Another illustration of the application of this principle of measuring a
man's performance against a given task at frequent intervals to an
entirely different line of work may be of interest. For this purpose the
writer chooses the manufacture of bicycle balls in the works of the
Symonds Rolling Machine Company, in Fitchburg, Mass. All of the work
done in this factory was subjected to an accurate time study, and then
was changed from day to piece work, through the assistance of functional
foreman ship, etc. The particular operation to be described however, is
that of inspecting bicycle balls before they were finally boxed for
shipment. Many millions of these balls were inspected annually. When the
writer undertook to systematize this work, the factory had been running
for eight or ten years on ordinary day work, so that the various
employees were "old hands," and skilled at their jobs. The work of
inspection was done entirely by girls--about one hundred and twenty
being employed at it--all on day work.

This work consisted briefly in placing a row of small polished steel
balls on the back of the left hand, in the crease between two of the
fingers pressed together, and while they were rolled over and over, with
the aid of a magnet held in the right hand, they were minutely examined
in a strong light, and the defective balls picked out and thrown into
especial boxes. Four kinds of defects were looked for--dented, soft,
scratched, and fire cracked--and they were mostly 50 minute as to be
invisible to an eye not especially trained to this work. It required the
closest attention and concentration. The girls had worked on day work
for years, ten and one-half hours per day, with a Saturday half-holiday.

The first move before in any way stimulating them toward a larger output
was to insure against a falling off in quality. This was accomplished
through over-inspection. Four of the most trustworthy girls were given