Modern Mechanical Engineering Vol-I

THE ESTIMATING AND COSTING OKFIQE^ g ft /§

at some loss, rather than dispense with an organized staff ofxmanagement
and operatives. * """"— ~"~

Buying. — In large engineering and shipbuilding worfeg 4 is aH
common practice to keep the buying of material in the estimating depart-
ment; but, where this is done, often the general instructions to buy particular
classes of goods are issued by a financial manager, whose special province it
is to look after the whole commercial side of the firm's activities, leaving
the technical side to the technical manager. He keeps his eye on the market,
and only sends up such a general instruction to the buyer as: " Buy all
copper tubes required for next six months ".

The buyer's abstract book should show him, at any time, what material
is to be ordered, when it will be required by the shops, when ordered, when
to be delivered, terms, &c., and it should always be kept thoroughly up-
to-date and properly indexed day by day.

Filing System. — Needless to say, a good system of filing for corre-
spondence, returned estimates, and prints should be adopted. This will be
discussed more fully under the heading of correspondence.

The date of sending out for estimates should be carefully noted, also
replies tabulated. The date of fixing sub-contracts must be entered as
well as the terms. Moreover, a duplicate copy of all prints sent out should
be kept, and a fresh copy of the working drawing, initialled by the chief
draughtsman, should be sent with formal acceptance.

It may sound very much like an advocacy of the use of red tape, but a
very rigid and formal procedure should always be adopted in receiving and
dispatching prints. Everything should go through the head of the depart-
ment concerned, and it is a good plan to keep little order-books for anything
required and have the prints initialled. The form of the book, which should
be carbon duplicated, might be:

Job No.
Copies Required.
Purpose.
Drawing No.
Title.

58i
6
Prices
581/1068 { ^
Main boiler furnaces

(Signed) E. Forster, estimator. (Countersigned) E. Harper, chief draughtsman.

This slip would be handed in to the chief of the detail department, who
would give it to the proper section leader, who would say whether it was
up-to-date. When this was verified, the slip would be given to the photo-
grapher, who would take the requisite prints and give them back to the chief
draughtsman for initialling before being sent into the purchasing
office.
Commercial Information and Contract Law.—The buyer should
make himself familiar with the requirements of the departments and their