Charles A. Mitke
Published: 2015-06-30
Total Pages: 134
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Excerpt from Standardization of Mining Methods, 1919: A Series of Important Articles Reprinted From Engineering and Mining Journal Great economies in any business of production result from careful and thoughtful attention to details, and mining is no exception to this rule. On the contrary, successful mining is one of the greatest embodiments of the principle. The difference between the careful manager and the careless one is apt to be the difference between profit and loss. Carefulness in management does not mean merely the prevention of what would be obvious wastes, such as allowing supplies to be slovenly thrown away, or permitting them to deteriorate, which comes to the same thing; but also it means what may be vastly more important, viz., the prevention of the unapparent wastes, especially of labor, by the continuance of uneconomic practices. Even in such an ancient and simple thing as the art of shovelling there may be enormous waste of man-power. The shoveller may be provided with a tool of the wrong design and size. He may handle it in such a way as to consume more of his energy than if he were shovelling more ore in proper posture and with correct movements. The efficiency in shovelling may be greatly increased by arranging for the men to get at the pile in the right way. Finally the work may be designed so as to reduce the shovelling that is necessary or perhaps eliminate it altogether. This homely illustration may be applied to many varieties of work that have to be done in a mine. It is the duty of the shift-bosses, the foremen, the captain, the superintendent and finally the general manager to study every detail with the view to effecting the maximum of economy. There was never a time when this was more necessary than now, when all industry is wrestling with difficult economic problems. Not only is it necessary now to produce with greater economy than ever, but also working organizations have been impaired by the present unstabilized conditions of the labor market, and much raw material must be converted into skilled miners. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.