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Ar renbon

22nd December 1961
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Page 20, 22nd December 1961 — Ar renbon
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE last man in the commercial motor ind whom the label " tycoon" could,properly be is Arthur Marenbon, technical and sales dir R. A. Dyson, Ltd. Consider the literal meaning word, so often used in these articles. Accordim Oxford Dictionary it is a synonym for great lord o It was also used in by-gone days as the title by w Shogun of Japan was described to foreigners. resurrected by the Americans, it stands for the " b (yes, I continue to quote the 0.E.D.).

That, then, is precisely what Arthur Marenbor and though it will, I feel, affront his logical min attempt to describe a person by. what he is nc associated with him in, for instance, the trailer al trailer committees of the Society of Motor Marlin and Traders and in his business will understat I mean.

But this might suggest that he is to be descrit in negative terms, which would be just 'plain stupi don't become technical and sales director of a I Dyson by being negative. Arthur Marenbon is no one, no passenger on an industrial trailer. But quiet man—that essentially, I would say. I can pie in a university common room, minding his own in some secluded corner or lecturing in placid ; some abstruse branch of mathematics, or sitting q home catching up on his technical reading.

And, but for a quirk of fate, I imagine he mi taken to university teaching. His career at Readin gave promise of a brilliant future. Mathematics special love—still is, if one may judge from a i trailers and semi-trailers he presented some year

istitution of Mechanical Engineers. But whether or not were inducements in that direction (and I have no id whatsoever for saying that there were) he went Reading School to R. A. Dyson and Co., Ltd., in where he has remained ever since.

Lining came first. He was sent up to Liverpool to tue his education at Dyson's works. He did not In evening classes. Then he returned to London as tnt to the London manager, and five years after he 1 the firm he was promoted to joint control of the an office. But administrative duties did not put a Ito studies. In 1931, the year after his responsibilities ted, he gained distinction in three subjects of the assonembership examination of the Institute of Transport, dy entrant who succeeded in doing so that year. By he had been appointed to the Board. And now, here, but more senior in status as well as years, he 1.es over the technical development of the company's cts as well as their sales.

w does he account for his steady progress through ;ars? He concedes that it has, in fact, been steady, 2. gave me no new formula for it. Indeed, he clings very old fashioned one: hard work, he says, and a sable amount of luck. And, indeed, as I chatted n I could not but think of the Victorian virtues— alas, not so much valued—of self-help, faithful ▪ to the people who pay the wages, and unremitting so as to improve service to the public.

conception of " luck " is also a Victorian one. "I ortunate in meeting my managing director, Joseph 1. He wasn't—and still isn't—a mere hirer of other :'s brains. He took a deep and kindly interest in

my Progress and it was his encouragement that really fired me with the ambition to get on—and, especially, get on in R. A. Dyson and Co. I was also very lucky to receive help and encouragement from Stephen Barker, who was our chief designer in those early days."

Since 1925 trailer development has been continuous. Not long after Marenbon entered the industry the turnover to pneumatics from solid tyres marked a veritable leap ahead. Naturally, he had no part in that as he sharply emphasized. "How old do you think I an)?" he demanded. However, he did a great deal of research into road/rail trailers, sometimes described as " transport co-ordination at its best."

Into this system, as I have said, Arthur Marenbon did much research, not only into actual design but also into utilization. Latest in the chain of development is an integral semi-trailer van. I asked him whether this meant that our British roads were about to be terrorized by commercial juggernauts similar to those which add such frightening hazards to the Italian highways. He reassured me. "They are much more like American vehicles."

It is interesting to note that the "'Bush Train Unit "— four or live trailers drawn by a truck—in. operation in Australia's Northern Territory shown on a B.B.C. Television report recently is also by origin a Dyson product.

Arthur Marenhon's interests as sales director are, of course, world wide. Oilfield machines, used by many important producers, transports for heavy machinery, in service, for instance, in New Zealand—these merely serve to indicate that the Dyson market is broader than the British Isles. The potential is enormous. In the United States, Marenbon estimates, " two out of every three vehicles of over 5 tons capacity are trailer outfits of one kind or another." Ten years ago 200,000 trailers were used in Germany, 130,000 in Canada, more than 27,000 in Italy and over 3 million in the U.S.A. What the figures are for 1961 I do not know, but those of 10 years ago may safely be multiplied several times, at any rate for the U.S.A. and Canada.

So Arthur Marenbon need not sigh that there are no more worlds to conquer—not, I feel sure, that he does.


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