A Short System for Pro-Rating Direct Labor Cost in Furniture Plant Rough Mills

Time studies of furniture plant rough-mill operations are difficult and time-consuming. This paper shows how cost ratios between different grades of lumber, and between cutting lengths, may be used to estimate the direct labor cost of processing cuttings of different sizes from different lumber grades. If the direct labor cost to process No. 1 Common lumber is used as a base for comparing costs, the direct labor cost to process the other grades may be expressed as a percentage of the No. 1 Common cost. There is a fairly constant relationship between direct labor costs to produce different lengths. The index method of estimating direct labor costs is not so accurate as estimates based on detailed time studies. However, it presents a much more rapid means of determining cuttings of different sizes and between cuttings made from different lumber grades in modernized plants fully mechanized than in plants where machines are hand fed. There is a rapid rise in direct labor cost per net foot with a decrease in cutting length.

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