BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY.
THE INFLUENCE OF WAR EXPERIENCE I'London Times'). 'London, February 9. oth.-v le>so:.<s le'-rned by car builders) during the last thirty month's, and not tho least important', is the value of co-ordination. Those makers who have increased the capacities of their factories must natural'y serious thought to the problem of keeping the works and stalls fully employed when war orders are 110 longer to be 'had, and the more progressive now realise that haphazard methods can 110 longer be relied on. The tendency towards this way of thinking was marked even in 1014; the war has accelerated things. Every unit in the organisation must work with the one clearly defined end in view; the trade missionary, whose importance has been repeatedly insisted on must be well qualified to report on any particular market in regard to the types of vehicles needed, Ihe prices at which they must be sold, the volume of business to be had, social and financial details, the best methods of local advertising, and so forth. With this data to guide him the maker must decide how far he is prepared to go in securing the market, and the designer can prepare hw drawings. In consultation with the buyer, the works manager can estimate manufacturing costs and delivery dates, and the salesman and agents can be given early information to help in Jelling the vehicles after they have actually been built. A most important point this last, marking, as it does, the difference between building a few machines to order and. selling big numbers of standardised vehicles. Buyers are given a choice of body by the leading American ear builders, but the chassis are absolutely standard, ana should .1 user desire alterations it becomes his own affair and that of the concern contracting to carry out the work after the car is bought. Hitherto, 'however, it has been possible for buyers to stipulate very decided departures from standard practice when negotiating the purchase of most Britisli-buiit cars, a tendency which leads to disorganisation in the works, and, consequently, reduced output, The more progressive of the British makers, whose works' capacities have recently been greatly Increased and who have found their vehicles' to be superior to most foreign products under the strenuous running conditions imposed by military service, have decided to co-ordinate the efforts of all departments* and .to concentrate on the production of one, or at most two, types of post-war chassis which experience lias shown to be of the kind suited to the needs of the bulk oS the potential buyers. The faddist must? look to the small make: who charges big prices for individual "style" in car construction.
HANDICAPS TO BE REMOVED. The whole blame for the retention of old-fashioned methods must not be laid 011 the British makers. In the first place the motor industry is, despite its present volume and importance, still comparatively young. Twenty, fifteen years ago, car owners were cranks. Even ten years ago the cost of motors limited their use to the wealthy and the moderately "Well-to-do classes. Also, the market, in comparison with others, was restricted. A special effort, therefore), Iwas needed to induce the attention of buyerj|, and as makers wee not at all sure o£ future lines of development—every day, almost, saw new progress being made, and a successful revolutionary invention, always threatened, .would have rendered all other designs obsolete —it was impossible to standardise and to consider huge work outputs. Like a child taking its medicine, the -buying public had to be coaxed into providing the money foi the makers to continue working with. The coaxing took the form of annual shows, when the makers competed for custom by the introduction of novelties and mechanical improvements. That this is no longer necessary, that change is not essential), is amply proved by the fact that a 1915 model British-built car was shown last month in the fashionable automobile salon at the Hotel Astor in New York, in competition with the latest and most exclusive and expensive American cars. There is much to be said both for and against the motor shows; they spurred development and prevented standardisation, yet they brought in the money so urgently needed. The continual changing of chassis and types imposed a heavy handicap on makers and agents, who were both- forced to lock up capital in providing spare parts for machines j no longer being built. The cost of! setting up the machinery to build, say, an engine, together with the making of many expensive jigs, gauges, special toots, and so forth, h«4 all to be charged on 'the selling cost of that particular unit in the only year which it was built. Had it been possible to continue its manufacture without change over a number of years the necessarily heavy first charges could have been spread out, and big outputs and lower prices woukj. have been possible. Incidentally, the same thing is now 'happening to the makers of aeroplanes, and those who wonder why the War Office does not at once place orders for the construction of ten or twenty thousand machines may well give the fact their attention, However, these days are gone, we can now standardise and, with our' increased manufacturing facilities, consider big productions, so that the prices of postwar British motor vehicles will compare very favorably with those of competitors even if the cost of both labor and row materials show a decided advance.
LABOR AND RAW MATERIALS. The latter must show an increase as compared with the prices of 1914, but, against this must be icv the facts that a greater percentage of the raw materials used in motor construction mill be British produced, while improvements and discoveries in metallurgy ivill enable lighter alloys and less material to lie used without any loss of strength. Ferro-alloy stcelst, limited until very recently by reason of their high cost to the cutting edges of high-speed machine tools, are being increasingly used throughout the whole car construction. Bronzes and brasses are being improved by alloying thern with other metals, which increases their tensile strengths and helps them to resist corrosion. Improvements in drop-forging will reduce the amount of machining needed owing to the greater accuracy possible as compared with the older methods, and strength will be gained as these productions have not t|ie "grain" common to ordinary casting and forging.?, Manufacturers will also use a greater percentage of die-eastings in the future. To turn to labor considerations. We my Vo 1 £fir jirap^i 1 u#
scale oi payments are gone and those now obtaining will continue with a tendency to increase, tyai sonditions have had a great educational eirect on the worker. Steel workers, for example, now in full enployment for the first time for years, find that the increased cost of food and living are more than met j by continuous employment and higher wages. In pre-war days this class of worker professed little interest in the fact that German furnaces were in full blast while lie was standing off for months in each year. Possibly the Trades Unions, who have been brought by the war in closer contact with the manufacturing and capitalist classes than ever before and who have proved I their patriotism by suspending many of their established rules, will now be inclined to revise their views on output restrictions when we are engaged' in the industrial war to come. A great deal depends on this. There most bo a generous spirit of give and take on both sides; if, owing to sonfe improvement in machine or method it becomes possible to reduce the time ta'ken on some given work from sixty to thirty minutes, the worker must not be expected to cut his price by fifty per cent., for ho is -clearly entitled to some benefit. On the other hand tliQ unions must not obstruct t'he newer method nor insist that J the old price be paid. ' I What changes will be wrought by the introduction of female labor into 'the skilled trades it is too early to say and we must content ourselves with the satisfactory knowledge that a new industrial spirit has been born as the direct result, of the wan, and the British motoindustry, in common with others, will benefit by it. New trade or the old established joint-stock banks must be prepared— there are signs and portents in tile air that the latter will be—to finance industrial business to a greater extent. Manufacturers must be enabled to give good customers one, two or even three years' credit if the business is worth it and can pay a fair interest for the accommodation. Why our banks have, refused help to established Britisli nouses in the past- while they were financing German 'houses to almost any extent will probably never be known.
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Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1917, Page 3
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1,471BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY. Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1917, Page 3
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