BUSINESS
PROCESS I N D U S T R I E S ' OUTLOOK N a t i o n inherits a pattern for d e f e n s e f r o m W o r l d W a r II . . . Price f r e e z e of u s e d cars corrects old m i s t a k e . . . I n d i v i d u a l c o m m u n i t i e s should c a m p a i g n f o r d e f e n s e contracts . . . A i r Force aids subcontractors . . . R u b b e r use high *TptŒ nation would be a fool indeed if it -*- did not put to practical use the experience it gained in mobilizing its resources toward defense as it did in 1940 and subsequent years. Our mobilizing officials should naturally adopt those features that proved successful and profit by mistakes made then. Λ striking mistake lias already been corrected—witness the price freezing of "used" cars. In the oilier era a new ear with as little as 100 miles on the speedom eter was sold in the black market as a used car, perhaps at fantastic prices. One of the chief worries of the present is the slowness of ordnance and other detense orders to fill the gap caused by limi tations placed on production of "frivolous" goods. Here again lessons from the sec ond world war could well be acted upon.
jacks, sheet metal items, bolt and nuts; also precision machine parts, servo-mech anisms, gears, assemblies, and castings. A net increase in 50,000 American busi ness firms accrued in 1950, says t h e D e partment of Commerce, or to over 4 mil lion; in 1949 there was a decline of 30,000. Contracts totaling $450 million were
placed with American manufacturers in January by N e w York Quartermaster Pro curement Agency. Our two-column grapH for this week compares production of industrial chemi cals with total industrial production. T h e contrast over t h e last quarter of 1 9 5 0 b e tween the t w o graphs Kas b e e n striking inr* ïed. Thus whereas t h e rise in chemical production has been decidedly vertical, total production has merely held its own or receded. The index figure for N o v e m b e r in chemicals was 4 9 3 ( 1 9 3 5 - 3 9 e q u a l s 1 0 0 ) , rising to 497 for December, an all-time high, comparing with 4 2 2 at t h e e n d of 1949. On the other hand the index figure for total production s a g g e d from 2 1 6 for
INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS vs. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION BASE PERIOD INDEX 1935-1939 = 100 500
400
York Plan Was a Model Then entire cities and communities rallied to expedite receipt of such orders for plants in their communities. York, Pa., made itself famous by intelligent imagina tion, planning, and seeking of such orders. Canton, Ohio, and Rochester, Ν. Υ., quickly adopted the "York Plan." In the product-diversified city of Cleve land, chambers of commerce, bankers, newspapers, and other public-spirited in stitutions banded together to secure for Cleveland its share of orders—and pronto! Even a section of the Cleveland Public Library w a s dedicated to information on how to obtain government contracts. In many respects, of course, the nation is much better prepared than 11 years ago. Government-owned stand-by plants dot the country, many of them, such as synthetic rubber plants, already being in nearly full operation. Idle magnesium pro ducers are coming into output rapidly. During the second world war w e covered u p many deficiencies b y glamor ous slogans. Thus w e had the greatest "bank of technical know-how" in the world; again, "the difficult w e do today, while the impossible takes a little longer." It is to b e hoped that the nation does not have to adopt too many slogans this t i m e let our production statistics speak for themselves! Fortunately one begins to note symp toms of real progress. Thus the Air Mate riel Command, through the N e w York Air Force Procurement Office, recently held an exhibit to aid prime contractors and subcontractors "spread the work." Twenty seven prime contractors answered ques tions of 8 0 0 potential subcontractors. On display were component parts for radar, ceramics for insulation, plastics, trans formers, capacitors, resistors, plugs and 958
300
200 TOTAL INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION 100
I
1947
M
I ! I I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I I
1948
1949
I
I I Ί
I 1 I I I 1.
1950
GLASS CONTAINERS '•ODUCtiON. MIUIC
RAYON
CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS
C H E M I C A L
A N D
E N G I N E E R I N G
NEWS
November to 2 1 4 for December, compar ing with ITS for December 1949. Chemicals are classified among nondur able manufactures and in this class as a w h o l e there was a decline from index fig ure 197 for November to 192 for D e c e m ber. For chemical products a s a class the index rose from 2S3 in November to 2S4 in December. T h e most spectacular gain in the non durable manufactures field w a s in meat packing, from 1S4 for November to 2 0 5 for December, wfcuch is probably a seasonal gain, since iarmerrs often do not prefer to carry animals over the winter. Production of slass containers,, which in October reached an all-time high of 10.6 million of gross, has receded in recent months- T h e November figure was 9.5 million gross, with 94 in December, com pared with 6.9 million in December 1949. It is quite possilble tHat glass containers will be snore widely u s e d because of the critical tin situation involving Un cartsprovided the glass makers can secure the necessary chemicals. However, so far metal cans have been b> n o means idle, shipments during D e cember having been 2 o f c above N o v e m ber and 699* over a year before, accord ing to the Bureau of t h e Census. Consumption o f synthetic rubber closed the year in a blaze of glory a n d at a newall-time zenith. November use. at 48,261 tons, was a sligrat decline from October, but by December a climb to 5 2 , 0 2 9 tons had been accomplished. T w o main reasons are b e h i n d this. T h e Government busily stockpiles natural rub ber, thus leaving less to civilians; again t h e price differential b e t w e e n natural and synthetic is by a o w h u g e and distinctly favors the synthetic. I n D e c e m b e r of t h e previous year consumption had been only 31.771 tons. W o o l Graph Lacks Ambition T h e graph on wool consumption is mak ing no spectacular showing contrary to most charts o n industrial phases. For o n e thing wool is too scarce and high-priced T t h e Goveronieiit i s stockpiling, and manm a d e fibers are making inroads o n wooL T h e w o o ! record of t h e last three months for w h i c h figures are available are: Sep tember, 52.S million pounds, October 61.4 million, and November 5 0 . 4 million, against 47.0 million a y e a r before. Figures for rayon consumption are now complete for the yeai; for y a m December use w a s 8 6 . 9 million p o u n d s versus 80.5 million in Novemlher a n d 79.T million in D e c e m b e r 1949; staple fibers u s e w a s 29.4 million in December ( 2 4 . 5 million the year before) following 2 5 . 6 million in November. Total rayon consumption i n 1950 w a s 1.-3 billion pounds as against 9 7 6 million in 194Θ. C H A R T C R E D I T S : Industrial and Chemi cal Production-Federal Reserve Board; Glass Containers—Department of C o m merce; Synthetic Rubber—Department of Commerce; Wool Consumption—Bureau of the Census; Rtsyon—Textile Economics Bureau.
VOLUME
29, NO.
10
UIRGIHIA
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