12 



National Resources Planning Board 



Association research is used in sonic industries al- 

 though less emphasized proportionately in the United 

 States than in England. The Aniorican Institute of 

 Laundering has an excellent laboratory serving the 

 whole industry. Canners are served by a laboratory 

 with an excellent record of achievement, and the asso- 

 ciation even mauitains a traveling laboratory that 

 follows the seasons from small cannery to small cannery. 

 A central laboratory in the paint and varnish industry 

 not only solved many minor problems but has intro- 

 duced new oils to meet increased difficulty in obtaining 

 supplies from the Orient. Such association laboratories 

 are available to all members, and most of them issue 

 reports at intervals, render advisory service, and even 

 undertake individual investigation 



Contrarj' to a common understanding, the larger 

 laboratories available under fellowship or consulting 

 arrangement are not used exclusively by companies 

 without research facilities. Sponsors of research at 

 foundations and at commercial consulting laboratories 

 include many companies well known for their own 

 facilities, personnel, and progress in research. 



The large consulting laboratories are coordinating 

 units in touch with many noncompetitive industries. 

 Services of such organizations, however, are available 

 to the small company at costs equivalent to those of 

 the maintenance of one or two research men, and special 

 arrangements arc frequently made by companies with 

 much more limited budgets. 



The principal consulting laboratories are found pre- 

 pared to suggest sources of research aid, and they indi- 

 cate no lack of research assistance and cooperation 

 available from various sources when sought. Banks 

 can report on the financial standing of consultants, and 

 many of them are now offering information on availa- 

 bility of research aid as a special service to customers. 

 One group of bankers even serves as an intermediary 

 between question and answer on specific teclmical 

 problems. In the utilization of outside facilities for 

 new product or process development or for other major 

 projects, however, the small company is faced with 

 the same necessity for patient diligence as are the larger 

 laboratories, for major research projects generally 

 require a period of years for their development. 



Some small companies use individual consultants to 

 advantage. The industrial areas of the country arc 

 dotted with consultants available to industry and the 

 best among them provide the equivalent of the research 

 available to the largest companies. The Engineering 

 Societies of New England has compiled a directory of 

 research consultants of various tj'pes in the section, and 

 it lists 289 entries of individuals and institutions cover- 

 ing the whole field of science and engineering." 



" Directory of New England research and engineering facilities. Boston, Engi- 

 neering Societies of New England, Inc., 1939. 



Numerous small manufacturing companies have 

 employed one or more technically trained men for pro- 

 duction or other duties, who carry on research or draw 

 intelligently upon the extensive available sources of 

 technical aid. In some instances, such men have met 

 outstanding success. An extension of the practice of 

 employing technical graduates appears worth)' of any 

 possible encouragement. 



"Examples of Research in Industry" 



Research would appear to follow a general pattern 

 in a particular industry with a notable similarity be- 

 tween laboratories and policies within the industry as 

 contrasted with laboratories and policies in other in- 

 dustries. No adequate explanation of the reasons for 

 particular policies in the different industries has been 

 offered — whether they are dependent largely upon the 

 technology in an industry or upon mere chance in 

 development is not yet certain, nor will it probably be 

 known until research has had opportunity for further 

 development, particularly in some of the older indus- 

 tries. The three industries chosen for illustration 

 make these conditions apparent. It is even true that 

 the word "research" in some industries carries different 

 connotation than in others. 



At times in the past there has been a tendency to 

 criticize whole industries for not adopting aggressive 

 research policies. Wlien such criticism is based upon 

 comparison between industries, however, it is seldom 

 valid. In the chemical industry research is not only 

 necessary but at present can be compared almost di- 

 rectly with the design and engineering departments of 

 the automobile industry. Some types of new chemicals 

 can be created by the research department almost to 

 order. The textile-finishing industry, however, is 

 chemical and was built upon the research of Dana, 

 Mercer, and other early chemists, but various attempts 

 at the application of research to textile finishing have 

 shown that the opportunity is by no means as obvious 

 as in the chemical industry. Until some more promising 

 approach to textile-finishing research becomes apparent 

 it probably would be poor judgment for companies in 

 that industry to spend the high percentages of gross 

 income being devoted profitably to research by the 

 chemical industry. 



It is not always true, however, that failure to adopt 

 research is due to lack of apparent opportunity. Eng- 

 land, Soviet Russia, and Germany have done more on 

 the utilization of coal than has the United States. This 

 country has not yet the need that spurred Germany to 

 the conversion of coal to petroleum substitutes; but this 

 country has a coal problem, and industrial research, 

 properly supported and conducted, might assist in the 

 solution. Unfortunately, the coal indr.stry is not pros- 

 perous and is not expanding. Within itself it does not 



