Office Equitment And Supplies

 

1.	Standardizing equipment. The principle of standardization should, as far as possible, be applied to all pieces of equipment in the office. . Uniformity in material and design of desks, chairs, tables, filing equipment and bookcases is desirable, by reason of the better appearance and greater interchangeability of the articles.
2.	The modern desk. One important piece of office equipment is the modern desk. The type of desk construction has become more and more simple. Ornamentation is omitted in the attempt to increase efficiency and remove the opportunity for dust to accumulate. The older type of desk, boarded from the floor to the top, is giving way to the sanitary type which stands upon four legs. In cities like New York where rent is high and floor space valuable, the older type of desk with drawers to the floor is often favored on account of the extra room which it affords.   The quality of material in office equipment has steadily become better, for several reasons. In the first place, cheap office equipment does not last. Again, the appearance of the office and the impression which it makes upon customers is determined largely by the type of office equipment. Lastly, it is not to be doubted that the appearance of the office and the quality of the office equipment has a definite psychological effect upon the character of work done by the office employes.
3.	The roll top, The old roll top desk is going out of use. Its pigeon holes were only too convenient places for stuffing papers that should have been placed in files. In the readiness with which the rolltop desk may be closed at night and made to present an appearance of order lurks a temptation not to finish the day's business and clear the desk each night. In addition to its other disadvantages, the roll-top desk by reason of its high back deprives the office manager of an unobstructed view of the men under his supervision. It also shuts out a certain amount of light from the room.

4.	The "efjficiency desk."The desk of a clerk or stenographer should have no more drawer room than is necessary to contain the necessary supplies. It should have no space for storing books that should be in the library, folders that should be in the files,   paper or envelops in excess of current needs. Many firms have evolved or adopted certain types of desks built along these lines. For example, the Equitable Life Assurance Society has what is called its "efiiciency desk," which it thus describes :   The Equitable Efficiency Desk is perhaps the last word in office furniture. It is fifty inches long by thirty inches wide, with linoleum top and aluminum shoe and bevel edge binding. It is of quartered oak construction, dull finish, containing three drawers, the center providing compartments for working materials such as clips, pins, elastic bands and pencils. The side drawers contain an adjustable compartment for letter paper, pads, and stock forms, set slantingly for compactness and accessibility.   One of the advantages of the desk is that clerks cannot stow away in it papers which later will be overlooked. With it a clerk works with greater expedition, and there being no room for placing current work in the desk, the tendency to defer until tomorrow what can be done today is almost entirely eliminated. The drawers in the "Equitable Efficiency Desk" are so narrow that the desk looks much like a table.
5.	Special type desks. There are various special type desks or "service desks." The commonest example is the typewriter desk. Where the typist also has clerical work to perform, the typewriter is fastened to a disappearing tray, the top closing and providing a smooth surface for writing. Where the typewriter is little used, a simple typewriter stand may take the place of a special type desk.   For the sake of clerks who regularly have to handle large numbers of card records, the "tub" desk was in troduoed. The clerk sits between two "tubs," connected by a small writing surface. The tubs consist of parallel compartments containing index cards, address cards, ledger accounts (if the ledger accounts are kept on cards ) , etc. Any card in a group of over ten thousand is within arm's reach of the clerk. Over the top of these compartments are sliding panels, so that any compartment can immediately be uncovered. The covered compartments provide additional writing space.
6.	Light for desks. The lighting arrangements should give the desks ample daylight. The light should fall upon the desk from the side or the rear, the ideal being that it shall come over the left shoulder of the operator.
7.	Office tables. Office tables are used for a variety of purposes, such as sorting mail, carrying equipment and serving clerks who perform routine clerical tasks. They are also used at board or committee meetings. In the executive's office the table often serves as a place for storing or displaying books, maps or large papers, or as an overflow space upon which to work when his desk is full. If a visitor is seated by such a table, the executive can turn and talk to him without needlessly exposing confidential papers that may lie open upon his desk

8.

Office chairs. It is evidently worth while to give some thought to the selection of chairs for employes, for in them they are working seven or eight hours every day. Typists and stenographers should be supplied with the special chairs designed for them in which the height and the angle of the back are adjustable. In the case of chairs not adjustable, the use of leather cushions or foot stools often gives added comfort and promotes greater efficiency. Many offices are without sufficient chairs, not only for visitors, but even for their employes. It is generally desirable to have a chair for each desk or table, even tho it be not continually occupied.

9.

Desk equipment. Certain features of modern desk equipment not in common use are worth mentioning. Many executives have plate-glass tops which cover part or all of their desk surface. Beneath this top can be put charts, timetables, telephone numbers, engagement lists, and any other material that it is desirable to keep in view. The desk top may thus at the same time be made to serve as a visible tickler file and a working space. Glass tops are easy to keep clean and they look well. Two work trays carry papers "In" and "Out" respectively ; that is, work which the desk owner receives from someone else, and work which he has finished and which is ready for the office boy to take away. No one who is doing more than routine tasks should be without a calendar and an engagement memorandum. The loose leaf calendar combines these features. Fountain pens are frequently supphed to clerks who have a great deal of writing to do ; sometimes separate fountain pens for different colored inks. Observation indicates when this is desirable.

10.

Standardizing desk equipment.  For those who are engaged in the same kind of work, both the surface of the desk and the arrangement and contents of the drawers can be standardized. The standardized drawer arrangement of the Equitable Efficiency Desk has already been described (page 31). One organization has standardized both the arrangement and the contents of the desk drawers in many of its departments. The following outline is taken from its departmental manual and shows how the Billing Department desks are planned : Center drawer: Signal clips Rule Memo pads Pens Pencils Pins Eraser   Top right hand drawer : 1st compartment : Cards for tomorrow's billing Daily reports and time sheets   2nd compartment : Attorney report blanks Special draft blanks   3rd compartment : Cards and memoranda for drafts and attorney reports Requisition slips Naturally, standardization of this type is only practicable where the departments are large enough and where the work it self is of a comparatively standardized and simple form. If employes are left to themselves, each fits up his desk as he chooses. There must be some "one best way." That way should be found and standardized.

11.	The file drawer. There are a number of variations in the layout of desks, and one can obtain from standard manufacturers a desk to suit almost any need. A favorite arrangement for executives is to have a deep lower drawer, deep enough to carry a set of standard files, to hold confidential correspondence or the working material which the executive most frequently needs. By dropping suggestions and memoranda into a properly classified file of this sort, a man can accumulate a wealth of information on any subject about which he reads and thinks. The middle drawer of the desk is probably the least useful of all. To open it, the worker must push back hi.s chair and almost distort himself. For that reason the center drawer is frequently omitted in the modern desk.
12.	Orderly desks. The orderliness with which desks are kept, and especially the manner in which the day's work is cleaned up before the employe leaves, should be ascertained by frequent inspections. Such inspections will serve another pm-pose as well. It will often be found that a clerk or an executive does not keep "on top" of his work because too much work is given him. There are men who continually work under an overload of just this sort. There is always something being neglected or shoved aside, and the fault may not be with the man. Usually it is found that more and better work can be done if the desk or working table is cleared of incumbrances. The more orderly the desk is, inside and out, the easier is it to get at and dispatch whatever work may be on hand. "The busier the man the clearer the desk" is a saying the truth of which has been proved many times.
13.	Modern files. The old fashioned, inaccessible cardboard file has been discarded, replaced by modern Multiple unit vertical filing drawers. The discarded cardboard boxes can often be used for transfer files, unless correspondence beyond a certain age is destroyed. In the selection of filing cases, care should be taken to choose durable units, capable of easy extension. Rarely does standardization bear more fruit, in the important matters of economy, and convenience, than in the case of filing equipment.
14.	Types of file equipment. If the filing equipment is in the same room with office furniture, regard for good appearance requires that the material of both should be the same. The relative advantages of wood and steel as material for filing cases are hotly disputed by manufacturers. Steel filing cases are not fireproof, tho they are probably better resisters of fire and therefore better preservers of documents thru a fire, than wooden cases. A modern refinement is a set of filing cases in a container that is asbestos lined. The various filing case units of each manufacturer have been so nearly interchangeable that today it is possible to purchase almost any desired combination of letter file drawers, card-file drawers and card index Drawers provided the cards used are the standard sizes. Small desk card index trays are often an indispensable piece of equipment on an executive's desk. Such trays can also be purchased to fit any desk drawer.

15.	Bookcases. Because of the dust common in offices, books should be kept behind closed doors. An office library is usually built up from a small beginning ; the need of bookcase space grows with the development of the library. Therefore the most suitable form of office bookcase is the multiple unit case, equipped with sliding glass doors to keep out dust. Sections can be added as rapidly as shelf space is needed. The sectional bookcases should be of the same material as the other office furniture.
16.	Office supplies. The term "office supplies" includes primarily paper and printed forms ; it also stands for the whole miscellany of office paraphernalia with exception of the larger items of office equipment and appliances already described. In an industrial concern, the business of purchasing is likely to be a separate department. The materials, when bought, are kept track of by an accurate stockkeeping system, assuring that enough tho not too much of supplies of all sorts are carried, and also that these supplies are economically distributed and used. The same care is necessary in buying office supplies and caring for them as in the case of purchasing factory supplies. Both factory and office turn out a product which is a combination of labor and raw material (office forms, stationery, stamps, etc.). It is true that, in the case of the product of the office, labor has a much larger proportion and materials a much smaller one than in the case of the factory ; nevertheless the difference is merely one of degree.
17.	Standardizing supplies. Standardization of supplies results in savings in the purchase price, just as in the case of equipment and office appliances. In a large office there is a perceptible advantage in standardizing even lead pencils and purchasing in bulk for the whole office. Clerks are likely to have individual preferences or prejudices with regard to pencils. All, except such special workers as draftsmen, can use the same type. So also in the matter of pen holders, ink wells, paper clips and numerous other items.

18.

Forms. It is frequently charged that many concerns pay high prices to printers for forms which might be standardized, and bought at any large retail stationery store. The stationery houses already have standardized such forms as shipping receipts, receiving records, different kinds of vouchers, loose leaf forms, cards and ruled sheets. At the same time it is necessary to use caution in taking over whole sets of office forms put out by the so-called system manufacturers. It is seldom that a ready-made system can be applied in its entirety to an office. The attempt to use such a system is likely to result in an adjustment of the office to the system, rather than of the system to the office.   In all probability, most offices have certain useless forms either because the information contained in a certain form is recorded else where, or because the information is being collected for an emergency which, in all probability, will never occur. In a large office, it is not impossible to start a system of records and forget to stop the system when the reason for its use has passed.

19.

New forms. Any proposed new form shouldbe carefully examined to determine just how it is to be used and just what results may be expected from it. If the form is to be printed, the convenience of the printer is worth considering. The size of paper ordinarily used for office forms is 34 x 22 inches, while the size of card board used in making card forms is 221/2 X 281/2 inches. There is economy in preparing forms of a size that permits the sheet to be cut without waste. For example, there are eight 8I/2 x 11 sheets (the standard letterhead size) in the 34 x 22 sheet. In the same way, there are a certain number of standard sized card forms; for example, 3x5 and 4x6. If the forms are to be used on the typewriter, the dotted lines (often wholly unnecessary) should correspond to the typewriter spacing. Where the quantity of miscellanous forms is fairly large it is often economical to print these forms in the office. The use of small printing presses or reproducing machines described in Chapter IV, will be suitable for this purpose. It is unnecessary to consider artistic design or fine printing on forms that are intended solely for office use. Letterheads should receive due attention from the view  points of standardization, cheapness and advertising value. The modern practice is to use lithographed letterheads because of the clear cut appearance which such work produces. If ordered in sufficient quantities, the price is not very much higher than ordinary printing and therefore the expense is not an obstacle. The question of buying paper direct from the mills should be considered when large lots are being bought or when special runs or special grades of paper are required. Nearly all printers make a handling charge for paper, and the saving of this charge may be worth while. It has been found that a weight of forty pounds to the ream is about the correct grade of paper for letterheads. A heavier weight is used chiefly to add to the impressiveness of the letterhead. A lighter weight is too flimsy and weak for satisfactory service.

20.	Economical purchases. Economy in purchasing is obtained, as a rule, by means of standardization. But economy is also at times secured by the opposite method of splitting up the purchases into different grades. For example, cheaper paper, envelops and forms often suffice for interdepartmental communications, when the stationery used for correspondence with the outside world must be of a higher grade. Water marks have an advertising value in the firm's outside correspondence, but they are an extravagance when used in office forms. A good quality of paper is needed if erasures are frequent, if ink must be used in writing, or if records are to be kept for a long time. An executive frequently requires a specially high grade of private correspondence paper, cut to a nonstandard size. Distinction is added by the very unusualness of the paper's appearance. Too great economy, however, does not pay, even in the purchase of the most ordinary supplies. In a recent law suit, carbon copies of an important document were produced in court. But in this instance a cheap grade of carbon paper had been used and an important matter of the document was not fully reproduced in the carbon duplicate.
21.	Purchasing department, The actual purchasing of supplies should be concentrated in the hands of a person or a department. In such a department information concerning sources of supply is gathered and classified, and catalogs, price lists and quotations are kept. The purchasing department receives requisitions, properly countersigned. It makes out and sends orders, follows up the prompt filling of those orders, inspects the quality of the product, and passes the invoice on to the accounting department for payment. As the volume of business grows, it is worth while from time to time to figure anew whether it would not pay to have certain printed forms prepared on a duplicating machine in the office. For purposes of comparison with later quotations the purchasing agent should file a sample of each lot, and file with it the name of the printer, the date, the price and the quantity ordered.
22.	Stocks of supplies. In a well kept stockroom office supplies will be kept in an orderly and easily accessible manner. Adjustable steel shelving is ideal for this purpose. Where the stockroom is not reasonably free from dust, stationery must be kept inclosed. Another requirement of a good office stockroom is a system of records serving as a perpetual inventory for each item of supplies. Such a record for each item may often be kept on a 3 X 5 index card, the amounts received, delivered, and balance on hand being carried in parallel columns. A “low limit” is written in a space at the top of the card, and when the balance approaches that limit, additional stock is ordered. This is important since a sudden shortage in supplies may entirely hold up part of the office work. The stock card on page 43 indicates the rulings generally used.
23.	Rate of consumption. Office supplies and stores aro funds in concrete form, and should be handled just as carefully. Stores should not be issued except upon proper requisition, and the rate of consumption should periodically be checked with that of former periods. It should be a fixed rule that all supplies, except those immediately needed, must be kept in the stock room and not lying loose about the office or in the desks of its occupants. The office boys serve as the connecting links between the workers and the stock room. Clerks and stenographers are not employed to run to and fro looking for supplies.

REVIEW

What would you, as office manager, do to arouse alertness and economy of time and supplies in the force?

Why do so many office workers continually complain of being loaded up with work ?

What suggestion is there for the office manager in the matter of regulating supplies, when he watches a depositor present his check to the cashier of a bank ?

What advantages are found in the standardization of office equipment ? Of office supplies ?