However, information regarding more relevant machines was obtained by attendance at the International Thrift Congress held in London in October 1929. This congress was jointly organised by the Trustee Savings Banks Association plus two other bodies. Consequently, arrangements were made for the Burroughs Adding Machine Company to provide a demonstration of their machine at the Bank's Head Office on Thursday, November 7th 1929, as reported by the General Manager at a Bank Committee meeting held on November 11th. The report also examined the question of the Bank purchasing an Addressograph:
Arising out of the visit of the deputation to the Amsterdam Municipal Bank, and as a result of the inspection of mechanical appliances at the Exhibition held in connection with the recent International Thrift Congress in London, proposals put forward by the Burroughs Adding Machine Company for mechanical posting and proving of ledgers have been considered. In order more clearly to follow the proposals, it was arranged for a demonstration to be given at the Head Office of the Bank, and this took place on Thursday afternoon last, when the Chairman (Alderman Sir Percival Bower) and Councillors Cooper, Gelling and Poole attended. Councillor Barrow was prevented from attending the demonstration, but had an opportunity of seeing the machine and having explained to him the proposals prior to the demonstration.
The Burroughs Company temporarily adapted one of their standard machines to suit the requirements of this Bank, and their London Representative with an expert operator attended to explain the proposals and to give the demonstration. As a result, the Members of the Committee present were satisfied that the machine could do all that was claimed for it, and that its introduction into the Bank would be desirable.
The Committee will appreciate that working under the present system of hand posting to the ledgers and the proving of ledgers by hand, means the engagement of two additional persons on the staff every time a new branch is opened, and consequently increasing the working expenses of the Bank. The increase in working costs can be reduced, and the engagement of staff retarded, by adopting mechanical ledger posting at the larger branches and Head Office. After giving much thought to the question, I am of opinion that by using such a machine at branches where five or more of the staff are engaged, one clerk can be withdrawn from each of such branches, and can be used in conjunction with the opening of new branches which are in course of erection or contemplated. The reduction at Head Office under similar conditions would amount to two clerks. The branches which would be affected in this way are as follows:
Aston
Aston Cross
Balsall Heath
Bearwood
Erdington
Handsworth
Kings Heath
Rotton Park
Small Heath
Sparkbrook
At the moment I cannot see a reduction taking place at branches where four or less of the staff are provided, although I think mechanical ledger posting, etc for these branches would result in delaying the necessity for engagement of additional staff. At present one or two branches worked by a staff of four are very near the border line which would call for engaging an extra clerk.
Looked at from the financial aspect, there would be a considerable saving by adopting mechanical book-keeping at the branches named above and at Head Office. The machine is quoted at £379 less 5% discount, say £360; and it should be explained that such a machine would be specially built up, tested, and proved to suit our requirements, for which purpose a delivery time of four months would be required. Taking the life of the machine at ten years (although the Company state it would have a much longer life) the capital outlay on twelve machines (ten for the branches named and two for Head Office) would be £4,320. Putting the salaries of the twelve clerks displaced (who could be used for new branches) at £150 per annum each, this gives a total of £1,800 per annum, or in ten years £18,000. The saving, therefore, would amount to £13,680.
At each of the branches named there is sufficient accommodation for the installation of mechanical posting, but such appliances could not be introduced at the present Head Office, where there is unfortunately no available space. When new premises are obtained, however, for the Head Office, then mechanical book-keeping could be installed. In the event of the Committee deciding to adopt mechanical book-keeping, it would perhaps be preferable to introduce the scheme gradually, and in such a manner as would enable me to staff the next six new branches without engaging extra clerks. I have already covered the position as regards staff for the branch at Erdington, which will be opened at the beginning of January next, but staff would be required for the opening of the new Bank in Bristol Street and the one at Billesley, both of which will probably be ready in the early Spring, and four clerks would be required at that time. If the necessary machines were ordered now, they would be available by the end of March, and to avoid engaging further staff for these two last-named branches it would mean four machines. On the other hand, if it was thought preferable to have only two machines to begin with, then staff would have to be provided for one of the two branches referred to.
ADDRESSOGRAPH
At the same time as the Members of the Committee inspected the Burroughs machine referred to above, they also had a demonstration of the working of an Addressograph machine specially arranged to meet the needs of the House Purchase Department, where there is considerable repetition in listing ground rents and insurances and in sending out notices. At the present time the whole of this work has to be done by hand, which makes it very laborious.
The use of an Addressograph would be a great help not only to the House Purchase Department, but also in the Accountancy Department and in the Savings Bank Department in connection with the monthly repayments by mortgagors.
The Members present at the demonstration were unanimously of opinion that such a machine should be purchased, and the Addressograph Company quote for the machine to suit our requirements, complete with electric drive, selector, listing attachment and Hand Graphotype, at the price of £162. 5. 0. nett.
The Company are prepared to supply the necessary embossed address plates to our requirements, ready for use at 2¾d each, which works out at £68. 15. 0. for 6000 plates, or they will supply the plates to be embossed by ourselves at £37. 10. -.
To keep the address plates in safe custody and in correct order it will be necessary to have two 18 drawer cabinets, giving a holding capacity of 6840 plates, and the cost of these two cabinets will be £16.
After consideration of the report, the Bank Committee approved the gradual introduction of bookkeeping on the lines set out by the General Manager, and authorised the immediate purchase of two machines to be used at two branches to be selected by him. Additionally, the General Purposes Sub-Committee was empowered to sanction further purchases of machines from time to time, and the purchase of an Addressograph etc was also agreed.
In 1930, March 31st fell on a Monday. Following the closure of branch doors at 8pm on the Saturday, the Annual Balance work commenced and continued through Sunday and Monday (probably from 8am to 10pm, although elder males may have worked through the night), prior to the branches opening for business again on Tuesday morning. The staff performed this work without any overtime payments, but instead were rewarded by a payment from a lump sum granted by the Bank Committee. The amount of the grant for 1930 was £700, authorised by the Committee after consideration of the following report by the General Manager dated April 14th 1930:
Annual Balance, 1930 - Staff Bonus.
The work in connection with the balancing of the depositors' ledgers and preparing the extracted lists of balances was carried out during Saturday night, March 29th, and the whole of Sunday and Monday following, and as in former years the Staff were in a position to enter the interest in the pass books of depositors on the opening of the Bank on April 1st.
The work was facilitated by the loan of 35 Comptometer Operators and machines from other Corporation Departments and from The Burroughs' Adding Machine Company.
A total of 3,500 hours was worked by the Staff on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday referred to, but certain preliminary work had been undertaken by the Staff during the preceding evenings.
The classification of accounts still remains to be done, and this work will be undertaken outside office hours as soon as the extracted balances can be freed by the Auditors, who commenced the work of the audit on Tuesday, April 1st.
I am pleased to testify to the celerity and accuracy with which the balancing has been done and the extractions made; this has only been possible by the enthusiastic co-operation of every Member of the Staff engaged on the work.
It has been the practice of the Bank to grant a sum to be divided amongst the Staff for this extra work, and I give below particulars relating to the number of Savings Bank accounts at the end of each year and the amount granted. It will be appreciated that in addition to these figures there are 6,440 House Purchase accounts, in respect of which the balances have also been extracted.
|
|
Number of Accounts |
Amount of Grant (£) |
|
1920 |
40,130 |
- |
|
1921 |
62,119 |
150 |
|
1922 |
76,230 |
150 |
|
1923 |
100,245 |
250 |
|
1924 |
133,420 |
300 |
|
1925 |
166,894 |
350 |
|
1926 |
199,605 |
400 |
|
1927 |
225,760 |
450 |
|
1928 |
254,433 |
500 |
|
1929 |
280,274 |
550 |
|
1930 |
311,956 |
|
For the previous six years the Committee had raised the Annual Balance grant by £50, but for 1930 the amount was raised from £550 to £700. This larger increase reflected the higher volume of work as described by the General Manager, which involved the manual listing of over 300,000 accounts by Account Number and Balance. As reducing this work would be a benefit at those branches to be converted to machine accounting, the Committee directed the General Manager to take steps to secure delivery of Bookkeeping machines for the Bank as soon as possible and also to consider the desirability of placing an additional order.
In 1930, there were about 180 staff employed by the Bank, so that the £700 bonus would have meant individual sums of £5 for Branch Managers and slightly smaller sums for more junior staff. These were significant sums, so the staff may have had mixed feelings regarding the introduction of labour saving machines.
When the Committee met on June 2nd 1930, the General Manager was able to report that the first two machines had been delivered and were employed at Aston Cross and Balsall Heath branches. The report does not state why these two offices were chosen to be the pioneers in this new venture, but it may have been that both branches had sufficient space to accommodate the machine mounted on its dedicated desk plus the operator's chair. Alternatively, the number of accounts (Aston Cross: 11,140; Balsall Heath: 10,142) to be taken on to the new system may have been considered manageable. A large amount of work was required to prepare new ledger sheets that were required by the machine system, but this work was basically wasted as ledger sheets (rather than ledger cards) proved to be inefficient as detailed in the General Manager's report:
Mechanical Posting Machines.
I have to report that the Burroughs posting machines recently purchased have been installed at the Aston Cross and Balsall Heath Branches. The machines have done all that the Makers claimed they would do, and all that we require for our purposes. I have no hesitation in recommending that the installation of similar machines at other branches.
The Makers state that it will take four months to supply two machines, which should be borne in mind when placing orders.
After my recent experiences, I think it would be wise to restrict the change over at any branch to two periods of the year, viz, early in December and early in May, when the staff of the Bank is at full strength. From middle May to middle November the staff is reduced owing to holidays, and from middle December to the middle of April the volume of business is greater than at other periods. The periods I have suggested are convenient because we always make an interim balance at the end of November and an annual balance at the end of March, which would be helpful.
To effect the changeover at the two branches named, a large staff, varied as regards personnel, was engaged on three separate afternoons and evenings under my personal supervision at Aston Cross, and under Mr Ellison's supervision at Balsall Heath. The Committee will appreciate the work involved from the following: (1) The whole of the accounts in the old ledgers have to be cast as regards interest and principal, then the balances must be extracted and the ledgers proved; (2) new ledger sheets have to be headed and numbered, and the balances of interest and principal entered thereon; (3) the individual entries thus made must be proved against the figure in the old ledgers; (4) specimen signature cards have to be made out with account number and name, leaving the address to be obtained when a depositor presents himself at the branch and gives a specimen signature; (5) House Purchase accounts necessitate a similar procedure as regards proving accounts and making out new ledger sheets. At Aston Cross there were 11,030 Savings Bank accounts and 110 House Purchase accounts to deal with, whilst at Balsall Heath the figures were 10,050 and 92 respectively. The time spent on this work totalled 527¼ hours, spread over 80 members of staff.
We have made this trial with ledger sheets and a special type of ledger binder and locking device, but I do not advise the continuance of this system owing to the time occupied in unlocking ledger binders, taking out the required sheets for operation, and replacing same in binders. A test proved that it took one hour to obtain 300 sheets, and another hour to put them back. I am therefore of opinion that the adoption of ledger cards kept in a fireproof cabinet will not only prove advantageous, but economical. The type of cabinet I suggest would act also as a desk when not in use for filing of ledger cards.
I have adopted the policy of two operators to each branch, who will work alternately on the machine and as cashiers at the counter. By this arrangement there will always be one operator available in case of illness or during holidays, and by alternately working the machine each operator will be kept in training. No posting will be undertaken on Monday or Saturday evenings - both operators acting as cashiers on those evenings.
With December 1930 earmarked as the next practicable date for any branches to be taken-on to the machine-based system, the question of obtaining a fire-proof ledger container to house a new style of ledger card was considered. The General Manager presented the following report to the Finance Sub-Committee on October 13th 1930:
Fire-proof Ledger Desks.
The question as to whether fire-proof ledger desks would not be more suitable for use in connection with the mechanical system of book-keeping has been considered by the General Manager, the Chairman, Councillor Gelling and Councillor Cooper, and various firms have been approached with a view to seeing whether a suitable type of desk could be obtained.
The Library Bureau manufacture a desk 5' 7" long, which they state is fire-proof and which would hold approximately 8,000 cards. This desk is said to have been thoroughly tested and to be absolutely fire-resisting. The price quoted was £111.
This price was considered to be too high and other firms were approached. It was found, however, that no other firms make ledger desks of this type. It, therefore, became a case of ascertaining whether a firm would undertake their manufacture. Messrs Walker & Easler of Pershore Street and Messrs Cottrell were both approached, but neither of these firms would undertake the work. Messrs Samuel Withers & Co Ltd were then asked if they would essay to make such a desk, and said that they were willing to do so.
Messrs Withers constructed an experimental desk approximately 5' 7" long, which will hold about 11,000 cards. After this was constructed it was inspected by the General Manager, the Chairman and Councillor Cooper, who considered that when certain improvements were embodied, and if the desk proved to be as fire-proof as Messrs Withers claimed, it would meet the Bank's requirements.
Messrs Withers tested the desk in a fire. It was erected 8' high from the ground and a fierce fire was built under it. It was left in the fire for 1½ hours, when it was dropped to the ground and a hose played on the whole to put out the fire. The heat was so intent that the brass handles of the desk were melted; nevertheless, papers inside were absolutely intact and undamaged.
After the test, Messrs Withers were told that they might proceed to make a sample desk, which was to have embodied in it the details suggested by the Chairman. This desk was completed and has been inspected by the Chairman and the General Manager, and they expressed the opinion that it would meet the requirements of the Bank.
Messrs Withers were unable to give a firm price, but they stated that it would not exceed £56 per desk, and the Chairman, therefore, instructed an order to be placed for four desks.