Improvement in the Press Room

Abstract

As we have shown in chapter 7, the situation in the Press Room was very different from that in the Finishing Shop, and few of the same problems were seen by management to be important. Working conditions were recognised to be poor, but labour turnover and absence had been reduced to low levels in the last two years by the actions of the senior foreman. Output per man was satisfactory and few disputes or grievances now came to the notice of the departmental manager. The main difficulty was that total production was stagnant in a buoyant product market situation. The industrial engineers believed that equipment was not used to its full capacity, but there appeared to be difficulties in greater usage of the capacity. One origin of the enquiry had been the establishment by senior management of an enquiry into means of improving working conditions, to encourage easier recruitment and retention in an attempt to increase output.