27.3.1956
Mr. Carlton (Singer's Australasian M.T.M Specialist) and Mr Leyshon (Singer's Motion Study Expert) spent last week at Pleasant Hill. After examining our processes and laboriously testing how much Horace Verey and David Jones know about the subject, they declared that undoubtedly both are equipped to put this most desirable M.T.M Works Simplification Program into Pleasant Hill and will commence on this immediately... Messrs. Carlton and Leyshon will be down again in 8 weeks. Horace did an intensive M.T.M. course in Sydney and David at Pittsburgh, USA. Mr. Carlton also paid us a compliment - the orderliness, the cleanliness, the happiness and the tempo of our machine room is the best he has seen in Australasia. He did however emphasise that we will definitely need more elbow room in our machine room, so the expansionist program already spoken of must go on, in spite of financial stringency...
On the production side, we started on improving garment manufacture and staff were sent overseas to search out the latest technology. Methods Engineers were employed to ensure the best systems of the time were being employed. Incentive schemes were set up initially by setting task times, but they often failed to establish the best methods. Then the emphasis changed to studying the most economical procedure and standards were able to be set by Methods Time Measurement (MTM), a system first designed in USA and refined for needle trades engineering.
Work simplification became the order of the day. How can we simplify an operation? Is it necessary? Can it be combined with another operation? What mechanical aids would help - a different machine, new attachments, chain stitch instead of lock stitch....? What about the supply and disposal of work?
Much research was necessary to find the best method to date before a task could be established. At all times we were reminded of that word - KISS Keep It Simple Stupid”. Tim Carlton was Methods Engineer with Fletcher Jones from1959-1985.
