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).
High price of drop forgings and the possibility of setting up in-house forging equipment.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 144\4\ scan0029 | |
| Date | 1st March 1940 | |
| 1260 Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}8/ML.1.3.40. DROP FORGE. As you know, our investigations in-to the price of drop forgings led us to conclude that the ring controlling this product are not selling at an economical price. Quite apart from our own calculations, this is confirmed by the fact that we can get quotations from America which are as much as 30% lower than the similar English figure. Under the circumstances, we wonder whether, in view of the fact that you are trying to bring all your equipment in the Factory up to date during the present boom, you would not consider putting in some really up-to-date forging equipment, suitable for motor car work. We agree that Derby would possibly be the wrong place for this equipment, and that it might be necessary to locate it somewhere in the Black Country. However, we feel certain that something has got to be done if we are to work on really competitive lines. You may say that Morris does not find it necessary to run his own forge and therefore we should not undertake another line of product. The answer is that we have never had a quotation for any part that is within 25% of the figure which Morris would pay for the same part, and we do not know how we are going to get the price we require, until our quantities become so large that the ring decide to deal with them outside their control prices. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||