From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Cost comparison and overhead charges for an in-house versus a bought-out central lubrication pump for the 3 1/2 Litre Bentley.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 154a\3\ scan0107 | |
| Date | 6th November 1933 | |
| Y 3066 To Wor. {Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} From Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to Sft. {Mr Swift} c. to E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} c. to By. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} c. to C/Rb. {R. Bowen} Now that we are endeavouring to fix the cost of new parts before issuing Standardisation Sheets, we are coming up against one or two difficulties. At the present time on the Bentley car we are buying out the central lubrication pump on the dashboard. This pump has to do exactly the same work as the R.R. one fitted to the 25 HP. The Costs Dept. gave us a figure of £3.5.0 for the R.R. compared with £2.10.0 for the Luvax. Sft. {Mr Swift} gives the nett labour and material of our pump as £1.12.0d. All other things being equal we should prefer to stick to our own pump and we should recommend that we adopt it on the 3½ Litre Bentley. On the other hand the Luvax pump functions quite satisfactorily, and if there is a saving there is no reason why we should not take advantage of it. In our opinion it seems wrong to cost outside material free of overheads and to put full overheads on all our parts. We are still left with the problem of not knowing which is the cheapest pump and which to recommend. As this point is likely to arise on other parts we think a ruling should be given that parts bought outside should bear a certain overhead charge. Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||