Production and Policy Available to Purchase

THE conference organized by the Southern Section of the Institution of Production Engineers on Problems of Aircraft Production has become a well established annual event, so well attended that the accommodation, provided by the University of Southampton, is barely adequate to the occasion. However, it does seem to be in danger of losing its sense of purpose. Last year there was inaugurated the Lord Sempill Lecture, and Sir Roy Fedden on that occasion made a forthright critical assessment of the aircraft industry's organization. This year the Lord Sempill paper was given by HERR FRYDAG, of Henschel and Sohn, and gave a valuable insight into the way the German aircraft industry worked in wartime, and the conclusions which could be drawn therefrom. Both these papers dealt with fundamentals of policy, and provided valuable stimulation to discussion. However, it has been decided that the Lord Sempill paper should not be the subject of discussion, which is reserved for the other papers. Now this year these other papers, although interesting in themselves, were straightforward descriptions of technical developments more suited to delivery on separate occasions. It is true that the conference was given the theme ‘New Materials—New Methods’, but this is so broad that it will stretch over almost any subject. Yet one of the papers, MAJOR TEED's on fatigue, though excellent in itself, scarcely fits in with this theme. Indeed the theme is ambiguous; does it mean that the new materials entail new methods, and suggest discussion on the relationship; or is it merely an umbrella intended to cover the description of both materials and techniques? In practice the latter was the sense which emerged at the conference.