The Control of Automotive Equipment

THIS day and era, the management of every water works system realizes that the effective operation and maintenance of the plant and system depend largely on the promptness and economy with which service can be given to all parts of the system. The control and operation of the water department's automotive equipment, therefore, constitute a most important daily task which must be carried out smoothly and under strict supervision at all times. In these troublesome and expensive days serious consideration must be given not only to the operation and maintenance of the equipment itself but to the character and morale of the personnel. It becomes a most important task of supervision to make evident to the men who are involved in expediting materials, repairs, service and the operation of automotive equipment that they are working with rather than for the rest of the water works personnel. With so many variables in the costs of items, such as gasoline, oil, tires, batteries, spare parts, etc., necessary to keep the cars and trucks of every water utility moving at the required time, the fixed unit of "miles per gallon" of gasoline used becomes most important. "Cost per mile," too, with or without fixed charges, such as insurance, depreciation, etc., is important if the cost of gasoline can be kept within a uniform range; and classification of similar types and tonnage of automotive equipment employed also becomes useful information. To obtain data of interest to all water works men, it thus becomes necessary to add the required practical facts to a simple type of record from which the accountants may obtain the information they require. It is believed that the effective control of water works automotive equipment is reflected in these several units of cost, and can be studied only in the comparison of the experience of others in the same field.