Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1921-08-18

tions. But we did not stop there.
''The war had led US into many ex-
travagances of administration and ac-
counting. We went through the
plant, offices and shops, and made
economies which III detail later,
eliminating everything non-produc-
tive. Then, we had acquired the De-
troit, Toledo & IrontOn railroad We
saw possibilities of reducing the vast
amount which we had formerly kept
tied up, invested in goods in transit.
We found ways to cut the time our
goods are in transit. BY that one
move we released S25, 000, 600, took
it from funds invested in stock in
transit and put it to other uses. Thus,
when April 1 came round, we had
S87, 100000 to meet S58,000,000 in
obligations. We paid them all weeks
in advance"
Mr.. Ford leaned back in his chair
and laughed
"And all the while" he said, "these
New York bankers were fussing
around here trying to get us to take
a loan"
"But how could you create such
immense sums Of ready cash by mere
econ0mies?" I asked
Call This .'Mere?"
'BIere economies" Mr.. Ford re-
peated, with emphasis on the mere. :"
tThere's nothing mere about our
ecenomie s-they're the big thing
Take that item of S28,000,000 re
leased from investment in goods in
transit. We were able to do that by
a combination of two things. By US
ing our railroad we were able to
speed up movement of raw materials
to the factory, movement Of finished
cars from the factory to the dealers
and better methods in the factory cut
the time needed to manufacture the
material into machines Then we
stopped carrying immense reserve
supplies of raw materials. The first
economy made the second possible.
Here's the way it worked out.
Before we got control of the D.,
T. & L., it required an average of
% days to haul raw material to the
factories, make it into cars and get
them to the dealers. We had to buy
three weeks in advance of need and,
with no way of knowing future con-
ditions, we had to keep immense re-
serves on hand. The money tied up
in these and the goods moving stood
continuously at about S88,000,000.
"But the early months of 1921
brought great changes. General ces-
sation of industry made materials,
and cars in which to carry them,
plentiful. Then the d. 7. & l. is
really one great terminal--it crosses
every trans-continenta line in the
country. When stock consigned to us
reaches the D., I. Il l. it can be
speeded along to destination. Parts,
or cars, outbound, can be made into
through trains and thus the running
time to destination greatly reduced.
Then in the offices of the D., 4. q l..
they did away with a great deal OF
antiduated railroad red tape. Whole
systems of useless accounting were
abolished. The offices themselves
have been brought to Detroit and the
road is operated as a single unit. All
these elements, combined, have re-
duced the time of our movement OF
stock from the suppliers of raw ma
terials through the factory and the
cars into the hands Of the dealers
from % to Ia days. And that isn't
the end-we'H cut it still more.
Where before we had S88,000,000
tied up in moving and reserve stock
required to make $4,000 cars a
month, now we handle the stock re-
CURED to make 114,210 cars a month
for less than $50, 600; S28,000,-
600 goes into cash account to be
used for other purposes-as paying
debts, for example," and Mr.. Ford's
intense expression gave place to a
smile.
Another Angle to Il.
"But there's another angle to that.
Able to get stock so much more rap
idly. we do not have to keep so much
on hand. Operating on narrow mar
gin we have to keep very close &C
count of stock and, 70 meet this need
we have completely changed our sys'
tenn of purchasing and accounting
Formerly we bought IN vast bulk lots
using up stock as we needed it. Bu1
that would not do under our changed
conditions. We have worked out
/ .--,- -.-e+1v,, which 7 believe is no