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THE CONTRACTOR'S ORGANIZATION1

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BY KENDALL BANNING

OU may tear down my buildings," said a leader of American industry, "disable my machinery, and destroy my books, and I can replace them. But destroy my organization and you destroy the structure of a lifetime.”

In this spirit the foremost business houses of this country have been reared. Their growth is not credited to machinery alone or method alone or men alone. Their growth has been due to their organization organizations which in some cases found embodiment in the executive heads who utilized these factors in commercial life to best advantage organizations which saw their needs and concentrated forces at definite points, at definite periods which, by their coincidence, involved the greatest

economy.

To organize an industrial enterprise to meet uniform conditions when demands may be anticipated requires merely a knowledge of the present situation and past records. To organize an enterprise to meet conditions that may arise at any hour without warning, and to meet new problems at each turn, requires systems peculiar to themselves.

The story of the building of a whole town out of a wilderness in three months affords an illustration of the application of perfect organization to creative work and stands as an example of American industrial achievement. In early spring a contract was undertaken for the build

1 By permission of System. Copyright, 1906.

ing of an entire paper manufacturing town in the heart of a Maine forest. This site was chosen by the paper company because at this point land was cheap, water power could be secured from a river, and the forests could furnish raw material. These natural forces had to be "harnessed," and harnessed quickly. The greatest economy to be effected was that of speed in converting an unproductive area into a money-making one. The paper company demanded certain specific requirements for turning out its products, and set specified dates. On these dates the builders' organization undertook to fulfill its agreement.

The contract was large. It provided for the entire industrial community — factories, mills, machine shops, freight and passenger terminals, stores, homes, a railroad, and a two thousand foot dam of concrete. Its costs ran well into the seven figure mark. Within eight months a territory was to be converted from a wild forest into a productive industrial community of three thousand inhabitants in line for listment on the government maps. In brief, an entire town was to be "made to order" with a speed that before the day of business organization and specialized systems would have been impossible.

The day the contract was signed the machinery of the builders' organization was set in motion. Like a huge magic hand the force of this organization applied itself to the building of this town, to be lifted only by its completion. Within a total period of eight months this town was to be conceived, planned, built, and delivered. The work was begun in April; it was completed in December, and the city was delivered to the owners.

The first step was the appointment of a general superintendent to direct the work. Under his supervision professional and unskilled labor was hired from a card list of former and prospective list of employees kept by the

permanent organization, for just such cases. The various factors in the building of the town were organized into departments. Executive heads were appointed, and the routes of authority were indicated in graphic form on an organization chart to apply to this particular job. In this way obstruction in the routine work could be located and rectified. The two executives directly under the general superintendent were the carpenter and mason superintendents. Hence, to these two superintendents were distributed the various phases of the work to be undertaken, and those phases which were connected with both were grouped as is shown. To every department a number was assigned and a head was appointed.

At the disposal of the general superintendents were placed the resources of the central organizations, including the purchasing, commissary, and other departments. The second step was to send the advance guard to the site of the proposed town. The site was covered with a nine-foot depth of snow. Upon this the advance guard erected bunk-houses for twenty-five men to followhouses that rested on solid ground only with the spring thaws. These men built accommodations for a hundred, and the hundred for a thousand. Each group reached the spot at just the time to involve the least loss. Each man arrived to find his quarters, tools, and work ready for instant use.

A list of tools was made up by the construction department. Supplies were ordered by the "quotation department" from dealers whose names and goods were kept in a list maintained for this purpose. Material was bought from those firms whose products, facilities, and location involved the greatest economy to the buyer to keep supplies ahead of the demand. A four-mile railroad was built through the forest to connect with the trunk line.

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