Lacre Policy for 1910.
Page 31
Page 32
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
We were able, two months ago, to publish a few parti.culars about the Lacre Co.'s new factory at Letchworth. Matters have gone ahead rapidly since that date, and the expansions then forecasted are many stages nearer to completion. The Lacre name was the first to secure a commanding lead in the realm of the one-ton van to comply with modern requirements, of which we more particularly have in mind reasonable first cost, sound eonstruction, easy control, moderate outgo for maintenance, and a sales organization that includes the competent following-up of customers when they have taken delivery. It is, therefore, a matter of certainty, that prospective new purchasers will be interested to have further information about Lacre intentions for 1910.
Design Based Upon Experience.
The Lacre undertaking first got to work in January, 1902. It must suffice, when we state that a big trade was .done, and much knowledge gained of the industry. Mr. Claude Browne, the founder and head, has been (raining invaluable experience, year by year, in proportion to the steadily-inereasing sales of Lacre commercial motors. These sales, for both. goods and public-service purposes, aggregate a total which may truly be termed huge. No member of the industry has a better record in any branch.
The lessons of experience now enable the Lacre people to start a new factory with a " clean slate." Nothing in the nature of old patterns, old plant, or old stoat will be taken or found there, and the company has a .strong claim upon the attention of existing and would-be users for these reasons alone. Those lessons have been —and are still being—embodied in the new designs by, it may come as a surprise to some to learn, some 36 draughtsmen, at Poland Street, W. The fundamental rule of design, we should say, after an examination of the engine and other drawings, has been the elimination of the superfluous. Quite a number of usual, if minor, parts have simply been " wiped out," and there certainly is nothing of a " freaky" description to be seen: simplicity, fewness of parts, and strict interchange are the dominant characteristics of the whole range of chassis, for net loads of from 10 cwt. to five tons—all useful load. It goes without saying, one that wilt compare favourably with. that existing in the most-modern and well-organized works of the company. This is, of course, a matter of fundamental importance in any engineering factory. A Modern Factory.
The Leers Co. intends to have its new factory "in line" with the best engineering practice, so far as equipment, facilities, resources and system can avail. Everybody who is in touch with motor manufacture knows that these advantages do not obtain in a large number of instances. Since the location of the new factory was settled, as was the case last Spring, there has been undeviating adherence to the plans for its erection and completion. No expense has been spared in respect of up-todate machine-tools of the latest patterns, or in any other direction; yet, at the same time, there have been no extravagances in the matters of premiums for early delivery, elaborate frontages and administration offices, or levelling. In choosing the site at the First Garden City, the Lacre principle of all-round consideration for every factor was not waived aside, and the pleasant surroundings, the freedom from squalor or misery, the opportunitiee for recreation, and the strong influences behind the whole project of the estate were fully weighed. There will be an excellent mess-room for the men, and every encouragement to them which tends in the direction of esprit de corps.
Scientific methods will be the rule, and these will extend beyond the customary measures for the testing of material and the inspection of parts: further, definite arrangements will be made. for the holding of ample stocks of spare and replacement parts. A carefullydevised scheme of bonuses will be adopted; if he fails to earn a large percentage above the normal minimum, any man will have to show cause. As regards power, it is intended to buy electric energy from the First Garden City, Ltd.; that company's charge per 11.T.11. compares favourably with the cost of separate generation. There will, too, of (*arse, be the very latest arrangements for heating and ventilating, by means of exhaust fans and a hot-air circulation ; in summer or sultry weather, the same appliances will be turned to account for cooling.
Good Agents Wanted.
The Lacre policy offers splendid scope for agents. No company, as events have proved, better understands the sales side of the movement, and it has a great belief in the value of agents. Mr. Browne takes the view that they usually are not afforded the same facilities as a staff representative at a few pounds a week—not the same as a junior salesman. He regards this as a mistake, and he also thinks that agencies are granted for insufficient periods to enable the local man to show his results. Thus, he has found, an agent may just succeed in working up his connection to the clinching point by the time the makers give him the "go by." s C' inditional guarantees to agents are part of the Lacre programme : if a certain pre-arranged volume of business has been done at the end of the first year, the agency will hold good for another, and so on; there may, or may not, be an obligation to place a contract. To put it briefly, tho Lacre Co, wants snore agents, and it invites applications from local vanbuilders, or others, who are now doing business of any kind with users or owners of horse-drawn vehicles. They will be supported adequately, including the call upon, or, according to circumstances, the sole use of, a demonstration motor. The agent who can neither guarantee nor place any orders must not, obviously, look for the same terms as the buying agent, but there is room for all.
Maintenance and Contracts Therefor.
Part of the [Acre Co.'s regular business lies on the maintenance side, and this department will be extended. There are three degrees : (1) Weekly inspection, at a low charge per annum, which is found to be a great convenience, and an effective insurance, by owners.
(2) Maintenance, fer a fixed sum annually, under which scheme, alternatively, the Lacre Co. will agree to supply every requirement except the driver. (3) Contract to maintain and run, the customer paying the first cost, at so much per annum. It will be realized that the underlying feature is to relieve the customer of uncertainty : any buyer of a Lacre vehicle can know exactly where he stands. Even the first of the three, weekly inspections, for which the charge is merely nominal, has been found of the greatest value to both buyer and seller.
Export Trade.
Developments under this generic head promise to be enormous. Conditions abroad are subjects upon which the company is specially well apprised, and it has already done business with India, Ceylon, Siam, the Straits Settlements, Sumatra, Penang. China, and other places which might be quoted. Mr. Browne, of course, has been a " globe trotter " ; he possesses a fund of information, gained first hand on the spot, which stands him in good stead to-day. We do not hesitate to add that the Lucre lead here is very good. Half the battle, in competition, in wen to the man who has an active and successful house behind him.
The 1910 Models.
It is only after some five years of close study, that the Lacre 10 cwt. van is to be produced: the displacement. of the one-horse van is the object. This model is not an adapted cab or pleasure-car chassis; it has been expressly designed on commercial-vehicle lines. It will have a twocylinder engine of 12 h.p. to 15 h.p., three speeds forward and one reverse, side-chain drive, and a direct top speed
of 20 m.p.h. The chassis, with grip-section tires (all single) will be listed at £290, and we feel that this announcement, which is one of great importance to the industry, will be widely appreciated. There has not, so far, been an opportunity of the kind, where such a model has been laid down upon proved and strictly-commercial lines, which in themselves provide a guarantee that any buyer can rely upon good service at—we should say—an outside total working cost, inclusive of fuel, tires, driver, maintenance, lubricants, sundry stores, contingencies, and depreciation, of 30. per mile run. It is the small trader who ought to fasten upon this opportunity: the Lacre Co. is prepared to supply him with one of these 10 cwt. vans (or one of any other model) on terms of payment which are most attractive. The essence of the plan is that it should enable him, on payment of one-quarter of the value of the vehicle down, to secure the use of a utility motor, increase his business thereby, and cover, out of its earnings, not only interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum on any capital outstanding, but the further instalments, as well as all outgo upon running and maintenance. In short, such a van should pay for itself, ancl leave its purchaser with both the vehicle and cash in hand at the finish.
We shall be giving particulars, in an early issue, of other models, which range, as we have stated, up to a net load of five tons, and are for either goods or passengers. With a unique experience of the requirements of the commercial-motor industry and commercial-motor users to its credit, with a modern factory in which the best machinery and system will be found, with a design which is the outcome of a positive craze for simplicity, the Lacre Co. now bids fair to reap the full reward of its pioneering qualities. The factory at Letchworth is for devotion entirely to the production of utility motor vehicles, and it will not be concerned with the building of pleasure cars ; this point alone is one which may appeal to both agents and likely purchasers. The great variety of requirements which the Lacre Co. has met in the past, and which are illustrated in various parts of this issue, will be, we fee/ quite confident, fulfilled still more completely by reason of the developments which are outlined on this and pro
ceding pages.