A SCHEME FOR THE INVA. N OF POST-WAR MARKETS
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THE extensive employment of road vehicles in the Services, and their operation by not only pre-war drivers, but by many men previously unable to drive, will, without doubt, have wide repercussions on post-war sales. Undoubtedly it will be to our advantage if the large number of Allied troops handling British-made vehicles.is favourably impressed,which, of course, we may rest assured they will be. On these inert must be placed some of our hopes for publicising our products in territories outside this island, for one of the few things that is certain to 'follow the end of the war is a world-wide shortage of road transport.
The major Allied powers should be in an ideal position for meeting this demand, for vast plants are producing many thousands of vehicles daily for war needs, and many of these will be suitable for civilian use, without modification. If the export fields can be suitably developed, we May well find it possible to recapture some, or all, of our lost markets, and it seems extremely probable that, in this respect, we can look forward to Government backing.
It will be apparent to all that we are going to meet stern competition from the United States. In the race for markets, America, besides having a considerable start in the form of a substantial pre-war export trade, has the advantage of unrivalled manufacturing facilities and experience. Before the war, there was a marked tendency among English operators to view the American vehicle with disfavour, because it was felt that, whilst our own product was solid steel and fine engineering, the imported vehicle , was a " tin pressing with an engine. it: it"
Solid Construction versus Availability of Spare Parts
Although this might have been justified on occasions, it was not always so, and our solid engineering sometimes represented unnecessary dead weight, whilst the foreign product sometimes showed a Saving in annual running costs in spite of,. seemingly, inferior conatruction: This was due to the ready availability of replacement parts and the ease with which they could be fitted. We must,. therefore, face up to the fact that, in spite of flamboyant curves, extravagant metal pressings, and all its peculiarities, the American transport vehicle is capable of sustained hard work. As a result of impressions gained from the use of such machines, we shall have to meet the possibility of even greater imports into this country.
We Must, in short, and in spite of all difficulties, . be prepared to maintain, or . preferably improve, our home market, and expand our export industry to a far greater degree than has been previously possible. Needless to say, there must not be any reduction ha the stshdard of quality which has made the British product world-famous, and yet the price of the vehicle must be competitive with that of the American.
Possibly, even more important is the question of maintenance and repair. These tasks must be capable of being carried out with far greater ease than has previously been the case. Few will deny that, with a few notable exceptions, this maintenance problem has been a serious fault in this country. By contrast, it is to be noted that one company makes an secret of the fact that ease' of maintenance is its major selling point.
Having decided the road we must follo.w, we come to' the means for the accomplishment of our aims and this presents no simple task One method would be to create a small number of amalgainaflona of present companies, but one can imagine the reaction with ivhich such a suggestion would be greeted by some of our old-established companies which, for so "many years, have struggled against adversity to keep their names in' the field.
There is one system that offers promise-of a satisfactory solution to most of our difficulties, and this was employed in Germany before the war. The fact that this innovation was due to our enemy, no matter what sinister reason lay behind its adoption, should not bias pits judgment of the merits of the scheme.
I refer to the Government-imposed system of limited model manufacture, in which _each concern was allowed to build only a certain class, or classes. of vehicle. With modifications, it seems that some scheme on .these lines would offer considerable possibilities, and although it may.seem at first to smack of Radicalism. further thought will show that this is not necessarily so, and that large and small makers and buyers alike would reap advantages.
The first variation of the German scheme would be the elimination' of Government control. Although we should appreciate the authority which its backing would bestow. we have, in the road-transport world, seen too much of the procrastination, lethargy and inflexibility of bureaucratic officialdom, voluntarily to request its extension. Obviously, the instigation and administration of such a scheme must remain with the industry, for only officials drawn from its ranks possess, at once, the necessary intellect and knowledge of the technical and operating problems involved, to make its adoption successful.
We shall require, then, a body of representatives of all commercial-vehicle makers, each possessing plenary powers, which will decide the programme to be adopted and accepted unconditionally by the industry, except when a mutual exemption be. granted. In view of the financial disadvantages following lack of participation it would be unlikely that .there would be any dissenters.
Allocating Vehicle Types by Manufacturing Facilities
Commercial vehicles would be classified under tare weight and would range 'from the smallest to the largest made in any quantity. Larger vehicles in small production would, of course, hardly be suitable for incorporation in the scheme, and manufacturers would be left to produce these according to demand. Possible classes wou4c1 be as .follow:—Up to 15 cwt., 15 cwt. to l tons, 14 to 4 tons, 4 to 6 tons, 6 to 8 tons; 8 to 15 tons.
Consideration of the allocation of classes among our many manufacturers would be impracticable without extensive. knowledge of the facilities of each, but the factots involved may benoted. Class 1 would, obviously, cover the products of our private-car concerns because practically every representative of this class is a modified car chassis: Class 2 is also in the hands of many of these manufacturers, whilst Class 3 can, in a few instances, also be included.
The remaining classes are divided into two types of manufacturer—those which build the major part of the chassis and those which buy the major units and assemble them' into a commercial vehicle incorporating, in some indefinable manner, their own particular tradition. This latter method is in accordance with our system, provided that no modifications, other than trivialities, be made.
.The wide diversity of types is•indicated, to some extent, in ansaccompanying table, although the list pi actual models in production before the war was even more formidable. Many companies built several chassis for carrying each load, e.g., for, say, a 6-ton vehicle, one manufacturer would list forward control, normal control, and possiblya choice of oil or petrol engine for each, in addition to providing. a choice of engine size.
A suggested range of models would be 5, 10 and 15-cwt., and 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13 and 15-tonners. In the latest available list published of British goods vehicles there were 26 manufacturers producing vehicles to carry 27 loadings, one maker alone covering nine different categories.
The advantage of the foregoing proposal is that, instead of one manufacturer producing, say, 5-cwt., 10-cwt., and 1 3 and 6-ton vehicles, and having to provide tools and jigs for the manufacture of these diverse types, it would be necessary to have only the equipment to produce, perhaps, two or three of these models. Tooling costs would be offset against a production perhaps three, four or even more times greater, than at present.
Stores departments would carry a smaller range of components, requiring less area, with a consequent improvement in the ratio of productive to non-productive factory space.
Thus, even if the total vehicle output of the country be not increased, the cost of each vehicle would be reduced. It may, at first, seem that the ultimate result would be that one concern would produce one class or model, but several reasons preclude this, among them being that cornpetition would not be possible, and that buyers would be unable to cheose the quality of the vehicle they desired. The deal would be for three or four manufacturers to produce in any one class, so that buyers would still be able to purchase to suit their own particular inclination or operating conditions.
Modifications to Standardized Parts Should be Discouraged The smaller concerns might, in some cases, find it necessary to purchase engines, axles, or similar components, from the larger companies, with obvious advantages in the matter of 'cost for both buyer and seller, and, incidentally. in respect of service. Wherever possible, accessories should be standardized throughout each class, this applying to generator, battery, distributor and carburetter. In recent years there has been an ever-increasing tendency for such products as brake, steering gears, gearboxes, axles and even engines, to be produced by specialist manufactorers,. although. in many cases, the advantages attending specialization have been lost by the' vehicle manufacturers' demand for modifications in the proprietary component. This is a practice which should be strongly discouraged. The products of the proprietary manufacturer have stood us • in good stead in the past, and no doubt will continue to do so. After all, their widespread use represents the almost unconscious application, in a small degree, of the system now under discussion.
Bolt and nut sizes must be standard throughout the industry and sheet-metal gauges should be similarly regulated, so that plate may be obtained from any supplier by stating the gauge number. To avoid confusion, a new designation will no doubt be necessary—toossibly, British Automobile Plate Gauge.
Improvements may well be made on the electrical side by • standardizing • the voltage in each vehicle class, whilst wiring colour schemes could be uniform, so that when, one has become familiar with the system, any circuit might at once be traced without confusion. There are, too, protagonists of negative-earth, and positive-earth systems; surely the time is now ripe for them to decide which of the two systems is correct,. so that the other may for ever be abandoned.
Research is another department of motor-vehicle engineering in which a great deal of wasted effort occurs. We have, at present, a narntier of experimental bodies, all working in Seerecy to achieve the same end. To avoid duplication of effort, the obvious course would be to place the whole of the experimental work, which does not directly affect the production of new models, in the hands of a vastly extended I.A.E. Research Department.
The reduction of cylinder-bore wear, the examination of suspension characteristics, or the study of combustion, form examples of the work which should be left in its hands. The manufacturer would still develop new ideas, perfect new models and investigate faults peculiar to his own vehicles. This is, in some small measure, what occurs to-day, but we are still a. long •way from pursuing the matter to its logical conclusion.
Materials represent another serious deterrent to production economy, for they are in almost infinite number. Many of them differ but little in their make-up. Hero, again, a centralized fount of knowledge has long been necessary and bysits inception many advantages would be shown.
This metallurgical body , would be required to tabulate present materials in use for chassis construction, to examine each on its merits, and where only small differences occurred among a number, then one should he chosen having the optimum number of advantages taking into account. strength, ease of working, price and weight.
Free Interchange of Data
Between Designers Necessary • Having thus eliminated a large number of the superfluous
materials, information should be passed on to each design office, detailing all the known characteristics of each class of material and the duties for which it is best suited. Plastics are an example of the present lack of information In this respect. Few chassis designers possess ,the necessary knowledge to specify their requirements.
With the scheme advocated, the designer would be able immediately to refer to the standard list and to select the material best suited to his purpose, or, if necessary. refer to the metallurgical body for accurate and unoiassed information. The most important outcome, of course, would be that the required material output would be limited to fewer types and greater economy would result. Lubricating oils and greases should also be limited to type, and, if possible, so selected that the one specified for a particular duty in one chassis would perform equally satisfactorily on any other vehicle. We should then have standard grades for engine, gearbox and back axle. If necessary, up to three qualities of each oil might be prodeced, although it would probably be cheaper to produce only the best grade.
The foregoing suggestions will,' no doubt, be received with antagonism m many quarters. Two facts, however. are indisputable—that we are going to meet serious competition from America and that the standardization scheme is not a wild dream, it has already been carried out and has worked_ , It is quite possible that other ideas are already formu lated in the minds of manufacturers, but the attitude of winning the war first and planning matters of peace afterwards, should be guarded against. The company which is prepared to enter the field of commerce at the earliest possible moment at the end of the war will do its country • a great service.
As 18 months is a reasonable period for the introduction of a new vehicle from drawing board to assembly line, any new conception made hereafter will, we hope, be too late to be of value in the winning of the war. Let us, then, apply ourselves, after the completion of existing commitments, to the winning of the peace.