Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JUNE 2, 192.3
11
CONDUCTBD BfWWUPtiA BRAID WHITfr
matic in the hands of any competent manager.
And it must, likewise, be as efficient as can be
imagined for the ultimate purposes which are
to be subserved by the goods which are to
The Three Key Ideas Which Have Been Responsible for the Development of Volume Production spring from it. Now, no candid man will say
that the piano business possesses many funda-
in the American Industrial Plant—Their Application to the Piano Industry—Standardiza-
mental sets of designs to which these qualities
tion as It Applies to the Piano Within the Walls of the Individual Factory
could rightly be attributed.
It will be admitted generally, I suppose, that in vain, to the extent that numerous industrial
Scientific Principles Are Practical
modern industrial methods are all being direct- atrocities have been committed by persons who
Yet, that it can easily, or relatively easily,
ed towards the attainment of what is usually have had the enthusiasm needed to follow him, be established in "the piano industry is a fact
called "mass production." By this term is without, unfortunately, his technical or financial about this key idea not generally appreciated.
meant the continuous generation, through me- abilities, need not be considered beside the fact Because piano making has been hitherto an in-
chanical processes duly classified and indefinite- that the Ford method, when paralleled through- dustry almost anarchical in its organization, an
ly repeated, of articles exactly alike, costing out in industries affording the necessary simi- industry standardized only in certain obvious
precisely the same and selling at equal retail larities, proposes and attains to the ideal of mechanical aspects (such as in the interior de-
prices. This definition may, of course, be ex- identical production of identical mechanical sign of actions), it is commonly assumed that
panded to cover the analogous cases where goods to an extent only limited by the physical any attempt to bring to a common focus all
the scattered theories and methods of practice
goods of different species within the same ge- circumstances of the case.
in respect of tonal design is necessarily im-
nus are separately manufactured, each species
The Key Ideas
practical. Yet this whole assumption rests upon
having its own plant and being regarded, for
Now, the Ford method essentially is gov-
all practical purposes, as if it were the single erned by three great key ideas. The first is the mere ipse dixit of the small group which
in every industry invariably opposes reform.
object of the manufacturer's endeavors.
the attainment and maintenance of a standard There is no gain in arguing with persons of this
Now, I am not prepared to argue for a mo- design. The second is the reduction of the
ment that this ideal is altogether admirable, processes of building after that design, from the sort.
Connotations of the Idea
but that it is inevitable as a result of the kind original irreducible minimum to the greatest
But there is a tendency to be met and, if
of civilization in which we live is a proposition possible number of stages, each proportionately
not, I think, to be disputed. Unfortunately, simpler and more nearly automatic. The third possible, to be directed. That tendency is the
the question of questions in most industries is is the establishment, training and maintenance tendency to mass production methods, and the
no longer how good, but how uniform and prac- of a working force of machine-tenders—radi- direction we desire to give to it is towards sci-
tically satisfactory can a product be; in other cally differing in their activities and, conse- entific principle. Only by scientific principle,
words, how can we produce something which quently in their thinking from the craftsmen, expressed in accurately efficient standard de-
will at once satisfy the greatest number of the whom they are slowly but surely displacing. signs, can the ideals of mass production be at-
people, something, therefore, always the same, Upon these three ideas rests the possibility as tained. These'ideals, even when expressed in
no matter how many millions of times it be re- well as the success of any method of mass pro- the lowest commercial terms, connote the in-
definite reproduction of one single efficient type,
produced. For the taste of the mass is never duction.
the best of its kind for the money, produced
distinguished; and, as time goes on, appears to
I have argued more than once that the first and reproduced unendingly, with the minimum
become less and less individual.
of these ideas—that which relates to the attain-
One must not be particularly happy at all ment and maintenance of standard design—has of variation and at the lowest attainable cost.
this, especially when one sees in our piano busi- not yet been attained in the piano industry, The foundation essential to them in any con-
ness the social insidious tendency towards mass save in a negative sense. That is to say, there ceivable case is a scientifically worked out de-
production of virtually identical articles; yet it has yet been no intimation anywhere that the sign, with accuracy of calculation limited only
is impossible to combat successfully what is, strivings of our more active manufacturers to- by the mechanical considerations involved in
after all, only the common direction of all con- wards the attainment of mass production are translating into it material tangible results.
In the business of piano manufacturing what,
temporary industry. That this direction must accompanied by the realization of the great
(Continued en paijc 12)
ultimately lead to a civilization mechanized truth that standard designs are something more
beyond all present possibilities of imagination than a mere average of the pattern-making
is one of the appalling prospects which one had which has managed to survive the wear and
better not make worse by dwelling upon it.
tear of the factory. In other words, there is
Guiding What We Cannot Prevent
no general realization that, in any method of
Since, then, our piano industry is inevitably mass production, the designing is really the
More profits for you
Our book tells you how to ln-
obliged to take its place (I assume the neces- most important of all the key ideas, since the
crease your profits. How to
sity, which, however, can very easily be proved) others are wholly useless without it. Design
c u t t h e d ar n aK ed goods, losses.
This valuable book tells you "How to repair
it becomes important to guide, if we can, the in mass production is the foundation on which
damage to varnished surfaces." If you are in-
progress of what we cannot prevent. It is rests the entire structure; and this design needs
terested in reducing- your losses write for your
copy, on your firm stationery, or send name of
Only necessary to go into many large and pro- must be the most nearly perfect for its purpose
firm, otherwise enclose ten cents to cover
postage.
gressive piano factories to-day to see sincere at- that the mind of man can beget. It must be
Write
tempts being made to attain to the ideal of accurate from the engineering standpoint. It
mass production, an ideal which in the mechani- must be so easily understood and so obviously
The M. L. Campbell Co.
cal field has perhaps been most efficiently ex- clear that the deduction of manufacturing proc-
Kansas City, Mo.
23 Penn. Street
pressed by the manufacturing activities of Hen- esses from it becomes a process almost auto-
rv Ford. That Mr. Ford's name has been taken
In it's 20-year
with upwards of
POLKS
1 U N £J K. IS
Here are
HARLEM PIANO & ORGAN KEY CO.
1OOO
TUNING
IVOKY AND PORCELAIN CEMENT
SUCCESSFUL
FOR PIANO KEYS
GRADUATES
THE FUNDAMENTALS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
MASS PRODUCTION IN THE PIANO FACTORIES
Profits-Profits
This is a fine white ivory cold plue.
We have spent IS years perfecting it.
Parcel post paid anywhere in U. S. for $1.
121-123 East 126th Street
New York. N. Y.
FAUST SCHOOL
OF TUNING
BASS STRINGS
Special attention given to Iko loads of tko tuner and tho doalor
AODMIt
OTTO R. TREFZ, Jr.
COURTHOUSE SO.
VALPARAISO. IND.
2110 Fair-mount Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa.
The TUNER'S FRIEND
Repair Parts and Tools of
Every Description
New stria all leather bridle strap
Braunsdorf's Other Specialties
Send for New Prices
Standard of America
Alumni of 2000
BRAUNSDORF'S ALL LEATHER BRIDLE STRAPS
Piano Toning, Pipe and Reed Or (a a
and Player Piano. Year Book Free.
Labor Saving: Mouse Proof; Guaranteed all an* length
Bend far Samples.
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27-29 Gainsboro Street
BOSTON, MASS.
Felt* and Cloths In anu Quantities
GEO. W. BRAUNSDORF, Inc.,
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Offlte and Factory:
D KMt Mrd St., New Tork