Applications of the Kmh Method of Analyzing Manufacturing Operation

The kmh method of analyzing industrial operation, first presented by the authors in a paper before this Society in 1928, is used to show variations in size of plants, in length of work periods, and in kmh rates of productivity, value of product, wages, and salaries for four industries in 1929. The trends of kmh operating rates from 1923 to 1931 for 110 concerns are also studied. Important findings are: High wages and high expenditures for supervision accompany high operating performances; the kmh factor is the most convenient unit for measuring plant capacity and a more satisfactory unit for measuring employment and unemployment than a census of workers; the optimum size of plant for most effective production is small; the optimum range of length of work period is considerably shorter than the longest periods that have prevailed currently; changes in productivity are substantially independent of the business cycle; and, due to continuously increasing productivity, the same quantity of product turned out by 50 concerns in a 51-hour week in 1923, could have been produced in a 35-hour week in 1931.