TNAG-0173-FCO40-209-United-Kingdom-Productivity-and-Efficiency-Study-effect-on-H-1969 — Page 54

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GOOD FOR THE IMAGE.

Volume one of the Textile Council report on the present performance and future prospects of the cotton and allied textiles industry contained plenty of statistical evidence about the state of trade, as well as ideas of what the years ahead may bring;

now

nother hundred pages has been issued full of documentary evidence on hich the major part of the first survey was based. The details deserve close study and will undoubtedly receive considerable attention from those directly concerned but the general observations too have much validity some of which may surprise the detractors

of the industry.

In particular, the comments made by the Technical Economy Department of the Shirley Institute following its study of the profitability of the trade, emphasises several points which deserve wide publicity. On the state of technology in the industry the Department says: "There has been a great deal of re-equipment during the past ten years and the better units are very well equipped by any standards."

An important picture of the pattern of re-equipment can be drawn from these observations. Those enquiring noted that substantial installations of Sulzer and air-jet weaving machines,cotinuous pressure-bleaching units and a pilot scale break-spinning plant are operating in the U.K. "The knowledge that they exist indicates that in some sectors our mills are the world leaders, says the report.

Old Ideas Under Fire.

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Dealing with the effect of re-equipment on productivity the survey emphasises that strong market links carry more weight under unfavourable market conditions than technical expertise. It might be expected that re-equipped units would be more profitable than their less well-equipped counterparts, but this was not invariably the case in those firms studied.

Nor is another of the "sacred cows" on which much time and thought has been spent in textiles for many years upheld in this document. "The pros and cons of vertical and horizontal organisation within the industry have been debated for many generations," it says. "In these debates it has always been tacitly assumed that within a vertical organisation complete technical integration of all processes will be achieved. In the present study it has been observed that this is seldom the case although the economies resulting from close technical integration are very considerable."

Taking a particular example of effective integration from bale to finished garments the report says that in the case observed the spinner was making a superb yarn from very good cotton.

The weaver made from this a cloth which, with regard to construction particulars, was no more than middling but which in the matter of freedom from significant faults, was very good indeed.

Excellent Article.

Because of high yarn quality, weaving performance was high and the total cost of the cloth low. "The overall result was an excel- lent article produced at a cost which allowed very satisfactory profit margins for all concerned at a time when many firms in the same trade were actually suffering losses."

On profitability the report states that over the period considered the overall situation of the industry was far from satisfactory. Returns analysed by the Productivity Centre of the Textile Council showed a small net loss (on an indemnity basis) for the industry as a whole.

The position, according to the report, may be summarised by say- ing that for high profitability, first-class technology and a high degree of specialisation are essential. But extreme specialisation