Industrial Research 



227 



to share with the smaller companies, usually without 

 charge, some of the results of their own research. The 

 establislmicnt of "teclmical service" by those who 

 manufacture a product or equipment has brought well- 

 trained men into the plant of the consumer and made 

 available to him the results of costly and time-consum- 

 ing investigations. There are even financial organiza- 

 tions which make it their business to help by bringing 

 the small manufacturer into contact with a larger one 

 who is willing to share at least a i)ortion of what he 

 has learned thi'ough research. 



Advertising agencies have been known to assist 

 manufacturers to improve products or to devise new 

 ones bj' brhiging them mto contact with consultants 

 and other groups prepared to do research. The agency 

 profited by handling an increased advertising account. 

 The manufacturer who has never thought of industrial 

 research as something within his means is frequently 

 surprised to learn of the assistance he can get and the 

 extent to which he can go within the limits of his purse, 

 if he really becomes research-minded. Today there is 

 a far greater exchange of information in the ways 

 mdicated, and in accordance with agreements made 

 to exchange information, than is generally supposed. 

 A ready exchange of information along some lines takes 

 place through the medium of an informally organized 

 group of research directors who meet frequently and 

 discuss a variety of common problems. 



Costs 



The manufacturer, large or small, who first ap- 

 nroaches the question of research will ask early in his 

 nvestigations, "What wdl it cost?" The answer must 

 differ in each case. Some types of work can be begun 

 in small quarters with inexpensive equipment. Others 

 may require a large investment in apparatus, much 

 space, and a large staff of trained men. In addition to 

 equipment and space, a cost of between $4,000 and 

 $5,000 per man per year will care for the salary and 

 supplies, including some special laboratory apparatus 

 and equipment, stenographic work, etc. It obviously 

 does not mean that all men will receive the same 

 stipend. It is an average figure for a group. It will 

 be obvious that research is one of those ventures that 

 require much "educated patient money," to quote 

 the late Dr. John E. Teeple. 



The Time Factor 



Patience is also needed between the time an idea is 

 conceived and its result is in commercial production. 

 Experienced men differ as to this time factor, but it is 

 somewhere between 5 and 10 years, with perhaps 7 or 

 8 as an average. Even then it is not likely that per- 

 fection will have been attained, and research continues 



.321835—41 IG 



for years after a product has become commercial. 

 Nothing is more discouraging to the research man than 

 to be obliged to work under that type of constant 

 pressure which reflects the cash-register attitude. It 

 is not to be expected that research will begin at once 

 to ring up the profits. Time is always an important 

 element and short cuts to success are infrequent. It 

 has been said that developing a new idea is somewhat 

 like hatching an egg, and a hen cannot be hurried. 



Organizing for Research 



In initiating research two principal problems must 

 be solved — preparation of a program of work and the 

 selection of suitable personnel. There must be a care- 

 ful choice of the problems to be attacked. From a 

 large number of problems presenting themselves, those 

 who Ivnow what is to be accomplished and who are 

 familiar with the industry must make a well-considered 

 choice and, having done that, can profitably go over the 

 ground again and again. The president of a large 

 chemical company recently said that, if a half dozen or 

 so out of 200 suggestions initially proposed become 

 really profitable after much time and money are spent 

 in their development, his concern is well pleased. 



With the problems selected, it is somewhat easier to 

 determine the type of men required and recruit them 

 with their specialties in mind. Specialists alone, how- 

 ever, are unlikely to obtain the best results. In any 

 such group a man broadly trained in fundamental 

 science will be found most useful. Long-established 

 laboratories will usually be found to have teams of 

 investigators prepared to devote their energies to the 

 assignments given them by the director. And after 

 years of work in a particular industry, the laboratory 

 of such a firm naturally becomes adapted tlu-ough a 

 process of selection to the kind of work most likely to 

 confront it. 



There has been at least one instance where a well- 

 to-do concern tried the plan of employing a considerable 

 number of the best-trained men, most of them with 

 good scientific reputations, in the belief that if such a 

 group were given a well-equipped laboratory and worked 

 there for a time, as seemed best to it, something revolu- 

 tionary and profitable must be evolved. But there 

 was no planned program for this highly trained group, 

 and the undertaking was on such a grand scale that, 

 before anything sufficiently fruitful could be evolved, 

 funds became scarce and the scheme was abandoned. 

 If it ever achieved success, such a scheme would have 

 required years to show a profit. 



Looking at research for the first time, anyone 

 interested is likely to ask, "Wliat has it accomplished 

 to recommend it to me?" The answer can be a very 

 long story. The rapid rise and expansion of industrial 



