T h e I n s t i t u t i o n o f P r o d u c t i o n E n g i n e e r s J o u r n a lV O L . 3 3 N O . 7 J U L Y , 1 9 5 4

The Production Exhibition and Conference

A Message from

The President of the Board of Trade,

The Rt. Hon. PETER THORNEYCROFT, M.P.

THE Production Exhibition and Conference being held in London this month

reflect great credit on the Institution of Production Engineers. These

important events, which the Institution has sponsored, have deservedly

attracted wide attention at home and abroad and I look upon them as a fine

example of a professional body performing a valuable service, both for its own

members and for the public at large.

I welcome the Exhibition as the first attempt in this country to demonstrate

on a national scale and in visual form the importance of productivity. It provides

a unique opportunity for the exchange of technical knowledge and experience and

it offers a series of vivid examples of efficiency in several spheres, which can hardly

fail to impress many of the thousands of the visitors to it, who will come from all

sides and all sections of our industry. If each visitor returns to his work with a

desire to adopt in his own factory only one of the many good ideas shown at the

Exhibition, then a valuable purpose will have been served. But I am sure the

Exhibition will achieve a great deal more than that and I hope it may become a

regular feature of our national life.

There is no question but that increasing productivity is of great importance to

our economy. For that reason, the Papers by eminent authorities, to be read at the

Conference, dealing with many aspects of productivity, deserve to reach a larger

audience than will be there to hear them read. I am glad, therefore, that they are

to be published in the Institution's Journal.

One of the useful purposes served by the work of the Conference is to show the

relationship between production engineering and industrial, economic, social and

educational problems as a whole. In this way the specialist is able to see his work

in perspective and appreciate the connection between it and the work of other

people, employing different means to the same end. This applies as much, for

example, to the designer or the research worker as to the production engineer. All

are members of the production team, concerned with their factory's product from

start to finish, and if a barrier exists between them they, as well as their industry,

will be the losers. It is an important function of any professional association to

break down such barriers where they exist, and I am glad to see how well the

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Institution of Production Engineers is working in this field. The breadth and

variety of the Conference programme reinforces this idea that, while it may be

convenient for purposes of discussion to separate the various factors in productivity,

a proper understanding of its problems and success in solving them will not be

achieved until everyone concerned is able to see how closely all these factors and all

these techniques are related.

The production engineer is a vital link in the chain for he is concerned with

most of the factors in productivity; that, after all, is why he is there. There is a

popular, and perhaps understandable, belief that the principles of production

engineering apply only to the engineering or metal-working industries. One of the

services done by the Institution, especially in sponsoring such an Exhibition as this,

is to correct such mistakes on the part of industry and public alike and to extend

its influence more widely. The more widespread this understanding of the need

for greater efficiency becomes, the greater will be the service of the Institution to

the national interest.

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