Evening star., 1941-01-22
Delays on Aluminium
Parts Are Laid 10
Many Factors
Deviotions in Monthly
Schedules Cited as
Major Problem

Major Problem
The swift moving defense pro-
gram has raised many problems In
the delivery Of vital aluminium
parts, 1t was revealed here by Fred
Pyne. West Point graduate, who is
serving as liaison engineer between
the Aluminium Co. of America and
the aircraft manufacturers.
Pyne said so-called shortages Of
fabricated aluminium parts are not
based upon the regularly scheduled
month-to-month requirements Of
the defense aircraft manufacturers
as agreed upon by the National De-
tense Advisory Commission, the air.
craft manufacturers and the mill
tary services which award the con-
tracts and the Aluminium Co.
Temporary delays are occurring
in some instances only in the case
of deviations from these schedules,
the result Of afterthoughts, changes
in design, Of failure Of the manu-
facturer to order. There are also,
of course, the unavoidable delays
which sometimes creep In because
of ordinary manufacturing Difficult
ties, such as the breaking Of die,
for instance. But all of these are
situations which might we'll come
about, and often did. in the depths
OF the depression, Pyne declared.
Explains Shortages.
Discussing the Shortages" Pyne
said that many support the analogy
of the hardware merchant, who
keeping thousands Of items In stock,
finds a customer calling for dozen
of a certain item high up on the
shelves and discovers upon investi-
CATION that he has only four and has
neglected to order more. He faces
an immediate shortage" Of that
particular item and will continue to
experience it until he can get some
more made by the manufacturer.
"One aircraft manufacturer in re-
cent weeks announced publicly that
he was forced to lay of a certain
number Of men because Of short
age of materials" Pyne said. In
vestigation revealed that insofar as
aluminium was involved, the short
age consisted Of forgings Of a single
type. the order for which had been
inadvertently Cancelled by the man
ufacturer"
TOO cite another case. another
aircraft manufacturer ordered a
large amount of strong aluminium
alloy tubing to be used for landing
gear. Specifications for the tubing
were clear and it was made up. The
manufacturer neglected to tell the
Aluminium Co. that the tubing was
to be bent after delivery The alloy
specified happened to be the one
aluminium alloy most difficult to
bend. The entire order had to be
made over, and plane production
had to wait"
Coordination Necessary.
Often lack of coordination among
the engineering, purchasing and
other departments Of customer
holds up the delivery Of fabricated
aluminium for planes. according to
Pyne. He cited two well-known
Eastern aircraft manufacturers.
Both have been awarded contracts
for defense planes. One has already
scheduled its entire requirements
for all kinds Of fabricated aluminium
for each month, item by item,
through December, 1e41. The other.
virtually a next-door neighbor to
the first must begin delivery OF
planes in May and has not yet
ordered a single aluminium casting
or forging
Even the simplest forging die
may take weeks to make, and the
more complicated dies often take
months" said Pyne. They are the
job of craftsmen, and no successful
method has ever been worked out
which will allow more than one
craftsman at a time to work on q
die. The dies cost from few hun
dl Gu W S4O.OVO CdSll, vi SNC1
more, and the principal part OF the
cost is labor"
Sometimes it is discovered that
the original design Of an aircraft
forging was not entirely correct and
the die for this forging, which may
be but one of thousands of parts
that go into the plane, has to be re-
designed and made over, requiring
weeks or months. This one forging
may thus hold up plane production
as effectively as the lack of whole
trainloads of aluminium.
THE picture becomes further
complicated when you take into con-
sideration the fact that before the
defense building boom, COM
mercial airplane might use only a
dozen or so forgings. but that the
planes military prototype, the
bomber. may use well over 200 forg-
ings, each requiring a die In the
days when 30 or 40 planes was big
order, there were not enough units
made to write OF the cost of the
dies economically and substitutes
for aluminium forgings were used.
Today with much larger number
Of units being ordered and with
greater strength required to carry
the armament of the planes, no
substitutes are permitted for the
forgings But the chances of re-
design being necessary are enor-
mouSly increased"