X 
MACHINE OPERATORS 
The third large division in the manufacturing process in 
addition to inspection and assembling is the operation of 
production machines. Finding operators for these ma 
chines offers one of the most difficult of all employment 
problems. The turnover among such operators is unusu 
ally large for a variety of reasons, most prominent among 
which is the monotony and strain of the work. To sit 
day after day watching or feeding a machine which does 
the same operation over and over again in an endless 
chain is indeed work which requires ability and tempera 
ment of a peculiar kind. 
However, the problem is not merely one of finding in 
dividuals who can stand the strain; it is also one of se 
lecting workers who can obtain the maximum output 
from the machines at which they are stationed. It is the 
general practice of production engineers to make a very 
generous allowance for the inefficiency of a machine; but 
as a matter of fact, this allowance should frequently be 
charged against the operator. For the inefficiency of a 
machine is in a large part determined by the ability of the 
operator. A slow or a poor operator means an inefficient 
machine, at least in the case of machines which are semi 
automatic or entirely fed by hand. The writer has ob 
served hundreds of hand-fed machines which were only 
fifty or seventy per cent efficient because the operators 
could not feed them fast enough. On the other hand, many 
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