of their service can be made at least equal to that of any other inspectors, if the principles of selection referred to previously in this chapter are carefully followed. The Inspection Company, presumably, has a wide knowledge of shop methods and an intimate contact with many shop managers, and from experience is able to handle the defects arising during manufacture with some advantage of practical familiarity, as compared with the Designing Engineer; and the former has personal acquaintance and constant business relations with the shop management which the latter does not possess.

Economy in Peformance

The Inspecting Engineers entrusted with the mill and shop inspection of the steel work of any project have directly the solution of the problem of accomplishing the desired result with the least expenditure of effort and money consistent with first-class service.

The systematizing of the service for economical performance involves the selection of inspectors-in-charge having proper experience in the class of work under contract, as well as training in the handling of the relations with the manufacturers, making correct reports, etc. Where the work is of sufficient size and character to warrant more than one inspector at the shop, it can be so arranged that the assistants may be men of lesser experience, with corresponding saving in remuneration, and duties assigned to them accordingly. The assistants can supervise the routine work of assembling, punching, and riveting before completion of the finished members, and cleaning, painting, weighing, and loading before shipment, besides estimating weights and making proper reports, while the chief inspector can be made responsible for the relations with the shop, the planning of the work to meet the field conditions, the delivery of material from the mills, the actual inspection of finished members for measurements and character of workmanship, the shipment of material in the order and manner desired at the building site, and the making of final reports to his headquarters, in accordance with instructions, so that the client can be furnished with a complete descriptive report which will serve as a valuable record of the manufacture.

Under a proper system of organization there are a number of considerations in connection with the method of inspection which should have attention, in order that the service may be economical and successful. The inspectors at both mills and shops should be placed on the work as soon as it starts; their instructions as to specifications and plans should be prompt and complete; their co-operation with the mills should be such as to secure the rolling and shipment of material to the shop, in accordance with the order of manufacture there, so as to prevent errors or discover defects as early as possible in the work, and thereby save time in manufacture and delay in shipment, with the additional advantage of avoiding being compelled to allow the work to be patched by corrections; and the co-operation