The talking machine world (Jan-Dec 1916)

40 THE TALKING MACHINE WORLD CONVENTION OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TALKING MACHINE JOBBERS — (Continued from page 39) The question of peace or war and its consequent result upon our industries and the prosperity of these United States is one upon which the keenest judges differ very materially. To read the various impressions of various authorities, it would seem to be an} man's guess. While powerful influences will be at work for manj' months to come that will affect more or less the business of this country it is my conclusion that at least two or three years of great prosperity are ahead of us in these United States. I fail to see how the many billions of wealth that our country has accumulated during the last two years, the comparative conservatism during these times of undreamed-of prosperity, our comparative freedom from debt to the outside world, our promising crops, and our well developed mines, can help but exert an influence for prosperity that will extend at least through that period or until the great natural swing towards a more economical era again asserts itself. 1916 and subsequent years are very apt to re Louis F. Geissler turn to you just exactly what will be your due according to the physical effort and the mental power and whatever degree of enterprise you place in and behind your business. The Victor Talking Machine Co. throughout all its departments has certainly blazed a way for you and is no mean example of hard work, enterprise or expenditure. We hope to do our share and to keep up the pace. During the past year and since our last pleasant meeting upon those beautiful Pacific shores, your prosperity and ours has been again well marked. No backward step has been taken. Your solidity and ours has been better welded by another year of pleasant experiences; the Victor family remains a powerful unit to resist the attempted encroachment of usurpers and imitators. With your loyal and good business sense, we are willing to rest our future advancement. That the Victor Co. will underwrite all your efforts by doing their full share of the labor that makes for our continued and greater success is an assurance that I will give you with all the force that I possess. Ernest John, of the advertising department, next read several papers on the production, facts and problems at the Victor factory and which were prepared by the heads of various departments, the first paper being that of Belfort G. Royal, general superintendent of the immense plant. The others follow in order: B. G. Royal, General Superintendent Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — No reasonable man expects that a composer of music shall also be a successful carpenter. We don't expect a plumber to be a poet. I assure you that anyone who aspires to be general superintendent of the Victor Talking Machine Co., will have neither time, opportunity nor energy, to become a specialist at .anything else. In my official capacity, I do a good deal of talking. Good plain speech. It seems to be effective. It may. indeed, be eloquent, but I believe it is not the kind of eloquence which we associate with speech-making. That is why I prefer to have a paper — a very short paper — read to you, instead of attempting a speech. I want to give you some insight into the difficulties we have had to meet and overcome, for that will be of greater service to you, and so — more interesting — than any form of oratory. "Stupendous" is a word which is suffering slightly from over-work, and yet I feel that it is the one most satisfactory word to use in connection with the Victor. Within so short a time, we have grown so fast and the ratio of expansion has been so great, that, in my opinion, it is not at all remarkable that you ' gentlemen should have experienced a shortage of Victor product. I am surprised, and, I confess, very pleased, that the shortage has not been greater. It is easy enough to suggest that we add more buildings, more machinery, and so on, but the fact is that an increase in output is not so readily achieved as all that. If that were so, there never would have been a shortage. We are always building. In fact, if we ever get through, I think we shall have to hire somebody to make a noise like a pile-driver, just so that we may all feel at home. It has been the same thing every:' year for many years. New buildings have been put up one after another. New machinery has been installed almost before the concrete has dried and in every instance this has been done regardless of cost. We never hesitate to adopt a new process, just as soon as we are satisfied that it will mean an improvement in our product or maintain its standard of excellence with a saving in time, but — you see — when we build a new cabinet factory or install a new and more effective battery of record presses, there are other compensating changes which must be made. It does no good to increase the cabinet output if we cannot proportionately increase the manufacture of motors and vice versa. We have to effect a more or less complete reorganization all along the line, from the boiler room to the delivery truck. More machinery means more pulley wheels to be turned, which means that we must begin at the beginning of things and generate more steam with which to keep them turning. You must realize that this same thing is true, not merely as between one department and another, but in each department, itself. Mr. Kieffer has five thousand men in the cabinet factory. Five thousand men, and every one of them working hard all day long. Imagine the fearfullv disastrous condition which would immediately result if the even balance of all the various operations were destroyed. I believe it is a fact that years ago, before the city of New York had its present traffic system, Broadway was once blocked for a space of two whole days. A worse condition than that would prevail if we had not evolved a system, an organization, which passes vast quantities of raw material through our big plant without congestion. In this respect the rapid growth of a concern presents possibilities of real danger. We have grown used to the idea of armies which consist, not of thousands of men as they once did, but of millions, and military men know that it is a vastly less difficult problem to manoeuver a hundred thousand men than to handle a million. They are apt to get in one another's way. and by sheer weight of numbers, produce a confusion, which may in time, become a rout. It is comparatively easy to expand gradually, but, thanks to our combined efforts — I mean the efforts of you gentlemen assembled here, and the efforts of the Victor Talking Machine Co. itself — the growth of Victor business has not been gradual. It has been entirely healthful, but it has nevertheless been a progression by leaps and bounds. I can quite see that it must be extremely annoying to be short of goods, in a market that grows more and more eager every day, every month, every year, and yet I have no doubt Mr. Geissler can convince you that you are to be congratulated rather than condoled. I have so far made no reference to another factor which affects every commercial enterprise in the most direct, most vital way — and that, is labor. Last year, in spite of the fact that the most populous countries in the world were short of food, yet, nevertheless, it was impossible to get enough labor to properly harvest this country's crops. There is no longer such a thing as "common" labor. _ The unskilled laborer today is working in munition factories at wages which formerly could be commanded only by skilled men. I should feel that I had wasted an opportunity, if I did not, at this time, call your attention to another, and most important consideration. The commerce of the world has been disorganized by the European war. Raw material of every description, has so advanced in price, as to approach the prohibitive — yet there has been no raising of the royalties on Victor product. Actually, of course, war conditions represent only the climax, for the tendency in labor and material has been upward for a considerable time. Since 1911, and prior to our recent voluntary increase in wages, this company has had to accept and absorb out of its profits, an advance in labor cost alone which is as follows: Superintendent of Buildings.... 18 per cent. Cabinet Factory 20 per cent. Shipping Department 26 per cent. Printing Department 30 per cent. Other Mfg. Departments 40 per cent. It mav, or may not, be correct to say that this company has had to accept and absorb this increase, but it is positively correct to say that that, at least, is what we have done. We haven't complained — we haven't handed on this increased cost to you, to your dealers, or to the public, but it has been another and a considerable problem, which we have had to take into consideration along with the equally urgent problem of an increased output. Figures mean little. Perhaps a comparison — which by the way has been used before — will be more serviceable. The highest mountain in the world is Mt. Everett, which is five and a half miles high. If it were possible to place our year's output of Victrolas one on top of the other, thev would reach a point which would be one hundred and fifty miles above the surface of the earth. I can remember the time when the shipment of a carload of talking machines was an event. Today — as our Mr. Smith can tell you — our incoming and outgoing freight for one year, if it could be made up in one train, would constitute an unbroken line of cars from Camden to a point three miles beyond New York. I have said that before we can show an operative increase in output, we have to adjust many thousands of operations, great quantities of raw material and new principles of transportation to that increase I want to remind you that that has been done many times, and is still being done. There are lots of cases, where, lacking complete understanding, a man might not know whether he was being abused or complimented, and if I have been able to give vou a little clearer conception of the nature and physical aspects of our gigantic problem. I shall feel that my paper has been well worth the reading. H. H. Murray, Chief Engineer I have been asked to tell you something of the work of my department which, for lack of a better name, is called the Engineering Department. This name is rather broad, however, as we cover only the engineering problems involved in the development of the motor, the taper arm, the sound box and their accessories, and the special tools, machinery and processes used in their manufacture in the machine factory. There is, of course, a great deal of engineering in a manufacturing business like ours. The entire plant with its buildings for offices, factories, warehouses and packing and shipping is an impressive example of what can be done toward making a thorotighly workable and efficient plant in the heart of a crowded city, and is a credit to the engineering ability of the men who have built it up The power plant and the equipment for distributing heat, light, water and power has also required much thought and study along engineering lines. The heads of our various manufacturing and research departments are, though they would probably deny it, engineers of no mean skill, for it requires engineering ability, as well as executive ability, to plan and arrange the equipment of machinery, etc., required to rapidly produce work which shall stand the test of Victor quality and keep within the costs necessary to yield a satisfactory margin of profit. The term engineer as generally applied means either an engine driver or a theorist who spoils a lot of good material with something he has read in a book. The real engineer is a man who follows mechanical principles in his work, and it makes no difference whether he learned these principles from hard experience or got them from a book so long as he uses horse sense in applying them. But to come back, to our subject, which is my own small job, and to tell you something of what we do and how we do it. It is not likely that any of you have ever honored us with a visit, as we are one of the secret departments whose work is done behind closed doors where visitors never enter. I cannot, therefore, tell you of the wonderful new things which are coming, partly because I have my instructions and partly because we don't produce that sort of thing. Our work is a series of steps, an addition here or a change there, which will make the machine more attractive or more convenient to operate, and it is only occasionally that some novelty like the Electric Victrola or the Tungs-tone stylus is brought out. The beginning of a job with us usually happens when Mr. Royal brings us an idea with instructions to work out its possibilities, a requirement for some attachment or new model with instructions to develop something which will do the work, or with some suggestion of our own for improvement on the product or its manufacture. We usually first work out our ideas on the drawing board until we are ' satisfied of their practicability, after which we make working models to prove our theories. For this work we have a force of about seventy-five men composed of designers, draftsmen, pattern makers, expert mechanics and experimenters, the latter working in individual laboratories equipped with everything possible to assist them. In fact the whole department is equipped with the very best and most accurate machinery and apparatus that can be obtained, in the purchase of which we never consider the cost, but only its suitability for the work. This equip ment consists of electrical and physical apparatus from the most delicate measuring instruments to presses which will exert hundreds of tons pressure. The designing of a new model or device on the board frequently takes months of thought and study only to find that we are on the wrong path and that we must begin it all over again. Our designers do not limit their working time to the six or eight hours a day of the ordinary man, for the investigator's mind is never really off the particular problem which is before him. It is always with him and many an hour is spent with paper and pencil at his home. Science yields her treasures very grudgingly and it is only by the most persistent and painstaking effort that she can be persuaded to tell us anything. The model also often requires long study and much changing, for a design on paper is not always successful in metal, and the model, like the drawing, is often discarded after months of trying work, and a new start is made. Even when a successful model is finally constructed, our work is not done for it must then be studied for simplification and improvement and its manufacturing possibilities considered. When we are satisfied that we have a practical device we submit it to our Executive Committee for their examination and criticism. If its adoption is ordered we proceed to prepare for its manufacture. •This means that working drawings, complete to the minutest detail, must be made of every piece or combination of pieces. These drawings must carry all the information required for purchasing the material, making the parts, and collecting the costs and this information must be stated with all the exactness of a legal document, yet briefly and so clearly that it cannot be misconstrued. Hundreds and thousands of prints are made every year from these drawings as every department whose work in any way concerns the parts must have copies for reference. A very simple yet comprehensive system has been devised for filing and recording the drawings and prints and keeping every copy up to date so that all departments may have exactly the same information. One of the most important points on the drawings is the specifications of the materials to be used. The right material must be selected, the first consideration in which is, of course, the work which the piece has to do. But there is frequently a wide range to select from, as for instance steel, which is the name of an almost endless number of combinations of iron and carbon and sometimes other elements. This requires a broad knowledge of the metallurgical and physical properties of the different materials in order to select the one best suited for the purpose and best adapted for the various manufacturing processes. This frequently means many physical tests and even chemical analyses, before the really best material for the particular purpose is finally found. Having once decided on the right material, rigid specifications are " drawn for it and the mills are held strictly to these specifications by an elaborate system of testing and inspection, one instance of which, as you have probably observed in the factory, is the series of tests to which we put our main spring material. Having completed the drawings of the device our next step is to design for the factory the jigs, tools and special machines which are needed to produce the parts rapidly and economically, and so accurately that they will be interchangeable. The planning of a set of tools must also have full consideration. The ideal equipment, of course, is the one which will produce maximum quality at minimum cost. Generally speaking to combine these two points means the use of fully automatic machinery so that labor costs can be most nearly eliminated. But this kind of machinery costs large sums of money, which must be considered in the cost of the parts which it makes as this is the only way in which this money can be returned. For this reason we must, in planning our new equipment, take into account the probable quantity to be made, and let me tell you that this question is of great importance in the engineering of manufacturing. It concerns you as distributers fully as much as it does us as makers. The policy of standard prices for standard goods we all know to be the life blood of every kind of manufacturing and selling. But the engineer must remember, that while you cannot afford to lower the price of a given type of machine, you cannot even consider raising it, and that if he is to add improvements he must decrease costs at some point and if he changes quality it must be for the better. Increased production enabling us to use more fully automatic machinery is the easiest line of action. Look for instance, at the completeness of the Victrola XI of todav as compared with the Victrola XI which we first put out some years ago. This has been made possible by two things, one of which is the great increase in the volume of business enabling us to work out the other which is the development of elaborate machines and tools for lowering the costs of production. These machines improve the product in quality, too, as they eliminate, to