruits and vegetables; likewise 4-wheel hand- trucks used alone would take 0.25 man-hour; and dead skids 0.25 man-hour. These figures indi- cate that the least productive piece of equipment was used most often. Therefore, the produc- tivity of the equipment combination as used was considerably less than it would have been had four-wheel handtrucks and dead skids been used to assemble a higher percentage of the tonnage. The principal reason for the high man-hour figure for the two-wheel handtruck is its limited capacity. The average weight per load was 0.10 ton for 2-wheel handtrucks, 0.35 ton for dead skids, and 0.44 ton for 4-wheel handtrucks. A 2-wheel handtruck required 10 round trips to move a ton of produce. The other equipment types require slightly less than three round trips on the average for each ton moved. ‘The pro- ductivity of this system using the 3 equipment types would be substantially improved if greater use were made of the 4-wheel handtrucks and the dead skids with manual low-lift platform trucks. As indicated in the tabulation below, the com- bined labor and equipment costs per ton totaled $0.64. Labor and equipment man assembles fresh fruits and vegetables, with a transport distance of 100 feet from the order-assembly area to storage | 1 2-wheel handtruck, 0.31 machine-hour; three 4-wheel handtrucks, 0.21 | machine-hour; 3 dead skids, 0.14 machine-hour; low-lift platform truck, 0.05 | nachine-hour; total 0.71 machine-hour. 485669 O—59—3 BLeAmy Nenvasonuckenecap is sused= )2 22220 el ee required Labor and equipment costs Elapsed = time Equip- (hours) Labor ment Equip- (man- (machine- Labor ment Total hours) hours) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) 0. 42 Q. 42 Oeil 20. 638 30. 01 0. 64 2 Based on assumed labor rate of $1.50 per hour. : 3 For equipment cost calculations see table 14 in the appendix. Semilive Skids and Jacks Figure 10.—Semilive skid and jack. The type of recap used for the assembly oper- ation can vary as well as the handling equip- ment. In one warehouse where semilive skids and jacks were used, a group recap was the basis for assembly (fig. 10). The group recap was a summary of from 4 to 6 truck recaps. Assembly from a group recap resulted in the assembly of larger quantities of each commodity at a time than would occur with an individual truck recap. Fewer trips were necessary, and in some cases, a skidload could be made up of a single commodity. In the warehouse where this system was used, the commodities were stacked on the floors of the open storage areas and in cold storage rooms. One man did all the assembly work required. The procedure followed by the warehouseman assigned to assembling was to obtain a section of the group recap from the office, study the sec- tion to determine the order in which the items would be assembled, locate an empty skid, pick it up with the jack and transport it to the first indicated storage area. Here he located the 12 commodity listed, and loaded the proper amount on the skid. From here he proceeded to appro- priate storage points and repeated the procedure. When the skid was full (fig. 11), or that section © of the recap exhausted, he transported the load to the order assembly area. at a cost of $0.46 per ton for labor and equipment as shown in the tabulations below. The average — load per skid was 0.44 ton. Labor required Time item Productive labor: 1 man assembles 1 ton of fruits and vege- tables when the transportation distance from the order-assembly area to the storage area is 100 feet; semilive skids and jack are used Cleanupi- i324 ee ler ies Se memege® . 03) | TG tallila DORE See Seth eee ey ere eee . 30 \ Mlapsedphoursss= = a= ee eee eee . 30 Here the skid was | released wherever convenient with the load intact. © Using semilive skids and jacks and a group recap, | a ton of produce was assembled in 0.30 man-hour | (man-hours) | i i ; () ; I _ divided into several sections. same manner as the produce items. Method Labor and equipment i man assembles fruits and vegetables with a transport distance of 100 feet from the order-assembly area to storage areas when AWOTOUPSLCCADEISEUSC Onna see ee ee ee eho eK 13 semilive skids, 0.90 machine-hour; jacklift, 0.30 machine-hour; total 1.20 machine-hours. 2 Based on an assumed labor rate of $1.50 per hour. required Labor and equi : Elapsed qd - or and equipment costs time Equip- (hours) Labor ment Equip- (man- (machine- Labor ment Total hours) hours) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) 0. 30 0. 30 ILO) ee SONA 20801 0. 46 ‘ The combined costs for 3 skids and 1 jack would be $0.0051, raised to $0.01 per ton. This was BN 5660 Figure 11—Assembler with a full load on semilive skid. Pallets, Electric Pallet Transporters, and Four-Wheel Handtrucks Some service wholesalers handle canned goods and a few grocery items as a service to the insti- tutions that buy fruits and vegetables from them. In one warehouse, these added items accounted for 10 percent of the tonnage shipped out. They were handled on the same equipment and in the Pallets, electric pallet transporters (fig. 12), and 4-wheel handtrucks (fig. 7) were used in the assembly operation. Work assignments were made on the basis of individual truck recaps. The recap was Each section cov- ered a group of commodities that one man assembled. When an assembler received his section of the recap, he located a pallet transporter and then a pallet or he located a four-wheel handtruck. He then proceeded to the storage area and built a load on his pallet or handtruck of the items listed on his recap. When his equipment was loaded, he would transport it to the order assem- bly area and deposit the pallet or four-wheel handtruck there. All the commodities were stored on pallets in the warehouse storage areas. In some cases, a full pallet load would be moved to the order assembly area. This usually occurred for such items as potatoes, lettuce, and oranges when the recapped total was about equal to a pallet unit load. However, recapping by truckload did not provide as many opportunities for this to occur as with a group recap or a master recap. Pallets and pallet transporters were used to move com- modities in large volumes. Four-wheel hand- trucks were used for those items that moved in small volumes. The less efficient of the combination reduces the level of productivity below that of the more efficient piece of equipment. When two or more types of handling equipment are used, for ex- ample, in this case, the labor required per ton for the combined system is 0.31 man-hour. Ex- 13 Figure 12.—Pallet and pallet transporter. amined separately, however, we find that pallets and pallet transporters required 0.26 man-hour per ton and 4-wheel handtrucks 0.57 man-hour per ton (including cleanup time). The average load per pallet was 0.62 ton—per 4-wheel hand- truck 0.32 ton. Since 4-wheel handtrucks were used to move only 15 percent of the total ton- nage, the effect of their inefficiency on the total time was minimized. It should be noted that in this particular system, the method of use of the equipment had a decided effect on the time re- quirement. Four-wheel handtrucks were used for commodities shipped in small volumes. This meant that more time was required to locate each package and more walking was necessary from one storage point to another because of the large number of different items to be assembled for each truckload. Had a group recap or a master recap been used for these items, the work could Method have been performed in less time. The assembly, f crew usually consisted of from 4 to 6 men. The labor required when one man performs) this operation is as follows: Time item Productive labor: 1 man assembles 1 ton of fruits and vege- tables when the average transportation distance from the order-assembly area to the general-storage area is 100 feet; pal- lets, electric pallet transporter, and 4- wheel handtrucks are used_____-------- Cleanup 222 32298 ee See 03) Total labore 22 2 itee 2 aed seem ay tn ogee pean een BG)! lapsed th oursi. ge ts 1 wees cela ae adie eee .31 The tabulation below indicates that when this. system is used it costs $0.52 per ton for each ton — (man-hours) 4 1 man assembles 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables with a transporta- tion distance of 100 feet from the order-assembly area to the storage areas ;whena truckjrecap is usedi= see ee ees eer 12.5 pallets, 0.55 machine-hour; pallet transporter, 0.22 machine-lour; four 4-wheel handtrucks, 0.34 machine-hour; total 1.11 machine-hours. assembled. Labor oar? ment Labor and equipment costs Equipment Labor (machine- Labor Equipment Total (man-hours) hours) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) i Bet Bison BES SLPS 2 ONS Se 20S 4005 0. 52 F 2 Based on an assumed labor rate of $1.50 per hour. 3 For equipment cost calculations see table 14 in the appendix. Pallets, Forklift Trucks, and Four-Wheel Handtrucks One service wholesaler performed the assembly operation without using any kind of recap for 82 percent by weight of the fresh fruits and vegetables transported to the order assembly area. Pallets and fork trucks were used to move the unrecapped commodities (fig. 13). All items 14 were stored in the warehouse on pallets, with _ 5- and 10-pound bags of potatoes in pallet boxes. | This part of the assembly operation began when | the fork-truck operator first started to stock the | assembly area with pallet loads of produce. It included driving the fork truck to a storage | | i] ) | transported to the proper storage area. Figure 13.—Pallet and forklift truck. point, picking up a pallet load, transporting it to the order assembly area, setting down and positioning the loaded pallet alongside the belt conveyor. It also included resupplying the order assembly areas during the time the trucks were all the trucks were loaded, containers of produce | _ being loaded, and removing empty pallets. When | left over were picked up on their pallets and This part of the operation ended when the last unused containers in the assembly area were returned | to storage. Eighteen percent of the tonnage for shipment _was assembled on four-wheel handtrucks, made _up of commodities that moved in small amounts. The items to be assembled by four-wheel hand- trucks were tallied on a truck-recap sheet. The operation of assembling these items began when _ the assemblyman received a copy of the recap. It included locating a four-wheel handtruck, transporting it to the first storage area, locating items indicated on the recap, placing the pack- _ ages on the truck, and locating as many addi- _ tional items in other storage places as the recap Method 1 man assembles fruits and vegetables when transportation dis- tance from order-assembly area to storage area is 100 feet on equivalent number of uses. 1 Industrial fork truck 0.12 machine-hour; five 4-wheel handtrucks, 0.61 machine-hour; total 0.73 machine-hour. Pallet costs in this case are based called for until all the items had been obtained, or until the handtruck was loaded. It also in- cluded transporting the loaded truck to the order assembly area and depositing it in a position easily accessible to the truckloaders. The opera- tion ended when the items on the last recap had been loaded on a four-wheel handtruck and transported to the order assembly area. A fork- truck operator and two assemblers were assigned to this operation on a regular basis. The tabulations that follow indicate that the man-hours required to move fresh fruits and vege- tables when this combined system is used is 0.24 per ton and the cost is $0.47 per ton. Labor required ; Time item (man-hours) Productive labor: 1 man assembles fruits and vegetables when the transportation distance from the order assembly area to the storage areas is 100 feet; pallets, forklift truck, and 4-wheel handtrucks are used________ O22 @leanu pies ee ee eee eae (0B) Motaliisborssess sesso eee . 24 . 24 JOVEN ofsYerol Vevo\endsil a 28 = ee ee eee Labor and equipment Labor and equipment costs required Elapsed time Equip - (hours) Labor ment Bquip- (man- (machine- Labor men Total hours) hours) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) 0. 24 0.24 #10.73 270.39 320.08 0. 47 2 Based on an assumed labor rate of $1.50 per hour for assemblers and $1.75 per hour for forklift-truck operator. d 3 See table 14 in appendix for complete calculations. 15 The combined use of equipment in this assem- bly operation provides another example of the depreciating effect of an inefficient assembly method on one that is efficient. Had it been possible to use fork trucks and pallets to assem- ble all commodities without a recap, the required man-hour per ton (including cleanup time) would have been 0.15. The man-hour per ton that resulted from using a truck recap and 4-wheel handtrucks for slow-moving items was 0.68. In this case also the inefficiency is attrib- utable to the method used and not the equipment. Further comment should be made on the pro- ductivity of pallets and fork trucks when they are used in conjunction with moving unit loads of commodities from the storage areas into the order assembly area. In the operation studied, 32- by 40-inch pallets were used. The average load was 0.85 ton. (The 4-wheel handtrucks carried an average load of 0.23 ton.) The pallet Dead Skids and Electric In another warehouse operation, dead skids and electric low-lift platform trucks (fig. 14) were used in the assembly operation. Work assign- ments to the assemblers were based upon the use of group recaps. Each member of the crew was assigned a portion of this recap. This portion in- cluded several different commodities. The opera- tion began when the assembler received his portion of the group recap. It included locating a dead skid, placing it on the low-lift truck and transport- ing it to the appropriate storage area. At that point, the warehouseman loaded the skid, then transported it to the order assembly area. In this case, there were five order-assembly areas to be serviced. The warehouseman would stop at each assembly area and stack on the floor as many items of each commodity as the recap indicated should be placed there. In some cases, the number of items called for at one assembly area might make it possible to place a full skid in that area. This cycle of activity continued until all the items listed on the recap had been assembled and placed in each order assembly area. The opera- tion ended when the last package was placed in Method size was fairly small. Other firms use a 40- by/ 48-inch pallet size. Had this size been used in) the warehouse studied, the man-hours per ton) would have been 0.10, since that capacity of the larger pallet is greater. A conservative estimate) would be 0.60 ton per pallet. Since the addi-| tional time required to move a larger load with| a fork truck is negligible, the time required per) ton is less. For example, using the smaller pal-| let with an average 0.35-ton load, the time per} pallet was 0.042 hour. Since 2.86 32- by 40-inch] pallets were required to move 1 ton, the time re-) quired (exclusive of cleanup time) is 0.12 hour.) When the larger pallet was used, it still only) required 0.042 hour per pallet for assembly. However, only 1.67 40- by 48-inch pallets were now needed to move 1 ton. Based on these fig- ures, the assembly time required with the larger) pallet is 0.07 hour. hour when time for cleanup is added. Low-Lift Platform Trucks the last order assembly area and the low-lift! platform truck set aside for later use. This figure becomes 0.10) Seven — assemblers were assigned to this operation. The nature of the operation was such that there was no time lost due to crew interference. The labor required to assemble 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables amounted to 0.22 man-/ hour per ton when this system was employed. The breakdown of this time is shown below. Labor required Time item (man-hours) | Productive labor: 1 man assembles i ton of fruits and vege- tables when the distance from the order- assembly area to the storage area is 100 feet; when dead skids and low-lift plat- fOrmytruckiarenused ss s== === eee 0. 19) } Cleanup? 225 522 oo a 2 ee eee . 03 | Totalilabor2 se 4a eens! Cie rene ays . 220 Hlapsed hours. 2522 aes ee ee eee ee me . 22 \, The average load size per skid was 0.44 ton. The cost of labor and equipment totaled $0.38 | per ton as indicated in the tabulation that fol- | lows. Labor and equipment Labor and equipment costs 1 man assembles fresh fruits and vegetables when transporta- tion {distance from order-assembly area to storage areas is 1OOMeet 2-2 = =. SSE ee ee ee ee 13.5 dead skids 0.77 machine-hour; electric low-lift platform truck 0.22 machine-hour; total 0.99 machine-hour. 16 required Elapsed time Equip (hours) Labor me Equip- (man (machine- Labor ment Total hours) hours) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) woes 0. 22 0.22 10:99 20.338 70:05 0.38 |% 2 Based on an assumed labor rate of $1.50 per hour. 3 It is estimated that 3.5 skids would be required for each ton assembled. | i Mh Wie h j i It by a i Figure 14.—Dead skid and electric low-lift platform truck. tf Costs Associated With the Assembly Operation When Different Types of i) Equipment Are Used in Combination The equipment types listed in table 1 have _ been divided into two groups. The first is for _ manual and the second for powered equipment. Within these groups, the combinations of equip- ment and the applicable recap type have been arranged in order of descending elapsed time. In general, when powered types of equipment are used the assembly of fruits and vegetables takes less elapsed time than that required for manual types. As a result, the cost of labor is less when powered equipment is used. However, because of the higher cost of owning, operating, and maintaining powered equipment, the advan- tage of the reduction in labor costs is partly overcome. For that reason, semilive skids and jacks in conjunction with a group recap system has the second best total cost picture at $0.46 per ton. The best system utilizes dead skids and electric low-lift platform trucks with a modified group recap. Costs total $0.38 a ton for assem- bly when that system is used. Tn the section in which a description was given for each combination of equipment and recap system used, it was pointed out that the least efficient unit in a combination lowered the total productivity of the system. The larger the per- centage of the total tonnage moved by the least TaRLE 1.—Labor and equipment costs for assembling 1 ton of fruits and vegetables by combinations of equipment types | Costs A Elapsed aaa ashe cae Labor Equip- Total ment Manual types: Hours Dollars Dollars Dollars 2-wheel clamp trucks and 2-wheel stevedore- | No recap______-_--------- 0. 56 0. 84 0. 01 0. type trucks. 2-wheel handtrucks; 4-wheel handtrucks; dead | Truck recap______--------- . 42 . 63 70d Oe skids and low-lift platform trucks. Semilivesskidsiand jacks / 2.25215. 20 2 --22- Groupirecap. 22225224 -2-5 . 30 . 45 =O . 46 Powered types: Pallets (40- by 48-inch), electric pallet trans- | Truck recap____---------- oll 47 . 05 . 52 porters and 4-wheel handtrucks. _ Pallets (32- by 40-inch), electric fork trucks; | No recap for 82% of ton- . 24 . 39 . 08 47 and 4-wheel handtrucks. nage; truck recap for 18%. Dead skids and electric low-lift platform | Group recap with commod- . 22 . 33 . 05 . 38 trucks. ities offstacked by truck - recap. 1 Distance from assembly area to storage area 100 feet. efficient unit, the lower the productivity of the system would be. In table 2 each equipment type is listed separately and arranged in descend- ing magnitude of elapsed time. The purpose of this tabulation is to focus more attention on the performance of an individual piece of equipment, rather than on a combination of types. How- ever, the following reservation must be consid- ered in comparing equipment types in table 2. Different recap types are used for assembly and TaswLEe 2.—Labor and equipment costs for assembling a ton of fruits and vegetables by individual types of each one will affect the productivity of the sys+ tem itself. For example, when pallets and fork trucks are used with no recap, unit load assem-| bly procedure may be followed. When that is done, the number of handlings of each package} is minimized. On the other hand, when pallets and pallet transporters are used with a truck recap assembly procedure, the number of han- dlings of each package is increased as well as| the elapsed time per ton. equipment ' Labor and equipment Labor and equipment costs Tons per Elapsed required Equipment Type of recap equipment time ue Labor |Equipment| Labor? |Equipment} Total Machine- Hours Man-hours hours Dollars Dollars Dollars | 2-wheel stevedore handtruck___________ Truck: /-_ 0. 10 0. 58 0. 58 0. 58 0. 87 0. 01 0. 88 Z=wiheelucl amp ti C kes es ees eee ne! None____ . 10 . 56 50 . 56 . 84 . 01 . 855 Semilive skids and jack_______________-_ Group___ . 44 . 30 OU 31. 20 . 45 .O1 . 467 Pallets (40- by 48-inch) and industrial | Truck____ 62 . 26 . 26 491 39 . 06 . 45) pallet transporter. Dead skids (36- by 54-inch) and manual |___do_____ OO 25 . 25 Sa1R00, eats) .O1 39 low-lift platform trucks. { 4A-Wheel handtruc kes) eee i jagallc Ko yates ea . 44 m5 25 OraD . 38 . 01 . 39% Dead skids (36- by 54-inch) and indus- | Group 7 . 44 . 22 22 8 99 . 33 . 05 . 38 trial low-lift platform truck (electric). Pallets (32- by 40-inch) and industrial | None *___ . 35 eS . 15 10,15 1, 26 eel O 36) forklift truck. | Pallets (40- by 48-inch) and industrial |___do®%____ . 60 10 . 10 12,10 1,18 07, 25 forklift truck. 1 Distance from assembly area to storage area 100 feet. 2 Labor rate is $1.50 per hour except as noted. 3'Three semilive skids, 0.90 machine-hour; jack lift 0.30 machine-hour; total 1.20 machine-hours. 42.5 pallets 0.65 machine-hour; industrial pallet transporter 0.26 machine- hour; total 0.91 machine-hour. 5 Three dead skids 0.75 machine-hour; manual low-lift platform truck 0.25 machine-hour; total 1.00 machine-hour. 6 Three 4-wheel handtrucks total 0.75 machine-hour. 7 Commodities are offstacked in order assembly areas by truck recap. The table includes a column indicating the load-carrying capacity of each equipment type studied. It is apparent from these figures that the greatest liability of the two-wheel handtrucks is their limited capacity. These trucks must make 10 round trips for each ton moved, whereas a system using 40- by 48-inch pallets would re- quire only 1.67 trips per ton. This is the major factor in the high cost ($0.88 and $0.85) when 2-wheel handtrucks are used for assembling. For the other types of equipment, the total cost decreases as the elapsed time decreases. The Preparation of Split Packages In the course of supplying the needs of both large and small retail food stores, most service wholesalers find it necessary to split some full packages into smaller units. Most of the fruit and vegetable items that are split are those that move through the retail stores in small volume or those that are highly perishable. Whatever 18 ®3.5 dead skids 0.77 machine-hour; industrial low-lift platform truck | (electric) 0.22; total 0.99 machine-hour. | ® Commodities are assembled in unit loads. } 10 Industrial forklift truck 0.15 machine-hour. Pallets are used once each | night. Costs are allocated on a use basis, 2.9 pallet uses per ton are charged | to this operation. 11 Labor rate $1.75 per hour for forklift-truck operator. } 12 Industrial forklift truck 0.10 machine-hour. Pallets are used once each | night. Costs are allocated on a use basis, 1.7 pallet uses per ton are charged — to this operation. \ lowest cost system ($0.25 per ton), is the one SS an et — z which uses 40- by 48-inch pallets, fork-lift trucks | and a no recap, unit load assembly system. In _ this case, maximum advantage is taken of mini-— mizing the number of handlings of packages of | produce in a warehouse. All commodities must | be stored on pallets in the warehouse for this — system to be successful. In a later section, the best systems for assem-_ bly will be combined with the best systems for | truckloading in order to get an overall cost. picture for the loading-out operation. the justification for providing this service, the extra work required makes it extremely costly. In some cases, the full package price is prorated | over the number of smaller units made up. When | that price policy is followed, the wholesaler gets no more for the several split packages than he — would for the commodity in its original con- In the other cases, a small additional | charge is made for this added service. Although xact price figures are not available, it is doubt- ful that the service wholesaler fully recovers the ' added cost even with this extra charge. _ Studies made of several split-package opera- 4 tions indicate that the tonnage of fruits and | vegetables broken down into smaller units will | account for from 11% to 4% percent of the total } tonnage shipped out. The percent of split pack- ages prepared -will depend upon several factors. The number of small retail stores serviced would be one. The variety of packaged commodities }| that a service wholesaler agree to split will be another. The number of package sizes made up _ would also contribute to the total to some extent. Time studies were made of several split pack- age operations. The organization of these oper- ations fell into two different categories. In one } case, the job of making up split packages was assigned to two or more assemblers in addition ' to other assembly duties. In the other case, one | /man was assigned to the job and he was not given any additional duties until all of the re- ackaging work had been completed. The time ‘requirement for each of these categories was { substantially different. Illustrations of poorly ' organized split-package work areas are indicated } in figures 15 and 16. When Two or More Assemblers Split Packages fs in Addition to Their Other Duties ¥ When two or more men split packages in _ addition to assembling whole packages for the truckloading operation, they were not able to organize their jobs very efficiently. In making up split packages, they would stop their other activity, get a 4-wheel handtruck, transport it to the storage area, pickup 1 or 2 full packages of produce, transport them to the split-package work station and set the packages on the table or floor adjacent to the station. They would then open the full packages, and make up a few split packages; they then returned to their other assigned duties. Performing the work in this manner required 5.02 man-hours (see tabulation that follows) for each ton of full packages of fresh fruits and vegetables to be packaged in smaller units. Labor required Time item (man-hours) Productive labor: Preparation for split packages when 4- wheel handtrucks are used and transpor- tation distance is 100 feet____________- 1. 34 Make up split packages_______________ 3. 40 Cleanupe- = =e522- 29 ere aint ee = . 28 Mio talelabo rs = meee 5 ee eee 5. 02 Ha Sedeho Ursa a eee Se eee ee 5. 02 When Packages Are Split by One Man When one man was assigned to the split-pack- age operation, he was able to bring from storage as many full packages as he felt he would need to make up the split packages that would be required for that night’s operations. On some occasions, his estimate would prove to be low and during his shift, he would then have to supple- BN 5675 Figure 15.—A poorly organized split-package work area. \ 485669 O—59——4 19 BN 5669 Figure 16.—A poorly organized split-package work area. ment his supply of full packages. By bringing up an adequate number of full packages before starting to make up the split packages, the num- ber of trips to the storage areas was minimized. This man also was able to perform his work more efficiently because he worked at the job continu- ously. His supplies were readily available. He was able to develop a work routine that mini- mized the starting up and stopping that was typical of the operation described above. When the work was assigned in this way, it required 2.84 man-hours for each ton of full packages of fresh fruits and vegetables packaged in smaller units. The time values are indicated in the next tabulation. A well planned split package work area is indicated in figure 17. Labor required Time item (man-hours) Productive labor: g Preparation for split packages when 4- wheel handtrucks are used and the trans- portation distance is 100 feet___________ 0. 49 Make up: split packages] 22224 20- 22 s225 4" 2. 07 Cleanup 2223-4 22a Se eee snes . 28 Total labors .<2- 3. eae a eee 2. 84 Elapsed hours2 22655. oo) ja. eas eee a ee 2. 84 The high cost of this activity should inspire the service wholesaler to keep his split-package activities under careful control. He should set a definite limit on the number of packages of different commodities that he will break up into smaller units. His salesmen should be instructed not to accept orders for split units not included in that group. Once the group has been estab- | lished, he should then limit the size of smaller | units that are made up. For example, if one of | the items to be made up into split packages is | bell peppers, then the split-package size could | be set at 5 pounds. Orders for 10 pounds of bell | peppers would be filled by selecting 2 of the | 5-pound units. Standardizing split-package sizes | has two advantages. The first is that the job of | making up one package size is simplified. | Stamped bags can be provided and the work- place arranged to perform the job in the least | A second advantage is that | once standard packages have been established, a | large portion of the package-splitting job can | be done in advance of the receipt of customer | Experience will establish a pattern of || amount of time. orders. demand for these packages so that the number | required can be anticipated. The number of | packages made up in advance can be less than | the average indicated by experience for a given | When the actual orders are | recapped, a few additional items can be made | night’s business. up. The main advantage of this latter proce- dure is to permit the man doing the repackaging job to put up all the units of bell peppers or | lemons or any other item at one time. This will | result in a more efficient and productive opera- tion. It will also help to minimize shrinkage. If the most efficient system is used, the labor and equipment costs for each ton of fresh fruits and vegetables made up into split packages is $4.38 (table 3). By comparison, when the least a BN 6902 Figure 17.—A well planned split-package work area. efficient system for assembly is used, the costs ‘| (when no packages are split) amount to $0.88 | per ton (table 2). _ This indicates an added cost of $3.50 for each ton split. Other costs such as paper bags, | stapling machines, stamps, and shrinkage are not included in this figure. These added costs underscore the fact that making up split pack- ages is a costly operation. If competition and customer demand require that packages be split, the service wholesaler should make every effort to recover the cost of providing this service. Tarte 3.—Comparative labor and equipment costs to split 1 ton of full packages of fruits and vegetables into smaller units ~ Labor and equipment Labor and equipment costs Elapsed required Method time Labor Equipment] Labor! | Equipment Total Machine- Hours Man-hours hours Dollars Dollars Dollars_ Package splitting as one of several assigned duties______-__- 5.02 | ~ 5.02 | 2 15. 06 7. 53 0. 21 7. 74 Package splitting assigned as a continuous job____.-_-_---_-- 2. 84 2.84 | 38. 52 4. 26 12 4. 38 1 Based on an assumed wage rate of $1.50 per hour. _? Two 4-wheel handtrucks 10.04 machine-hours; table scale 5.02 machine- ours; total 15.06 machine-hours. Sp EE 3 Two 4-wheel handtrucks 5.68 machine-hours; table scale 2.84 machine- hours; total 8.52 machine-hours. 21 Cutting and Packing Bananas * Most items are received in standard containers of uniform weight, and in condition for shipment to retail outlets. Bananas, however, are received green and in bunches which vary from 60 to 120 pounds in weight. Because they are received in a green condition, banana bunches are hung in ripening rooms until they reach the “breaking” stage of ripeness. They are then removed and delivered to a cutting-packing area, which is usually located nearby. Here, a worker cuts the hands from the stems and sets them down where they are available to packers. The hands may be broken into consumer size units, banded, or wrapped, before being packed into banana boxes. Packers place the hands in banana boxes to a predetermined weight, usually 40 pounds: net, although some 20-pound boxes are packed. The box used is peculiar to bananas. The top dimen- sions are greater than the bottom, and when empty, the boxes nest compactly. When they are full, the handles are inverted and the boxes can be tiered, with the weight resting on the box handles rather than the fruit. As the boxes are packed, they are set either on a skid or pallet, or on the floor. Since bananas normally are packed during the day, packed boxes must be placed in storage to await the assembly operation. This storage may Loading Trucks When the order-assembly area is stocked with enough packages of each commodity to fill the orders for one truck route, the truckloading operation can begin. If a truck recap is used as a basis for the assembly operation, all items called for on that recap must be in the order assembly area before the orders for that route can be loaded. In the large majority of cases, when a truck recap is used, the checker or fore- man will check all the items placed in the order assembly area against the truck recap. This is frequently called a “doublecheck.” Most service wholesalers using this method, feel that they can effectively eliminate pilferage by making that check as well as having a positive verification that all the items their customers ordered are loaded on the trucks. It also assures that the truckloading operation is performed without in- terruption. Packages missing from the order- assembly area are brought up before the truck- loading begins. When this is done, a crew of 4 or more men is not delayed waiting for 1 or 2 missing packages to be brought from storage to the order assembly area. In some cases, the assembly of commodities for the second truck- load continues during the loading of the first truck. In other cases the assembly crew shifts 22 be in a banana room where temperature and humidity can be controlled, or a corner of the} banana-packing area. Skid and pallet loads are moved intact to storage; boxes stacked on the} floor must be picked up by a hand or clamp} truck, transported to storage, and released. It is usually the function of the banana-pack-| ing crew to pack as many boxes as will be needed} for the next loading-out operation. This num-) ber is not always known, in which case, the num-| ber packed is based on previous experience. It) sometimes happens that the banana crew under-| estimates the needs, and the loading-out crew’ must pack some of the fruit. Bananas are usually quite easy to assemble.| They are packed in only 1 or 2 units, and are/ located in one place in the warehouse. These} factors reduce much of the searching that occurs in the assembly of other items. Also, it is not! necessary to handle each banana box individu-|}} ally. Skid or pallet loads are assembled intact, | and single stacks are easily picked up by either! stevedore-type 2-wheel handtrucks or clamp-type- 2-wheel trucks. The banana-packing area is often some dis- tance from the order assembly area, so that the | transportation distance for each trip is likely to’ be greater than for other commodities. | over to truckloading and then returns to as- sembling the items for the second truck. When a master recap is used, all the items are placed in the order assembly area prior to the A doublecheck can be | made of the assembled items, but the accuracy | of items loaded on an individual truck cannot be The check of the items does assure a | smooth uninterrupted truckloading operation. | When a large volume of business is done by a / truckloading operation. assured. service wholesaler he may find it necessary to) use a group recap instead of a master recap for his assembly operation. The practical reason | for this is that it would not be possible to pro- | vide enough floor space to stack all the items to | be shipped out during one night’s operations. To get the best use of the floor area, a group recap | of several trucks from the night’s total is made instead of a complete master recap. The check on the group recap has the same limitation as a_ master recap, as well as the same advantage in | relation to truckloading. One crew may be used | 1 Andrews, B. G. and Burt, S. W. Methods, Equipment, | and Facilities for Receiving, Ripening, and Packing Ba- | nanas. Marketing Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 127 | Dp) LOSS: Marketing Research Report No. 92, Agricultural | 'to assemble and load or two crews may be as- }/ signed so that this work can be done concur- rently. When commodities are assembled on pallets yr skids without regard to use of a recap, the rder assembly area is stacked with enough pack- es of each commodity to assure a smooth un- interrupted truckloading operation. | Where large volumes of one commodity are used, the assembler has to replenish the stock in the order | assembly area during the night’s activities. _ Two different systems for using two-wheel -clamp trucks were studied. In one case, the _assembly and truckloading operations were per- ‘formed by the same man in a continuous cycle. In the second case, the assembly operation was completed first and then truckloading began. __ The assembly operation for the first system has been described in an earlier section. In sum- ‘mary, however, the warehouseman is assigned tems to assemble by the checker. He picks these tems up in the warehouse at their regular stor- age points and then returns to the checking point. On arrival at this point, the truckloading operation begins. It includes calling off the tems in the load to the checker, transporting the load into the truck, releasing the load and he handtruck, picking up the packages and toring them in the truck (fig. 18), grasping the andtruck and transporting it to the checking When this system is used, no check is made on the total number of items assembled. Any sur- plus packages are returned to storage at the close of the night’s work. With this system, the assembly work is performed concurrently with the truckloading. Several types of handling equipment can be used to load trucks. Two-wheel clamp trucks, pallets, and electric pallet transporters, and belt conveyors were studied in order to compare their labor requirements and costs. Two-Wheel Clamp Trucks point. This operation ends when the truckloader reaches the checking point. The checker’s duties consist of calling out the items listed on customer invoices with the in- voices having been previously arranged so that the last order to be delivered is loaded first. Calling out the items is the assignment of work to an assembler. In selecting the items to call, the checker scans through 2 or 3 invoices and groups items that would be located in the same storage area. The checker also checks off on the invoices each item that is called. In addition, when the assembler-truckloader returns with the items and calls them out, he cross checks the items previously marked. It is also his job to look at the items on the handtruck to see if they are correct. The checker’s duties also include supervising all the activities associated with as- sembly and truckloading. BN 5609 Figure 18.—Truckers stowing packages in truck. The trucks loaded in this system were well filled in almost every case. Part of the tonnage loaded in the trucks was transported on two- wheel handtrucks. This equipment was used to transport commodities in sacks, since clamp trucks could not be used effectively for them. The average crew assigned to this work was composed of 1 checker and 5 assembler-truck- loaders. With this size crew there was no in- terruption of work due to crew interference. Tables 4 and 6 show the man-hour require- ment per ton for this system was 0.36 and the total cost per ton was $0.57. In the second system, the crew consisted of 1 checker and 2 loaders. The truckloading oper- ation began when the checker called out several items listed on customer invoices. It included the time required by the truckloader to listen to the checker’s call, transporting the two-wheel clamp truck to the order assembly area, locating the items (fig. 19), clamping onto them with his truck, transporting them to (fig. 20) and into the truck, releasing the load intact and in position in the truck (fig. 21), or stowing the packages by hand and returning to the truck platform with the clamp truck. This operation ends when the checker calls the next items to be loaded. This cycle of activity continued until the truck was fully loaded. Before loading began it was necessary to position a bridgeplate to span the gap between the platform and the truck (fig. 22). When the truck was loaded, the bridgeplate was removed and set aside. The checker’s duties were the same as those described in the first system. The trucks studied at this warehouse were not loaded to capacity. It was possible therefore to release most clamp-truck loads intact in each Figure 19.—Truckloaders selecting packages from order-assembly area. 24 # truck. The total cost per ton that resulted from the use of this system was $0.58 (table 6). The man-hour requirement was 0.36 per ton (table 5). TaBLE 4.—Labor requirements to load a delivery truck with 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables when 2-wheel clamp trucks, 2-wheel handtrucks, and a 6-man crew are used} ~ | Labor re- — quired = |; eee PEE 3 Man-hours O01 Time item Crew Productive labor: . Setupvandicleanupl=- = 222 === as Transport to and release in truck___ Stowsine (rucks= saee a yak eee ieee D> rPOororor Total daborys=- 2. a eee Blapsedihours#. "ee 20 = afer me ee fee nee | eee Er 1 Crew organization: 1 man checks, 5 men transport commodities to truck, : release and stow them in truck. 4 2 The checker’s time is based on the elapsed time required for the crew. TaBLE 5.—Labor requirements to load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables on a delivery truck when 2-wheel clamp trucks, an order-assembly area, and a 3-man crew are used } - Labor re- : quired : Time item Crew d. YW Productive labor: Man-hours — 0.01 | Setupzand:cleanups=—- == - === 2 Clamp on packages, transport 35 feet to, release and stow in truck__-___ 2 Checks 2225 2a Sea Soe © stint ae ee 1 hotalilabonrs =e see ee ee 3 Blapsedehours 3222 o eee ee eae re hoe a 1 Crew organization: 1 man checks; 2 men setup and cleanup, clamp on { packages, transport to, release and stow commodities in truck. 4 2 The checker’s time is based on the elapsed time required for the crew. BN 5667 BN 5672 Figure 20.—Truckloader transporting commodities to the delivery truck. Checker in background. BN 5670 Figure 21.—Truckloader preparing to release load in truck. 25 TARLE 6.—Comparative labor and equipment costs to load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables on a deliver ; truck when 2-wheel clamp trucks are used ‘ Labor and equipment Labor and equipment costs Elapsed required Method time E Labor Equipment| Labor Equipment Total 2 Machine- | 6-man crew load truck as a part of a continuous assembly and Hours | Man-hours| hours Dollars Dollars Dollars truckioading cycle 22k See ee ee ay ee ene ee oe eS 0. 06 0: 362) 20. 369) 210556 0. 01 0. 5} 3-man crew load truck when an order-assembly area is used___ . 12 . 36 3, 36 SO .O1 12-wheel stevedore-type handtrucks were used.to handle commodities that came in sacks. These commodities accounted for 30 percent of the total by weight. 1.5 stevedore-type handtrucks 0.09 machine-hour; 3.5 clamp trucks 0.21 machine-hour; steel bridgeplate 0.06 machine-hour; total 0.36 machine-hour. 2 Based on an assumed wage rate of $1.50 per hour for truckloaders and ———— ———— A Sh orn a Figure 22.—Bridgeplate in position on partly loaded truck. Pallets and an Electric Pallet Transporter Pallets and an electric pallet transporter were used in an effort to find a new system for truck- loading that might reduce the cost of performing that operation. Agricultural Marketing Service research personnel, a service wholesaler and an equipment manufacturer cooperated in the de- velopment of this system. Several materials- handling principles were incorporated in the pro- cedure followed. One was the use of unit loads, another was the reduction in the number of handlings, and still another was minimizing the crew size to eliminate crew interference and to increase productivity. A one-man crew was set up. This arrange- ment eliminated the need for a checker and for $1.75 per hour for the checker. 0.30 hour at $1.50 plus 0.06 hour at $1.7 equals $0.56. ' 3 Two 2-wheel clamp trucks 0.24 machine-hour; steel bridgeplate 0.1 machine-hour; total 0.36 machine-hour. : 3 40.24 hour at $1.50 and 0.12 hour at $1.75 equals $0.57. ee | BN 5677 | other crewmen usually required with other types) of equipment. In order to accomplish this, a) spread stand was built and attached to the pallet) transporter (fig. 23). The stand had a pegboard strip attached to it so that the truckloader could) spread out the customer invoices for a particular, truckload. Two sets of preprinted invoices were used so that each could be folded in half. One set was placed at the top of the stand with the left half of the invoices exposed. The other set was placed on the lower half of the stand with the right | half of the invoices exposed. A customer’s invoice | on the upper half of the stand was placed directly | above the same customer’s invoice on the lower | half. Scanning both of them, the truckloader } Figure 23.—Pallet transporter with spread stand attached. was able to get a complete picture of the cus- treme right would be the last one loaded, but the tomer’s order (fig. 24). In addition to this, the _ first one delivered. ustomer’s orders were arranged so that the first Several pallet sizes were tried in the course order to be loaded (which would be the last one of developing this loading system. The first was delivered) was placed on the left and the others a 40- by 48-inch pallet. This particular size was Jin sequence to the right. The invoice on the ex- selected to make maximum use of the space avail- BN 5668 Figure 24.—Truckloader scanning the invoices for additional items required to complete pallet load. able in the delivery truck and to minimize the number of pallet loads that had to be built. Once a pallet load was built, it was transported into the truck and set down with the load intact. It was found that the 40- by 48-inch pallet made it difficult for the truckdriver to locate packages in order to make a specific delivery. With 6 pallet loads per truck it was necessary to have an average of 3 customer orders per pallet. With this size pallet, and in order to build a stable load, approximately one third of the pallet load was hidden from the driver’s view. When the truck was fully loaded only one side of the pal- let load was exposed. The pallets were placed 2 abreast and 3 deep in the truck. In order to alleviate the driver’s problem, 32- by 40-inch pallets were tested. Eight of these pallets were used per truckload, and the data included in this report are based on the results using that size pallet. The order assembly area used was set up on the basis of a group recap. Skid loads of com- modities were placed in the area in a predeter- mined sequence. The sequence was such that when the warehouseman started through the area with an empty pallet on transporter, the first commodities reached were those that could be placed at the bottom of the load without being damaged, i. e., potatoes, onions, commodities in woodboxes, etc. As he progressed through the area, he could reach the items that could be built into the middle of the load—lettuce, corn, car- rots, citrus fruit, and others. As he reached the end of his circuit through the area, he would come to the weaker containers and commodities most subject to damage—tomatoes, split pack- ages, soft fruits, etc. The procedure followed by the truckloader in this system was to position a bridgeplate between the dock and the truck and fasten it in place. The next step was to obtain the invoices required for that route and spread them out in proper order on the invoice stand affixed to the pallet transporter. He would then place an empty pallet on the transporter and move it to the Method 1 man builds load on pallets in order-assembly area, transports loaded pallet and sets intact in truck 1 Pallet transporter, 0.37 machine-hour; magnesium bridgeplate, 0.37 ma- chine-hour; total 0.74 machine-hour. Pallets are used once each night. Costs are allocated on a use basis. 1.7 pallet uses per ton are charged to this operation. The use of pallets for truckloading has its advantages and its disadvantages. The advan- tages include the fact that each individual truck loading job can be assigned to one man. It also reduces the number of handlings of the pack- ages because once they are placed on the pallet, 28 starting point in the order assembly area. A} that point he would scan his invoices and esti mate how many of them he would have to com) bine to make up a load for that pallet. Onej he had made that decision, he started to selec the packages called for on the invoices. placed them on the pallet so that each layey presented a reasonably horizontal surface t build the next layer of packages on (fig. 25). This procedure was continued until the pallet was fully loaded. In the course of building the load, he load was complete, the pallet was moved into the truck and positioned in the front of the truck and) to one side. The pallet was then set down in the truck with the load intact (fig. 26). The ware+ houseman moved the transporter back into the warehouse, got a second empty pallet, loaded it, and set it in the truck beside the first. This cycle was repeated until eight loaded pallets were 1 position on the truck. When the truck load ex+4 ceeded 5 tons, it was sometimes necessary to fill in} the voids between and above pallet loads. This was} done by placing a number of packages on a pallet, transporting the loaded pallet to the truck, and stacking the packages in the truck, Less than 5 percent of the tonnage was handled} in this manner. When the truck was fully loaded, the bridgeplate was removed, the trucki moved out and an empty truck backed into posi-)} tion. This system resulted in a man-hour re-| quirement of 0.387 per ton and a total cost of] $0.65. These figures are developed in the tabu-| lations that follow. . Labor | required 2 Time item (man-hours) | Productive labor: | Setup andicleanupiss=s2s 2" sna ueeaee Soe 0. 05 Load pallet, transport to, and set in truck_ 31) Load pallet, transport to, and offstack in I LEUNG) quae pa ere he eS Se So . 01 Total: labors eee eae ees so 37) Hlapsed” hours== = 5225232 ue ee se 37 Labor and equipment required Labor and equipment costs Elapsed time Equip- (hours) Labor ment Equip- (man. (machine- Labor ment Total hours) hours) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) 3.) 0437 20837 10740 oO 09 0. 65 | 2 Based on an assumed wage rate of $1.50 per hour. they are not touched again. One man can be assigned responsibility for the accuracy of each load. The disadvantages are largely related to the fact that an average truck load has 20 different customer orders on it. This means that each pallet load has an average of two orders. In some cases, there might be one-half an order to a pallet. In other cases, there might be as many is six. When a single large order was loaded on a pallet, the job of building a load was fairly simple. Load stability was easy to achieve. BN 5664 Figure 25.—Building a load on a pallet. However, these loads were the exception. So that when two or more small orders were loaded on a pallet, the job of selecting packages to build an integrated stable load was more difficult and took considerably more time. Another dis- advantage is the fact that some truck capacity BN 5665 Figure 26.—Loaded pallets in position in the truck. 29 is lost as a result of the space taken up by the pallet and the space left between the top of the load and the roof of the truck. This system would be an efficient one for those service whole- salers who have no more than six customers’ orders per truck. With 6 orders or less, 40- by 48-inch pallets could be used and the job o pallet loading would be simplified. Motorized Belt Conveyors Belt conveyors are widely used in the industry to load fruits and vegetables on delivery trucks. In most warehouses, the conveyor is placed at right angles with the truck dock. It extends back into the warehouse a distance equal to its length. The order assembly area is divided into two equal parts by the conveyor. Working aisles, at least 24 inches wide, are provided for on each side of the conveyor. The commodities are ar- ranged adjacent to the aisles and extend the full length of the conveyor (fig. 27). Other conveyor arrangements are used, depending upon their length and the availability of space within a par- ticular warehouse facility. Three different crew sizes were studied in the course of the research work. Each crew and conveyor arrangement has been described separately. Four-Man Crew One service wholesaler assigned four men to the job of truckloading with a belt conveyor (fig. 28). The conveyor extended 52 feet into the warehouse. It was placed in the center of the order assembly area. Commodities were arranged on each side of the conveyor in the same order in which they would be listed on the invoices. Ten commodities accounting for two-thirds of the vol- ume shipped out, were placed closest to the tail- gate of the truck, and arranged along the length of the conveyor. Approximately equal tonnages of commodities were placed on each side of the Figure 27.—A typical belt-conveyor installation. 30 conveyor belt. The assembly operation was com-| pleted in conformance with a master recap. All the commodities to be shipped were in the assembly, area prior to the start of truckloading. The 4-man crew had the following job assign: ments: one man served as the checker; 2 men were stationed along the belt with 1 on each side; and 1 man was in the truck at the head end of the conveyor. The conveyor was mounted on grooved steel wheels that rolled on a track. When the truck was backed into position, the entire length of conveyor was moved forward and into the truck. The front section of the conveyor was canti- levered so that it extended to within 5 or 6 feet of the front of the truck. . When the conveyor was in position and the belt started, the checker would call off items from) his stack of routed invoices. The men on the belt would find the called items that were lo- cated on the side of the conveyor where they) were stationed. They would pick up the pack- age and place it on the moving belt. When that package reached the head of the conveyor, the man in the truck picked up the package and stowed it in place in the truck. This procedure was continued until the truck was fully loaded. The checker was responsible for the supervi-. sion of the truckloading operation in addition to his duties of calling off items listed on the invoices, checking the package placed on the belt against the item called for, and also for eshe =) ‘checking the progress of the load in the truck. The total man-hour required per ton was 0.40 ‘with an elapsed time of 0.10 hour (table 7). ‘Taste 7.—Labor requirements to load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables on a delivery truck | when a 52-foot conveyor belt and a 4-man crew is used * | Time item Crew Labor required Feroductive labor: Man-hours Setup and cleanup_-___-_-__-____- 3 0. O1 Place packages on belt___________- 2 . 13 Stow packages in truck___________- 1 . 08 Checketitellisarai: Smut xe oi soe oe 1 2.10 : Total productive labor=-_-2--_--|._.-2 of . 82 “Unproductive labor: Man in truck waits for work______- 1 . 02 Job regulated wait time for men WORKIN Sul elt eet a)= yar le le ee 2 3.06 ( ere es. Total unproductive labor________]_____- . 08 otalelalbp onary igs so seieoe ew oe 4 . 40 Elapsed eo Urge ne ennai Sie liens ae 2 10 __ 1 Crew organization: 3 men setup and cleanup; 2 men place packages on belt; 1 man stows packages in truck; 1 man checks. | 2 The checkers time is based on the elapsed titne required for the crew. - 3Job regulated wait time of 0.06 man-hour was determined through _time-study measurement. Six-Man Crew _ Another service wholesaler assigned six men to the truckloading operation in conjunction Figure 28.—A four man crew loading a truck. with the use of a belt conveyor. Figure 29 illus- trates the arrangement of the conveyor in the warehouse. The order assembly area was built around the conveyor. All of the commodities were brought up on pallets and in unit loads. In order to have all the required pallets adjacent to the conveyor, it was necessary for the conveyor to be 96 feet in length. The portion of the con- veyor at right angles with the truck dock was mounted on grooved steel wheels, which in turn were mounted on a floor track. This section of the conveyor line was 46 feet long including roller conveyor extensions. The crew assignments were as follows: three men were assigned to the job of belt loading, 2 were assigned to stow packages in the truck, and 1 man checked. The work performed in loading the truck was the same for this crew as for the four-man crew. The greater the belt length and the manner in which it was posi- tioned made it practical to have three men work the belt. Two men were required in the truck for crew balance. When the operation began, 4 men pushed the 46-foot length of conveyor into the truck. The cantilevered front section extended far enough into the truck so that it was within 5 feet of the workface. As the truck was loaded, the con- veyor was moved out approximately 3 feet at a time to clear the working area in the truck. When more than one man placed packages on the belt as directed by the checker, it was difficult to avoid delays. These delays were caused in two ways: First, the checker might not call the 31 Fi ag ag a fa NN Figure 29.—A diagram of the belt-conveyor arrangement when a six- man crew was used. items as soon as he could. For example, when he called items that one man was assigned to locate, he could wait until that man started to place those packages on the belt before he called out an assignment for the second or third man. When that happened, 2 men were idle for a longer period of time than necessary; and sec- ond, there was only 1 belt to place packages on. Frequently one man, who had a package in his hands to place on the belt, had to wait for a clear section of belt on which to set it. An effort was made to leave space between packages so that the men in the truck could handle the pack- ages easily when they got to the truck end of the conveyor. The checker’s effectiveness in assigning work had a noticeable effect on these delays or job TaBLe 8.—Labor requirements to load 1 ton of Fresh fruits and vegetables on a delivery truck when a 96-foot conveyor belt and a 6-man crew is used * Time item Crew Labor required Productive labor: Man-hours Setup and ‘cleanup. == 3222. 25 4 Place package on belt_________=._- 3 maul Stow package in truck_______-___-_ 2 . 08 @he ck Saige ee pe ere ere 1 2.06 Totaleproductiveilabor=2 = ss. =4- . 28 Unproductive labor: Job regulated wait time___________ 3 3.05 Men in truck wait for work_* _____ 2 . 03 Total, unproductive labors==-2222|225-.= . 08 Potalviaboreene sss aeenee seam 6 . 36 Elapsed hours-__---_--- pe SAIS eee See ee eee . 06 ! Crew organization: 4 men setup and cleanup; 3 men place packages on belt; 2 men stow packages in truck, 1 man checks. 2 The checker’s time is based on the elapsed time required for the crew. 3Job regulated wait time of 0.05 was determined through time-study measurements. regulated wait time. The checker working with the six-man crew did an unusually good job, and waiting time was held to a minimum. The time studies taken in this operation indi- — cated a man-hour requirement of 0.36 per ton. The elapsed time was 0.06 hour per ton (table 8).)" Two-Man Crew | In another warehouse operation, a_ service)! wholesaler used four major truckloading stations. 11! Each station utilized two lengths of conveyor. /it! The longer of the two was parallel to the truck ji! dock and against a warehouse outer wall, leaving |)" one side available for loading (fig. 30). The shorter section was perpendicular to the dock. It_ was mounted on rails so that it could be extended © into the truck during the loading operation. An | electric motor drive was geared to the conveyor | so that the conveyor was moved into and out of © the truck by electric power. : In an effort to reduce the cost of truckloading, United States Department of Agriculture re-— searchers in cooperation with this service whole- saler developed a new system of operation.? This — system has been in effect now for over 5 years. Data on its effectiveness are included here for © comparative purposes. The cost figures used © have been based on current labor and equipment charges. The principal change made in this system over _ those described earlier was the elimination of the © checker. This was accomplished by recording - the items, normally called out by the checker, . on a plastic belt. When a complete truckload _ had been recorded, the belt was taken out to | warehouse personnel. The belt was inserted in | 2Kercho, M. R., Herrick, J. F., Jr., and Burt, S. W. | Use of Recording and Transcribing Equipment in Load- | ing Delivery Trucks of Produce Wholesalers Agriculture | Information Bulletin No. 43. U. S. Department of Agri- | culture, 20 pp., 1951. is fp - |/a transcriber which was hooked up to two loud- ‘speakers. The time requirements for the record- ‘ing operation amounted to 0.03 man-hour and (0.03 machine-hour per ton. The cost per ton is | $0.06 for labor and equipment. There was one transcriber and a set of speakers for each truck- loading station. The man assigned to placing ‘packages on the belt would pull a cord which ‘started the transcriber. When he had heard as ‘many items as he could remember, he released | | | | | | | [ Figure 30.—Transcriber and belt-conveyor installation. ji | the cord and stopped the transcriber. He then placed the packages on the belt as required. This cycle of starting and stopping the transcriber and placing packages on the belt was repeated until the truck was fully loaded. With this procedure, and a two-man crew, it was possible to perform this operation in a very efficient man- ner. The second member of the crew stowed packages in the truck (fig. 31). When a 2-man crew used this equipment, the man-hour require- ee BN 5678 Figure 31—A worker stowing packages in a truck. 33 ment per ton was 0.24; the elapsed time, 0.12 hour (table 9). TaBLE 9.—Labor requirements to load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables on a delivery truck ‘when a conveyor belt, a transcriber, and a 2-man crew 1s used ' Time item Crew Labor required Productive labor: Man-hours Setup andicleanup=. 2 acter 1 1 Place package on belt_____________ 1 sab Stow package in truck___________ + 1 . 08 Total productive labor__-__.._--|------ eae20 Unproductive labor: Man in truck waits FOR WOLKIS=: 2 sae See re eee eee 1 . 04 Total unproductive labor________|_____- . 04 Totalilabor2 2s 2 2e os hee 2 . 24 Elapsed-hours== 22%: (522 ee ea eee . 12 1 Crew organization: 1 man setup and cleanup; 1 man place package on belt; 1 man stow package in truck. Two important labor saving contributions re- sulted from this system. The elimination of the checker and the elimination of job-regulated wait time. The latter was effected because there was only one belt loader in the operation. A question might be raised as to who verified that the correct package was placed on the truck. In this particular warehouse, a group recap was used to assemble items for the four TarLE 10.—Comparative labor and equipment costs to load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables on a delivery | truck when a conveyor belt and various crew sizes are used order-assembly areas. However, when the meni doing the assembly work reached an order assem- bly area, they stacked items in that area on the basis of a truck recap. In other words, when) } the assembly operation was complete, each order] } assembly area had in it only those items that} would be loaded on one truck. Since the iden- tity of these packages with a particular truck was made possible, a doublecheck was made of } the items placed in each area. This eliminated|) the need for the inspection of packages on the) belt that is usually performed when a checker is a part of the operation. Actually, a third check was possible in this system because when the truck was loaded, leftover packages would have’ indicated an error. Had a package been missing from the area, an error would also have been) indicated. In most cases, these errors could be! traced to errors in recapping. Table 10 lists the costs associated with loading| trucks when belt conveyors and various crew} sizes are used. The crew sizes are arranged in| the order of decreasing total cost per ton. The} 4-man crew using a 52-foot belt conveyor in-| curred a cost of $0.66 per ton. The 6-man crew, which loaded a ton in the least elapsed time had a total cost of $0.59 a ton. The lowest cost) truckloading system was the one in which tran-/ scribers were used instead of a checker. The ) crew had 2 men in it and the belt conveyor was 52 feet long. The total cost was $0.46 per ton: i which includes the cost of recording the Invoice | l items on a belt. | Labor and equipment Labor and equipment costs Length of | Elapsed require Crew conveyor time Labor Equip Labor Equip- Total ment ment Macnine- Feet Hours Man-hours hours Dollars Dollars Dollars 4 MON 5.2 = 2 5 AS Se ere Oe a epee Ree 2 SOREN 52 0. 10 0. 40 0. 19 * 0. 63 0. 03 0. 66 Gamer ee eS rc Tren ee ee ecg a oe 96 . 06 . 36 . 06 1. 56 . 03 . 59 2)Mene o: - .2 SaaS Se See eee eee 52 5 aly . 24 2.24 . 36 . 04 .40 | Record invoices;onybelt= 522 6as 2 ee ee a Se ee . 03 . 03 . 03 . 05 . 01 . 06} 1 Based on an assumed wage rate of $1.50 an hour for helt losders and truck 2 Belt conveyor 0.12 machine-hour; transcriber 0.12 machine-hour; total | stowers and $1.75 an hour for checkers. In order to determine which crew-convevor arrangement results in the lowest cost per ton for all operations, it is necessary to combine the costs of assembly with that of truckloading. This combination of operations is described in the section on assemble and load trucks. It can be pointed out here however, that the system using 6 men and a 96-foot belt conveyor was tied in with the use of an assembly system in which no recap was used and all commodities were moved to the order assembly area on pallets and in unit loads. 34 0.24 machine-hour. The lowest cost system shown in table 10 was | the one in which commodities were organized in the | assembly area on a truck recap basis. Items in the ~ area were doublechecked. To overcome the disad-— vantage of a higher elapsed time per ton for this system, one or more additional conveyor lines would have to be set up. A comparison of all the systems and materials- handling equipment studied indicates a range of cost from $0.46 per ton for the lowest to $0.66 per ton for the highest. In each case, the equip- || what they order. mize pilferage. ment was used in the most efficient way possible under the requirements of the business with hich it was associated. On the basis of the data shown in table 11 it is apparent that when transcribers are used in conjunction with belt conveyors for the truckloading operation, the cost is minimized. A service wholesaler doing an average daily business of 100 tons using that equipment would save $11 a day over the next cheapest method. Over a period of a year, the saving would amount to $2,750. If the lowest cost method is compared with the highest cost, the possible daily savings would be $20 and the annual savings, $5,000. Tare 11.—Comparative labor and equipment costs to load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables on a delivery ! truck by use of specified types of materials-handling equipment : Crew Elapsed Labor Equipment Total Equipment size time cost cost cost Number Hours ‘ iBelt conveyor—52-foot length.___________________.___..- 2 “ 0. 10 | Nb: 408 meri 6 Pallets and an electric pallet transporter___-________-_________- : 1 37 . 56 . 09 65 mel conveyor—96-foot length_______-_______.___--_----_--____.._-- 6 06 56 . 03 59 2-wheel clamp trucks—loading truck from an order-assembly ERED ps Bat a es er a ec * 12 57 01 58 2-wheel clamp trucks—loading truck is a part of a combined assembly andatruckloadingyoperation. =. ..-... -___._.... 2-2-2 oe see 6 06 . 56 01 St Belt conveyor—52-foot length and transcriber system ____________ ___ 2 12 . 36 04 | . 40 iRecordsinveices:on*belt__-_-____ ._____-____.-_---.---.-.-.-.- 1 03 . 05 | O1 | . 06 In the first two sections, assembly and truck- loading were discussed separately to determine ‘the relative cost associated with each method and type of equipment for each operation. With the exception of one of the systems using two-wheel clamp trucks, the work of assembly and truck- loading can be completed independently of each other; but the assembly work has to be com- pleted in whole or in part before the truckload- ‘Ing operation can begin. Service wholesalers must decide which assem- bly method they want to use. Some feel very strongly that assembly should be on a truck recap basis so that an accurate check can _ be ‘made on all commodities shipped. With that check, the wholesalers believe that they can as- sure their customers that they will get exactly It also can be used to’ mini- Other wholesalers think that they can maintain all the control they need by ‘using a group recap system or by moving com- -modities into the order assembly area in unitized _pallet or skid loads without regard to a recap. The equipment and method used to load trucks 'requires another decision on the part of the ' wholesaler; but there are fewer variations in methods and equipment used for truckloading than for assembly. Every service wholesale busi- hess requires that both operations be performed. The total costs for these combined activities are indicated in table 12. In combining the costs of these operations it was necessary to select the assembly operation that could be used in conjunction with a particu- lar truckloading operation. For example, when Assemble and Load Trucks a belt-conveyor transcriber system was studied, it was based upon segregating the commodities by individual trucks. The assembly procedure selected was one in which a group recap was used but the commodities were offstacked by truckload in the assembly area. In another case, a 96-foot belt conveyor was available, and it was assumed that commodities were assembled in unit loads. It was further assumed that the assembly and truckloading operations were performed concur- rently. In some cases the crew sizes shown in table 12 have been increased over those indicated in the tabulations or tables presented earlier in the text. This was done in order to have the assembly and truckloading operations completed in the same elapsed time, or approximately so. Assembly and truckloading can be performed independently of each other. in each system, except the one employing two-wheel clamp trucks, the assembly operation must be scheduled to start in advance of truckloading. For that reason any idle time that may occur as a result of an imbalance in elapsed times will be negli- gible. The highest cost per ton occurred where two- wheel clamp trucks were used in a continuous cycle to assemble commodities called for by a checker and to transport them, on completion of assembly, directly into the truck where they were stowed. A total of six men, including the checker were assigned to this work. The items were never removed from the equipment until the load was placed in the truck. The total cost per ton for performing the operation in this way was 35 TaR_E 12.—Comparative labor and equipment costs to assemble and load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables| F on @ delivery truck when various methods and types of materials-handling equipment are used Method and equipment Crew size Elapsed | Labor cost Equip- Total cost time ‘ ment cost 2-wheel clamp truck—assemble and load truck in 1 continuous cycle by Number Hours Dollars Dollars Dollars Coy ed ot O12 eee ee yap hh ae ie Sle WES os aE a ee Se ee SY 0. 15 1. 40 0. 0 1. 41 Semilive skids and jacks; 52-foot belt conveyor—group recap: i ASS@m Dlek= SoS oe ee oe fen? eT Ee aden 3 10 45 01 46 oad truck Sao ewe nee ed See ie ee hein ireen <2 een SS 4 10 63 03 66) ote ak lich en a eo fe ac ene eyed mem ey ene aap Pe lan pal bac Se ele 1. 08 . 04 1. 12} Dead skids; electric low-lift platform truck; 2-wheel clamp truck— x group recap offstacking by truck recap: INSSEM D] Ghat ee a iene aU Re eg eet eM eae he er ER eee | 2 6 10 no8 . 05 . 38) oad truck! 22 see. Sean aiea een emir 3 a2 . 57 01 . 58 im Totals: ce 7s Ween) eee ee (ee eee. ete eeeree Rio NeRs 90 06 96 Pallets (40- by 48-inch), electric forklift trucks; pallets (32- by 40-inch), electric pallet transporters—no recap: Assemble 50, Gee a ee Oe a Seen a ere eh A 1 10 18 . 07 25 | Load truck-____- SYNE ae fe Ree Bal Us RAI ee De ye hh oe eee A en 4 09 56 . 09 65 Totals 222 onto ye ee Oe Se BE Se ee A Meni aeg || eee | Cee 74 16 90 Pallets (40- by 48-inch), electric forklift truck; 96-foot belt conveyor— no recap: Assembles. So 22 US a ee eee he SE ee a 1 10 18 = 0 25 Moaditruc ks 2% 5s Ve SS ee eer aan Rane Re ere Soe 6 06 56 . 03 59) PRO GEE se eye eS A Sere e EIN ED ee ee 74 10 84 Dead skids, electric low-lift platform truck; 52-foot belt conveyor, recorder and transcriber—group recap offstacking by truck recap: Record *invoices}on.beltaeee = Se Sve es ee eae A 1 03 05 . 01 06. Assemble lens Art. . BRIE Pu terrae ae Biehl eh eae a 2, 11 33 . 05 38 TS OAGEGEUCK Le 2 pola met eo tees ape ns ra he et i my neha ag meee as ty pal Oh 2 12 36 . 04 40 Hi D6 rr) Lp it Re pee UL eA a Dae, fie eM ce wt SRR a anal op Be Al eA Era Sh el Me Lk . 74 10 . 84 } $1.41. When the cost of making up split pack- ages using the most efficient method is included in this total, the cost is $1.52 per ton.? The next combination utilized semilive skids and a group recap system for assembly. A belt conveyor, with a four-man crew, was used to load the trucks. This combination had a combined labor and equipment cost of $1.12 per ton. If the split package operation is included, this fig- ure increases to $1.25 per ton. Dead skids and electric low lift platform trucks were used in conjunction with a group recap to assemble the required commodities and offstack them in the order assembly area by truckload. A 3-man crew including a checker then uses a 2-wheel clamp truck to pick up the items called by the checker, transport them to, and stow them in the truck. The costs for labor and equipment when this combination is used is 3 This combined figure is based upon the summation of 4 percent of the cost of making up split packages ($4.38 per ton of packages split) and 96 percent of the total cost of assembly and truckloading. The amount charged for the cost of making split packages is $0.17 per ton in each case. 36 $0.96; when split packages are included, the cost | becomes $1.09 per ton. | In another installation, the assembly work was | performed without regard to a recap. Commodi- | ties stored on pallets were moved into the order — assembly area without any rehandling of indi- vidual packages. The truckloading was accom- | plished by using pallets to build loads based on - customer invoice requirements then transporting — them into the truck and setting them there intact. — Costs in this case amounted to $0.90 per ton | without making up split packages and $1.03 | when that activity was included. | One service wholesaler was able to use pallets and a fork truck to assemble commodities in unit loads alongside a 96-foot belt conveyor. The truckloading crew consisted of a checker, 3 belt | loaders, and 2 stowers. With this setup, an assembly-line system was possible. The costs without split package preparation amounted to | $0.84 a ton; when split packages were included, the cost became $0.98 per ton. Another low-cost truckloading system included | the use of a group recap procedure, dead skids and an electric low-lift platform truck with the assembled commodities being segregated by truckload in the order assembly area. The job lof loading the truck was accomplished by using a belt conveyor and a transcriber to announce the items required by each customer. One man ‘of a two-man crew was assigned to loading the belt. The other man stowed packages in the truck. In this case, the cost was $0.84 per ton or $0.98 per ton when split-package preparation ‘is included. - One of the two lowest cost systems does not require that commodities be segregated by truck- load and the other does. Despite this fact, they ‘are competitive systems. Each of the systems listed in table 12 repre- sents the most efficient use of manpower and equipment possible when the methods described earlier are used. The costs per ton do not re- flect inefficient management or inefficient utiliza- tion of personnel. Warehouses in which these systems were used were selected because the man- agement maintained a high level of productivity. _ The differences in cost reflect two things: First, the cost of performing the assembly and truck- loading operation is closely related to the method and equipment used, and second, the facility used }can impose an added cost on the truckloading operations. For example the wholesaler using two-wheel clamp trucks for both assembly and truckloading ‘would be unable to use any other assembly or truckloading method or equipment type due to There are many aspects to the job of keeping operating costs to a minimum, improving profits, and maintaining a strong competitive position ‘in the industry. Most of these become the re- sponsibility of the management in a business organization. Service wholesalers are usually both owners and managers; therefore, they ‘should be concerned with the problems of oper- Increase Labor Modern materials handling equipment has a built-in capacity for a high level of productivity. Often that level is not achieved because labor assigned to use it is not efficiently utilized. In one service wholesale warehouse, Agricultural Marketing Service researchers were able to illus- trate this in an effective manner. One major objective in the truckloading oper- ation is to completely load a truck in the shortest possible time. This demand is often exaggerated to such an extent that excessive amounts of money are spent to achieve it. In the warehouse operation studied, a nine-man crew was assigned to load a truck with the use of a belt conveyor. The conveyor was mounted on grooved steel wheels that rode on a floor installed steel track. the restriction imposed by his warehouse. He could however, anticipate that his truckloading costs would be reduced as much as $0.57 per ton if he were to operate in a modern warehouse. If he shipped out an average of 100 tons a day for 250 days a year, he could anticipate an an- nual savings of $14,250 from the truckloading operation alone. When a warehouse does restrict the selection of a method or equipment type, it behooves the service wholesaler to use his engenuity in adapt- ing available equipment to that facility so that costs can be minimized. The service wholesaler, operating in a modern single-story warehouse with the floor at truck- bed height, could easily use either of the two low cost methods. The assembly-line system for truckloading requires a large order assembly area and a long belt conveyor so that the chances for using it in an old facility would be remote. The system using a group recap, skids, and elec- tric platform trucks in conjunction with a belt conveyor and transcriber has the advantage of being able to maintain the identity of commodi- ties by truckload. It would also be possible to use this system in some older warehouses, al- though more than one truckloading station would be required, depending upon the volume of fresh fruits and vegetables to be loaded out in each 8-hour period. How To Maintain a High Level of Productivity ating cost control as well as with the problems of buying and selling. The earlier sections have indicated a number of low cost methods for assembling and loading fruits and vegetables on delivery trucks. Many additional steps can be taken to reduce costs or to maintain them at low levels. Productivity During the process of truckloading, the conveyor could be moved into and out of the truck to facilitate the work. The 9 men in the crew were assigned as follows: 1 man was the checker, 1 man stowed packages in the truck, and 7 men were assigned to belt loading. The order assem- bly area that was used by this crew was com- pletely stocked on the basis of a master recap before truckloading began. The results of a lim- ited number of time studies indicated that each ton of produce loaded on a truck took 0.78 man- hour. Additional studies were unnecessary be- cause even a casual observation indicated that the belt loaders were idle a high percentage of the time. The checker could only assign work to one man at a time. At best, two men might 37 Figure 32.—Belt loaders waiting for work. work at the same time depending upon the num- ber of items assigned to each one. The capacity of the belt was also limited. Very often when 2 men had work assignments at the same time, there would be packages on the belt, moving past the work station of 1 of the men, thus preventing him from doing his work. It is apparent that the five additional crew members had very little opportunity to engage in productive work. In order to further test crew productivity, the number of belt loaders was reduced from 7 to 4. The checker and truckloader assignments re- mained the same. Idle time was reduced as a result, but it was still excessive (see fig. 32) in the opinion of the industrial engineers studying the work. Time studies of the 6-man crew indicated that it now took a total of 0.63 man-hour for each ~ ton loaded on a truck. This was a reduction of 19 percent from the man-hour required when a 9-man crew was used. In seeking further improvements the crew size was reduced to 4-men with the number of belt loaders now limited to 2 men. With this revised crew, studies indicated that the man-hour per ton was now reduced to 0.47. This was 25 percent less than the man-hour requirement for a 6-man crew and 40 percent less than that re- quired for the 9-man crew. It would appear then, that the most effective crew size was 4 men. At that crew level, how- ever, other inadequacies in preparation and or- ganization for truckloading became apparent. It was obvious that in order to sustain a crew that could load a truck at the least cost per ton, 38 BN 5663 it would be necessary to revamp the layout of| the order assembly area, the split-package op-_ eration, and the invoice system. In the business studied, salesmen took customer | orders on a printed checklist that indicated all the commodities handled by the wholesaler. The | salesman wrote the customer’s name and the quan- | tities he ordered on this checklist. Clerks took | the checklist and wrote up the individual orders | on blank invoices and made the necessary price | extensions. The quantities ordered by all the customers were summarized on a master recap. | The master recap was divided up and assigned | to several assemblers to accumulate and place the commodities in the order assembly area. Dur- | ing the assembly operation, an effort was made | to make up some split packages in advance of | the time truckloading began. A major portion of the revision effort was di- | rected toward improving the invoice and master | recap procedures. Although the use of pre- | printed invoices would have reduced the clerical | work involved, attention was given to the effect of the organization of the invoice itself on ware- | house procedures. With this in mind, a detailed | study was made of the volumes of each com- | modity shipped out during the year. As a re-/ sult, it was determined ‘that 10 commodities | accounted for two-thirds of the total tonnage shipped. These commodities were apples, ba- — nanas, oranges, beans, cabbage, celery, lettuce, — onions, potatoes, and tomatoes, which were listed in the upper left hand corner of a new mimeo- graphed order checklist. The balance of the items handled in the warehouse was listed below them as well as in adjacent column. These additional items were grouped alphabetically under the general heading of fruits and vegetables. - When the blank invoices were filled out, the ‘items appeared on the invoices in the same order ithat they appeared on the checklist. The items ‘listed on the invoice would be limited to those lordered by the customer. Nevertheless, the order in which they were listed was significant. This was true because the layout of commodities in oT RUGK the order assembly area (fig. 33) was revised to conform with the. order in which they appeared on the checklist. (This checklist later became’ the basis for the design of a preprinted in- voice.) The 10 high-volume commodities were divided into 2 groups of approximately equal ton- nage. One group was placed on the left side of the belt conveyor and as close to the truck dock as possible. The second group was placed on the right side of the belt. The remaining commodities were also divided into two groups of equal tonnage. ORDER CHECK LIST POTATOES APPLES BANANAS ORANGES BEANS PETRUGE ONIONS TOMATOES CABBAGE J rv} i Figure 33.—Order-assembly area showing revised arrangement of commodities along belt conveyor. 39 Each group was placed on one side of the line. When all the commodities were placed in the order assembly area, their arrangement from the front of the conveyor line to the back was in the same order as that in which the items appeared on the order checklist. When this plan was developed, a new master recap was devised to correspond with the order checklist. Commodities were regrouped in a few cases to simplify the assignment of work to the assemblers. That is, commodities stored in one part of the warehouse or in one cold-storage room were grouped for one man’s assignment. The recap was constructed in such a way that it could be cut into parts. Each part was given to a particular assembler as his job assignment. The assemblers were instructed to place their commodities in the order assembly area as re- quired by the prescribed arrangement described above. Provision was made on this recap to summarize the number of split packages ordered. This portion of the recap was given to one assembler. It was his job to make up all the split packages required before the truckloading operation began. When this assignment was carefully completed, it eliminated one of the reasons the four-man crew could not operate effectively. In the old system, a belt loader had to leave the order assembly area to make up a split package called for on a customer invoice because it had not been prepared in advance of truckloading. It should also be noted that an accurate recap is necessary for the smooth operation of a crew of this size. If a belt loader had to leave the area to get a full package that had been omitted from the recap, the operation was delayed need- lessly. Since these delays cost money, it is highly desirable to minimize them if not eliminate them. When the new arrangements and procedures had been tried and the “bugs” of imexperience worked out, time studies were made of the new operation. The crew assignments for the four men were the same as before. The major differ- ence was in the organization of the work done prior to truckloading and in the position of the commodities in the order assembly. The results Planning Work To Be Done Many cost-saving possibilities exist through the exercise of sound management judgment in that phase of any service wholesale business that deals with the required handling operations. Efficient use of labor should be of greatest concern to management. The use of labor results in a variable cost for doing business that requires careful control to provide a profitable and a competitive basis for doing business. Getting the greatest productivity out of the materials-handling equipment is one way in which 40 of the studies indicated that a 4-man crew could) now load 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables) in a delivery truck in 0.38 man-hour. This repre- sented a reduction of 19 percent in the man-hour| required by the same crew using the old system. It also represented a reduction of 51 percent in| the man-hour required by the original 9-man} crew. In this case reduced cost of operation and in-| creased worker productivity was accomplished) without any capital expenditure for equipment. The available equipment had the capacity but it) just was not being utilized. Further reductions in labor cost could have been achieved with the use of preprinted invoices. With all the items appearing in the same location on each invoice, the checker could quickly scan several invoices! so that when he assigned work to a belt loader, he could make better use of his time. For ex-| ample, the amount of walking back and _ forth) through the order assembly area could be re- duced if the checker added together all the po-) tatoes ordered on 3 or 4 invoices. This would} also ease the job of the stower in the truck be-| cause he would be fitting identical packages into. the load. Needless to say the checker could read} print much more readily than the cryptic long-| hand used to write up the invoices. Some service wholesalers feel that larger crews. are necessary in order to complete the truck- loading operation in as short time as possible. This is usually necessary to meet the demands, of customers and to maintain the quality of the commodities shipped out. Figure 34 indicates. the total man-hours per ton required for each! crew size as well as the elapsed time per ton.) It is interesting to note that the 4-man crew using §, the revised assembly and invoice method took! 0.095 hour of elapsed time, where the 9-man crew took 0.087 hour. This meant that a 4-man_ crew took one-half minute longer to load a ton J, of fruits and vegetables on a truck than the 9- man crew did, while the labor cost was 51 per-’ cent less. It is quite probable that if preprinted) invoices had been used, the slight additional) elapsed time required by a four-man crew would 4% be eliminated. cost can be reduced. This was pointed out in’ the earlier discussion that illustrated the intro- duction of an improved system for loading de- | livery trucks. In the same system, crew bal- ance was implied. That is, the crew was adjusted | to the point where delays due to crew interference | were minimized. Another example of crew bal- | ance is illustrated in connection with the 96-foot | belt conveyor and 6-man crew described earlier. In that case, the extra belt length made it ad- | visable to have 3 belt loaders, but the productivity | NEW METHOD OLD METHOD 0 ELAPSED HOURS PER TON U.S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE of 3 belt loaders exceeded that of 1 man stowing commodities in the truck so 2 men were assigned jto that job. This resulted in a better balanced ferew. If it were possible to increase the speed Jof the belt, the productivity of the 3 belt loaders could be brought into even better balance with that of the 2 truck stowers. When a single belt conveyor is used to load trucks, then the time it takes to move a full truck fout and back an empty truck into position for jloading becomes important. This is particularly true if job assignments are set up in such a ay that the checker and belt loaders are idle during the truck-changing period. Another fac- ‘tor is the effect extended truck-change time has ‘on the overall elapsed time for loading trucks. - Truck-change time can be minimized by hav- __ The amount of equipment needed and the crew ‘size required has to be determined in relation to the volume of business handled. Setting the crew size is not always easy because of varia- tions in volume that occur on each day of the week. Part of this variation in volume is caused by the buying habits of the general public and COMPARATIVE LABOR REQUIREMENTS FOR VARIOUS CREW SIZES TO LOAD A TRUCK WITH FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WHEN A 52 FOOT BELT CONVEYOR IS USED 02 04 06 0.8 TOTAL MANHOURS CREW SIZE 4 4 PER TON NEG. 6400-58(8) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE Figure 34.—Total man-hours and elapsed hours per ton required for various crew sizes. ing a parking area close to the warehouse. The man assigned to move the trucks should be ready to start his job as soon as the truck is loaded. If these conditions are met, then trucks can be changed in 3 minutes or less. If enclosed truck docks are used, then additional time would have to be allowed for opening and closing overhead doors. Careful scheduling of the hours of work can also provide a reduction in costs. For example, the assembly operation must be completed, or enough of it for at least one truckload, before the truckloading operation can begin. For that reason when a separate crew does the assembly work, that crew can be scheduled to arrive at the warehouse 1 or more hours before the truck- loading crew reports to work. Balancing Work Throughout the Week part by the retail store management. Consumers make their largest food purchases on Fridays and Saturdays in most parts of the country. Partly because of the perishability of the products handled and also because of this unbalanced vol- ume of business in the retail stores, the service wholesaler finds that his peak volume activity Ay occurs on the nights preceeding the peak volume store sales of fruits and vegetables. In addition to this, the service wholesaler also has a high volume business on Sunday night to replenish depleted retail store stocks. Although the volume loaded out on each night of the week would be about equal to that shipped on the same night in subsequent weeks, the day to day variation of volume during the week pre- sents a problem in selecting an economical crew size. If a crew is selected to easily handle the peak volume of business, then idle time would be high on the low-volume nights. Idle time cannot be avoided, but it should be recognized and min- imized. If each man is entitled to 1 night off Care in Handling Fresh Fruits and Vegetables An important feature of the handling opera- tions in connection with moving fresh fruits and vegetables into consumer channels is the care with which each package must be handled. Dam- age to commodities can occur as a result of rough or careless handling. It might be thought that any effort to increase productivity would result in rougher handling, but, that is not the case. The man with good work habits can handle as many packages with care as a poor worker can who gives them rough and careless handling. Most service wholesalers are quality conscious. They realize that by insisting on careful han- dling in their warehouse, the consumer will get top quality merchandise in the best possible condition. When this occurs, repeat and in- creased sales are possible. In some cases, whole- salers will assign a man to carefully check the condition of the produce before it is shipped out. This quality check usually occurs at the same time that a doublecheck is made of commodities placed in the order assembly area. Although this quality inspection may introduce some added a week, that night off should fall at a time when volume is low. If delivery schedules are not too rigid, peak volume nights can be handled by smaller crew that works overtime. In that case idle time on low volume nights would be reduced. Some service wholesalers have tried to over- come this daily variation in volume by asking the retail stores to accept their less perishable} fruits and vegetables on those days when the} wholesaler’s volume usually runs low. If the} retailers adopted this sort of a buying program, the exaggerated workloads would be minimized) at the wholesale level. However, limited storage! space in some retail stores limits their ability) to receive more than 1 day’s supplies at a time.) cost, increased consumer goodwill is considered} to be great enough to offset the expense. Care in handling has to be considered through-_ out the entire assembly and truckloading opera-| tions. Commodities must be placed with care on} the equipment used for assembly and for truck- loading. The man who stows packages in the truck must organize the commodities in the stacks | that he builds so that they are fully protected. | Potatoes, onions, cabbage, and all commodities | in solid wooden crates can usually be placed at or near the bottom of the stack. Commodities in fiberboard containers, bulge packs in wooden. crates and packages with commodities sensitive | to pressure can be placed in the middle of the load. Soft fruits, tomatoes, and other easily | damaged items have to be placed on or near the | top of the load to insure that they arrive at the retail store in sound condition. Bananas are | usually well protected in the boxes in which they | are packed. Precaution must be observed in stowing them in the truck to prevent other pack- ages from slipping into or dropping on the top_ of the boxes, which in most cases are open. j Personnel Consideration The proper selection and training of personnel is fundamental to the establishment of high levels of productivity. Since most of the handling work associated with the movement of fruits and vege- tables through a warehouse is heavy, the physical condition of the men employed is an important factor. Package weights handled range from about 10 pounds up to 100 pounds. Most em- ployees must handle at least some of the packages of each weight. When large numbers of the heaviest packages must be handled at one time, it may be necessary to assign two men to do the work. However, if 1 man is physically equipped to do the job by himself, he can do it more efficiently than 2 men. 42 A new employee not acquainted with the phys- ical handling involved in the warehouse, should be shown how to lift packages with maximum safety for himself and with adequate care for the commodities. It is the responsibility of the foreman and the checker to see to it that a man is properly trained and continues to use good work habits. Training also includes familiarizing each man with the varieties of each commodity handled by the wholesaler. This is necessary if the cus- tomer is to be assured of receiving exactly what he ordered. The checker should examine the com- modities carefully as they pass the checking point or look over the packages in the order assembly I i i] | his recap for assembly. area to assure himself that the assembled items lagree with the recap. ' In the systems where a checker is used, careful ‘recognition should be given to the fact that he is the key to the productivity of the truckloading operation. Actually, in most cases he has more responsibility than he can readily handle. For axample, when belt conveyors are used to load a truck, the checker is expected to assign work /to the belt loaders, carefully examine the pack- jages as they come by his location, check the progress of the load in the truck, scan the routed invoices for work assignments and correct any invoice errors he may detect. | Of these activities, those that have the greatest effect on productivity are the assignment of work to the belt loaders and scanning the invoices to jdetermine what items and how many are to be jassigned to each belt loader. A well trained checker will have a clear picture of where each jcommodity is placed along the belt. He will know what commodities each man is assigned to place on the belt when they are called for. In ‘scanning the invoices, he will add up quantities of identical items so that each conveyor loader will make fewer trips up and down the conveyor. While a loader is working at one particular Due to the rapid turnover of perishable com- modities in the fruit and vegetable industry, it is rather difficult to maintain accurate inventory ‘records; but a wholesaler takes inventory di- rectly or indirectly whether he calls it that or not. For example, an inventory shortage becomes known when an assembler finds that the ware- house stock is less than the amount indicated on Perhaps the most im- portant consideration here is that the foreman be notified of the shortage at once. If it is possible to buy the missing quantity locally, then the | | Materials-handling equipment requires care- fully scheduled maintenance and_ lubrication. Even a two-wheel handtruck will operate with less effort if its bearings are greased regularly and if any accumulated dirt is cleared away from its moving parts. Although it is difficult to place a dollar value on the savings associated with proper maintenance of manually powered han- dling equipment, such savings do exist. Lubrica- tion can make the job less fatiguing and the worker using the equipment more productive. Equipment that is power driven represents a much larger investment. Failure to maintain it properly will shorten its life and increase the cost of doing business as a result. If a belt con- location, the checker scans the invoices to find items close to that point. All this activity con- tributes to an efficient, productive truckloadinge operation. If the checker is slow in making his work assignments, idle time and crew interference are immediately increased and the cost of the Operation goes up accordingly. The checker’s importance ‘in connection with productivity is not often recognized, but there is a noticeable difference in the performance of a crew when a well trained checker makes quick, accurate, and clear job assignments compared with a poorly trained or disinterested checker. The question might well be asked as to whether or not a checker has more work to do than he should have. The answer is yes. The effect on the work of a good checker interested in a high level of productivity is to gloss over the function of checking the packages as they come by his position and proceed into the truck. This check is usually for accuracy of the belt loader in com- pleting the assignment given to him. Part of this “checking” function could well be done prior to the start of the truckloading operation by the checker or by the foreman, thus reducing the pressure of an item by item check as the truck is loaded. Inventory Control problem can be solved at some expense and in- convenience. If the supply cannot be purchased locally, then each customer’s order may have to be adjusted so that each receives at least a portion of the amount ordered. Needless to say these adjustments cost money because of the time required to correct invoices and recaps. If a simple running inventory sys- tem were kept, the buyer could anticipate his needs more accurately and minimize shortages that occur.* Regular and Preventive Maintenance ’° veyor should break down during the time that trucks are being loaded, a high labor cost would be incurred because of resulting delays or because alternative truckloading methods would have to be used. Lubricating, periodic adjustment and replacement of worn parts in advance of their total failure will all contribute to minimum cost of owning, operating, and using the power-driven units. 4The United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association has published data on simple inventory control systems that have been developed by members of the industry. 5 For a more complete discussion of this subject see ‘Housekeeping and Preventive Maintenance” TargeTopic No. 7: December 1955; United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association. 43 pate eae teens ne pate ioe @ ena Assembly and Truckloading When Four-Wheel Handtrucks Are Used Four-wheel handtrucks can be used to assemble merchandise. This item of handling equipment has a flat bed of approximately the same ca- pacity as a skid or pallet. The principal dif- ference is that items are not usually stored on four-wheel handtrucks, so that during assembly each package must be loaded on the equipment manually. This equipment is used to greatest advantage when assembly and truckloading are performed on a continuous basis using individual invoices, rather than a recap. This adds to the labor required to assemble, but decreases the labor required to load the trucks. The four-wheel handtruck method of assembly begins with the invoices for a route arranged in the order in which they are to be loaded into the delivery truck. A number of empty hand- trucks must be available—no less than three for each assembler. The first assembler takes as many invoices from the set as he thinks will constitute a handtruck load. He then locates an empty handtruck and proceeds to the first storage point as indicated by the items on the invoices he has taken. At this storage point, he loads those items on the hand truck that are stored there and are called for on his invoices. The assembler then proceeds to other storage areas and con- tinues loading his handtruck until either the handtruck is full or there are no more items listed on the invoices. When he reaches this stage, the assembler pushes the loaded handtruck to the order-assembly area and deposits it on the platform at the tailgate. He then goes to the checking stand and deposits the invoices he has just assembled. From the top of the stack of invoices still to be assembled, he removes enough invoices to make up another handtruck load. With these invoices, he takes up an empty hand- truck and repeats the assembly process. With a number of workers using this same method and assembling the same truckload, it becomes essential that the invoices be arranged - Additional Time Requirements for Multistory and for Curb-Level Warehouse . Buildings Many wholesale dealers selling fresh fruits and vegetables operate in multistory buildings or in buildings with floors built at curb or street levels. In either case, the truckloading operation will require the expenditure of more man-hours for each ton of produce shipped out. In the multistory building whose main floor may be truck-bed height, several problems arise. First, elevators must be used to get to the upper floors and back down again. It takes time to get the elevator to the floor where an assembler is waiting with his equipment. He has to open 44 in proper sequence, and that the handtrucks be presented to the truckloader in correct order. Before loading begins, the correctness of the assembled loads is verified by a checker. While checking the loads, he sees that they are lined up in proper sequence for off-loading in the de livery truck. It is not necessary to wait until the entire truckload is assembled before loading can begin. After 4 or 5 hand-truck loads have been assembled, and checked and alined by the checker—the loader can start stowing packages in the truck. To load the delivery truck, the loader pushes the first four-wheel handtruck inj the line into the truck and positions it near the front. He then removes packages from the hand-) truck and stows them in the delivery truck. The loading pattern is the same regardless of the} method of delivering the items into the delivery) truck. Heavier, bulky items go on the bottom and light, perishable items go on the top of the load, with the whole load “tied together” so it won't break down during transit. When all the} packages have been removed from a handtruck, the empty truck is removed to the platform where it becomes available to the assemblers. The truck-} loader pushes the next full handtruck into the} delivery truck and continues with the loading} operation. ( With this method assembly and loading occur) together. Arranging packages in proper order) for loading takes place as part of the assembly) operation. Therefore, it is not necessary for a checker to call out items for delivery to the truck- loader. The checker’s role, instead, is to make! certain that the hand-truck loads are correct, and} that the handtrucks are lined up so that they are loaded in the delivery truck in proper sequence. | There are places where this method could be) used effectively. Although this system is not known to be in current use, studies made several years ago in-| dicated that it was a flexible and efficient han-| dling system. the door, move his equipment on, close the door | and start the elevator. At his destination, he opens then closes the doors again. If the elevator is in use by another worker, the delays asso- ciated with elevator use can be increased sub- stantially. The time involved in waiting for, | and using the elevator, would increase the man- hour requirements for assembly. The magnitude of the man-hour increase would be related to the condition of the elevator, its load-carrying ca- pacity, its speed and the square feet of floorspace — available. | ) A second feature of multistory plant operation is the added difficulty in supervising the labor force. An entire labor crew can virtually dis- Bear from sight during the assembly opera- ‘tion. Lost time often occurs because of relaxed | working habits that occur as a result of the Be forced indirect supervision. | When a warehouse floor is at curb or street ‘level, additional work must be done in order to load the delivery trucks. Some service whole- ‘salers use an entirely manual operation for load- ‘ing their trucks. An order assembly area is set ‘up but the truckloading crew has to walk to ‘items called for, pick them up one at a time, transport them to, and place them on, the tailgate ‘of the truck. The truck stower picks up the ‘package at the tailgate, walks to the workface ‘and stows the package. All of this manual han- dling and walking adds heavily to the cost of the truckloading operation. In a very few cases, service wholesalers have overcome some of the disadvantages of this floor- level problem by using a “camel back” conveyor (fig. 85). This conveyor can be connected up with enough horizontal lengths of conveyor for efficient use of an order assembly area. The lim- itation on this equipment is the fact that the conveyor cannot extend very far into the truck. This necessitates the use of two stowers in the truck in order to handle the walking required from the end of the conveyor to the workface. However, even though this system would take more man-hours to use than those described in the body of this report, it is much more efficient than the manual system described above. BN 5679 ‘Figure 35.—A camel-back conveyor being used to overcome he problem of truckloading when the warehouse floor is at curb level. 45 Appendix | Research Methods and Techniques The preparatory, assembly, and truckloading operations were observed in the warehouse of service wholesalers of fresh fruits and vegetables. Time studies were made of these operations dur- ing the working hours and under the conditions that are commonly found to exist in the industry. The equipment types reported on were repre- sentative of those most often used by service wholesalers to assemble commodities and to load them on trucks. Time-study techniques were used to carefully record the major elements of work that were performed. Each member of the crew assigned to work on assembly or truckloading was studied. A decimal-minute stopwatch was used to record the time. As a worker was studied, the time- study man recorded the time required for each element of work. Delays were recorded and identified to determine their cause. All delays classed as avoidable have been removed from the time requirements established for the work. Un- avoidable delays such as crew interference are included in the total labor requirements for each operation. These latter delays are incurred as a result of the method used or the number of men assigned to do a particular job. During the course of recording data for a time study, the trained observer made an estimate of the effort level of the man being studied. The effort level was expressed as a percentage. The basis for comparison was a normal performance level of 100 percent. It is a measure of the effort that a representative worker is expected - to put forth in the normal execution of his as- signed duties. In observing a given worker, the time-study man compared the worker’s effort with a normal performance. He then recorded a percent which was higher, lower, or equal to Equipment Costs In a number of cases materials-handling equip- ment is used in connection with both receiving and loading-out operations. In those cases where this is true one-half of the initial cost of the equipment is assigned to the receiving operation and one-half to the loading-out operation. In this way the loading-out operation is only charged to the extent to which the equipment is used in that activity. It is estimated that the 46 the normal rate. A higher rate would mean that a man was more productive than normal. A} lower rate would indicate a lower level of pro- ductivity than normal. The observed time was multiplied by the assigned percent effort level to} convert it to the time that would be required if) © the worker studied had performed at a normal} pace. The resulting time value is known as the base time. The time values used in this report are pro-| ductive times. The productive time is equal to the base time, plus allowances for fatigue and) personal needs. The fatigue allowance is in-) cluded to provide time for the assigned worker to rest to overcome the fatigue resulting from) sustained physical effort. The percent value used for the fatigue allowance is directly related to physical difficulty and the working conditions as- _ sociated with an assigned job. Five percent is} the value assigned for personal needs. This per-| cent is generally accepted as being adequate for * worker comfort. In an 8-hour workday it would) provide a total of 24 minutes for that purpose. The productive times developed in this manner, | provide a sound basis for comparison of crew) sizes, methods, and equipment types. Studies in’ different parts of the United States indicate that. labor productivity varies from one locality to) another. This variation has been observed from) one city to another within the same State. There-_ fore, the observed time is corrected to base time so that the data obtained in one community are! comparable with those obtained in another. The) addition of fatigue and personal allowances to) the base time results in the productive time. This} : final value can be used as a guide to the minimum labor force necessary for a given business volume,) method of operation and equipment type. handling units involved would be employed for 2,000 hours a year on receiving and 2,000 hours a year on loading out. The initial cost of equipment indicated in table 13 is based on data supplied by manufac- turers. It is f. 0. b. at their plants. The figures} were current for the year 1957. : The figure used for the expected number of years of life reflects the requirements of the tax “aBLE 13.—Ownership and operation cost for 1 unit each of various types of materials-handling equipment. Cost per hour was based on 2,000 hours of use per year except as noted ciation Ownership cost Operating cost : ee Ex- Total Equipment Initial cost | pecte annual Cost per per unit life Depre- | Interest | Insur- Main- cost hour 5% ance and} Total | Power | tenance! Total taxes 4% ; |-wheel handtruck (1,000-pound Dollars Years | Dollars ik | capacity rubber-tired wheels) ___| 1 20. 00 12 7 '-wheel clamp truck (1,000-pound | 2G a ee 145.00} 12) 3.75 /-wheel handtruck (2,000-pound |) capacity, size 30- by 60-inch)___| 137.50] 12/ 3.13 | Semilive skid (2,000-pound capac- Bi ity 30- by 60-inch) _--__-------- 117. 50 12} 1.46 Jacklift for semilive skid (3,000- ‘ mounted on steel casters) : BO-tooblengthos seals es 1, 250. 00 15} 83. 33 fe o2-foot length______________- 1, 615. 00 15)107. 67 ‘3ridge plates: Magnesium (30- by 72-inch) -- 300. 00 15] 20. 00 Steel (48- by 58-inch) -_------ 106. 00 10} 10. 60 industrial low lift platform trucks: | Manual (4,000-pound capac- Dollars | Dollars | Dollars | Dollars | Dollars | Dollars Dollars Dollars 0.54) 0. 80) 3. O1/_____- 2.00) 2.00 5. 01/0. 0025 1 22\ 1 80) Gs iv ieo 2 6. 00} 6. 00 12. 77) . 0064 1.02) 1.50) 5. 65)_____- 8.00) 8. 00 13. 65) . 0068 47 Ol 203 |e eae 5. 00} 5. 00 7. 63) . 0038 . 95) 1.40) 5, 27)_____- 6. 00) 6. 00 11. 27) . 0056 33. 33) 50. 00/166. 66} 42. 00) 25. 00} 67.00} 233. 66] . 1168 43. 07) 64. 60/215. 34/106. 00} 35. 00/141. 00} 356. 34] . 1785 8. 00) 12. 00) 40. OO)_-_-_- 5. 00) 5. 00 45. 00} . 0225 2.92) 4. 24) 17. 76)_-___- 5. 00) 5. 00 22. 76) . 0114 4.47) 6. 60) 24. 82)/______ 8.00} 8. 00 32. 82) . 0164 ity, mechanical) 4... __2 = 1 165. 00 12-13. 75 Electric (4,000-pound capac- ity): Machines apy s 1735. 00 8} 91. 87 Battery 4.15-kw.-hr. ca- DECIbY eee ee ee 2 405. 00 5} 81. 00 Charger ten see i 23 1 225. 00 8} 28. 12 | 4 Moye Wane es Eo pee 1, 365. 00)___ _- 200. 99 ‘Dead skid (36- by 54-inch) ______- 1 6. 00 8) =. 75 Industrial pallet transporter | (4,000-pound capacity, electric) : Wace hin e See esky vou ee 825. 00 8}103. 12 j Battery 4.15-kw.-hr. capacity _ 405. 00 5] 81. 00 | Charger susrijea ate yee sess he 225. 00 8) 28. 12 as en i 1, 455. 00|_____|212. 24 | AC Tim ence sated Me) his TMT 12, 450. 00 8/306. 25 Battery 14.85-kw.-hr. capac- Ti = a 21, 250. 00 5/250. 00 Chargers wile NL kee o 1 §75. 00 8} 71. 88 | Pi co trea es ee ee NC os 4, 275. 00|____- 628. 13 ‘Pallets: AQ bys4 83-inch lees eh ss 3. 00 3) 1. 00 40- by 48-inch______________ 11. 50 3 . 50 B2=)by=40-inch==22_-/5______ 11.00 3 . 33 Be phone Ee Gs ears as Sl 360. 00 8! 45. 00 ‘Transcriber, speakers and controls_| 480. 00 8] 60. 00 Scale, table (40-pound capacity, itty peGialyee ny iin 300. 00} 15] 20. 00 10 2 222 ee 1.00; 1. 00 2. 22) . 0011 05 06 Gl Pease 1.00} 1.00 1. 61/3. 0054 8. 00} 12. 00) 40. O0)_----- 15. 00} 15. 00 55. 00} . 0275 1 This represents one-half of the total cost. 1¢ is estimated that the equip- ment will be used an additional 2,000 hours on other warehousing operations. The balance of the ownership costs will be assigned to those operations. 2 poral cost is included since 1 battery is required for each 2,000 hours of operation. policies of the Federal Government as well as ‘depreciation periods recommended by the manu- facturers. With the exception of the power equipment, the indicated lives are less than those ‘that would be based upon actual physical dete- Tioration of the equipment. _ An interest rate of 5 percent was assumed to cover either the cost of borrowing money to 3 Based on 300 uses each year. 4 Based on 500 hours of use each year. purchase equipment or the income lost when company assets were invested in the equipment. Insurance and local taxes on the equipment vary widely from one part of the country to another. Since recognition should be given to these items of ownership expense, 4 percent was assumed to be representative of nationwide re- quirements. AT An average power rate of $0.027 per kilowatt hour was obtained from statistics published by the Federal Power Commission. It represents a national average based on the commercial power rate schedule. In all but 3 cases, which are noted, TaBLe 14.—Equipment cost calculations for the assembly operation when more than one type of equipme)) it was assumed that each equipment type would be ut lized for 2,000 hours each year. assumption permits a comparison of the equi}. ment types on an equitable basis. The equij). ment is not penalized as a result of poor uti zation. 2s involved 1 2 3 (en 5 6 Equipment type Number of Machine Utilization | Total machine! Hourly equip-| Equipmen units per ton hours per per ton hours per_ | ment cost cost per toi ton ! ton, 1X2X3 4X5 | Hours Hours Hours Dollars PEN ATA OCH OAH Dio Caen a ee ee ae ee 1 . 58 0. 53 , ol 0. 002 A= Winee leva citi © Kees eee ee en a 3 25 . 28 Set . 0068 DCAGiSkid |S fp Oe SE nln 9 ee pos ee eae ca ee 3 2D 19 14 0007 | Mow=litGnplatlorin hou C Kes se re ee 1 . 25 19 . 05 0164 PISO CELLS ee tees eer aye pee a aes ee aU gi re eat et | eae, ae ne as| OR a os aaah g ne | be eee ce Ale | Deane ee Ralletss(40=)by: 48-inch) Sass eae ee eae PA) . 26 . 85 . 55 0011 Industrial pallet transporter__________________- 1 . 26 . 85 . 22 2148 A SeACee ble nNe tare = Be 4 | Eas ealid . 34 . 0068 eh Bo] 829 [Pasa ep ea en na Oe cere So ie ig aR) (ee Mehamen hoods cod Sateen | TRCUEL, | Cee ae eeeperen Ralletsi(32=sby740-inch) a= = DOs bees aim 2 . 82 2(2. 38) 3, 0036 MAUS trial MOT Ka CU C Kes = ee nee ee 1 15 . 82 ~ 12 5954 Ae Wheel whan unl C eee nes = eee een agen ey ne 5 . 68 .18 . 61 . 0068 Ota shee. lies > eee See a 2 Re Tre | Ae ee a re | ae em ieee aie | a ae ep a3 [Ps ese ee Using th 1 Includes 0.03 hour per ton for cleanup. 2 Equivalent number of pallet uses per ton. Labor Cost Data In order to place cost comparisons on an equal basis, the same labor rates were used in each of the labor cost analyses associated with each equipment type used. The wage rate paid to assemblers, belt loaders, truck stowers, and truckloaders was assumed to be $1.50 per hour. This rate includes the basic wages paid plus fringe benefits for social security, workers com- pensation insurance, hospitalization and so on. The checker’s and the forklift-truck operator’s wage rate was assumed to be $1.75 per hour Fatigue and Personal Allowances The following allowances are applicable to the indicated handling operations performed in serv- ice wholesale warehouses. A personal allowance of 5 percent has been added to the fatigue allow- ee provide the total allowance figure indi- cated. Total ‘ fatigue and per- sonal allow- ances (percent) Time item Assemble all fresh fruits and vegetables: All equipment types except forklift truck-____- Rorkliftjtrucks 22 22sec ee 48 3 Pallets used 300 times a year. Full cost is assigned because pallets ai used once each night. | which also included base wages plus fring benefits. ' Since the checker is at least a crew leader ij not a supervisor, and since his work is the ke to the productivity of the truckloading crew, hi wage was set at a higher level. The forklift truck operator has the responsibility for runnin) an extremely expensive piece of equipment an also requires more skill to use it than when othe equipment types are used. Time item Make upisplit) packages] 922) = 25 esse eee Place package on belt conveyor - - ------..--------- Remove package from belt conveyor and stow in truck Remove package from 2-wheel clamp-truck load and!stow in) trucks === 2 aes San a ee Pick up package manualiy from assembly area, transport manually and stow in truck Build pallet load on pallet transporter, transport loadvand)sethingtruckes= 46. eee eee ee } The following are the average labor require- bnts per ton of fresh fruits and vegetables for ‘up and cleanup before and after the assembly 'd truckloading operation when various types equipment are used: Assembly Operation Fatigue and personal Productive Base time allowances time (man- Time item (man-hours)(man-hours) hours) {lL types of equipment: Cleanup—Begins when truck loading operations ends. It includes trans- porting unused packages of produce to proper storage location, sweeping order-as- isembly area and disposing of garbage and trash. Ends when order-assembly area is ready for subsequent assem- Truckloading Operation ° ‘1. Belt conveyor mounted on grooved casters iat ride on a track fastened to the floor. Three- san crew. Fatigue and personal Productive Base time allowances time (man- | Time item (man-hours) (man-hours) hours) btup and cleanup: Begins | when truck has been backed ‘into position. Includes ‘moving conveyor into the Puck; starting conveyor belt, moving conveyor out of truck; and stopping con- veyor belt. Ends when ! conveyor belt stops------- 0. O1 0. 01 2. Belt conveyor mounted on grooved casters aat ride on a track fastened to the floor. Con- eyor difficult to move. Four-man crew. Fatigue and personal Productive Base time allowances time (man- Time item (man-hours) (man-hours) hours) satup and cleanup: Begins when truck has been backed into position. Includes moving conveyor into the truck; starting conveyor belt, moving conveyor out of truck; and stopping con- veyor belt. Ends when conveyor belt stops__-_-___- 0. 03 0. 03 6 An average truckload of 6 tons was assumed to con- art time required per truck to a per ton basis. Labor Requirements for Setup and Cleanup 3. Belt conveyor riding on track-mounted wheels. Power operated movement into and out of truck. One-man crew. Fatigue and personal Productive Base time allowances time (man- Time item (man-hours)(man-hours) hours) Setup and cleanup: Begins when assembly operation ends. Includes moving conveyor into truck, start- ing conveyor belt, moving conveyor out of truck and stopping conveyor belt. Ends when conveyor belt is stopped_________________ 0. 01 4, Paliets and _ electric One-man crew. = 0. 01 pallet transporters. Fatigue and personal Productive Base time allowances time (man- Time item (man-hours)(man-hours) hours) Setup and cleanup: Begins when man places first in- voice on pegboard. In- cludes placing invoices on pegboard, get and place bridgeplate in truck, later remove bridgeplate and set aside and remove invoice from pegboard. Ends when last invoice is removed from pegboard______.-__-____- 0. 04 0. 01 0. 05 5. Two-wheel clamp trucks. Fatigue and personal Productive Base time allowances time (man- Time item (man-hours)(man-hours) hours) Setup and cleanup: Begins when truck has been backed into position. Includes walking to bridgeplate, grasping and transporting bridgeplate to truck, place in position, later remove and place bridgeplate aside. Ends when bridgeplate is released in temporary stor- 49 Assembly Operations The assembly operation begins when a worker receives instructions or a portion of a recap in- dicating the commodities and the number of packages of each to be placed in the order- assembly area. It includes locating the necessary materiais-handling equipment, transporting it to a cooler or general storage area, checking the Tare 15.—Comparative labor requirements to assemble 1 ton of fresh fruits and vegetables for shipme} when the average transportation distance is 100 feet for various methods and combinations of mater als-handling equipment recap, selecting the indicated number of pa ages of each commodity and placing them on t} handling equipment, transporting the load and releasing it in, the order-assembly area. T] operation ends when equipment load has be released in the order assembly area. The lab requirements are shown in table 15. . Fatigue | Equipment type Recap type Base time | and per- | Producti) sonal al- time lowancs Man-hours | Man-hours | Man-how 2-wheel clamp trucks and 2-wheel handtrucks_____---- INORG! =e = Che 2 ee Se ee 44 10, 2-wheel handtruck; 4-wheel handtruck; dead skids | Truck recap_____---------------- . 33 . 06 and manual low-lift platform trucks. Semiliveskidsiand jacks=-== = soe = 6 set ee ee (Groupes ee eae See ee . 22 . 05 Pallets and electric pallet transporters; 4-wheel hand- | Truck recap______-_------------- . 23 . 05 trucks. : Pallets and fork trucks; 4-wheel handtrucks_____------ fiae Peete t ‘e = * =] rs F $y . wees LS 2325 : es ot 33055335582 Fst ana reo Ceara a Bret 352 ‘ah were Corr ~ * i) ceva ey ini ke e beer we Ps ory332 > ee Cin 355 323 22452 rite ree & Satie kabalt i irabecntty eo yp Oem in inh Ue Ny Aaa ro . ‘ant ine 6 wh rote. aeeer Bet he Pr Geel NAGE asa fa ceVeVE KN ORE RAY aware ) eects rear 4 aoa Pou a APR TECHN On Ts errata yah elisa darn eae A ial et et Al oh ols “OW 4 ei EN i tate Ro Cearry « v a4 leek bey everett ror coy payer x