Industrial Research 



Research personnel 

 Vear: Xumber 



1920 . 145 



1921 167 



1927 788 



1931 2,957 



1933 2,724 



1938 5,033 



Because of the difficulty of obtaining; complete informa- 

 tion of this nature, it may be assumed that the figures 

 are on the conservative side. It may further be 

 assumed that somewhat less than half of these numbers 

 represent technically trained personnel. This rapid 

 growth has placed the petroleum industry second only 

 to the chemical industry as an employer of research 

 workers in relation to the number of wage earners. 



A large section of the petroleum industry is engaged 

 in selling products. As indicated above, the products 

 may vary from crude oil, automotive fuels and lubri- 

 cants, industrial and process oils, to specialties such as 

 pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Every addition to the 

 volume or variety of products means an increase in the 

 personnel required to market and sell the products. 



155 



Research Methods and Policies 



In view of the magnitude of the lield, it may be useful 

 to attempt an analysis of the way in which research is 

 being carried out by the petroleum industry and of tlie 

 general policies that govern the work. 

 Flow and Where the Research Is Done 



In the early days of petroleum research the work was 

 sponsored almost entirely by the major oil companies. 

 This situation has now changed completely in that 

 research may be said to be carried out by the industry 

 as a whole. In a field where progress is so rapid, it 

 becomes necessary for the management in any one 

 organization to depend more and more on highly skilled 

 and technically trained personnel to follow the current 

 developments within the whole industry in onlcr to 

 keep its own operations abreast of competition. Not 

 the least important duty is to scrutinize with care new 

 developments originating cither within the organization 

 or on the outside so as to avoid costly mistakes in tlieir 

 evaluation. 



Common interests frequently make for cooperation 

 between companies on joint development projects. 



Figure 39. — Subzero Tcinpcratuies tor .Study of Oil, Fuel, and Lubricant Performances, Standard Oil Development Coniiiaii 



Elizabeth, Now Jersey 



