I M P R O V I N G THE S Y S T E M OF A C C O U N T I N G FOR M E A S U R E M E N T MEANS AT E N T E R P R I S E S I. N. S o k o l o v

681.2.003.3

At the present time the metrological service of an enterprise has at its disposal a mass of accounting documentation: certificates, journals, certifications, attestations, graphs, etc. Practice shows that this system of accounting can satisfy the need of a service for information about an inventory of measuring and texting equipment of up to 1000-1500 units. With an increase of the number of instruments the search for information in this system is sharply complicated. It is sufficient to note that for an inventory of 2,000 instruments, their catalog occupies about 150pages in a typical journal. These difficulties compel the metrological services of an enterprise to Iook for a new and more progressive system of accounting for measurement means. Of the existing systems for keeping and searching for information the one most suitable for this problem under the conditions of an enterprise is the punched card system. At the beginning of 1971 the Latvian Republican Laboratory for Governmental Surveillance (RLGN) developed and submitted for testing a system for accounting for the measurement means at an enterprise using punched cards of K-5 format with two-row edge perforations. A card contains all the required information about an instrument and can serve as its certificate, Noted on the card are the measurement limits, the instrument's accuracy class, the year of manufacture, the factory number, the checking period, the set to which it belongs, etc. The punching encodes the factory and inventory number, the checking period, the measurement group, and the measurement limits. A completed card provides maintenance of accounting for the instrument for a period of seven years. On recommendation of the Latvian RGLN work on the introduction of the system of accounting for instruments with the aid of punched cards was conducted in the Central Laboratory for Measurements and Measuring Equipment (TsLIIT) of the Bolderai Combine for Composite Processing of Wood of the Ministry of the Wood-Processing Industry of the Latvian SStL The Bolderai Combine for Composite Processing of Wood is an enterprise having a high degree of automation. The technological line for the manufacture of wood-fiber plates is filled with measuring devices and means for the automation of technological processes. Up to the time of transition to accounting for instruments by means of punched cards the Combine had about 4,000 units of measurement means subject to accounting. For introduction of the new system of accounting for instruments the TsLIIT set up a card index for storing punched cards with separation with respect to objects for the setup and use of instruments; a selector with a vibrator was made for information search; a system was developed for accounting for measuring and testing equipment having partitioning of all instruments into categories (groups) with respect to the data of the old accounting and the actual state of the instruments, and punched cards were filled out and encoded. The entire inventory of measuring instruments in the new system was divided into the following groups: 1, Group of instruments found in use in units. 2, Circulating instruments, Their application is replacement of those instruments for which in the current quarter the check periods are ending. Circulating instruments are divided into two subgroups-in one are placed instruments directed to repair, and in the other are those coming from repair.

Translated from Izmeritel'naya Tekhnika, No. 5, pp. 83-84, May, 1973.

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3. Spare instruments. Their application is to replace instruments that are in use and go out of order before expected. They are always correct, checked, and stored separately. Their number depends on the number of the same type ofinstrumentshaving the same parameters and comprise about 9-5% of those in use, All the punched cards m a d e for instruments have small duplicates that are kept in a punched-card pocket and are reservoirs of information about the instrument during its movement. On the duplicate card the following data are entered: the factory number, the year of manufacture, the form and limits of measurement, remarks about repair or checking, and also the location at which the instrument is set up. The duplicate card takes part in instrument m o v e m e n t at the time of repair and setup, at the completion of which it is put into the punched-card pocket, The duplicate card fulfills the function of a job order for repair and checking, an order for instrument r e p l a c e m e n t at the expiration of the checking period, and is a document for obtaining and delivering the instrument to the store of the TsLIIT, All the card index containers are divided into these groups: containers having the designation of the unit; a container for "send for repair" and a container for "sent from repair"; a container having the designation "spare"; and containers with the designation "stored," We shall trace a l l the operations in working with a card index. At the beginning of a year a summary plan is set up for the checking and repair of instruments with respect to units. For this, from each container of units, using needles, there are taken out a l l the punched cards for instruments having a checking period in the first quarter. The setected cards are also sorted, using needles, with respect to forms of measurement, The cards are counted and their number is entered onto a schedule for the first quarter of the current year for the specified unit with respect to forms of measurement, Such operations are carried out also for other units with respect to all quarters. After the schedule is completed the cards are returned to their containers. On the basis of the schedule data calculations are made for the volume of work for and checking; monthly work plans are established; schedules for laboratory workers' leaves are made in accordance with their workload during the course of the year, This operation is carried out once a year. The planning of work and checking for a quarter is done before the next quarter. As in the making of the yearly work plan, from the containers having the designation ofunitsthere are taken out all cards for instruments having a checking period in the planned quarter. From the punched card pockets are taken out the duplicate cards and the punched cards are returned to their containers. In accordance with the instrument parameters indicated on the duplicate cards punched cards are taken from the container "sent from repair," Thus after the selection pairs of cards are established: one duplicate card for an instrument that must be removed from the unit indicated on it, and the other duplicate card for an instrument having the same parameters, but correct and kept in storage. A technician of the using group, having received this pair of cards, should do the following: obtain from the store an instrument in accordance with the presented duplicate card; remove the instrument from the location indicated on the first duplicate card, and set up the new one, marking on its duplicate card the location and the date of setup; give the removed instrument to the store of the TsLIIT with a note of storage on its duplicate card; deliver both duplicate cards to the card index. Delivery of a duplicate card to the card index testifies to the fulfillment of work, which is normalized and accounted for in the monthly computations about the realization of the plan. Instruments given to the store are delivered to the group *send to repair." It m a y happen that not all duplicate cards from the containers for units are cards found for r e p l a c e m e n t in the container "sent from repair." In this case suitable punched cards are selected from the container "sent from repair," From these are chosen duplicate cards which are transmitted to the repair workshop. Having received a duplicate card, a workshop worker should: take from the store of the TsLIIT an instrument in accordance with the presented duplicate ';ard; carry out the repair and checking of it; and deliver the repaired and checked instrument to the store, After the repair and checking is done a stamp is made simultaneously on the instrument and on the card, Upon delivery of the instrument to the store a suitable mark is m a d e on the duplicate card, Then the duplicate card is returned to the card index into its container, The delivered duplicate card is an accounting of the c o m pleted work "sent from repair." After completion of the repair, checking, and r e p l a c e m e n t of instruments in accordance with the duplicate cards delivered to the card index and on which cards are marks about the check made, the punched cards associated with

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a code about the checking period. Then the duplicate cards are placed into the pockets of the punched cards and distributed among the containers in accordance with descriptions on the duplicate cards (nsent to repair," sent from repair," and setup at a unit). First experience with the introduction of the described system permits us to conclude that with the aid of punched cards the operations of obtaining information about measuring equipment, the carrrying out of an accounting, and work planning are significantly simplified; the t i m e to search for information about the state of an instrument and its use characteristics is shortened. This system can be e s e p c i a l l y useful in the organization of a m e t r o l o g i c a l service at the l e v e l of a base laboratory of a department. With the irrefutable advantage of the new system of accounting for measuring equipment it is necessary to mention deficiencies of the attachments for processing the punched cards. The design of the selector made by specialized enterprises is unfortunate. We consider the selector developed and made in the TsLIIT of the combine to be more convenient and that after rework of the punched-card orientation unit in a search container it can be adopted for use. The transfer of the accounting for measuring equipment and means for the automation of industrial processes to punched cards permits m e t r o l o g i c a l services to obtain a simple and rigorous accounting and to significantly shorten the t i m e spent in this section.

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