Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

E. C. GRIMLY, HEAD OF RCA VKTl'li COM- PANY LTD., PINS THE MERIT AWARD DECORATION ON THE LAPEL OF MAJOR GENERAL LA FLECHE, MINISTER OF CAN- ADA'S NATIONAL WAR SERVICES. As war drew nearer, RCA Victor steadily increased its facilities, im- proved its techniques, until when war finally came, it occupied a lead- ing place in Canadian radio. It had built and installed radio transmit- ters across Canada for the Cana- dian Broadcasting Corporation and important private stations. It had served the quickly-growing airways with special transmitters and cone of silence markers, 100 per cent de- signed in the company's engineer- ing laboratories just before the war. For four consecutive years, be- fore devoting its facilities entirely to war production, it produced and sold more radio receivers than any other manufacturer in Canada. The company was steadily forging a fine reputation as a designer and maker of peacetime communications equip- ment. In December, 1938, eight months before the war, the company estab- lished a new engineering depart- ment and set it to work in a small temporaiT building on the Montreal factory site. Meanwhile new mod- ern quarters were being built. First job of this new department was to build two 50,000 watt tran.«mitters for C.B.C. During the summer of 19.39— those last fateful months—a new, two-story building, glass-walled, fully-e(|uipped with the latest in machines, laboratories and test equipment was completed and the engineering a n d manufacturing stafl" moved in. Then in 1940 addi- tional space was needed to keep up with expansion of manufacturing facilities and a two-story, tempo- rary type building was erected to accommodate shipping depart- ments, space in the manufacturing buildings formerly occupied by these departments thus being made available for increased production. Growth continued, however, and with it the need for still more space. So, in 1941, a third building was constructed, a two-story wing con- nected to the one completed in 19.39, which provided still greater facil- ities for the manufacture of war products. Finally, in 1942, it was decided that still another major addition would have to be made if RCA Victor was to carry the rap- idly-increasing war load. Construc- tion of another building, eliminat- ing 30.000 square feet of obsolete space and replacing it with 100,000 square feet of new space, com- menced in the summer of 1942. The new wing was completed in 1943. With this building occupied the company has approximately 335,000 square feet of manufacturing space, of which 315,000 is devoted solely to the production of war equipment. When the Canadian Government reduced production of civilian radio equipment in October, 1941, the company had already changed its plant to an all-out war basis. This change-over was completed without interference with war production which was already under way and involved no shut-downs or delivery delays, even though it was neces- sary during this period to change techniques from mass production of domestic sets to mass production of liighly technical war equipment. Great as was the change in this radio organization during the last three years of the thirties, in the face of a threat of war, it has been even greater since hostilities com- menced. Today the company has doubled the percentage of women it employs, and finds women work- ers as proficient as men in the type of work they are doing. It has withdrawn its staff of radio field salesmen and delegated to them the w o r k of procurement, teaching them to serve as e.xpeditors. The space formerly occupied by the wood-working cabinet factory is now used for war equipment and a small plant in nearby Verdun ac- commodates the wood-working sec- tion, which is also engaged in war work, making shell containers, mess taljles, etc. Figures may be cold, but those which may be published without be- traying military secrets give a graphic picture of the progress made by this Canadian member of the RCA Family. Net sales during 1942, for instance, were three and a half times the 1936-37 average. For 1943 it is estimated they will be more than six times as large— practically all war production. The payroll has grown correspondingly. In 1936 there were 717 employees, in 1937 there were 747. By Sep- tember, 1939, the total had grown to 875, a year later it was 1,198 and IDEAS FOR IMPROVED PRODUCTION AND INCREASED EFFICIENCY COME FROM THIS GREATER WAR PRODUCTION COMMITTEE, SEEN HERE IN REGULAR SESSION. 2 I RADIO AGE