A NALVTI C A L CHEMISTRY EDITORIAL October 1964, Vol. 36, No. 11
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY Director of Publications, Applied Journals, A C S , Richard L. Kenyon Director of Business Operations, Applied Journals, A C S , Joseph H. Kuney Executive Assistant to the DiFector of Publications, Applied Journals, A C S , Rodney N . Hader Assistant to the Director of Publications for Editorial Deoelopment, Applied Journals, A C S , William Q . Hull Director of Editorial Research, Applied Journals, ACS, Robert F. Goultd Editor, LAWRENCE T. HALLEW
EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS Washington, D. C. 20036 1155 Sixteenth St., N . W. Phone: 202-737-3337 Teletype WA 23 Associate Editor: G. Gladys Gordon Assistant Editors: Anne Conrad, Arnold E. Levitt, Virginia E. Stewart Editorial Assistants: Patricia Banko, Josephine Pechan Production Staff-Woshington Joseph Jacobs ( A r t Director) Production Staff-Easton, P a . 18043 20th and Northampton Sts. Associate Editor: Charlotte C . Sayre Assistant Editor: Elizabeth 13. Rufe
REGIONAL EDI’TORIAL BUREAU8 Eastern Monager: Walter S. Fedor (New York) NEW YORK, N . Y. 10017 733 Third Ave. PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 19103 1725 John F. Kennedy Blvd. PITTSBURGH, Pa. 15230 530 William Penn Place Midcontinent and Western Manager: Arthur Poulos (Chicago) CHICAGO, Ill. 60603 36 South Wabash Ave. CLEVELAND, Ohio 44114 1367 East Sixth St. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. 94104 57 Post St. LOS ANGELES, Calif. 90005 422 South Western Ave. HOUSTON, Texas 77002 1121 Walker St. Washington Southeastern WASHINGTON, D . C. 20036 1155 Sixteenth St., N . W. European FRANKFURT/MAIN, West Germany 32 Grosse Bockenheimerstrasse LONDON, W. 1,England 77 South Audley St.
Centralization with Computers LARGE in the past have generally favored centralization CORPORATIOXS
of authority and control a t the main office where policy and future planning could be easily controlled. Smart inanagelnent decisions were often guesses. The successful company was one which was right more often than it was wrong. The manager of a n individual plant did not always agree with these top-level guesses and felt frustrated when he was held responsible for decisions he did not make or agree with. Consequently, in time, plant managers’ directives from the main office said, “Show a profit and you make the decisions.” The plant manager over the years has found that many variables which go into a successful operation are beyond his grasp, but computers are able to spot and control these variables for a more successful operation. The central office developed into a group of consultants used by plant managers for advice. Central management began to sense a grave weakness in that they no longer were able to get the type of inforniation necessary for policy making and long range planning. With the newer sophisticated computers coming on the market, management has discovered that the data processing already available in individual plants can all be centralized in the home office to give data pertinent to their decision making. They are finding that they no longer run the business by shrewd guessing. I n fact, they can evaluate individual managers and spot trouble as quickly as the plant head. Because modern computers and data processing equipment have prodigious capacity, there is no reason why machines already installed cannot be adapted to process scientific information from a central agency and even make literature searches and transmit abstracts, published papers in English and in translation. This service can tie in the already established information centers of large corporations and research institutes. There are many government agencies engaged in coding scientific information and the Chemical Abstract Service of the ACS is aware of such eventual developments. Scientists have successfully used computers for the solution of individual problems but with the developments in the conduct of business using computers, we are very close to using such equipment in the transmission and evaluation of world wide scientific information. I n addition, while computers will not replace individual creativity, they might help evalute the efficiency of individual research laboratories.
Contributing Editor: R . H . Muller Aduisory Board: R. N . Adam. G. H. Ayrea, J. E . Barney 11, J. C. Giddings, R. F. Goddu, P. B. Hamilton, G. A. Harlow, F. W. McLafferty, M. W. Mallett, G. H . Morrison, J. D. Neues, W. H . Reinmuth, Irving Shain, J. K. Taylor, J. C. White Advertising Manage,nent REINHOLD PUBLISHING CORP. (for Branch Offices, see page 159 A)
VOL. 36, NO. 1 1 , OCTOBER 1964
2049
