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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).
Analysis of the weaknesses in English manufacturing and parts supply compared to the American motor industry.

Identifier  ExFiles\Box 170\3\  img200
Date  25th July 1939 guessed
  
8

English manufacturers generally have not fully realised that the first requisite for economical manufacture is extreme accuracy, and the second is a full knowledge of the facts.
There is also a serious deficiency in this country, of agressive and intelligent parts-makers. These suppliers have been a tremendous factor in improving the efficiency & reducing the cost of American cars. For example there are no really up to date sources in this country for first-class forgings, or for good leaf springs, large coil springs, valve springs, shock absorbers, etc. And the whole industry languishes to a certain extent, for lack of them.
Contributing factors such as taxations, road-conditions, and lower wage scales, which limit the size of the industry and therefore discourage such suppliers, are, I think, often exaggerated.
The American slogan that "everyone wants to own a motorcar" is equally true in Gt. Britain, and the American industry is largely the creator of the prosperity which it supplies.
  
  


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