DORMAN CONSTRUCTIONAL POLICY.
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Specialized Mass Production Means Service for the User.
THE PRESENT PERIOD of transition from war to peace is one of the most anxious epochs through which this country has passed in the whole of its long and chequered history. It is not too much to say that the future of Britain as an industrial and commercial nation, indeed as a nation at all, depends upon the extent to which the resources of the coantry can be developed sufficiently not only to produce the necessary sustenance for the current needs of the people, but also to repair the inroads made on the national wealth by ravage and wastage of war.
The governing condition of the present negotiations between labour and capital, and the factor that must ultimately decide the issue Of those negotiations, is that it is useless to wrangle about the distribution of wealth that is nort-existent. Only when wealth is being produced is it available for the pockets either of workmen or employers ; and the more wealth that is available for distribution, the greater the share which both parties stand to receive. Anything, therefore, that will tend to increase and cheapen the national output at this critical period is bound to re-act to the national benefit, and may even prove ultimately to be the means of ...social salvation.
Specializing in Engines.
In the light of these reflections, the ipolicy of Messrs. Dorman and Co., the well-known engine builders at Stafford, whose works we recently had the pleasure of visiting, and whose methods we had the privilege of investigating, seems to ns to have a deep significance at the present time. Here is a manufacturing concern, the keynote of whose ettivities is specialization. To give effect to this ideal, the works have been raid out, for mass production of one component, and one component only, engines. The twin predominant -characteristics of mass production are, firstly, that it is cheap production, because the outlay per engine on tools and plant becomes sensibly less and less in proportion to the output of engines ; and, secondly, that it is standardized production whereby, through the use of jigs, absolute interchangeability is assured; so that it is possible to establish that perfection of service which is so prominent in the United States, and which every user knows so well how to value. The question nowadaya is not only: "What is your vehicle going to cost Tile 1" • but' also : "What sort of service can you give me 1" Where production of engines is 'carried out on a small scale, it is manifestly difficult to use jigs extensively, inasmuch as their cost per engine would be too great: hence, with small production, absolute interchangeability cannot be achieved, and the user, to whom efficient service means so Much, suffers in consequence. Messrs. Dorman. say that on one of their commercial vehicle moslel engines alone no fewer than 1,4i:10 jigs are in use, of which the total cost is about 000. This means an average of 25 per jig, a seemingly, high price accounted for by the necessarily highly skilled (and therefore highly paid) labour employed: we inspected the jig and tool department at the works, and our observations certainly tended to confirm the view that so complete a system of jigging must be expensive. When, however, output is maintained on a large scale, and this (seat becomes divided over a great number of engines, then the price which. each customer pays for the jigging becomes very small. and is far more than compensated by the inestimable advantages accruing to the -user from a ready supply of interchangeable spare parts, not to mention the greater cheapness of manufacture achieved. In order to secure the maximum results from mass production, use has to be' made of all that is latest and best in machine tools and labour saving devices. The Dorman works are up-to-date in this respect ; of particular interest were Lubin cylinder-boring machines on Which four cylinders may be bored at a time, and Blanchard grinders. On the latter, we saw thrust washers being ground on both sides at the rate of HO an hour, the necessary degree of accuracy being maintained. Use. is made of the broaching machine to an uncommon extent, and the die-casting department is also very highly developed. As a matter of fact, all bushes made at the Derrnan works are die east, and then reamed, no machining being d.one on them. These things have been quoted as instances ,of the policy that is being pursued by a progressive firm in order to increase its output. iristead of having given rise to labour troubles, the eentrary. has been the case, the men acquiescing cheerfully in the Dorman principle of "big production and big wages." Evidence of a happy accord between the management and the employees was manifest throughout the whole of the establishment. Especially was thiS noticeable during a, cinema show, one of a series given periodically by the firm in the works after 5.30 p.m. On the occasion of our visit, after a selection of comic, scenic and topical films had been. shown on the screen, the representation of the •daily round in the Stafford works evoked great enthusiasm from the large number of operatives who had remained behind for the show.
So far as the engines themselves are concerned, they represent the result of 19 year' concentration on motor engine manufacture. As a matter of fact, the name of Dorman was not associated with the product of the Stafford works until 1913; Up to that date the output of engines took the form of building them to the designs of vehicle makers. Since that year, however, the design as well as the manufacture has been Dorman, and the engines are so well known that a detailed description of them is unnecessary to the purposes of this article. Makers and users of commercial vehicles are interested mainly in the three largest types, of which the respective sizes and capacities are 120 mm. by 140 min., giving 40 h.p. ; 110 mm. by 140 mm., giving 32 ; 95 mm: by 140 mm., giving 25 h.p. Of these, the first named is, perhaps, the best known, and over 10,000 are now in service. During the war, 500 of these engines were subject to the gruelling test of tractor service and gave excellent results on Clayton tractors in the hands of unskilled operators. It is interesting to note that the fuel used was paraffin, and we ourselves had the opportunity at Stafford last week of handling a 5-ton Caledon lorry fitted with one of the 120 mm. by 140 ram. size consuming this fuel.
After running for about five minutes on petrol, we turned. over on•to •paraffin and tried the lorry, loaded to its full Capacity with pig iron, over a route on which. Were one or two steep hills. the engine behaved excellently and was .certainly Up to its work. Another lorry that we tried, was a, 50 cwt. Star, also carrying its full complement of pig iron, and the satisfactory performance of the Vehicle suggested that the 95 mm. by 140 mm. 25 h.p. engine used in this case was wholly adequate. to the needs of a 50 Cwt. lorry.
itis interesting to note that these.lorries form part of a fleet employed by Messrs. Dorman for the purpose of fetching castings and other raw materials from various centres in the Midlands and in the North. As was pointed out to us, this policy ensured a far quicker delivery than could be expected from the railways under normal conditions : often the difference is that between a few days and as many weeks. It is usually' found possible to provide a system of return loads by arranging that the lorries shall carry finished engines on their outward journey, and the saving thus effected is to be measured not only in money but also in time and convenience, in handfing the goods.
Unit Specialization,
At. the 'beginning of this article we .treated of the effect of the Dorman. policy of standardized mass production from the point of view of the user, to whose requirements the trade usually tends to conform., As a matter of fact,. to, anyone who is prepared to take the broader view of the whole question, conclusions may be drawn of which the general importance is of far greater moment and of far more universal interest. How far, for example, are manufacturers really justi-, fled in equipping a factory for the production of a motor vehicle complete from radiator to tailboard 1 In this Connection the figures above quoted respecting the cost of jigs and tools for any one engine model alone, give food for very serious thought.
Labour unrest is a real thing ; so is the present national impoverishment ; so too—and perhaps most significant of all—is American competition, and all that that means. And while it is always unsafe to vaticinate, the conclusions to be drawn from these reflections lead us to adumbrate a tendency in the forthcoming decade for British industry, obedient to the laws that govern the struggle for existence, to exhibit very marked progress towards specialized production. Not Government control or bureaucratic spoon-feeding, galvanizes industry into the activity necessary for human progress. It is rather the vitality of the industry itself, governed by the foresight Of those who direct it. It is to this that we must look, and leave no laorle unturned in the effort to find means of reconstructing our industries succeSsfully, in. the face of tremendous competition from without and menacing discontent from within.