Hovey and Beard Company

HOVEY AND BEARD COMPANY

The Hovey and Beard Company manufactures wooden toys of various kinds: wooden animals, pull toys,

and the like. One part of the manufacturing process involved spraying paint on the partially assembled toys

and hanging them on moving hooks which carried them through a drying oven. This operation was plagued

by absenteeism, turnover, 5 and low morale.

Let us look briefly at the painting operation in which the problem occurred.

The toys were cut, sanded, and partially assembled in the wood room.

Then they were dipped into shellac, following which they were painted.

The toys were predominantly twocolored;

a few were made in more than two colors. Each color required an additional trip through the paint room.

Shortly before the troubles