Evening star., 1941-02-02
DefenseForces
Hunt for Expert
Management
Big Firms Assigned
Tusks Outside of
Usual Sphere
Special Dispatch to The Star.

bottleneckS that plague WaShlng-
tons defense job, and the one least
heard about, is the shortage in
skilled and seasoned management,
according to an article in the cur
rent issue of Business Week.
Our sudden torrent of war orders
already has saturated the produc-
ton and supervisory capacity Of
companies that hold the front line
of the defense program, says the
magazine, and 1t is this situation
that is back of Washington move
that has attracted far less at
tention than it observes.
ITS a move by the Government"
the article states ito hire from out
standing mass production COM
panies, not capacity or special ex-
perience, but pure management. 1t
involves the revolutionary theory
of assigning to big corporations
with a notable management record
the management of plants entirely
foreign to their previous operation" !"
Examples of this plan which the
magazine cites are the assignment
of Proctor g. Gamble, soap man.
ufacturers, to operate a shell-load-
ing plant at Milan, Tenn, of Good
year management, trained in rub
ber. to handle bag-loading
plant at the big SmokeleSS power
project now under construction at
Charlestown. Ind. Other manage
ment contracts of this kind are
coming For instance. something
out of the usual line is in the offing
for johnson & johnson, manufac-
turer of surgical and medical
supplies.
Cost-PIus Basis Used.
Both Goodyear and Proctor q
Gamble have set up subsidiary COM
panies to handle this work. Con-
tracts cover a years operation, on
cost-plus -fixed-fee basis. Proctor
g. CANDLES fee for management
services during construction of the
1892 900 plant will be s240000; fee
for procuring and installing equip
ment costing $1,000 O0o will be
S45.6OO: fee for years operation
estimated at S24000000) will be
s66O,Ooo Goodyear's fees on the
same basis are to be $4,000 ION
eouipment costing s2059.000 and
plant costing SIS 1872 ,O0op plus s440.-
900 for a years operation estimated
to cost 1895 000D.
Another piece of evidence on the
shortage and another
move to cope with it, says Business
Week. may be seen in the constant
increase in appropriations for de-
fense plants-something you may
not have understood. That smoke
less powder project at Charlestown,
Ind, started out at S26 1000 900, then
it was hiked to S51 900 600. now 1t
at s74,000,O00. The Radford.
Va. smokelesS powder plant began
at s25 1000 900, now gets s36390 900.
The incree ses illustrate shift in
policy to fewer and bigger ones
because Of the MANAGEMENT short
AGE. A good man can run Sl0,-
900 .O0O plent as easily as a 81 .000.-
900 plant. The word from the De-
fensn Commission is. There must
be no dilution of ton mana cement
Shortage Is Felt.
The ma magaZine points out. how
ever, that the construction isn't
to the very top Of the top,
that. as matter of fact, it is apt to
squeeze tightest in the category Of
assistant superintendents or similar
executives capable of active man.
agement of new plant setups. That
means men from 40 to As, drawing
from $500 to $4,000 a year. with
technical training. production ex-
perience. and the valuable quality OF
getting along with workers.
In this category the shortage Is
being felt broadly throughout in
dustry. Already there has been some
inter-company raiding of manageri-
al talent, and there will be more.
Ambitious men are grabbing the
chance to better themselves. as
witness the case of one young engi-
neer who rose from $3.50 month to
$700 month in three recent
by jumping from company
to company.
Here is something for the brass
hats to ponder says the magazine.
Wiser company heads are up-grad-
ing management as they are up
grading labor That is, opening op-
portunities within their organiza-
tions, training promising material,
pushing it forward as fast as capa-
bilities develop, feeding in raw per-
sonnel at the bottom"
Competition for Technicians.
The article states that engineer
ing firms which dispense manage
ment are also feeling the pinch.
They vie with primary companies in
bidding for technical-school gradu-
ates, and both compete with the
Army, the Navy. and other Govern
ment agencies for such talent.
The problem of management
shortage is especially acute in the
chemical field where, it is esti-
mated, the explosives and amnuni-
ton plants alone will employ $1,000
to 10000 workers. This will require
1000 chemically trained men for
supervision. In addition 1000 chemi-
cally trained inspectors will be
needed by the Army. Other demands
will produce a personnel shortage
hitherto. unknown in chemical
circles. The pinch is really going
to hurt by next summer"
There are training programs op-
Grating in many plants. Here the
prospective supervisory 'staffs for
war plants now being built get not
only practice with processes but
also classroom education. Between
1000 and $500 chemical engineering
seniors will graduate this June.
With postgraduate chemists added,
the total will pass 1000. These
should be rapidly absorbed into de-
fpnsn work