Evening star., 1942-06-07
Aufomotive Industry
Reported Producing
Flood Of Arms
Time and Cost Reduced
As Companies Jointly
Work Out Short Cuts
By the Associated Press.


By the Associated Press.
DETROIT, June 6.-The weapons
Of war are roaring, like flood,
down the assembly lines of Amer
ica," Alvan MaCauley, president of
the Automotive Council for War
Production, said today in fore
word to a report on what the auto
motive industry has done since
Pearl Harbor.
The report, sanctioned by censor
ship authorities, is summed up in
the assertion that the job is being
done" 1t discloses that:
Orders given the automotive COM
panies in the first five weeks follow
ing Pearl Harbor equalled the total
volume of all orders placed with
them in the two full years that
followed the invasion of Poland.
Orders now exceed $14,0OO, ,0OO, 900
against $4,000, 100000 December y
"a production job equivalent in
materials and manpower to turn
ing out 100000 cars and trucks,
or 300 per cent of the peak annual
output of peace time.
Production Rates Are Secrets.
Deliveries of armaments in the
Six months ending today are esti-
mated at upwards of $l,4QO, 600, 900
equal to ne-and-a-h times the
value of all ornaments shipped by
the industry from the start of the
war in September, 1889, to Decem-
Der 7.
I'm goading American minds and
hands into using mass production
techniques of peace for the pur-
poses of war" Mr.. MaCauley said,
"the enemies of free men have
released the power that can ride
them down, drive them to the earth,
destroy them"
The report points out that pro-
ductlon rates are military secrets
1t emphasizes, however, that Amer
ica's peace time producers of motor
vehicles and parts generally are
running far ahead of the contractual
delivery schedules of their arma-
ments assignments.
Divided into five main sections
dealing with guns and ammunition.
aircraft, naval equipment, tanks and
military vehicles, the report cites
numerous instances Of how auto
motive engineering and production
ingenuity has resulted in the con-
servation of time, materials and cost
in the mass manufacture of arms.
Short Cuts Developed.
1t tells of one operation on
cannon production that formerly
required 312 hours now being done
In Is minutes; how one auto
motive producer of airframes cut
the man-hour requirements on one
bomber wing and nacelle job by
more than so per cent and another
applied automotive machines and
tools to a wing panel job with
saving of rs per cent in time and
Of more than ST 900 bomber
THE automotive industry the
report says, was asked to build IS
per cent of all aircraft engines, over
one-third of the machine guns.
more than tWo-fifths of the tanks
and tank parts, more than half the
Diesel engines, 100 per cent of the
motorized units and many other
items of military equipment.
Acting comparatively, the COM
panies pooled technical secrets with
one-time competitors. exchanged
machine tools and other facilities,
intensified the practice of placing
orders with subcontractors, jointly
worked out production shortcuts
to get the war job rolling.
Training programs-for factory
workers and for mechanics to
service their products in the field
were sharply expanded. Automotive
engineers working with Army and
Navy technical specialists devised
revolutionary ways of fabricating
war goods in quantity volume.
Industry Ahead of Schedule.
THE results: On assignment
after assignment, the industry is
ahead of schedule. The production
is swelling nightly by the hour"
How costs are being sharply re-
duced is told in paragraph about
marine equipment production.
'First placed in experimental pro-
duction early in 1889" the report
continues, "one essential naval unit
cost $4,000 apiece. When first
placed on regular production basis,
it's price was cut 9 per cent by the
passenger car company responsible
for its development and production.
AS volume of orders and output
increased improved efficiency per-
mitted five further successive price
reductions. Savings to the Govern
ment now is more than $4,000 or
81 per cent a unit below the starting
price"
The survey tells Of ingenious
substitutes for rubber" made by sew