Facts & Figures

RECONVERSION Facts & Figures

This week 30,000 telegrams tersely can celing the bulk of Army war contracts were ready to be sent to U.S. industry.

With one swoop the Army would wipe out :

P:More than 95% of its orders for carbon and alloy steels, copper, aluminum, artillery, tanks, guns, railroad rolling stock, telephone, radio and telegraph equipment.

P:More than 75% of its orders for cotton and wool textiles, leather, lumber, shoes.

P:More than two-thirds of its orders for tires.

That would make reconversion a fact, not just an overworked word. Total industrial production, now humming along at the rate of over $130 billion a year, could be pushed down almost one-third.

Plans & Prospects. Industry was ready for the cancellations. It had discarded the notion that a tapering-off in war orders would cushion the reconversion shock.

How quickly industry could regain its equilibrium depended upon how quickly it could: 1) clear its plants and set up peacetime assembly lines; 2) obtain a steady supply of raw materials; 3) get a firm pricing policy from OPA.

The reconversion outlook for some representative U.S. companies: GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. Output of tires and plastics for civilians can begin immediately. Estimated postwar employment: 30% greater than the prewar peak of 28,561, but only 30% of their 1942 wartime employment peak.

BENDIX AVIATION CORP. Sales-smart Bendix was busy during the war lining up a nationwide distribution organization while its factories were spouting $2.8 billion of war goods. Soon these distributors will have something to sell. Bendix plants making auto parts will be in mass production by late fall. New type AM and FM radio sets can roll off the assembly lines immediately.

GENERAL MOTORS CORP. G.M.'s problem is typical of all auto manufacturers. It needs new machine tools, must rid its plants of heavy war machinery. (Pontiac has long been mapping its new-assembly lines--). G.M. must also accumulate a huge supply of raw materials (steel, textiles, etc.) in a fiercely competitive market. Once these problems are licked, G.M. has high hopes for the future. Its ultimate employment goal: 400,000 factory workers (1939 high: 201,000); 200,000 distributors (1939 total: 150,000).

WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP. Cancellation of its $400 million backlog of war orders will free Westinghouse for a quick changeover to refrigerators, electric irons, and other appliances for civilians. Two new postwar products: a deep-freeze unit for home use, a dishwashing machine to sell for less than $100.

E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & Co. Nylon and Nylon yarn for stockings, Neoprene synthetic rubber, most chemical products and plastic materials can be switched to civilian use as soon as the cancellation telegrams reach Wilmington.

ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA. War orders will be sorely missed. Alcoa has delivered $2.2 billion of aluminum and magnesium since war began, still has a backlog of war orders totaling $200 million. But orders on hand from civilian industries amount to a mere $26 million--equal to two weeks' present aluminum production.

OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS Co. Anticipating a boom in the marketing of glass-packaged foods, medicines and beverages, Owens-Illinois will keep all of its workers, rehire its 5,325 employes now in uniform.

Two new plants to produce glass containers will be built after the war.

PULLMAN-STANDARD CAR MANUFACTURING Co. From the car-hungry railroads Pullman-Standard has orders for $78 million worth of rolling stock. But full production of superdeluxe streamlined coaches and sleepers cannot get under way until Pullman-Standard finds several thousand more workers for its shops.

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