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 Lean for the
Process Industries
Dealing with Complexity
 Lean for the
Process Industries
Dealing with Complexity

PETER L. KING
Productivity Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10016

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King, Peter L.
Lean for the process industries : dealing with complexity / Peter L. King.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978‑1‑4200‑7851‑0
1. Manufacturing processes. 2. Process control. I. Title.

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Contents
Acknowledgments................................................................................. xv
Introduction.........................................................................................xvii

PART I Lean and the Process Industries

Chapter 1 Lean Overview: Principles and Tools................................ 3

Origins of Lean.............................................................................3
TPS Becomes the New Production Paradigm..........................6
Essence of Lean.............................................................................8
Fourteen Lean Tools..................................................................11
Lean Tool 1: Value Stream Mapping (VSM)......................11
Lean Tool 2: Takt Time.........................................................11
Lean Tool 3: Kaizen...............................................................12
Lean Tool 4: 5S.......................................................................12
Lean Tool 5: Jidoka................................................................12
Lean Tool 6: Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED).....13
Lean Tool 7: Poka-Yoke.........................................................13
Lean Tool 8: Five Whys.........................................................13
Lean Tool 9: Standard Work................................................13
Lean Tool 10: Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).......14
Lean Tool 11: Cellular Manufacturing...............................14
Lean Tool 12: Heijunka.........................................................14
Lean Tool 13: Just-In-Time (Pull)........................................15
Lean Tool 14: Kanban...........................................................15
Further Information..................................................................15
Lean Today..................................................................................16
Summary.....................................................................................17

Chapter 2 Distinguishing Characteristics

of Process Industry Manufacturing................................. 19
Process Industries versus Assembly Operations....................19

v
vi • Contents

Characteristics That Distinguish the Process

Industries.....................................................................................21
The Three Vs: Volume, Variety, and Variability................21
Capital Intensive versus Labor Intensive............................22
Throughput Is Limited by Equipment Rather Than
by Labor..................................................................................23
Equipment Is Large and Difficult to Relocate....................24
Processes Are Difficult to Stop and Restart.......................24
Product Changeover Issues Are Complex..........................24
Finished Product Inventory versus WIP............................25
Hidden WIP...........................................................................26
Material Flow Patterns in Assembly and Process
Plants (SKU Fan Out)............................................................26
Examples of “V” Type Process in Process Plants............. 28
Product Differentiation Points.............................................32
Summary.....................................................................................33

Chapter 3 The Seven (or Eight, or Nine) Wastes in the

Process Industries............................................................. 37
Value and Waste.........................................................................37
Waste of Overproduction..........................................................38
Waste of Time on Hand (Waiting)......................................... 40
Waste in Transportation........................................................... 42
Waste of Processing Itself......................................................... 43
Waste of Stock on Hand (Inventory)...................................... 44
Capacity Differences: Rate Synchronization.....................45
Bottleneck Protection........................................................... 46
Campaign Sizes..................................................................... 46
Inappropriate Product Differentiation.............................. 46
Tank Heels..............................................................................47
Waste of Movement....................................................................47
Waste of Making Defective Parts............................................ 48
Waste of Human Creativity......................................................49
Time as a Waste..........................................................................50
Necessary versus Unnecessary Waste.....................................51
Summary.....................................................................................52
 Contents • vii

PART II Seeing the Waste

Chapter 4 Value Stream Mapping the Process Industries............... 57

Introduction to Value Stream Mapping..................................57
Benefits of a Value Stream Map................................................58
Generating the Map...................................................................59
Direction of Flow....................................................................... 60
Product Families........................................................................ 60
Takt and Cycle Time..................................................................61
Takt Time................................................................................61
Cycle Time..............................................................................62
Takt Rate versus Takt Time..................................................63
Units of Production....................................................................63
Where to Begin.......................................................................... 66
Level of Detail............................................................................ 66
Process Box................................................................................. 68
Data Boxes...................................................................................69
Customer Data Box...............................................................69
Process Step Data Box...........................................................70
Inventory Data Box...............................................................73
Transportation Data Box......................................................74
Supplier Data Box..................................................................75
Information Flow.......................................................................75
The Timeline...............................................................................78
An Example VSM.......................................................................81
Additional VSM Best Practices................................................81
Parallel Equipment................................................................81
Logical Flow versus Geographic Arrangement................ 84
Summary.................................................................................... 88

Chapter 5 Reading and Analyzing the Current State Value

Stream Map........................................................................ 89
Analyzing the Current State Map............................................89
Voice of the Customer.......................................................... 90
Waste...................................................................................... 90
Non-Value-Adding Activities..............................................91
viii • Contents

Flow and Bottlenecks............................................................91

Variability...............................................................................92
Other Opportunities.............................................................92
Learning from Material Flow...................................................93
Learning from Information Flow.............................................98
Tools to Get to Root Cause......................................................101
The Five Whys (5W)............................................................101
Detailed Process Mapping..................................................102
The Ishikawa Diagram........................................................102
Cross-Functional Process Mapping..................................102
Creating the Future State VSM...............................................104
Summary...................................................................................107

PART III
Lean Tools Needing Little Modification

Chapter 6 Total Productive Maintenance........................................111

TPM and Lean Synergy...........................................................112
TPM in the Process Industries...............................................113
TPM and Reliability-Centered Maintenance.......................114
The Benefits of TPM.................................................................114
TPM Measures..........................................................................114
Overall Equipment Effectiveness.......................................115
Availability.......................................................................115
Performance....................................................................115
Quality..............................................................................116
UPtime..................................................................................116
Calculation of OEE and UPtime.......................................118
Calculation of OEE.........................................................118
Calculation of UPtime.................................................. 120
VSM Data Boxes: OEE or UPtime................................... 120
Summary...................................................................................121

Chapter 7 Setup Reduction and SMED........................................... 123

SMED and Its Origins............................................................ 123
 Contents • ix

SMED Concepts...................................................................... 124

Product Transitions in the Process Industries.................... 126
A Changeover Where All Tasks Are Completely
Manual..................................................................................127
A Changeover Completely in Chemistry
and/or Physics..................................................................... 128
A Changeover That Includes a Combination
of Manual Tasks and Chemistry/Physics........................ 128
SMED beyond Product Changes............................................130
A Non-Manufacturing Example............................................131
Summary...................................................................................132

Chapter 8 Visual Management........................................................ 135

Introduction to the Visual Plant............................................135
Visual Work Area.....................................................................137
Visual Displays.........................................................................138
Visual Scheduling.....................................................................139
Andons.......................................................................................144
Metrics.......................................................................................144
Management by Sight and Frequent Communication........145
Process Industry Challenges...................................................145
Summary...................................................................................147

Chapter 9 Kaizen Events.................................................................. 149

Kaizen by Specific Events........................................................149
Quality Circles versus Kaizen Events....................................151
Steps in the Kaizen Event Process..........................................151
Planning................................................................................152
Conducting the Event.........................................................153
Following-Up...................................................................... 154
Appropriate Event Scope Areas............................................. 154
Kaizen Dangers: The Root Causes of Kaizen Failures........155
Process Industry Unique Requirements...............................157
Kaizen Events as Six Sigma Projects......................................158
Summary...................................................................................160
x • Contents

PART I V
Lean Tools Needing a Different Approach

Chapter 10 Finding, Managing, and Improving Bottlenecks.......... 163

Bottlenecks in Process Plants.................................................163
Moving Bottlenecks.................................................................165
Recognizing Covert Bottlenecks............................................167
The Root Causes of Bottlenecks.............................................168
Bottleneck Management: Theory of Constraints.................171
Widening the Bottleneck: Lurking Bottlenecks...................174
Summary...................................................................................175

Chapter 11 Cellular Manufacturing in the Process Industries....... 177

The Process Layout (Pre-Cellular Manufacturing
in Assembly Plants)..................................................................177
The Product Layout (Cellular Manufacturing
in Assembly Plants)..................................................................178
Cell Application in the Process Industries...........................180
Typical Process Plant Equipment Configurations...............181
Virtual Cells..............................................................................185
Case Study: Virtual Cell Implementation in a
Synthetic Rubber Production Facility...............................189
The Result: Synthetic Rubber Virtual Work Cells..........193
Steps in Virtual Work Cell Design.........................................195
Step 1: Start with the Current State Value Stream Map...195
Step 2: Determine Preliminary Asset Groups or
Virtual Cells.........................................................................196
Step 3: Determine Preliminary Product Groupings
(Group Technology)............................................................196
Step 4: Assign Each Product Group to a
Manufacturing Cell..............................................................196
Step 5: Define a Few Swing Products................................198
Step 6: Review the Plan.......................................................198
Step 7: Document Virtual Cell Arrangements, Flow
Patterns, Product Lineups, and Operating Rules............199
Step 8: Mark Each Cell Visually........................................199
 Contents • xi

Step 9: Modify Scheduling Processes Accordingly.........199

Step 10: Ensure that Appropriate Managing
Processes Are in Place.........................................................199
Summary...................................................................................201

Chapter 12 Product Wheels: Production Scheduling,

Production Sequencing, Production Leveling.............. 203
Solutions in Assembly Processes........................................... 203
Process Industry Challenges.................................................. 205
A Process Industry Solution:
The Product Wheel Concept.................................................. 206
Product Wheel Design............................................................ 209
Step 1: Determine Which Process Steps Should Be
Scheduled by Product Wheels...........................................211
Step 2: Analyze Product Demand Variability..................212
Step 3: Determine the Optimum Sequence.....................215
Step 4: Calculate Shortest Wheel Time Possible
(Available Time Model)......................................................216
Step 5: Estimate Economic Optimum Wheel Time
(the EOQ Model).................................................................217
Step 6: Determine the Wheel Time
(Making the Choice)...........................................................219
Step 7: Calculate Inventory Requirements...................... 222
Step 8: Fine-Tune the Design............................................ 224
Step 9: Revise the Current Scheduling Process.............. 225
Step 10: Create a Visual Display....................................... 225
Benefits of Product Wheels.................................................... 226
Some Additional Points.......................................................... 227
Summary.................................................................................. 228

Chapter 13 Postponement in the Process Industries:

Finish to Order................................................................ 229
Finish to Order........................................................................ 230
Examples of Finish to Order: FTO in Assembly................. 230
FTO in the Process Industries................................................232
FTO within Process Plants.....................................................232
xii • Contents

The Benefits of FTO.................................................................233

Example of FTO in a Process Plant...................................... 234
A Further Example: Bond to Order.......................................237
Summary.................................................................................. 240

Chapter 14 Pull Replenishment Systems........................................... 241

What Is Pull?.............................................................................241
Pull in Assembly...................................................................... 243
Difficulties in Process Plants................................................. 245
Push–Pull Interface................................................................. 246
ConWIP.................................................................................... 250
Development of Pull on the Sheet Goods Process.............. 254
Visual Signals........................................................................... 258
When to Start Pulling: The Sequence
of Implementation................................................................... 260
Creating Pull.............................................................................261
Value Stream Focus................................................................. 263
Traditional Pull Strategies and Signals................................ 265
Push in Real Life...................................................................... 266
Summary.................................................................................. 267

Chapter 15 Supermarket Design........................................................ 269

Understanding the Supermarket Concept............................270
Inventory Types and Supermarkets.......................................271
Inventory Components Defined: Cycle Stock and
Safety Stock...............................................................................272
Calculating Cycle Stock...........................................................275
Calculating Cycle Stock: Fixed Interval
Replenishment Model.........................................................275
Calculating Cycle Stock: Fixed Quantity
Replenishment Model.........................................................278
Calculating Safety Stock..........................................................281
Variability in Demand........................................................281
Variability in Lead Time.................................................... 283
Combined Variability........................................................ 284
Cycle Service Level and Fill Rate...................................... 284
Example: The Product Wheel for Forming Machine 1...... 286
 Contents • xiii

Alternatives to Safety Stock................................................... 290

Signaling Methods...................................................................291
The Role of Forecasting.......................................................... 292
Summary...................................................................................293

Chapter 16 The Importance of Leadership and Robust

Business Processes.......................................................... 295
Business Practices and Targets.............................................. 296
ABC Classification.............................................................. 296
Customer Lead Times........................................................ 297
Customer Service Levels.................................................... 298
MTS, MTO, and FTO........................................................ 298
Demand Variability Analysis............................................ 298
Protection (Safety Stock or Contingency Processes)..... 299
SKU Rationalization.......................................................... 299
Integrated Business and Operations Planning............... 300
Poor Business Practices.......................................................... 300
Dictating Low Safety Stock Levels................................... 300
Expecting Abnormally Short Lead Times....................... 300
Expecting Perfect Customer Service.................................301
Reducing Inventory at Year End........................................301
Pulling Next Quarter’s Sales Ahead..................................301
Obsessing over Cost Reduction........................................ 302
Inappropriate Use of Metrics................................................. 302
Summary.................................................................................. 303

PART V Appendices
Appendix A: Determination of Appropriate Raw
Material Inventory............................................................................... 307
Appendix B: References........................................................................311
Index..................................................................................................... 313
About the Author................................................................................. 333
Acknowledgments
This book is the product of almost twenty years of on-the-job research,
experimentation, and developing an understanding of how lean principles
can be successfully applied to industries outside the traditional lean strike
zone in metal working, parts production, and assembly. Many of the people
who guided me, mentored me, and shared in the journey toward under-
standing of lean applicability to our processes are individually recognized
below; to all of them, I offer my heartfelt thanks. It has been a great ride so
far, and as I embark on a new path to apply my skills, I am extremely grate-
ful to the people who have enabled me to arrive at this point in my career.
I have wanted for several years to document, in some formal fashion, all
that I have learned and am continuing to learn as I apply these concepts
to an ever-increasing variety of manufacturing problems, but my day job
always got in my way. Now that I have a greater degree of control of how I
choose to spend my time, it has become a much higher priority in my life.
And as I began to capture my experiences on paper, I became even more
aware that I was describing the collective efforts of many, many colleagues,
co-workers, and clients. If I were to list them all, it might approach the size
of the Newark phone directory (probably not, but it feels that way; I am
indebted to so many people), so I’ll have to restrict myself to a partial list.

• To Jim Anderson, one of my first DuPont managers, who enabled

two career course corrections, thus providing key stepping stones
toward my arrival at my first lean assignment.
• To Bill Sheirich, Vinay Sohoni, Ray Barnard, and John Anderson,
IBM consultants who taught me the magic of Continuous Flow
Manufacturing and got me started on my lean journey, and introduced
us to Six Sigma as it was being practiced by Motorola, circa 1988.
• To Wayne Smith, who took everything that IBM taught the DuPont
team and built structure, discipline, and rigor around it.
• To Susan Schall, who taught me the value of an understanding of
statistical principles, well before Six Sigma became popular.
• To Paul Veenema, colleague and mentor, whom I had the pleasure of
working with and learning from in two of my various reincarnations.

xv
xvi • Acknowledgments

• To the many people in DuPont businesses who provided me the

opportunity to develop and apply adaptations of lean to their pro-
cesses and supply chains, including John New, Larry Mlinac, Pete
Ellefson, Tom Holmes, Ed Reiff, Anne Kraft, John Rees, Mark
Weining, Maureen DeFeo, Natalia Duchini, Iris Welch, Portia
Yarborough, Donna Copley, and Tom Carroll.
• To Bill Alzos, friend and mentor, who taught me about the impor-
tance of interpersonal relationships in getting work done.
• To Moe Richard, who served as my manager on two occasions and,
in each case, offered me the opportunity to move in new directions
and the encouragement to succeed.
• To Bill McCabe, friend, colleague, and mentor, who reinforced my
courage to take one of the biggest steps in my life by providing a suc-
cessful model to follow.
• To Ted Brown, friend, colleague, teacher, and boss, one of the stron-
gest proponents of positive change with whom I have ever worked;
he has the vision to see the change, the will and energy to do the
work, and the political acumen to be successful at it more often
than most.
• To Laura Colosi, a lean colleague who had the patience and diligence
to read and edit most of the original manuscript. Her comments and
suggestions were insightful; her encouragement was priceless!
• To DuPont colleagues Bennett Foster, Cris Leyson, Nick Mans, and
Rob Pinchot, who offered suggestions, comments, and much-needed
reinforcement for the value of this endeavor.
• Very special thanks must go out to Dan Fogelberg, who, sadly, passed
away late in 2007. Music made the many hours spent at my keyboard
much more pleasant, and Full Circle, Home Free, Souvenirs, and
Nether Lands were among my most frequent companions. As I devel-
oped my process for writing the manuscript, listening to Fogelberg
became a part of the plan.
• To my daughters, Jennifer and Courtney, for all their love, support,
and encouragement.
• Finally, to my wife, Bonnie, who volunteered to take on the role of
Operations Manager of Lean Dynamics so that I would have the time
to create this work, for all her time, love, and encouragement. I appre-
ciate especially her patience during those periods when I would zone
into writer mode and cut off all contact with the outside world.
Introduction
Lean manufacturing principles have been very widely adopted by manufac-
turing companies over the past twenty-five years, under a variety of names
and acronyms. Before “lean” began its rise to its current position as the term
of choice, efforts based on the same concepts were being implemented as
continuous flow manufacturing (CFM), world-class manufacturing (WCM),
just-in-time (JIT), zero inventory production (ZIP), and a host of others.
The companies following these practices have seen such dramatic
improvement in performance that lean has spread across entire supply
chains, leading users to map their warehouse management and logistics
processes to drive out waste in those operations. More recently, lean has
been applied to business processes (forecasting and demand management,
accounts receivable) and across the entire enterprise (new product devel-
opment processes, human resources talent management processes, legal
department patent application processes, and so on).
The one gap, the one area where lean adoption seems to be lagging, is in
manufacturing operations in what are known as the process industries.
This group includes companies that produce:
• Consumer goods, such as toothpaste and shampoo
• Food and beverage, canned goods, frozen foods, bottled condiments,
breakfast cereals, soft drinks
• House and automotive paints
• Synthetic fibers, and the products made from them, such as apparel
and carpets
• Pulp and paper
• Glass and ceramics
• Base metals
• Plastics
• Fertilizers and crop protection products
• Batch chemicals, lubricants, adhesives
• Pharmaceuticals
• Petroleum
Books and magazines are full of examples and case studies of lean applica-
tion to parts manufacture and assembly operations, such as automobiles,
xvii
xviii • Introduction

motorcycles, computers, medical instruments, consumer electronics, and

many others of that type, but the coverage of application to the process
industries has been sparse.
Some have concluded that, since a goal of lean is to achieve continuous
flow, and since material is already flowing continuously in chemical and
food plants, there would be no benefit from lean. There are two major fal-
lacies in this point of view:

• Material is not continuously flowing in most of these plants. Although

there may be some degree of continuous processing, more of it can
be batch processing, and there is typically a lot of hold up with mate-
rial stored in tanks or silos.
• Even in completely continuous processes, there is still very signifi-
cant waste and opportunity for lean improvement.

Others have concluded that while there may be tremendous benefit in lean
application, it just doesn’t fit. In other words, their processes are just too
different from traditional parts manufacture and assembly, thus making
lean irrelevant to process plants. The processes are indeed very different,
with different flow dynamics and behavior, so lean must be viewed from
a somewhat different perspective, and tools and techniques adapted, in
order to be properly applied to process plants.
Thankfully, a few companies in the process industries, including my
former employer, have been successfully applying lean tools to their pro-
cesses for almost twenty years (even before the term “lean production” was
coined!) and have developed a track record of effective, practical, sustain-
able lean improvement.
Hence the need for and the purpose of this book: to document and
explain the approaches and techniques that we have developed to facilitate
lean applications in the process industries.

TECHNOLOGY AND CULtURE

The main focus of the book is on the areas where the process industries are
indeed different, areas where a somewhat different view is needed to see
waste and lean opportunities within the process, or areas where the tools
 Introduction • xix

required for solution must be adapted to be feasible for these processes.

Areas of similarity between process plants and assembly operations are
discussed only briefly, and only to paint a complete picture.
It has been said that 80 percent of lean is about the culture, and 20 per-
cent about the technology. Although I agree with this view, you may get
the opposite impression. This book may appear to be 80 percent on the
technology and only about 20 percent on the culture. To some extent,
that is in keeping with the purpose of the book, which is to focus on the
differences in the two types of manufacturing industry. I believe that
the methods used to fully engage all who participate in the process—to
tap into their creativity, to make them feel a part of the process and of
the organization, and to achieve true continuous improvement—tran-
scend the type of process or the type of industry involved. Nonetheless,
there is a significant amount of guidance herein about the cultural side
of lean, but it is embedded in the “how to” portions of the book; for
example, how to create a process industry value stream map (VSM),
how to develop virtual cells, how to level production, how to implement
pull. Therefore, that material may not be obvious as cultural guidance.
But the implicit emphasis on culture is intentional: This intertwining of
technical concepts with cultural requirements for successful implemen-
tation is both appropriate and synergistic; trying to transform a culture
without some business purpose to drive it and without some processes
or practices to be transformed rarely succeeds.

HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED

The book consists of four parts:

Part I: Lean and the Process Industries

• Chapter 1 is a brief overview of lean that puts the material in this
book in relevant context. In case you’re not completely familiar with
lean, the essential elements are covered here for completeness.
• Chapter 2 describes the process industries and the characteristics
that make lean application challenging. It explains differences in
material flow patterns and dynamics that require adaptations of tra-
ditional lean approaches.
xx • Introduction

• Chapter 3 deals with the eight wastes commonly described in lean

books, and how they manifest themselves in process operations. The
root causes of some of these wastes that may be different in the pro-
cess industries are explained.

Part II: Seeing the Waste

• In order to describe a process operation completely enough that
both the waste and the primary causes of waste become apparent,
the standard VSM must include additional parameters. Chapter 4
describes VSM requirements, both the standards and the additions.
• Chapter 5 describes how to read and analyze a process VSM, what can
be learned from the material flow and the information flow portion
of the map, and how and when to develop the future state VSM.

Part III: Lean Tools Needing Little Modification

Some of the more basic lean tools can be used in process operations in
much the same way that they are in assembly operations. However,
there are some additional considerations with process plants, which are
explained in the following chapters:

• Total productive maintenance (TPM), and why TPM is even more

important to process plants is explained in Chapter 6.
• The use of SMED techniques to reduce changeover time and losses
is described in Chapter 7. The unique characteristics and challenges
often encountered in process changeovers are discussed.
• Chapter 8 describes visual management techniques, with process
plant examples.
• Kaizen events are described in Chapter 9, as well as an explanation as to
why kaizens in process operations often require additional planning.

Part IV: Lean Tools Needing a Different Approach

Manufacturing processes have traditionally been described in terms of a vol-
ume variety continuum, with high-volume, low-variety production (such as
automotive gasoline) at one end and high-variety, low-volume production
(such as custom cabinet making) at the other. The markets served by the
process industries have evolved to a situation where producers must satisfy
 Introduction • xxi

both high volumes and high variety. A synthetic fiber plant, for example, may
produce 300 million pounds of fiber each year, in several hundred individual
end items or SKUs. And, in addition to high volume and high variety, process
industries now have to deal with a third V: high demand variability.
The chapters in this part describe the techniques that have been developed
to apply lean tools in a way that effectively deals with all of this complexity.

• Chapter 10 addresses the kinds of bottlenecks found in process lines,

along with how to recognize them, how to determine root cause, and
how to manage them.
• Cellular manufacturing, a lean concept often neglected in process
plants, is explained in Chapter 11. You find out why it can be so ben-
eficial to these industries and how to overcome perceived barriers.
• Chapter 12 deals with production leveling, heijunka, and a technique
unique to the process industries sometimes called product wheels.
• In many process plants, make-to-order is not a possibility, but make-
to-stock requires large inventories, due to the high product variety
and variability. Finish-to-order is a reasonable and beneficial com-
promise, and is described in Chapter 13.
• Chapter 14 deals with pull replenishment systems, the unique chal-
lenges imposed by process equipment, and how to respond to them.
• When implementing pull, calculating required supermarket sizes
is critical to smooth performance, and this concept is detailed in
Chapter 15.
• The book concludes in Chapter 16 with a discussion of the role of
management in lean, and the criticality of having effective business
processes to guide lean operations on an ongoing basis. Actually,
these processes are required by any operation, be it in parts assembly
or in materials processing, so they may seem to fall outside the scope
of this book. However, they are so vital for lean success that they
must be mentioned.

MAtHEmAtICAL DEtAIL
Recognizing that you might be an industrial engineer or manufactur-
ing engineer, I felt that the book should include enough of the specific
xxii • Introduction

calculation methods to provide you the tools needed to apply the concepts
described. On the other hand, you may just want to understand the con-
cepts at a general level, so the intent has been to describe concepts in a way
that they can be understood without digging into the specific equations. I
hope this balance has been achieved.
If the solutions and practices described in this book seem complex, rest
assured that they are, in fact, relatively simple and straightforward. It is
the processes to which they are being applied that introduce or raise the
level of complexity. The reality is that in applying even simple, straightfor-
ward tools to complex processes, the solutions appear complex; in reality,
they are simple if applied using a disciplined, step-by-step methodology as
described in this book. In short, the lean concepts explained here provide
a practical way to deal with complexity.

RELAtED TOpICS
Three additional topics (supply chain mapping, Six Sigma, and enterprise
resource planning) are closely related to the material I present in this
book, and are important to lean implementation. Because this book dis-
cusses the areas in which lean must be approached differently in the pro-
cess industries, however, and these additional topics transcend the kind
of industry to which they applied, I felt they were beyond the scope of my
book, except for a brief overview here.

Supply Chain Mapping

The focus of this book is on production processes, but many of the
same principles apply to supply chain analysis and improvement.
Supply chain mapping (SCM) can bring the same understanding of flow
dynamics in that environment as a VSM does in manufacturing. Many
of the same wastes are found in inventory, transportation, defects, and
extra processing. My colleagues and I have found that the informa-
tion flow component of the map is even more important on SCMs than
VSMs, because that is where the majority of root causes of supply chain
waste begin.
 Introduction • xxiii

Six Sigma
There has been a proliferation of books, articles, and presentations on
the combination of lean and Six Sigma, tagged with names like Lean
Sigma and Lean Six Sigma. This book does not go into a great deal of
detail on Six Sigma; suffice it to say that many of the examples described
were implemented under DMAIC. You may have already discovered that
projects executed using the DMAIC framework are better defined, better
executed, and far more sustainable than those not following such a disci-
plined approach. So if an operation has a Six Sigma focus, all major lean
work should be executed as Six Sigma projects, or at least guided by the
DMAIC framework. VSMs can be developed as part of a baseline project.
Kaizen events are more effectively done if they are Green Belt projects.
There is an impression that Six Sigma will encumber, drag down, or
lengthen a program. This is not true if done with common sense. You
shouldn’t shoot for three decimal place accuracy in all of your data; instead,
accept what you can gather in a timely manner. Be selective about the
use of the seventeen deliverables, but eliminate any of them by conscious
choice, not by neglect. If done appropriately (that is, with a strong dose of
common sense) the DMAIC framework can bring a beneficial degree of
structure to lean projects without being overburdening, without adding
waste. Anything in life can be done well, and anything can be done poorly.
Six Sigma is no exception, and when done well can be an enabler to lean.

Enterprise Resource Planning

Information technology (IT) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) sys-
tems, while very important in lean implementation, are not discussed in
this book. There are two reasons for this:

• The subject is complex and cannot be adequately covered in this text

without overwhelming the main purpose.
• Many of the IT issues encountered in lean transcend industry type,
so a detailed discussion would be outside the scope of this work.

Your company may have an IT department responsible for ERP imple-

mentation and support. If so, collaborate with it to decide how to config-
ure those systems to incorporate the techniques described in this book.
 Part I

Lean and the Process Industries

 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
over a wide space of ground, some of them six feet in diameter and
perfectly preserved.
These trees are rather mineralized than fossilized. They are found in
volcanic regions and are supposed to be due to the action of hot
water, which carried off the organic material and deposited dissolved
silica in its place. In some instances the wood has been converted
into solid jasper or has been changed into opal or agate, or filled with
chalcedony or crystallized quartz, with beautifully variegated colors.
[50]

Trees that have Turned to Stone

A scene in one of the Petrified Forests of Arizona. Broken trunks of trees are lying
all about.

What Animals are the Best Architects?

Animals of a great many different kinds have helped show man the
way, in taking advantage of the opportunities which nature affords
him to feed, clothe and protect himself, but one of the smallest of the
animal kingdom is probably the cleverest of all—the spider. Spiders
have many different kinds of enemies, ranging from man down to the
very smallest, but dangerous, insects, and most of their enemies
possess enormous advantages over them in either strength or agility,
or both combined; enemies with wings, swift in movement and able
to retreat where the spider cannot follow them; enemies clad in an
impenetrable coat of armor, against which the spider’s weapons are
powerless, while the spider’s own body is soft and vulnerable. These
handicaps have been met by the spider with a multitude of clever
contrivances, and if invention and skill are to be regarded as an index
to intellectual development, it should be very significant to realize
how far spiders are ahead of our near relatives, the almost human
members of the monkey family.
One of the most interesting of the spider race is the “trap-door”
spider which inhabits warm countries all over the earth. The “trap-
door” spider not only builds a home for herself by digging a deep
hole in the ground and lining it with silk to prevent the sides from
falling in, but she also adds a neat little door to keep out the rain and
other troublesome things. She usually chooses sloping ground for her
homestead so that the door, which she fastens at the edge of its
highest point by a strong silk-elastic hinge, swings shut of its own
weight after being opened. She disguises the entrance to her home
in a manner superior to the famous art of concealment practiced by
the Indians, by planting moss on the outside of the door—living moss
taken from the immediate neighborhood—so that the entrance to her
house harmonizes perfectly with its surroundings, its discovery being
made more difficult by the fact that in her careful selection of a site
for her dwelling she also appears to be influenced by the presence of
patches of white lichen which distract the eye.
The male spider does not seem to take any part in designing,
constructing or decorating the home and does not even share its
occupancy, leaving it to the mother and her family—often forty or
more children at a time—and living a vagrant life, camping out in
holes and ditches when he is not tramping around over the whole
countryside. The mother spider, however, like many other animals,
takes excellent charge of her children, and guards them carefully
from all harm. At the first sign of a commotion going on outside her
front door she is known to invariably assemble her family behind her,
out of harm’s way, and then place her back against the swinging
door, holding it shut with some of her feet and clinging tightly to the
inner walls of her home with the others.
There is one kind of spider which has developed an even more
elaborate style of architecture, digging another room and adding an
upper side gallery to her main residence, and placing a second door
at the junction of the two tunnels. The doors are made to swing back
and forth in both directions, and she constructs a handle on the outer
one, by which she fastens it open with a few threads attached to any
convenient grass stems or little stones, when she expects to come
home from a hunting expedition with her arms full. If a dangerous
enemy threatens her home she usually retreats to the second room,
in the hope that he will decide she is out and depart in search of
another victim elsewhere, but if he discovers her secret, she slams
the second swinging door in his face. Should she be beaten in the
pushing match at that point, she slips into the upper side gallery
opening above the door, and her enemy’s presence within the inner
room automatically blocks the entrance to her hiding place by holding
up the swinging door across its only opening.
 [4]
The Story of the Motorcycle

Interest in the development of mechanically propelled two-wheel

vehicles began soon after the introduction of the bicycle in its first
practicable form. Man’s natural dislike for manual labor quickly found
objection to the physical effort of bicycle travel, and accordingly
sought to devise mechanical means of overcoming it.

Copeland Model, 1884

The earliest known attempt to construct a two-wheel vehicle which

would proceed under its own power was made by W. W. Austin, of
Winthrop, Mass., in the year 1868. This crude affair consisted of a
small velocipede upon which was mounted a crude coal-burning
steam engine. The piston rods of the engine were connected directly
with cranks on the rear wheel. The boiler was hung between the two
wheels and directly back of the saddle, while the engine cylinders
were placed slightly above horizontal just behind the boiler. Despite
the crudity of this outfit, Austin claimed that he had traveled some
2,200 miles on this, the “granddaddy” of all motorcycles.

Austin Steam Velocipede, 1868 Roper’s Machine, 1886

L. D. and W. E. Copeland, two Californian experimenters, are credited

with the next known effort to produce a two-wheeler which would
travel by its own power. Their first model appeared in 1884. The
bicycle to which this miniature steam-power plant of the Copeland
brothers’ invention was attached was one of the old high-wheel
models with the small steering wheel forward. The steam engine of
this truly ingenious contrivance, together with the boiler and the
driving pulley, weighed only sixteen ounces. The Copeland model was
probably the first motorcycle to use belt drive. It should be
understood that propulsion of this first Copeland model was not
intended to depend solely upon mechanical power, but to be
operated in connection with the foot pedals.
The Copeland brothers are to be credited with the first attempt to
produce the motorcycle upon a commercial basis, but their efforts
were unsuccessful. Their invention seemed to be far ahead of the
times, and their project passed by unappreciated.
In 1886, S. H. Roper, of Roxbury, Mass., appeared with a steam-
propelled bicycle which consisted of a specially designed engine
placed in a bicycle frame of the type with which we are familiar
today. This invention was awkward, and its weight of 150 pounds
made it difficult to handle, but in spite of that its inventor is said to
have obtained considerable use from it.
 The Pennington Motorcycle, 1895

The year 1895 saw the first public exhibition of mechanically

operated two-wheel vehicles held at Madison Square Garden, New
York City. The sensation of the show was a motorcycle which was
presented by E. J. Pennington of Cleveland. This was the first public
appearance of a cycle propelled by a combustion engine, and in that
regard it may be called the first appearance of the motorcycle in the
form that it is known today. The Pennington machine was the first-
known vehicle to attempt the use of gasoline. History fails to relate a
great deal about the mechanical detail of the Pennington model, but
it is said to have made a very creditable performance in exhibition. It
appeared at the Madison Square Garden in two forms, as a single
motorcycle and as a motor tandem.

Hedstrom Motor Tandem, 1898

There was little or no interest in motor vehicles of any description in
that period of the early nineties, consequently the Pennington efforts
were fruitless. Shortly after the public exhibition of his models,
financial difficulties are said to have overtaken Pennington and he is
reported to have departed suddenly for foreign climes, bringing his
experiments to an abrupt end.
[54]

A Big Twin Model

 An Up-to-date “Featherweight” Model

Along in the late nineties a keen interest in bicycle racing led to the
introduction of what is known as the motor-paced tandem. This
consisted of a regulation tandem bicycle on which was mounted a
gasoline motor geared up to the rear wheel with a chain drive. The
tandem rider on the forward seat did the steering and the foot
pedaling, and the rear rider operated the motor. It is believed that
the first of these tandems came over here from France.
By 1898 the popularity of the motor-paced racing bicycle became so
great that attention was soon directed toward their manufacture.
Chief among the bicycle manufacturers who took up the making of
the motor-paced tandem was Oscar Hedstrom, a racer with many
notable victories to his credit. He believed that he could make a
motor tandem which would prove far superior to any other American
machine made, if not better even than any foreign machine.

Cradle Spring Frame Construction

The machine which he produced with a motor of his own design was
entered in some big races at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo
in 1901 where nearly every record was broken. Mr. Hedstrom’s
partner on this tandem outfit was Henshaw, a bicycle racer of some
repute. Following their début on the motor tandem at Buffalo, this
pair proceeded to make records throughout the country, several of
which still stand today.
In 1901 a bicycle manufacturer of Springfield, Mass., foresaw a future
for a motorcycle designed for pleasure purposes instead of
exclusively for racing. Hitherto, all motor-propelled cycles had used
the power of the engine of whatever form it was merely as an aid to
locomotion. None had been successful in producing a machine that
could proceed anywhere solely under its own power. Convinced that
such a machine could be produced, and certain that it would find a
ready market, this manufacturer set about to put his ideas into
execution.

First Hedstrom Motorcycle With Tri-car, 1902

He recognized in Oscar Hedstrom, as the leader of the motor tandem

racing field, the man who knew more about combustion engines than
any other man in America, and accordingly enlisted his services.
Oscar Hedstrom retired to a little mechanical laboratory in
Middletown, Conn., and in a short four months emerged with a
completed motorcycle which he had not only designed himself, but
had constructed entirely by his own labor. Its performance on its first
trial trip was absolutely astounding to every observer. In road tests
under every conceivable condition, this first motorcycle of Oscar
Hedstrom’s displayed a perfection of mechanical operation which had
to that time never been approached. It moved entirely under its own
power, could climb hills and could travel on the level road at speeds
which had never before been exhibited by vehicles of that type.
By reason of the successful performance of his first motorcycle,
Oscar Hedstrom is given the credit, in many quarters, for producing
the first motorcycle of practicable construction. All successful
machines of this type since then are said to have been modeled more
or less on the fundamental principles of that first Hedstrom machine.
Part of Hedstrom’s success was due to his mastery of the important
problem of carburetion, and a carburetor expressly designed for that
first machine constituted a marked step in motorcycle development.
The leading carburetors of today are said to be based upon the
principles of the first Hedstrom carburetor. The date of the
appearance of the first Hedstrom motorcycle was 1901.
Manufacture of the motorcycle upon a commercial scale forthwith
commenced in the bicycle manufactory at Springfield, Mass. Such is
said to have been the humble beginning of the motorcycle.
 Modern “Side-car” Model

Their first motorcycle was offered to the public in 1902. Its

mechanical detail is worthy of note for the sake of comparison with
the models of the current year. Its motor was the Hedstrom single-
cylinder motor of 13⁄4 horse-power; frame, 22 inches; tires, 13⁄4
inches, single tube; chain drive; weight, 93 pounds. From the year
1902 to 1909, the style of their motorcycle remained substantially the
same in appearance. The models of that period are referred to as
“camel backs” by reason of the location and shape of the gasoline
tank on the rear mud guard. In 1909, the loop frame was introduced
to provide additional strength to the machine, being required by the
increased weight of the motor; 1906 saw the introduction of twin
cylinders for racing models, and the following year they appeared in
the regular models.
Motorcycle design has made wonderful progress. The powerful, easy-
riding machines of today with their many refinements are truly
marvelous pieces of mechanism. Mechanical perfection is as nearly
approached as it is possible for the best brains and the most
approved methods of manufacture to attain. There are numerous
modern refinements which have contributed materially to the
present-day popularity of the motorcycle that are worthy of special
note. Chief of these is the kick-starter, which enables the rider to
start the engine of his machine without mounting it upon a stand or
pedaling on the road. Improved clutches, gear ratios which permit
varying speeds, double-braking systems and electric lights are
present-day refinements which add zest to the sport of motorcycling.
One of the greatest of all motorcycling comfort creations is a device
known as the cradle spring frame which consists of pairs of cushion-
leaf springs of the semi-elliptical type, which are located at the rear
of the frame just beneath the saddle. This affords the maximum of
riding comfort by the elimination of all jar and jolt occasioned by an
uneven roadway.
Magneto ignition first appeared in 1908; previous to that date all
ignition had been dependent upon batteries of the ordinary dry-cell
variety.
The last two years has seen the introduction of what is known as the
light-weight model. This style of motorcycle has a smaller motor,
which is usually of the two-stroke type, single cylinder. The frame is
of lighter construction, the mechanism is simpler, and of course the
speed is reduced. This type of two-wheeler, however, finds favor
among those who like power and speed but in modified form. Lower
initial cost and lower operation expense are factors which especially
recommend the light-weight models.

Modern Delivery Van for Grocers, Druggists, Etc.

There has been considerable difference of opinion as regards the

comparative efficiency of chain drive and belt drive. The consensus of
opinion, however, seems to favor the chain drive, as evidenced by its
use on most of the leading makes of present-day machines. Some of
the light-weight models are using belt drive, but chain drive is
generally conceded to be superior. In the early days of motorcycling,
belt drive was rather generally used, but the heavy duty required
soon brought about the change to present usage.
Motorcycle manufacture is today carried on in some of the largest
and most up-to-date manufactories that can be found in the United
States. The oldest and the largest factory devoted to motorcycle
manufacture is said to be that which has been built up under the
direction of the Springfield manufacturer, the man who first saw the
great commercial possibilities in the development of the motorcycle
for pleasure and business purposes. His company had a capitalization
of $12,500,000 in 1916. Some 2,400 skilled workmen were employed
in its two big Springfield plants. Its output, said to be the largest in
the industry, is over 25,000 machines per year. Numerous models
meeting varying requirements are produced.
Soon after the first practicable motorcycle appeared in 1902 there
arose a demand for a contrivance that would accommodate an
additional passenger. Consequently, there was produced an
attachment called a tri-car. This was mounted on two pneumatic-tired
wheels which were fitted to the front fork together with necessary
steering devices. Later it was found that the passenger conveyance
could better be carried at the side mounted upon a springed chassis
which was supported by a third wheel. That form was thereupon
generally adopted, and remains today the general practice in the
manufacture of motorcycle side-cars, as they are called.
Naturally enough, interest in motorcycles was quickly directed toward
their application to commercial uses, and to that end there were
produced numerous styles of side vans and parcel carriers intended
for parcel delivery.
The use of the motorcycle for commercial purposes was for a time
overshadowed by the abnormally rapid development of the
automobile, but the factor of upkeep and operation costs of an
automobile is bringing the motorcycle into prominence now. In this
respect the motorcycle is said to have the advantage overwhelmingly.
The tendency, however, among business houses is to investigate their
individual requirements for delivery service and determine to what
purposes either form of motor vehicle is best adapted. For light
parcel system there is said to be no form of delivery that excels the
motorcycle in speed and efficiency and nothing with operation costs
so low. The commercial motorcycle is said to be gaining widespread
favor, and therein lies its greatest future.
Foreign countries have contributed little or nothing to the
development of the motorcycle. To be sure, efforts were made to
produce two-wheel motor vehicles, but little success is recorded.
Record of the earliest known effort was found in an English
newspaper of 1876. This report, however, was very meager and
lacking in any profusion of mechanical detail. Moreover, beyond the
newspaper reports there is little verification that any steps were
really taken at that time. The French contribute the only known
features that are credited to foreign inventors. The DeDion motor
was used in some of the racing motor tandems which appeared in
this country in the late nineties. Other French racing bicycles were no
doubt in existence, but there is no history which can ascribe any truly
constructive innovations in motorcycle making to any foreign country.
The motorcycle in its form of today was designed and built by
America.

How is the Weather Man Able to Predict Tomorrow’s

Weather?
The Weather Bureau was founded in 1870 by the United States
Government, its purpose being to make daily observations of the
state of the weather in all parts of the country, and to calculate from
the results a forecast for each section of the country, based on the
information thus obtained, these predictions being published so that
the people of each district may know in advance the kind of weather
likely to occur.
While these forecasts are of great convenience to practically
everyone, and of importance to the agriculturist, they are frequently
of still more importance to ship masters, storm warnings being given
that may keep them in port when storms are expected and thus save
their ships from the danger of injury or shipwreck. This system has
made great progress since its institution, and reports are now
received daily from more than 3,500 land stations and about fifty
foreign stations, while by means of wireless telegraphy, under normal
conditions, some 2,000 ships send reports of the weather conditions
at sea.
[59]

Weather Bureau Box Kite

The Government Weather Bureau uses large box kites carrying recording
barometers, thermometers and other apparatus to ascertain weather conditions
high in the air. This view shows a kite about to be sent up from an observatory.
Study of results has led to the belief that more than eighty per cent
of winds and storms follow beaten paths, their movements being
governed by physical conditions, a knowledge of which enables the
Weather Bureau officials to estimate very closely their probable
speed and direction and send warning of their coming in advance.
Within two hours after the regular morning observation at eight
o’clock, the forecasts are telegraphed to more than 2,300 principal
distributing points, from which they are further sent out by mail,
telegraph and telephone, being mailed daily to 135,000 addresses
and received by nearly 4,000,000 telephone subscribers.
One of the most valuable services rendered is that of the warnings of
cyclonic storms for the benefit of marine interests. These are
displayed at nearly three hundred points on the ocean and lake
coasts, including all important ports and harbors, warnings of coming
storms being received from twelve to twenty-four hours in advance.
The result has been the saving of vast amounts of maritime property,
estimated at many millions of dollars yearly.
Agriculturists also derive great advantage from these warnings,
especially those engaged in the production of fruits, vegetables and
other market garden products. Warnings of frosts and of freezing
weather have enabled the growers of such products to protect and
save large quantities of valuable plants. It is said that on a single
night in a small district in Florida, fruits and vegetables were thus
saved to the amount of more than $100,000. In addition, live stock
of great value has been saved by warnings a week in advance of the
coming of a flood in the Mississippi; railroad companies take
advantage of the forecast for the preservation, in their shipping
business, of products likely to be injured by extremes of heat or cold,
and in various other ways the forecasts are of commercial or other
value.
One of the chief stations for observations is that at Mount Weather, in
the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. This is equipped with delicate
instruments in considerable variety for the study of varying conditions
of the upper air. Kites and captive balloons are sent up every
favorable day, ascending to heights of two or three miles, and
equipped with self-registering instruments to record the temperature
and other conditions of the atmosphere. At other times, free balloons
are liberated, carrying sets of automatic registering instruments.
Some of these travel hundreds of miles, but nearly all are eventually
found and returned.

How does a Siren Fog Horn Blow?

There are a great many different kinds of signals for the guidance of
vessels during fogs, when lights or other visible signals cannot be
perceived.
One of the most powerful signals is the siren fog horn, the sound of
which is produced by means of a disk perforated by radial slits made
to rotate in front of a fixed disk exactly similar, a long iron trumpet
forming part of the apparatus. The disks may each contain say
twelve slits, and the moving disk may revolve 2,800 times a minute;
in each revolution there are of course twelve coincidences between
the slits in the two disks; through the openings thus made steam or
air at a high pressure is caused to pass, so that there are actually
33,600 puffs of steam or compressed air every minute. This causes a
sound of very great power, which the trumpet collects and
compresses, and the blast goes out as a sort of sound beam in the
direction required. Under favorable circumstances this instrument can
be heard from twenty to thirty miles out at sea.
Fog signals are also used on railways during foggy weather; they
consist of cases filled with detonating powder, which are laid on the
rails and exploded by the engine when it runs over them.
 [5]
The Story in a Watch

Clocks and watches are often called “timekeepers,” but they do not
keep time. Nothing can keep it. It is constantly flying along, and
carrying us with it, and we cannot stop it. What we call “time
keepers” are really time measures, and are made to tell us how
rapidly time moves, so that we may regulate our movements and
occupations to conform to its flight.
Of course, you understand that measurement of anything is the
comparing of it with some established standard. So that if you want
to measure the length of anything you use a rule or a yard stick, or
some other scale which is graduated into fractions of the whole
standard measure. Do you know that the United States government
has in a secure, fireproof vault, in one of the government buildings in
Washington, a metal bar which is the authorized standard “yard” of
this nation? It is a very carefully made copy of the standard yard of
Great Britain. I believe that each one of the United States has also a
standard which must agree in length with the government, or
national standard. The same thing is true concerning standards of
capacity, and standards of weight. But no vault can contain the
authorized standard of time. Yet there is such a standard. And it is as
accessible to one country as to another, and it is a standard which
does not change. But, because all other time measures are more or
less imperfect, our government tries to compare its standard clock
with the ultimate standard every day.
The first mention of time which we have is found in the Book of
Genesis, where it is written “and the evening and the morning were
the first day.” That statement gives a “measure” which was sufficient
for the purpose intended, but there is nothing very accurate in it. If it
had said “the darkness and the light” were the first day, it would
have been just as accurate. The people who lived in those far-off
days had no special occasion to know or to care what time it was. We
may suppose that they were hungry when they waked at sunrise,
and if they had no food “left over” from the previous day’s supply
they would have to hustle and find some, and if possible secure a
little surplus beyond that day’s needs, and so they would work, or
hunt, until the “evening” came and the sun disappeared. When a
man was tired, and the sun was hot, he sat down under a tree for
shelter and rest. As he sat under the tree and looked about him he
could not fail to notice that upon the ground was a shadow of the
tree under which he sat. And as he was tired and warm he lay down
and fell asleep, and when he woke, he again saw the shadow, but in
another place. He noticed that the same thing occurred every day. He
saw also that in the morning the shadow was stretched out in one
direction, and that in the evening it lay in exactly the opposite
direction, and that every day it moved very nearly the same, so he
put a mark on the ground about where the shadow first appeared,
and another mark at the place where it disappeared. Then one day
he stuck his staff in the ground about half-way between the places of
the morning and the evening shadows, which served as a noon mark.
As the staff cast a shadow as readily as did the tree, the man found
that it was really a better index of time than was the tree shadow, for
it was much smaller and more clearly defined, and so he put up a
straight stick in the ground near the hut in which he lived, and as the
ground was level and smooth he drove a lot of little stakes along the
daily path of the shadow, and in that way divided the day into a
number of small parts. That was a crude “sun dial.” (The Bible tells of
the sun dial in the thirty-eighth chapter of Isaiah.) But there was
nothing very accurate in the sun dial. Several hundred years later the
days were divided into sections which were called “hours,” such as
the “sixth hour” (noon), the “ninth hour” (three o’clock), the
“eleventh hour” (five o’clock), etc. There was, however, nothing very
accurate in those expressions, which simply indicate that there were
recognized divisions of time, but with no suggestions as to the means
used to determine their limits or boundaries. It is recorded of Alfred
the Great, who lived in the ninth century, A. D., that he was very
methodical in his employment of time, and in order to insure a
careful attention to his religious duties as well as his kingly duties, he
divided the day into three parts, giving one part to religious duties,
one to the affairs of his kingdom, and the remainder to bodily rest.
To secure an equal division of the day he procured a definite quantity
of wax which he had made into six candles, of twelve inches in
length, and all of uniform weight, for he found that each inch in
length of candle would burn for twenty minutes—one candle for each
four hours. This was an approach toward accuracy and it was
effective for night use as well as for the daytime.
[62]

Assembling Department in a Famous American Watch Factory

Perhaps the earliest mechanical time measure was the clepsydra, or

water clock. It is quite probable that, in its earliest form it consisted
of a vessel containing water, which was allowed to escape through a
small orifice. Suitable marks, or graduations, on the sides of the
vessel served to indicate the lapse of time as the water gradually
receded. This device was constructed in a variety of forms, some of
which employed some simple mechanism also; but from their nature
they could not give very accurate indications concerning the passage
of time. The “hour glass” was another form of time indicator, which
was capable of uniform, though extremely limited, action. It is said
that its original use was to limit the length of sermons.
It is interesting to note that discoveries and inventions, which may
seem slight in themselves, sometimes form the basis of, or contribute
to, other important inventions. In the year 1584 a bright young
Italian was sitting in the gallery of the cathedral, in the City of Pisa,
and as the lofty doors of the building opened to admit the incoming
worshipers, a strong draft of air caused the heavy chandelier, which
was suspended from the lofty ceiling, to swing quite a distance from
its position of rest. This unusual movement attracted the attention of
the young man, and as he continued to watch its deliberate
movements, he did more than watch. He thought—for he noticed
that the time occupied by the movement of the chandelier from one
extreme position to the opposite point, seemed to be exactly
uniform. He wondered why. It is the careful observation of things,
and the trying to learn why they are as they are, and why they act as
they do, that enables studious people to discover the laws which
govern their actions. This young man, Galileo, was a thinker, and
while some of his conclusions and theories have since been found
erroneous, his thinking has formed the basis of much of the scientific
thought and theory of later years. Galileo’s swinging chandelier was
really a sort of a pendulum, and we have made mention of it because
it has been found that no mechanical means for obtaining and
maintaining a constant and accurate movement will equal the free
movement of a vibrating pendulum. This fact has led to its adoption
as a means of regulating the mechanism of clocks. For, when
operated under the most favorable conditions, such a clock
constitutes the most accurate “time measure” yet made.
[64]

View of Escapement Making Department

Watches are made to measure time. If anything is to be measured

there must be some standard with which to compare it, for we have
seen that measuring is a process of comparing a thing with an
appropriate or acknowledged and fixed standard. The only known
standard for the measurement of time is the movement of the earth
in relation to the stars. It has taken thousands of years for mankind
to learn what is now known concerning time. It has also taken
hundreds of years to secure the wonderful accuracy in the measuring
of time which has now been attained. We have said that nothing has
been devised which will equal the accuracy of a “pendulum clock.” A
story was told of a professor of a theological seminary who was one
day on his way to a jeweler’s store, carrying in his arms the family
clock, which was in need of repairs. He was accosted by one of his
students with the question, “Look here, Professor, don’t you think it
would be much more convenient to carry a watch?” A pendulum
clock must of necessity be stationary, but it is now needful that
people should be able to have a timepiece whenever and wherever
wanted. This need is supplied by the pocket watch.

Time Train of a Watch

If Galileo watched the swinging of the big chandelier long enough he

found that the distance through which it swung was gradually
diminishing, till, at last, it ceased to move; what stopped it? It was
one of the great forces of nature, which we call gravitation, and the
force which kept it in motion we call momentum. But gravitation
overcame momentum.
In order to maintain the constant vibration of a pendulum it is
needful to impart to it a slight force, in a manner similar to that given
by a boy who gives another boy a slight “push,” to maintain his
movement in a swing. A suspended pendulum being impossible of
application to a pocket watch, a splendid substitute has been devised
—in the form of the balance wheel of the watch, commonly called
the “balance.” The balance is, in its action and adaption, the
equivalent of the vibrating, or oscillating, pendulum; and the balance
spring (commonly called the hairspring), which accompanies it, is in
its action equivalent to the force of gravity in its effect upon a
pendulum. For the tendency and (if not neutralized by some other
force) the effects of the hairspring upon the watch balance, and of
gravitation on the pendulum, are to hold each at a position of rest,
and consequent inaction.

But we have in a pocket watch a “mainspring” to actuate the train of

gear wheels which by their ultimate action give the delicate “push” to
the balance wheel at distinct intervals, and so keep the balance in
continued motion. In the same manner, the “weight” of a clock,
acting through the force of gravity, carries the various wheels of the
clock train, and gives the slight impulse to the swinging clock
pendulum.
Both clocks and watches are “machines” for the measurement of
time, and, therefore, it is absolutely imperative that their action must
be constant, and, if accurate time is to be indicated, the action must
be uniform.
[66]
 Interior of Astronomical Observatory, showing Transit Instrument.
Used to Obtain Correct Local Time, by Observing the Passage of
Stars Across the Meridian

[67]
 Balance Cock and Patent Micrometric Regulator; also Balance Wheel
and Hair Spring, Showing Patent Hair Spring Stud

The illustration shows the “time train” of an ordinary pocket watch.

The various wheels are here shown in a straight line, so that their
successive order may be seen, but for economy and convenience
they are arranged in such way as is most convenient when
constructing a pocket watch. The large wheel at the left is the “main
wheel,” called by watchmakers the “barrel.” In it is coiled the
mainspring—a strip of steel about twenty-three inches long, which is
carefully tempered to insure elasticity and “pull.” The outer end of
the mainspring is attached to the rim of the barrel, and the inner end
to the barrel arbor. Bear in mind the fact that the power which is
sufficient to run the watch for thirty-six hours or more, is not in the
watch itself. It is in yourself, and by the exertion of your thumb and
finger, in the act of winding, you transfer that power to the spring,
and thereby store the power in the barrel, to be given out at the rate
which the governing mechanism of the watch will permit. The group
of wheels here shown are known as the “time train,” and the second
wheel is called the “center,” because that, in ordinarily constructed
watches, is located in the center of the group, and upon its axis are
put the “hour hand” and the “minute hand.” On the circumference of
the barrel are gear teeth, and those teeth engage corresponding
teeth on the arbor of the center. These arbor teeth are in all cases
called, not “wheels” but “pinions,” and in watch trains the wheels
always drive the pinions. Next to the center comes the third pinion
and wheel, and then the fourth, which is the last wheel in the train
which has regular gear teeth. Now let us look back a little and see
that the wheel teeth of the barrel drive the center pinion, and the
center wheel drives the third pinion and the third wheel drives the
fourth pinion, etc. The speed of revolution of the successive wheels
increases rapidly. The center wheel must revolve once in each hour,
which is 61⁄2 times faster than the barrel. The third wheel turns eight
times faster than the center, and the fourth wheel turns 71⁄2 times
faster than the third, or 60 times faster than the center, so that the
fourth pinion, which carries the “second hand,” will revolve 60 times
while the “center,” which carries the minute hand, revolves once. If
we should put all the wheels and pinions in place, and wind up the
main spring, the wheels would begin to turn, each at its relative rate
of speed, and we should find that, instead of running thirty-six hours,
it would have run less than two minutes. What was needed was
some device to serve as an accurate speed governor—and the
attainment of this essential device is the one thing on which accurate
time measuring depends. Without any mention of the various
attempts to produce such a device, let us, as briefly as possible,
describe the means used in most watches of American manufacture.
While there are several distinct parts of this device, each having its
individual function, they may be considered as a whole under the
general term of “the escapement.” Returning now to the fourth
pinion, we see that it also carries a wheel, which engages another
little pinion, called the escape pinion. This escape pinion also carries
a wheel, but it is radically different in appearance, as well as in
action, from any of the previously mentioned wheels. An examination
of the “escape wheel” would show that it has a peculiarly shaped
piece, which is called the “pallet,” the extended arm of which is called
the “fork.” The fork encloses a sort of half-round stud or pin. This
stud projects from the fact and near the edge of a small steel disc.
The stud is formed from some hard precious stone and is called the
“jewel pin,” or “roller pin,” and the little steel disc which carries it is
called the “roller.” In the center or axial hole of the roller fits the
“balance staff,” which staff also carries the “balance wheel,” and the
balance spring, commonly called the “hair spring.” The ends of the
balance staff are made very small so as to form very delicate pivots
which turn in jewel bearings. The balance wheel moves very rapidly,
and, therefore, its movement must be as free as possible from
retarding friction, so its bearing pivots are made very small.
[68]

A Device for the Governing ofSpeed is the One Thing on Which Accurate Time
Measuring Depends
Now that we have given the names of each of the different parts
which compose the escapement, let us see how they perform their
important work of governing the speed of the little machine for
measuring time. In the escape wheel, the left arm of the pallet rests
on the inclined top of one of the wheel teeth. This is the position of
rest. If we wind up the mainspring of the watch it will immediately
cause the main wheel to turn, and, of course, that will turn the next
wheel, and so on to the escape wheel. When that wheel turns to the
right, as it must, it will force back the arm of the pallet which swings
on its arbor. In swinging out in this way it must also swing in the
other pallet arm, and that movement will bring it directly in front of
another wheel tooth, so that the wheel can turn no further. It is
locked and will remain so until something withdraws it. When the
pallet was swung so as to cause this locking, the fork was also
moved, and as it enclosed the roller pin, that too was moved and
carried with it the roller and the balance wheel, and in so doing it
deflected the hair spring from its condition of rest. And as the spring
tried to get back to its place of rest it carried back the balance also.
In going back, the balance acquired a little momentum, and so could
not stop when it reached its former position, but went a little further,
and, of course, the roller and its pin also went along in company, the
pin carrying the fork and the pallet swinging in the other direction,
which unlocked the escape wheel tooth. Its inclined top gave the
pallet a little “push” so that the first pallet was locked, forcing the
fork and roller, and the balance and hair spring, to move in the
opposite direction. And so the alternate actions proceed, and the
balance wheel travels further each time, until it reaches the greatest
amount which the force of the mainspring can give. But before this
extreme is reached, the momentum of the revolving balance carries
the roller pin entirely out of the fork. As the fork is allowed to move
only just far enough to allow the pin to pass out, it simply waits until
the fork returns and enters its place, only to escape again on the
other side. And so the motions continue to the number of 18,000
times per hour. If that number can be exactly maintained, the watch
will measure time perfectly. But if it should fall short of that exact
number only once each hour, it would result in a loss of 4.8 seconds
each day, or 2.4 minutes in one month. A watch as bad as that would
not be allowed on a railroad.
 Accurate Measurements are Essential to Correct Time Keeping

Isn’t it wonderful that such a delicate piece of mechanism can be

made to run so accurately? And the wonder is increased by the fact
that the little machine is, to a great extent, continually moved about,
and liable to extreme changes in position and in temperature.
Watches of the highest grades are adjusted to five positions as well
as to temperature. Some are adjusted to temperature and three
positions, and still others to temperature only. The way in which a
watch is made to automatically compensate for temperature changes
is interesting. Varying degrees of heat and cold always affect a
watch. It is a law of nature that all simple metals expand under the
influence of heat and therefore contract when affected by cold.
Alloys, or mixtures of different metals, act in a similar manner, but in
varying degrees. Some combinations of metals possess the quality of
relatively great expansibility. Another natural law is that the force
required to move a body depends upon its size and weight. So it
follows that with only a certain amount of available force a large
body cannot be moved as rapidly as a small one. The force of 200
pounds of steam in a locomotive boiler might be sufficient to haul a
train of six cars at a speed of thirty miles per hour, but if more cars
be added it will result in a slower speed. The same principle applies
to a watch as to a railway train. Therefore if the balance wheel
becomes larger as it grows warmer, and the force which turns the
wheel is not changed, the speed of movement must be reduced. One
other natural law which affects the running of watches is this:
Variations in temperature affect the elasticity of metals. Now the
balance spring of a watch is made from steel, and is carefully
tempered in order to obtain its highest elasticity. Increase in
temperature therefore introduces three elements of disturbance, all
of which act in the same direction of reducing the speed. First, it
enlarges the balance wheel; second, it increases the length of the
spring; third, it reduces the elasticity of the spring. To overcome
these three disturbing factors a very ingenious form of balance has
been devised.

170 Parts Compose a 16 Size Watch Movement. (A Little More than 1⁄2
Actual Size)
A watch balance is made with a rim of brass encircling and firmly
united to the rim of steel. In order to permit heat to have the desired
effect upon this balance, the rim is completely severed at points near
each of the arms of the wheel. If we apply heat to this balance the
greater expansion of the brass portion of its rim would cause the free
ends to curl inward.
In order to obtain exactly 18,000 vibrations of the balance in an hour,
it will be seen that the weight of the wheel and the strength of the
hair spring must be perfectly adapted each to the other. The shorter
the spring is made the more rigid it becomes, and so the regulator is
made a part of the watch, but its action must be very limited or its
effect on the spring will introduce other serious disturbances. The
practical method of securing the proper and ready adaptation of
balances to springs is to place in the rims of the balance a number of
small screws having relatively heavy heads. Suppose now that we
have a balance fitted with screws of the number and weight to
exactly adapt it to a spring, so that at a normal temperature of, say,
70 degrees, it would vibrate exactly 18,000 times per hour. When we
place the watch in an oven the heat of which is 95 degrees, we
might find that it had lost seven seconds. That would show that the
wheel was too large when at 95 degrees, although just right at 70
degrees. Really, that is a very serious matter—it would lose at the
rate of 24⁄5 minutes in a day. But after all it need not be so very
serious, because if we change the location of one screw on each half
of the balance so as to place it nearer the free end of the rim when
the heat curls the rim inward, it will carry a larger proportion of the
weight than if the screws had not been moved. It may require
repeated trials to determine the required position of the rim screws,
and both skill and good judgment are essential. It will be readily
understood that numerous manipulations of this kind constitute no
small items in the cost of producing high-grade watches.
Large quantities of the cheaper class of watches are now made by
machinery in the United States, Switzerland, France, Germany and
England. They are generally produced on the interchangeable
system, that is, if any part of a watch has become unfit for service, it
can be cheaply replaced by an exact duplicate, the labor of the watch
repairer thus becoming easy and expeditious.

How does a Monorail Gyroscope Railway Operate?

The last decade has brought a railway with a single line of rails, on
which the car is kept erect by the steadying power of a pair of heavy
gyroscopes, or flywheels, rotating in opposite directions at very high
velocity. There are two recent inventions of this kind, an English and
a German, practically the same in character.
The English, the invention of an Australian named Brennan, had its
first form in a model, a small car on which the gyroscopes rotated at
the enormous speed of seventy-five hundred revolutions per minute.
They were hung in special bearings and rotated in a partial vacuum,
the friction being so slight that the wheels would continue to revolve
and give stability to the car for a considerable time after the power
was shut off. Also, in such a case, supports at the side kept the car
from overturning. This model showed itself capable of traveling at
high speed on a single rail, rounding sharp curves and even
traversing with ease a wire cable hung in the air.
In 1909 a car was tried fourteen feet long and ten feet wide, capable
of carrying forty passengers. The gyroscopes in this, moved by a
gasoline engine, revolved in a vacuum at a speed of three thousand
rotations a minute. They were three and a half feet in diameter and
weighed together one and a half tons. With a full load of passengers,
this car sped easily around a circular rail two hundred and twenty
yards long and proved that it could not be upset, since when all the
passengers crowded to one side the car remained firmly erect, the
gyroscopes lifting it on the weighted sides. It is claimed that in the
monorail system so equipped with the gyroscope, a speed of more
than a hundred miles an hour is possible with perfect safety.
[73]
 A Monorail Gyroscope Car

The German invention, displayed by Herr Schorl, a capitalist of Berlin,

is in many respects like the English one. The experimental car was
eighteen feet long and four feet wide, the gyroscopic flywheels being
very light, weighing but a hundred and twenty-five pounds each,
while their speed of rotation was eight thousand per minute. The
same success was attained as in the English experiments, and there
seems to be a successful future before this very interesting vehicle of
travel. There is also another type of monorail of overhead
construction, the wheels running on the rail from which the car
hangs.
The fundamental principle of the gyroscope lies in the resistance
which a flywheel in rapid motion presents to any change of direction
in the axis of rotation.
The gyroscope has been utilized to give steadiness to vessels in
rough seas, and Sperry has made considerable progress in this
country in applying it to give stability to an aeroplane. One of the
most successful of the recent applications of the gyroscope is in its
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