AL. Hazel and &S. Red
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MANAGING THE SURVIVAL OF SMALLER COMPANIES
Since this book was first ublished in 1973, the proems facing small businesses we increased alarmingly. Prede to the present edition is Surviving inflation". Cash Dw, it says, is the crux of the Jestion. -Any credit given to Jstomers is in effect cash outw, since since it postpones an inDw of cash .
The authors warn straight Nay that if symptoms of busiaSS decline stood out like bea)ns, more firms would recover time. -Perhaps it could be 3rtly your fault.-You've no le to blame but yourself."
These are a couple of the Jthors' chapter headings, beire they move on to prevention ld cure, with lists of do's: Do
What to wear
Handbook for Workwear Purchasers is obtainable, at a cost of 1 Op postage only, from the Overall Manufacturers of Great Britain, 52 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5UN.
THE OMA handbook of 96 pages gives information about types of garments and cloth available, methods of buying or renting, special hazards, cleaning and care, measurements, British Standards, trade names, Health and Safety Regulations, a table of the principal workwear fabrics and new fabrics becoming available, suppliers of fabrics and garments and a reference guide.
Driver's guide
The Professional Driver's Guide, by B. A. Thompson, is published at £2.60 including postage by Croner Publications Ltd, 46-50 Coombe Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 4QL.
JUST about as much information as can be squeezed into a pocket-sized book is packed into this useful softback of 175 pages, now into its fifth edition.
It must be a particularly relevant acquisition for a new driver, but can anyone of even many years' haulage or psv experience possibly remember all the details of the rules and regs contained in this book' The Table of Maximum Weights for Goods Vehicles is but one example.
It's sectionalised — lighting regs, testing and inspection of vehicles, dangerous goods, and so on — with additional information on items like the twospeed axle, which Mr Thompson claims -usually is either completely mishandled or rarely exploited."
It's all trucking history
American Trucking — A 75year Odyssey, by Robert M. Roll, is published by Motorbooks International, and available from Motor Racing Publication Ltd, 28 & 32 Devonshire Road, Chiswick, London W4 2HD at £12.95. THIS is a mainly pictorial history of long-distance transport in the United States starting around the turn of the century with a steam-powered delivery vehicle from White.
The book covers vehicles of every size and shape, from all the major American manufacturers, including a few little known over this side of the Atlantic like Hendrickson (of bogie fame) and Brockway. As well as covering the vehicle side, the book also documents some of the transport com
panies. . G.S.M.
Parts publication
The Component Contribution by Alan Baker is published by Hutchinson Benham at £7.50.
AS THE TITLE suggests, this book is concerned with the component industry and more specifically with the engine side of the business.
Although reciprocating engines for automotive use receive the lion's share of the author's attention, the book also covers aircraft engines, industrial, marine and locomotive diesels and last, but not least, rotary engines. This latter category includes gas turbines as well as Wankel engines.
One of the most interesting chapters covers the development and manufacture of bearings and the materials used.
G.S.M.
Destination memory lane
ROE, LEEDS: A Pictorial Survey of Bus Building from the Twenties to the Forties, with a Brief History, is compiled by Roy Marshall and published by the Transport Publishing Company, Glossop, Derbyshire, at £7.95.
CHARLES HENRY ROE, founder of the company which bears his name, was born in York in 1887 and first worked for the North Eastern Railway carriage works where he helped design a royal coach. In the First World War he was not accepted for military service because of poor eyesight.
Then in 1916 his employer, Railless Electric Traction, was put in the hands of the officia receiver; but at his suggestion, and with the aid of a £1,000 loan from his father, Charle Roe took over the Balm Road Hunsiet, works, and set up as jobbing coachbuilder.
Charles H. Roe Ltd was esta blished in 1920 at Cross Gates A new company, Charles H. Re (1923) Ltd, was set up later .when more capital was neede after an order was obtained fo Railless double-deckers fo Birmingham. Unfortunately, n
etailed records exist of the ompany's production before 928.
By the end of 1936 the letal-framed body era was irtually over, but Roe remained rrn with its traditional cornosite construction. Charles Roe resented a paper on its advaniges to the Tramway and Light ailway Association.
Ned Edwardes, managing irector of Lancashire United nd a staunch Roe supporter, nlivened proceedings by tipling a bag of rotten timber from Roe body onto the platform. Iut, as the pictorial section of le book shows, LUT remained )yal for many more years. ooks like they knew how to Ike criticism in those days.
During the Second World Var, military contracts became ll important and bus work delined rapidly. The story of warme production of utility pecification bodies built on /artime chassis will be covered volume two of the Roe story.
This edition is not cheap, but must say it's nicely set out — 11/2in by 8in, something like hotograph album size — and esides the accent being pic)rial, the text is more interesng than many books in this eld.
curious compilation
he Pictorial History of rucks, by Eric Gibbing and Iraeme Ewens, is published y Orbis Books, 20-2 Bedurdbury, London WC2, at :5.95.
=anyone wants a visual history, ien the scale and quality of olour, black and white photoraphs, and other illustrations in us book demand consideraon.
It's a curious compilation: ne of the authors, Graeme wens, has driven trucks on oth sides of the Atlantic and so, le blurb tells us, has exerience of truckin', truck stops nd CB radio. And it must be Iraeme who writes of The Sunay Times of England in a hapter including paragraphs n American author John teinbeck, Cluzot's film Wages f Fear, and a lot on pop music..
The other author is Londonased technical journalist Eric iibbins, who is a member of the hartered Institute of Transport. here are chapters entitled The Early Days, Wagons at War, The Industry Expands, Back to the Front (about war), Applied Technology and . . Truckin (no apostrophe this time) — The World Behind the Badges.
So this book is by no means all pictures, but contains a lot of facts on individual firms. It has such information as which year it was that the US industry's own direct export figures dropped -to give Britain the overall lead in truck exports worldwide-. But what constitutes a truck? Any commercial vehicle? This was 1961. When did the Japanese take the lead? 1967.
One other thing: the book is indexed. Steinbeck isn't in the index but, and I thought this an odd note, Steinway is. However, reading the book I learned that William Steinway, the piano manufacturer, owned the American Daimler company.
Leyland Motors, for instance, get 34 page references, GMC 32, the Independent Truckers' Association 3 and, sorry fellas, the RHA and FTA none. CM too scores zero. Obviously, we must try harder during our next 74 years.
Busmen's holiday
ABC London Buses is edited by Julian Bowden-Green and published by Ian Allen at £1.50.
THE LATEST EDITION of this 80-page booklet lists and gives details of the mechanical specifications of the entire bus fleets of London Transport Executive and London County Bus Services.
Principally of interest to bus enthusiasts, the booklet includes comments and ponders the likely fate of the various types of buses. It could also be of use in informing operators and dealers of vehicles scheduled for disposal in the next
few years. N.M.
Pass round the port
Port Brochure Road Transport is edited by Publishing Company Publitra, Brouwersvliet 33, Box 4, B-2000 Antwerp, at 50BF (around 82p) postage included.
IN ORDER to enable lorry drivers to map out itineraries, this brochure contains an outline map of the Antwerp port area and motorway network, plus 20 detailed maps. As the shortest way is not always the quickest, advice is given on recommended ports exits.
The brochure is in English, French, German and Dutch. Information for the international driver includes addresses and phone numbers of 220 port and industrial companies operating warehouses in Antwerp_
Planning for growth
Rapid Company Growth, by A. C. Hazel! and A. S. Reid, is published by Business Books, 24 Highbury Crescent, London N5, at £7.95.
DURING the course of a year, CM prints articles by a diffuse variety of individuals, many with management experience. But as an employee of a successful division in a large firm, I appreciated the emphasis in this book, explaining how to plan and manage small company expansion and stressing the importance of all individuals.
"Employees are generally treated very poorly," it says. "The majority of top managements show more concern for the management of machinery and money than they do for men and women. But anyone can buy machinery, rent factory space, and spend money. Very few can encourage enthusiastic, expert work and engender loyalty . . . Employees easily get ignored during rapid growth. Attention focuses on results more than ever.
If you want your company to expand quickly, it's much more likely to succeed when there's something in it extra for the workers besides a bonus scheme (even if you are working twice as hard as they are, but watch that too).
The authors spend a good deal of space on asking: do you really want rapid growth? Do