Home The Beginning August Wehrle Officers Employees Stoves Mowers Buildings Picnic Domain Contact |
 Canal and Wehrle Works Newark, Ohio, 1907. |
|
In the Beginning Page 2
The Newark Stove Company, Newark, Ohio In 1928 they installed their first short power conveyor. The stoves were not built complete on the conveyor, half of the work was completed on the benches. Stoves were packed and crated on the floor. All legs were assembled on stoves and then removed and packed in stove. Thousands of dollars was spent on files for one year. During this time there was no salvage dept. "Wood, paper and rags were burned as moulten steel was thrown all over the ground on dump. When the yard was finally cleaned up they found 300 tons of scrap steel. When the war began in 1941 Newark Stove Co. was manufacturing coal and wood heaters, gas, gasoline and electric ranges, and we were making repair parts for earlier models. With the great demand for fighting equipment, it was necessary to change immediately from civilian goods to war material. It was necessary to order machinery immediately but it was impossible to get it for months, so we converted our machinery over to war production. We immediately started teaching the new skill to our operators. Eventually we received our new machinery. Prior to the war, some of our employees were familiar with 1/16 of an inch in our measurements, but to manufacture war material it was necessary to measure to .0005 of an inch and then finally to ten thousands of an inch. During the war we mfg. 37 millimeter shells 40 millimeter shells 90 millimeter shells case Land mines Rudders SB2C Bombbay doors A-25 Cargo doors C-47 In 1943 we received the army and navy E for excellent in war production. Teamwork in the plant is the secret of our success. 1 Quantity of production 2 Quality of finished part 3 Overcoming production obstacles 4 Avoidance of stoppage 5 Record of absenteeism 6 Maintainence of fair labor standards 7 Effective management 8 Training of employees 9 Record of accident & health, sanitation 10 Record of plant production 11 Utilization of sub contract facilities We build a plant on a drawing board and planned greater production by shrinking an oversize plant. The production of cast iron stoves continued through 1936 and 1937 and by 1938 it was easy to visualize that the trend of cast iron stove market was literally making Newark Stove an orphan plant. With the entrance of the U.S. into the war in 1941, our plans were shelved. However in early 1943, recognizing that the war would end, our management in farsighted planning asked the question "Is Newark the proper location geographically for a stove mfg. plant, and can the existing facilities be rearranged to approach a modern plant, operating economically costwise and produce the quantities required by Sears Sales Division". By Aug. 1943 Sears survey was completed. The results of this study were favorable to Newark as a location and a revamp of the existing facilities. This was extremely gratifying to all of us at the Newark plant. Using our 1941 production as a basis for all calculations, we propose to increase production within 50% or 500,000 sq. ft. We built a scale model of all buildings so that plant men and executives could better visualize our modernization program. This was done for the practical purpose of eliminating any and all bottlenecks which would eventually jeopardize our production. Since we're changing from castings to steel, it was necessary to make many changes. We estimate stoves 1 year in advance of the time they are going to be manufactured. We receive a parts lists complete of drawings from Engineering Dept. We, in turn, make out bill of material and Purchasing Dept. check cost of every purchased part. Every part to be manufactured in the plant is made out on a spec. calling out type of steel, shear size and every operation is listed. These cards are sent to Cost Dept. and they in turn figure out cost of stove. If stove is decided to be made, we in turn make out standard hour charts for every piece in every department. Therefore, every department knows exactly how much personel he needs to run production on any particular model or models. Enameling parts started in 1911 at the Cremery Packaging Co. in the state of Wisconsin and also at Ohio State Pen. Our enamling set up is modern. We have automatic spray and automatic pickle tanks. It used to be done by hand.
Back |
nerkahia.com © 2009