intesresting and very old book that discusses purchasing and manufacturing costs - has all sorts of instructions on time keeping and so on, plus a goodly number of engravings of the insides of various manufacturing plants and their offices - thought some of you might find this interesting
here's the link
formatting link
and yes it is on topic - there's a great picture of the lathe room at the Buroughs Calculator Company, for example, which is what made me think of this group.