"Spares. "
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The More Effective Organization of Spare-part Replacements Must Play a Large Part in After-the-War Commercial-vehicle Production and Exploitation.
If there were ever a time when exceptional significance attached to the short title to be found hereabove, it is the present. As a nation, we, in Great Britain, stand at the head and fore-front of the
• Entente, on-our trial as to our capacity to produce " spares " in infinite quantity and variety. Our ability to furnish ourselves and our Allies with spares in men, in. money, and in munitions will be the measure of Prussia's eventful downfall. Our recent renewed determination to pool our spare supplies is -the most significant step in international organization ; it is the sharpest nail which has been found as yet for Germany's coffin.
, Europe's Production of Replacements.
We should do well to learn the lesson which all this has for the commercial-vehicle industry, as well as for much if not for most of our other national activities. Of what use would Europe's standing armies and navies, to say nothing of its munitions organizations, have been had the respective belligerents not been able to draw upon vast reserves, many of them unsuspected at the outbreak of war, of men, money and material. Had it not been for our various capacities for replacements, the whole terrible business would have been settled within a month or so, and to the undisputed advantage of the nation which had the largest store of material ready for use, prepared secretly in previous years.
What "Spares" Mean to an Army.
The necessity for inconceivable quantities ot " spares" is now one which we all recognize in this wasteful business of war. We are organizing their supply to such a, degree that endless pains are even taken to ensure as much salvage as possible from recent battlefields. Some day,,perhaps, it will be possible to tell the tale of the supply of spares and replacements to that most wonderful branch of the military machine, the mechanical transport organization. With some knowledge of the incredible expenditure that this has entailed in our own Army, v•e venture to point the moral to our own particular "public."
American and German Spares Overseas.
For years gone by, one of the most insistent Consular criticisms of our overseas trading has been that although British goods outlasted those from most other countries, once a worn or defective part required replacement, it became almost an impossibility to secure a " spare " within anything like a reasonable period, if at alb and then only at prohibitive cost. German and American ,machines and other articles wore out more quickly, but, in spite of that characteristic, spare parts were, as a rule, cheaper to buy and much more readily obtainable. It may be that-the British maker, with smug satisfaction, considered that the long prospective life of his product almost removed the necessity for the su ply of spares. But what foolish shortsightedness. What chance, in such conditions, of a repeat order, with an American or German competitor, full of " service " promises and with a local .store full of cheap spares, on the scene.
We are All Safety-razor Makers.
The truth has to be admitted, and we, in this industry, are no better than those of less enlightened and progressive British trades. The thing to be produced and sold has been the machine. Spare parts, in far too many cases, have appeared only to be a subsequent source of huge revenue. We have all been safety-razor makers. We could really have ol6
afforded to have given away the machines in some instances and to have made our money mitt of the "spare blades," which, as a rule, no one else can sell. Yet, with this astounding attitude of mind, there has not infrequently as well been the feeling that it was infinitely preferable to sell another new vehicle than to hustle a crankshaft up to Newcastle for a five-year-old machine, whose owner, hitherto satisfied, is enraged at a month's delay between order and delivery.
Not only is there room for great. improvement in the promptitude of supply, but also in the magnitude of charges. The prices for replacements are often staggering to the user, who, as a rule, has been moderate in his estimates of maintenance costs, buoyed up by optimistic salesmen's prophecies.
Much Can be Done by the Designer.
Very often this is not the fault of the factory, but of the designer, and therein is fruit for much thought. Designers must see to it that the part which will wear out, or which roughest of usage may harm, shall be replaceable at the minimum cost, without involving the replacement of much else which is still capable of good set-Vice. There are British designers for whom this is a well-recognized rule—the designs tell their own story. But there are others.
Constant changes of pattern and design are often embodied without the realization of what this means to the user. The changes may only be small ones but they are often effected without thought of inter changeability or of cheap and easy replacement.
Types Should be Final for Thousands. We are going to live, when peace happily arrives, in an age of great productive capacity, of vastly increased outputs. Types will have to be considered as final for batches of thousands. Modifications must be saved up and allowed to borst on the public en. mane. Much as most of us profess to dislike the Ford, the practical ones of us admire its " goodenoughness:" And beyond all we appreciate its replaceability. For the great commercial outputs of to-morrow, we must encourage the user to rely on rapid and reasonable spare-supply service. Design and stocking will have to be overhauled if we are to keep pace with competitive offers from those nations who have hitherto so successfully offered buyers what they want and not insisted on them learning to like what is offered to them.
Remember a Ford Cos i* Less Than a Big Shell.
All the more important will be this effort to secure the confidence of the buyer, when the agent, in his thousands, starts to handle parts of these increasqd outputs. " Service " to the buyer in local hands will mean everything to the tradesman, the jocal business i man. Rapid and effective supply of "spares" will not be the least argument which the enterprising, agent will desire to 'use in this connection. It matters not how many miles to the gallon a 30-cwt. machine will do if in good health, -if it periodically has to go on sick leave while the maker "sends for" new cardan blocks, shall we say, to the factory, or if, when they arrive, they are for a pattern which was "superseded last year," or if, again, when the bill is sent in they are charged at perhaps three times-as much as they ought to be. The owner sells that machine soon and maybe makes up his mind to use three Fords in its stead. Remember that a Ford costs less than a single big shell, and we are making hundreds of thousands of shells a week. We have solved the sparequestion for munitions : we must solve it for motor transport