LOW OUTPUT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19882, 8 March 1939, Page 14

LOW OUTPUT

DOMINION WORKERS FACTORY EXPERIENCE AUSTRALIAN COM I’ARISON Opinions- that the development of manufacturing industries was hampered by a lower output per worker per hour than applied .in other manufacturing countries were expressed by Auckland manufacturers, who said the situation had not escaped 1 the attention of ithe Government, which was believed to be concerned at the problem. It was stated that in- some industries statistics had been compiled showing an actual drop of hourly output a man of from 10 to 15 per cent in recent years. It was not considered 1 that this was a result of any conscious, policy. The proper functioning of industry, it was stated, depended on the reduction of manufacturing costs to mum. in order to keep prices on the lowest possible basis, and the view was held that in the particular stage industry had now reached a speeding up by workers was essential if- proper progress was to be attained. Lack ol Experience "The New Zealand worker is not lazy, but the average output per man is well below the Australian,” said a manufacturer with Australian, experience. “Australia has been manufacturing extensively for 25 to 50 years, and‘the present generation of workers there has experience -and tradition behind it. When a son goes to a factory he perhaps follows the occupation or his father and, from talk in the home he has absorbed an atmosphere. Few New Zealanders start with that vantage.“Executives are in a similar Dositlon. Many New Zealand foremen would fail to retain their employment in an Australian factory, because they could not produce the output demanded of them. New Zealanders are quick to learn, but they need to be shown, and an executive who on occasion .can take off” his coat and show exactly the way- a job can be done will soon get results.” Quick Women Workers Several manufacturers with experience in employing both sexes considered that the average young woman worked better -than did the average youth. “For some reason many of the girls I employ seem better educated and certainly more intelligent, than the young mien,” said one man. “We can get more sustained speed, certainly in the more mechanical tasks, from girls than we can with men generally, although when we get a good male worker he is superior .to a good woman worker." While manufacturers agreed that factory record's of production, notwithstanding modern machinery, did not always measure up to statistics \ issued! in overseas manufacturing countries, there were differences of opinion on the question whether there had been an actual slackening in recent years. “The number of strikes and stopwork meetings, often from causes comparatively trivial, shows that some sections of workers do not realise yet that the employers’ interests are also their own,” said a factory owner. “When, New Zealand workers are more industrially minded, this phase is bound to disappear. There will then be speeding up, because the worker will understand that 'his employer is in competition with others, and the greater the output per hour toe greater will- -be tire benefit to employees.”