Evening star., 1942-03-22
ctory|sSeen
For Simp|ified
War Designs
CoonIey Appointment
To Bring Controversy
Into Open Soon
By FRANK MacMILLEN,
Wild World Business Writer,


Wild World Business Writer.
NEW YORK, March 21-A sraol.
dering controversy over one Of tho
proposed ways to speed war produc-
ton may come into the open shortly
with the appointment Of Howard
Coonley as head Of the Govern
ment's drive for greater use Of
standardized and simplifled designs,
it was learned today.
Coonleys appointment as an
official of the War Production Board,
which is acknowledged here al
though it has not been officially in
Washington. Is hailed by technical
men as triumph for the standards
zation approach to greater war pro.
duction.
For the 66-year-old former presi-
dent of the National Association Of
Manufacturers, who has taken leave
from his post as chairman of the
Walworth Co., big valve and fittings
concern. is considered one of the
countrys leading authorities on
simplifled industrial design.
Not only is he former president
of the American Standards Associa~
ton, principal engineering society
which has pioneered standardization
OF design as a peacetime program,
but he was also one of the founders
and is still president of the stand
ards body in his own field which has
operated more than two decades.
Worked With Roosevelt.
A member Of the Harvard class
of 1899, Coonley was associated in
World War No. l with the Emer-
gency Fleet Corp. as vice president.
He served on war labor policy
committee of which the other two
members were Franklin D. Roosevelt
and Felix Frankfurter.
The appointment of Coonley, who
belives earnestly in the Importance
and feasibility Of reducing the
number Of sizes. varieties and speci-
flcations of both war and civilian
goods, brought immediate approval
here from men in touch with that
highly technical field.
Production experts in this center
Of industrial supervision have long
felt that Washington's steps toward
simplification Of sizes and designs
have been halting.
Here the blame has been laid
largely on the fact that the work
has not been centralized in a single
agency in Washington with sufncient
power to get results.
Creation of a new branch Of the
w. P. B.-Coonley's organization will
function as an arm of the Industrial
Conservation Division of the War
Production Agency-is expected to
cure many of the evils Of the past.
as production men here have termed
them.
The War and Navy Departments.
the Office of Price Administration
and the Governments Bureau OF
Standards have all had a hand in
! setting standards for Government
work.
Full Powers Expected.
Final co-ordinating and super
visory authority, it Is believed now,
will be lodged in the new branch of
w. P. B., which Coonley is heading.
Coonley, native of Chicago, lived
long in Boston when his companys
headquarters were there, and now
lives on a busy cross-town artery
in Manhattan, Fifty-seventh street.
He rides on bus to his ofiice on
Forty second street.
Despite his 66 years he still Is an
active tennis and squash player.
His quieter moments of relaxation
! are devoted to the cello of which
he is distinguished amateur player.
He was a founder of the High Pines
Orchestra, group which still plays
at Brookline, Mass.
Six feet tall. with sparse, gray
ing hair and very direct gaze from
his green eyes, Coonley's taste runs
to quiet dark clothes and he has a
knack for knowing the names and
personal problems of every one who
works for him. He asks to be intro
duced to new office boys.
Writing before Pearl Harbor, Coon
ley said this of the movement to
standardize and simplify industrial
designs:
The use Of effective standards is
one of the most reliable tools the
executive can have to reduce the
pressure under which he lives.
Helped by Standardization.
II have found that this constant
pressure on his time-conferences
to be held. reports to be written.
controversies to be settled, his or
! ganization to be kept on its toes,
and a thousand and one decisions
to be made-can all be lessened
through use of sound standards.
standardized products, Standard
lied specifications for materials.
standard processes and standard
operating routines-all help to re-
lieve the pressure on executives up
and down the line, from foreman
to president.
This Is accomplished chiefly by
cutting down the number Of de-
cisions that have to be made through
the reduction Of innumerable prob
lens to operating routine"
Eiyo-Cuvod Tohnrro