SEVEN MEN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 8, 25 September 1942, Page 3

SEVEN MEN

SAVED MILLIONS OF MANHOURS IN BRITAIN'S WAR FACTORIES

An officer and six privates in Britain's Royal Army Ordnance Corps were responsible for setting on foot a movement which has saved Britain's -war industries many millions of man-hours and tons of material. After Dunkirk, R.A.O.C. depots became cluttered up with masses of broken, damaged or out-of-date stores.. It. happened that these seven men* had all been in business before the war, and they knew that there was a vast reservoir of garages, backstrect firms and small engineering shops where repairs could be done. Realising that manufacturers do not li'ke to have their production held up by repairs to their own articles, tlicy persuaded business acquaintances to make room for repairs to vital equipment without interfering with Ministry of Supply contracts. From this small beginning lias grown the Central Repair Depot, where hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment that might, never have been used, again, lind their way back into service. An uncanny foresight lias been shewn by the oll'icers and men at this depot in dealing with raw materials. Long before shortages occurred they husbanded materials which are - now worth their weight in gold. Sixty per cent, of the articles repaired are in lir<-t-class condition within a month and are placed into stores for re-Issue to 'units. Although this Central Repair De- j pot saves the- British taxpayers | ma 113- thousands of pounds a y arj on new equipment, its real value, which cannot be measured in money, is in relieving the pressure on the war factories and making double or even Ire hie the use oi : I' *• c manpower put into the original manufactured article.