Wartime Demands Upon Management and Labor in the Aircraft Industry

• Author: R. Randall Irwin
• Published date: 01 November 1942
• Date: 01 November 1942
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271624222400117
• Subject Matter: Articles

104

Wartime

Demands

Upon

Management

and

Labor

in

the

Aircraft

Industry

By

R.

RANDALL

IRWIN

N EVER

in

the

history

of

American

N

industry

have

more

severe

de-

mands

been

made

upon

management

and

labor

than

are

being

experienced

by

the

aircraft

industry

today.

Out

of

a

small,

hazardous

business

employing

a

few

hundred

persons,

air-

craft

manufacturing

has

emerged

in

the

space

of

two

or

three

years

as

one

of

the

Nation’s

great

mass

production

in-

dustries

employing

hundreds

of

thou-

sands

of

people.

Employee

relations,

which

formerly

were

conducted

on

a

personal &dquo;town

meeting&dquo;

basis

among

small

groups

of

co-workers,

must

now

be

conducted

through

highly

organized,

impersonal

machinery.

The

problems

that

are

inherent

in

such

tremendous

growth

are

further

ac-

centuated

by

the

complexity

of

the

product

and

the

flexibility

of

production

methods

necessitated

by

constant

im-

provements

and

changes

in

design.

The

time

is

past

when

custom

methods

can

build

the

quantity

of

airplanes

required

by

our

Government

and

by

our

Allies,

but

the

time

is

not

yet

here

when

de-

signs

can

be

frozen

and

conventional

mass

production

methods

can

be

em-

ployed.

Improvements

are

being

made

constantly

in

order

that

our

aircraft

will

be

better

than,

or

as

good

as,

the

best

in

the

hands

of

the

enemy.

We

know

that

second-rate

planes

will

not

win

the

war.

A

few

of

the

major

problems

arising

out

of

the

demand

for

thousands

of

airplanes

are

( 1 )

expansion

of

the

physical

plant,

(2)

material

shortages,

(3)

labor

relations

and

employee

mo-

rale,

and

(4)

development

of

a

labor

supply.

EXPANSION

OF

THE

PHYSICAL

PLANT

First

chronologically

but

perhaps

sec-

ondary

from

the

point

of

view

of

diffi-

culties

encountered,

was

the

problem

of

expanding

the

physical

plants.

The

greatest

strain

was

imposed

upon

the

scanty

pocketbooks

of

the

aircraft

manufacturers.

Responding

to

their

Government’s

need,

the

manufacturers

poured

their

small

surpluses

into

plant

and

equipment

and

mortgaged

their

fu-

tures

by

borrowing

from

the

banks

to

provide

funds

for

building

new

plants

and

expanding

old

ones.

In

many

in-

stances

this

was

not

enough,

so

the

Government

constructed

new

factories

and

turned

them

over

to

established

companies

to

operate.

MATERIAL

SHORTAGES

This

expansion

was

accomplished

in

record

time.

The

airframe

plants

have

the

space

to

meet

and

exceed

the

Gov-

ernment’s

demand

for

thousands

of

airplanes.

The

problem

now

is

to

se-

cure

materials,

parts,

and

accessories

(much

of

them

Government-furnished)

that

go

into

the

finished

airplane-but

there

are

not

enough

to

go

around.

Although

production

is

increasing

at

a

rapid

rate,

it

apparently

will

be

some

time

before

the

supply

of

materials

and

accessories

will

permit

the

full

utiliza-

tion

of

existing

plant

facilities.

These

material

and

equipment

short-

ages

have

had

a

serious

effect

upon

employee

relations

and

morale.

The

companies

built

their

organizations

and

personnel

to

meet

predetermined

pro-

duction

schedules.

The

War

Produc-

tion

Board

and

the

Army

and

Navy

have

called

upon

management

and

labor

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