V1951-GM1.DOC
GM F84F Detroit – Kansas City KS 1951-1955
Civil
to Process Engineer
:When the Korean war started I was on Standby Reserve as I’d been a B-29 sqd
engineering officer on Guam during WW II.
I decided it was time to return to mechanical engineering and left the
KS highway commission, and after a job search hired in with GM KC. They sent me to Detroit where they were
planning tooling for their new airplane contract. GM had been told to design tooling to make 600 planes per
month. GM built 25 F-84F’s cost plus
then went fixed price, delivering them at about 50% of what it cost to build an
F-86 – the F-84F could out run it’s F-86 chase plane. This was a tremendous learning experience, going from Jr Engineer
to Sr Engineer to Supervisor.
1951 executive brief case and 1952 BOP badge
Jr
Executive to Detroit: The head of personnel at the KC KS GM plant
was an impressive person who made me feel welcome and needed. He was a master of demeanor and words, they
needed people for the upcoming task of building airplanes. He explained the plant, locally known as the
B-25 plant, was government owned with a stipulation in the GM lease that in
case of national emergency they were to build weapons for the military. GM had been selected to build the F-84F at
this plant, and the plant would operate in dual mode, build cars and
planes. He continued that based on my
credentials he would like to send me to Jr Executive training in Detroit, where
they had started planning and building tooling for work to be done at the KC
plant. My expense would be paid, in
addition to regular salary, while on assignment in Detroit. I would return and help implement the
program. We had discussed
classification and pay, I was to be
classified as a Jr Process Engineer with a salary greater than my previous
Civil Engineer Grade II. The attention
grabber was the term Jr Executive training in Detroit – a teaser term as if I
was being groomed for management. I
accepted the job offer and looked forward to helping with the war effort and
the chance to go to Detroit, heartland of US industry.
Trip
to Detroit with Mary in New 51 Oldsmobile: I had purchased
a new 51 Oldsmobile from Al Dryden in Oberlin – now that I was working for GM,
it seemed the appropriate to drive a GM car.
Mary’s father Archie had once worked for Al and had set up an almost at
cost deal – I was probably given the GM employee discount and didn’t known
it. I would be on expenses but that did
not include Mary’s expenses. Things
went well, we were enjoying the trip.
We stopped for lunch near a highway intersection – it had been snowing
and snow plows were clearing about 6” worth of snow off the highway. A snow plow had just made a pass and pulled
into the parking lot in order to turn about. I stopped to let him by, then as I
started to move forward, found my front wheels were blocked by a ridge of snow
left by the snow plough. I glanced back
so I could back up and make a run at it.
I was shocked to see the snow plows big tires with chains coming our way
– he would hit our new car – I couldn’t move forward without chains. I laid on the car horn hoping the driver
could hear me – he did not. Helplessly
I watched as tire chains cut into the left side of our new car. Eventually insurance paid for the damage.
Car
Parked, Corrosion Worked: Due to winter weather, heavy traffic and
excellent public transportation, I parked the car and rode the street car. What I did not know was that Michigan
applies generous amounts of salt to their highways, that our new car was
undergoing corrosion, even in cold weather in the parking lot. Al Dryden later replaced corroded parts and
applied undercoat, so the damage did not show.
Mary
meets Vera: I rented a motel room for Mary and I, until
Don Calkins told us of the place he and his wife Vera had found. We moved in this apartment hotel, it was
there Vera and Mary developed a lasting friendship.
Trip
to Republic Aircraft: Each of us on the program were sent to
Republic Aircraft on Long Island to visit the plant were the F-84F was
designed. They were paid to take us on
tours about their plant to show how they were then building the F-84E. It was an interesting tour in which I saw
things like stretch dies form sheet metal into odd shapes. Two clamps would grab a sheet of aluminum,
then a shaped mold would lift up and the clams pull down, causing the released
sheet to be an image of the mold. I
also watched the assembly of a gun cover. A crew of ladies assembled the pieces
using stove bolts then riveted them in place.
A very slow labor intensive process but with no tooling cost.
Trip
to NY: I took Mary with me and while I was at the
Republic plant she used the opportunity to look though art galleries. Before going back we took in the Copa Cabana
night club. Charlie Lubeck, my lead
engineer also there, insisted we see one of the acts. Charlie grew up in NY and ordered Lobster Newburg for dinner, a
dish unknown to us from KS. Our big
event was a trip through the Museum of Natural History. I came down with a fever and went back to
the motel room while Mary spent the day looking about.
Folks
to Detroit: My folks decided to come see us while we
were in Detroit. We recommended they
fly. They started out in a C-47 version
passenger plane and encountered rough weather – Dad insisted they get out at
Omaha – they came the rest of the way by train. We had a good visit and we took them across into Canada for a
Sunday afternoon.
Mary
back to KS: It was costing extra for Mary to stay in
Detroit and she really didn’t have anything to do during the day. She and Vera decided to go back, Vera with
Don’s mother in KC KS and Mary to her folks in Oberlin KS, occasionally staying
with my sister in KC KS.
By
Train KC <> Detroit: During the six months of assignment in
Detroit I sometimes took the train to KC over a week end. On weekends the train seemed loaded with
“Executives” making this trip, all in business suits with white shirt and ties,
carrying executive brief cases. These
brief cases were like a shoulder patch on a military uniform – they were
identifiers as if making you eligible to use the club car. I bought one for carrying a clean shirt and
shaving gear, not important business papers – I suspected others did the same. I admonished myself for play acting to look
the part, but acknowledge it was a handy carrying case -- my roll in this new
endeavor remained unknown.
GM Detroit Facilities
The primary GM buildings were at the
edge of down town Detroit, at Woodward and Grand. They were then planning a GM Research Center further out. There was a tall main GM building with
corporate offices, and ground floor displays open to the public, a near by tall
majestic looking Fisher Body Building with theater on the ground floor, and
Fisher Body Research A & B buildings across the street. These were connected by underground walkways
streets lined with shops. In cold
winter weather you could walk about the complex as if in a shopping mall. Permanent GM people took some of us under
the tunnel and up into a Sacks Fifth Avenue branch, etc where luxury goods
could be purchased, if you had the money.
The GM building had some 20 elevators, 10 on each side, carrying people
to the upper floors. Knit skirts seemed
the fashion for the multitude of shapely secretaries going in and out of those
elevators. An invitation for “standing
on the corner watching all the girls go by.”
The Research buildings, where we
were, included multiple operations as large drawing boards on which full scale
views of new model concepts were created by draftsmen standing as if drawing on
a wall. On another floor you were drawn
to the noise of parts being tested. A
car door was automated to slam shut, then opened and slam shut again – for the
purpose of life testing a door latch. It was quite interesting to look about
during the noon hour.
One of the permanent engineers, a
bright and interesting fellow, said your name has a long history in the
carriage industry before the automotive age.
He told me “Landau Carriage” designs were used by royalty in Europe. He told
stories of Henry Ford and GM. Henry had
meticulously guarded the development of the V-8 engine – then one day invited
the entire GM engineering staff to a display and demo of what he had developed. Henry was not really being foolish, knowing
it would soon be in production for all to see.
The executive parking lot was in the
basement of the Research buildings – Cadillac’s would line up there to be
parked by attendants. Jim Buckley from
KY, an early member of the F-84F team, arrived in a Ford Mercury, drove it into
the down stairs garage, got out, said “park it” and left. This was followed by phone calls trying to
find out who in the hell that Mercury belonged to.
Up
and Out: Jim was a dynamic good looking guy, intent
on working his way up. I first met him
at Detroit then at KC – he seemed destined to be our boss. Though likeable he was quick to make snap
decisions and take actions. At Detroit
I when I asked him about some minor thing to make conversation – he picked up
the phone, called the KC plant, got the answer, told me and went on his way –
as if to say that’s how you get things done.
Later at KC he left his car for repair at a GM dealer, upon return at
the end of the day it was not ready.
Saying I can’t wait, looked about, pointed at a new car on display and
said, I’ll take that one – making instant use of his newly acquired discount
dealers offered GM employee’s. He
became well known for his impulsive actions to get things done. Later he was sent to Detroit in what seemed
like a significant advancement. In the
presence of Gus Berndroth and Jack Holms I commented, Jim sure is getting ahead
fast. Jack smiled and said, things are
not always what they seem. Then added,
you don’t “fire” up and comers like Jim, you advance them rapidly, till their
incompetence becomes glaringly obvious.
In the military is was “up or out”, at GM it could be “up and out.”
Hamtramck and Polish influence
Tank
Contract to Chrysler: Hamtramck was a Detroit suburb where they
spoke Polish. Don Calkins and his wife
rented a place there for a while. I was
reminded of that when I watched one of the GM lead engineers conduct a question
answer session in front of where I working.
I’ll call him “Mr Bright”. He
spoke with a thick accent which was either Polish or German. He had been discussing problems associated
with a Tank Contract they were getting under way on the same floor we were
on. I later found they arranged for the
contract to be given to Chrysler to help keep them afloat – as another way to
reduce GM’s 65% of the market.
Mr
Bright: I didn’t know what an F-83F was to look like
and had been trying to read a big blue print drawing of the F-84F
fuselage. I looked up to see “Mr
bright” being shown similar drawings – he would rapidly look at them and answer
questions posed by the Fisher body Process Engineers working on the
program. I was amazed at how rapidly he
could “read a drawing”, one he’d never seen before, and discuss it as part of
responding to their questions. He
reminded me of my very bright instructor Jacqawitz in college. It was obvious all about him knew he was
quick and bright – they were seeking his comments and guidance.
What
are you guys doing?: Keith Kelsey, our boss in Detroit, was a
charismatic guy who was once a boxer, and had worked on GM’s Eastern Aircraft
program during WW II. I’d been told to
report to Keith who assigned me to work with Charlie Lubeck who was lead
process engineer for the forward fuselage section. My instructions were to learn all I could about the airplane and
the work Fisher Body was doing in preparation for construction in KC KS. One day Keith came by wanting to know what
we were doing – we were all strangers to him and each other on arrival. GM’s Fisher Body division had been assigned
to design and build tooling to build the F-84F. They made image drawings showing how the aircraft would be
assembled, from small assemblies to final.
I’d been trying to understand their plan and had taken it upon myself to
“assemble” the airplane using sheets of paper to represent each major assembly,
listing source parts, destination assembly plus the identity of the sub
assembly fixture used to make the assembly.
I also had a stack of major assembly drawings so I could “see” how it
all came together. When Keith asked me
“what the hell is it you guys are doing?
My boss wants to know, NOW.” I
said, “Keith, I have no idea what the others are doing, but this is what I’m
doing, just to find out how this damn thing fits together.” He picked up the papers, and I pointed out how
they linked and what they said. He
grabbed them and said, “this is just what I need.” An hour later he came back all smiles and said, “you just saved
my ass”. Thus when I later saw Kelsey
in Grand Rapids MI he had a calibration on me, and a basis for giving me
complete authority to have tooling modified in his plant. Much hinges on who you know and who you
trust.
Plant
6, Leave Car Unlocked: I was sent to Fisher Body Plant 6 to look
over some tooling drawings. I parked in
the company parking lot and went inside.
The people I’d never seen before, were very nice – then one turned to me
and asked, “did you lock your car?” I
said no, I figured it would be safe in the company parking lot. They said good, you never lock a car
here. If you do it will be vandalized,
kids around here get in the cars and listen to the radio. They take care not to run the battery down
or mess up the inside of a car. However
if they have been locked out, they take it as an insult and vandalize the car.
Masonic
Ring: I was wearing a low key Masonic ring and was
taken by surprise when they took note of it. I became aware they were very
conscious of who belonged to what fraternal order. That was the first and last time I noticed that.
Worldliness:
The longer I was in Detroit the more I became aware of how “worldly”
some thought they were and how ”unworldly”
they came to seemed to me.
Though I’d been in military service and been around a bit, I felt a bit
intimidated by the awesomeness of the corporate world about me, in many
respects it was over whelming to a country boy used to few people when out
surveying for road and bridge construction.
I soon adapted to their culture and became comfortable finding ways to
do my job. Some assigned to our program
were fellows who grew up in Detroit and who’s parents held high paying
positions in the company. Some had an
air about them, as if a cut above common folk.
I got along well by dealing with them according to their real knowledge
and capability. None of these fellows
went to KC, all managed a local job assignment. They were nice young fellows who had never been beyond their
Detroit world.
Winter
drive Don Calkins and I planning a drive during a
winter blizzard from Detroit to KS, leaving me off as they drove on to Denver. Many of the locals were convinced that KS
“Out West”, probably due to Cowboy & Frontier movies when they were
kids. We were repeatedly caused to
explain it was no big deal to drive that far on good highways in bad weather,
besides we were only going to the middle, not out west. By taking turns we drove straight though
with no trouble, snow plows kept the way clear and we were both experienced
drivers over snow covered roads.
Why the F-84F
We
learned the F-84F was actually a new airplane design and not another model of
the straight wing F-84E then being used in Korea. The US was afraid the Russians might come into the war, and jack
up the odds. They wanted a high speed fighter
to supplement the North American F-86 then in production. To do this they modified the basic F-84E
design by installing a new British Saphire engine in it by splitting the
fuselage and adding 11 more inches to make room. They also added swept wings and horizontal stabilizer. They also lifted the horizontal stabilizer
on the tail fin and moved the whole thing as a control surface. (I found the flight control servos were
built by North American, the same outfit I would eventually join.) They wanted the plane NOW and bypassed the
need to go through congress for approval of a new airplane, by simply changing
the model from E to F. The F-84F could
out fly the F-86, according to our test pilot, and was used at a Mig fighter
for a movie of our planes vs Russian planes over Korea. The US population didn’t know the “Mig” was
a new US airplane.
GMs Method of Doing Things.
Bidding
Cost to build F-84F: Jack Holms, Master Mechanic (equivalent of
aerospace chief engineer), told of how he bid the F-84F contract. His first question was how much does the plane weighed – he then
knew the cost estimate he would submit.
Cost estimates were prepared for him to back up his number estimate,
then he promptly put the cost estimate package in a desk drawer. When asked how soon the estimate would be
ready he said we are still working on it – knowing they would have no
confidence in a quick estimate. Just
before the deadline he pulled the estimate from the lower drawer, added 10% and
submitted it. Those reviewing it in
house cut it by 10%. Then added their safety margin. The government review cut the added safety margin and offered
them the contract based on Holms original estimate. In telling this Holms smiled and said, I’d used the same method
they used – the going cost per pound.
The
best Machine Tools: The GM planners were asked to submit a list
of equipment they would need, which if available would be provided from
government WW II surplus . They asked
for a list of what was available and were told, there is no list, they would
have to specify what was needed. They
found the Government had Surplus Machine Tools stored in a big hanger at
Lincoln NB. They went there to see if
they could have a look. The person in charge did not know they were
deliberately not told what was there. He was delighted to show them all the
good stuff available – machines that should be put to use. They quietly took notes of the best
equipment, then submitted request for that kind of machine. Thus they had the best of the best machines
available – still fully operational when the program closed down.
Government
Request Declined: When the F-84F program was coming to an end,
the Government wanting GM to keep the very high quality machine shop,
consisting of government owned machines, in place and operational. Properly
maintained such machines to not wear out and would be available for instant use
if needed. GM turned them down aware
that if known to the public it would miss interpret as government support of a
commercial enterprise.
Cut
Advertising to Limit Market Share: I was asked to sitting in on a plant
managers meeting for Gus Berndroth at which Ed Rollert plant manager said GM
was cutting back on advertising. They
had 65% of the US market and were concerned about anti trust action where the
government would cause the break up of GM – like spin off the Chevrolet
division.
Make
or Buy: I first met Al Macheck in Detroit, Al and
Jay Groff & Kieth Kelsey showed up with orders to chose Make or Buy. When I came into the room they had a stack
of drawings and were leafing through them, calling out Make, or Buy, converting
one stack into two stacks. Al was
making most of the decisions while Jay and Kieth opened and handed drawings to
him. Al was self confident, and seemed
almost whippy about it – I heard him chuckle and say, since they want the
answer NOW we will give them a one day answer.
If it’s not right we can change it later. Gus Berndroth used to say the one thing you can’t make up is
TIME. GM was being pushed to get things
underway fast.
The return to Kansas City
Evaluating
Who to Keep The personnel dept at KC had sent the people to Detroit for training –
now the engineering dept would decide who to keep. We were seated in a large bay area in front of a row of glass enclosed
offices. “Chief” a charismatic older
fellow was on staff to Gus Berndroth our pending boss. Chief, part Indian, mingled among us
observing and looking. He noticed and
looked over the Aluminum hand books I’d sent for and on my desk – he was impressed
with how I was addressing the new task.
He selected me as his confidant and he told me, “some of these guys are
not going to make the cut”. He
continued, see that guy looking this area over from that window office? He’s keeping tabs to see if people are
working or visiting. He said you don’t
have to worry, you will make the cut, but many of the others will not. His forecast was true, some 50% were moved
to other jobs, like the Starlight Theater baritone. Unfortunately my friend Don Caukins was moved to a production
related job. Don became discouraged and
looked into aerospace work on the west coast – he found a job with North
American Aviation in Downey CA and left GM.
I was kept in part because others were coming to me seeking hand book
information on how to handle Aluminum.
Thus I was selected to stay by someone with whom I’d never met or spoke.
I knew “Chief” had much to do with that – he was the fact finder for the guy
that never left his office.
KC Plant Facilities
The KC KS plant was huge, with rail
road cars entering into the plant in such a way that the plant floor and box
car floor were at the same level. A
huge parking lot extended to the West and workers, automotive and aircraft,
entered the building through a west door, up a stair walkway over the
automotive production line to the core office area. Leaving after dark it could be a problem finding your car, thus
some were innovative placing lights, timer operated, to illuminate at the end
of their radio antenna. When made supervisor I was given an assigned spot by
the front gate.
Process
Engineering, Designers on drafting boards & blue print files were in a
large open area lined on one side by glass partitioned offices. We Process Engineers, known in some
industries as Tooling Engineers, were seated at desks facing the glassed in
offices. When seated at these desks the
main south entrance was down a left isle to the front while the north
production area was down that same isle toward the back. To the east of this isle was a double door
entrance to the east plant area and to an elevator to upper floors where Production
Engineering, Accounting and Lofting were located. The east-west isle in front of the glass enclosed offices went
west to the Engineering Shop and beyond that production machines use to make
detailed parts. I came to like this
“open area” method as compared to individual offices. It was very pragmatic, people who worked together were seated
near each other. Persons could work
together or in complete isolation.
Engineering Shop
Kris ___ was manager of the
Engineering Shop which included a model shop, a tool grinding area, tool
room, inspection area and place for
special machines as a giant Jig Bore used for all the precision work This Jig Bore was a work of art made in
Switzerland – it had a foot print of about 8 feet and extended about 12 feet
high. Four columns held the large central head that could be raised or
lowered. It was instrumented for
auto-control response to operator settings.
In the middle of this was an area used to build the large assemble
fixtures with their precision locating and indexing pads and pins. I always enjoyed walking through and taking
note of the work being done. I wish I’d
known Kris better, he was a very bright fellow, who often wore a scowl, and ran
a tight ship – I also came to realize he was a kind and considerate man. I came to know him when on the same after
work bowling team.
The “Tool Inspection” area was run
by a master craftsman, and specialists who worked for him. They used large granite “Surface Tables” on
which they placed a thing to be measured.
The inspector would use a vertical bar with base plate that he could
slid on the surface table. He mounted a special ball tipped feeler with dial
indicator on the vertical bar. With
this the inspector could read the height of any point on the object being
inspected. The measured position could
then be accurately defined by use of “Joe Blocks” of specified size built with
precision. By these methods the
distance from one pint to another could be accurately measured to less than
.001 inch.
Master tools were made to precision,
defining surface locations and hole patterns, then mating masters made for
coping from one to the other. Such
masters were kept locked up and never used to make parts. The production tools were made and checked
against the masters on the surface table or by pinning one set of holes to
another with .001 undersized pins in drill bushings. Drill bushings were hardened steel parts that were press fit in a
base metal plate. When that tool was used to drill a part, the drill was aligned
by the drill bushing. When mastered
parts were checked the drill bushings in each had to all be pined with .001
undersize pins.
A “tool ball” was mounted on most
precision tooling and used as the index point from which all other measurements
were made. A tool ball looked like a
ball bearing on a stem with the stem pressed into the plate.
Process Engineers were charged with
defining the tooling required, to approve tooling and assembly fixture designs
and follow up in the shop on their status before delivery to production to make
parts. Jigs were used to make small
parts, Fixtures for larger assemblies. Of necessity I became very familiar with the process of how tooling was
dimensioned, designed and inspected. It
became very important to know how to dimension hole spacing, all from a
reference point, not by daisy chaining from one hole to the next.
Process Sheets
Blue Prints defined the aircraft
parts, Process Sheets defined how to make them. The task of a Process Engineer was to define how to convert a
blue print drawing to a real end product, via process sheets. These were 8 ˝ x 11 sheets first written by
the Process Engineer by hand, then typed on Ditto Paper, a process then new
where the carbon like material served as ink when the sheets were
reproduced. These could make up to 20
copies before they had to be retyped.
These defined the part or assembly, what went into it and what it went
into. It listed the steps to be taken
to make the part or assembly. To the
right of each step was listed the machine & tool used to make the
part. This was the “bible” used by
production and inspection for making a part.
There was to be no conflict – if the procedure needed correction then it
was corrected before the part could be inspected to it.
There was a constant need to update
process sheets as the process was proven out.
I took over as supervisor from Bob Hurbst, who left to go back to Detroit. I reported to Al Macheck who had
come from the Delaware BOP division with Jay Groff. Al & Jay plus other supervisors reported to Gus Berndroth who
reported to Jack Holms.
AVO’s & Change Notices
We used a very simple and pragmatic
system. A clerk checked roll each day,
and filled in all the time cards for submittal to the government for reimbursement.
We were paid each week, from pay roll records computed from IBM cards on a
large computer on the third floor.
Each supervisor had an oak IN and
OUT box with a lid. These were sized to
hold a half size piece of paper. Production Engineering issued Change Notice,
or Stop Orders on this size paper. These went into the appropriate supervisors
IN box for action to be taken. Anyone
wanting something done would make the request on a green AVO (Avoid Verbal
Orders) sheet which were also placed in the IN box. This was both and order and authorization to spend money. These were handed out to a person to “work
off”, and when done went in the OUT box.
It was up to the supervisor to hire or let go as needed to keep the IN
box worked off to an acceptable level.
People were rarely laid off, just shifted to where more help was
needed. (I later implemented this
method when working on Minuteman III – it worked beautifully.)
Production floor mess Parts and Drawings do not Match
In order to achieve mass production
we changed how the airplane was assembled.
We would clamp many parts in a fixture drill all parts at once then
rivet them together. This often avoided
tooling holes used by Republic Aircraft on their drawings and sometimes added
some via the process sheets that were not on the drawings used by quality
control inspectors. The problem really
hit the fan when production found themselves with many parts they had built but
could not sell. Gus had me get together
with Product Engineering to work out some kind of solution.
Slash
& Dash Numbers: We came up with a plan to use “slash”
numbers following a parts dash number.
The slash number, on the Process Sheet indicated if the part was
different than the Republic drawing and should be inspected to our process
sheet. This was implemented and helped
solve the mess on the factory floor.
A /1 was superseded by a /2 if
subsequent changes were made. It seems
this had been a long time problem in the aerospace industry, particularly when
dealing with configuration control after parts had been delivered.
Experienced Aircraft people from West
Coast and Wichita.
It
soon became obvious that people skilled in making automotive tooling were not
the best choice for making aircraft tooling.
The big stamping dies from Detroit were often over kill. The company had the foresight to bring in
skilled aircraft people from the west coast and Wichita. The KC tool designers were soon almost all
aircraft industry tooling people and many of the shop craftsmen from aircraft plants
in Wichita. Two excellent Process
Engineers Tucker & Oliver from Beach worked for me. They were real gems and I learned a lot from
them. Tucker was the one who knew how
to mold Plexiglas over our White Elephant model.
Our
shop people produced what they called Gay Dies for stamping out parts and
cutting holes in sheet metal. They used
rubber as spring material between two plates that worked like cutting shears
and were powered by the large Hydro-Press.
Multiple of these could be used at the same time. Thus many of the “over kill” heavy Press
Brake operated tools from Detroit were not used.
Another
innovative methods from the aircraft industry was the use of routers with
overhead or under pin guides against templates made from lofting sheets (blue print designs photographed on aluminum
sheet) There were large heavy duty
radial arm routers picked up from the Lincoln NB surplus storage. Detroit worked with Iron, not Aluminum.
After
indoctrination at GM Research Center Detroit I returned to KC and was assigned
as lead Process Engineer for a section of the fuselage which included the Gun
Cover – equivalent to the hood on a car.
The
gun covers did not properly fit the fuselage sections assembled at the Grand
Rapids Michigan plant, production was held up & something had to be done
fast. Detroit had built two Master
Tools for this interface, one for KC and one at Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids used two large $30,000 form
dies, to stamp the sheet metal longerons to which our manufactured rib &
baffles attached. The longerons were
flanged V shapes that ran horizontally on each side of the cover, contoured to
fit the Basic Contour line (BCL), where the outer frame and under skin meet. These were stiffened with baffles who’s
outer flange also fit the BCL.
I
had previously arranged for our shop to build what became known as the White
Elephant. I discussed ideas with the
best craftsmen in our model shop, and had him build a sequence of vertical
lofting plate templates, cut off at the BCL.
(Aircraft drawings photographed on sheet metal are called Lofting.) These were set on a heavy duty flat table
and filled in with hard setting modeling plaster. This replaced badly beaten mahogany models done by Detroit. I also had the White Elephant contour and gun
cover opening master tool fitted to match – plus a transfer master with
which to fit the Grand Rapids fuselage master tooling.
To
achieve mass production we heated, draped and fit a large sheet of Plexiglas
over the white elephant and indexed all drilled holes to it. During assembly, formed vehicle parts were
placed in a holding fixture. We then
built a drill cage, built to match the Plexiglas master pattern, which was
lowered so all holes drilled at once.
The parts were then cleco-clamped in place and riveted as shown
in above right.
To Grand Rapids Michigan
How to salvage two $30,000 tools, fast
and accurately
We could not sell airplanes unless the gun covers
fit – I was told fix it, even if Grand Rapids has to build new longeron
tooling. I was stunned to find each
pair of stamping dies cost 2X what our new home cost, my personal frugality
said there must be a better way?
Fit
Longeron dies to white elephant BCL: I went to Grand Rapids to look into matching
longerons and fuselage to fit. Rather
than have them build new longeron dies I had them match the existing dies to
Plaster Splash Models taken from our White Elephant. I said you fit the flanges of your dies to our Basic Contour Line
master shape and we will accept whatever internal shape comes out of your dies
as the master for our baffles. They
liked that idea.
Hydro-Press
used to form Baffles: We manufactured parts such as ribs and
baffles using a large Hydro-Press, which was like a huge hydraulic jack that
pushed a large overhead plate down on a table. This large overhead plate is
fitted with rubber, heavy stuff like car tire tread. Form blocks with flat stamped parts on top, indexed in place with
tooling holes, were placed on a tray and the tray slid on the table, under the
overhead plate. When the overhead plate
came down the heavy rubber, under intense pressure, wrapped about the form
blocks, rubber flowing as if liquid – pressing the flat pieces of sheet metal
into the shapes of the form blocks. The current baffle tooling, made by Fisher Body,
were hand carving kirtsite form blocks.
To form a 90 degree flange on a sheet of metal the form block side was
cut back, so the flange would over bend, and spring back to 90 degrees when
released. Hand books were used which
defined how much over bending was required for a specific kind and thickness of
aluminum. The process was a kind of art form with amazing adaptability. (Awareness that rubber become “fluid” under
pressure would be used to make gimbal joints for rocket engine nozzles.)
How to form mating parts fast at low
cost
I
knew there had to be a better way to mate shapes – the use of lofting photos to
make the white elephant had worked beautifully, better than prior hand carved
mahogany models. Casting shapes with
plastic seemed a better quicker solution than hand scraping metal to fit.– yet
no one I encountered had seen it done before.
I knew it would work and moved out -- without seeking permission.
Plastic
Form Blocks: I asked our model shop to make a “master
tool” of one of the newly stamped longerons from Grand Rapids. A newly formed sheet metal longeron was
“frozen” to it’s installed shape by used of a back bone structure on the back
side. From that master shape they cast
the individual hydro form block shapes that would be used to make the
baffles. This was a sequence of “shape
transfers” between the longeron natural internal shape and the White Elephant
BCL shape. Traditionally such form
blocks were hand crafted from Kirtsite, a lead-tin like material. I had them make the form blocks using hard
durable plastic on the surface of stiff foam plastic core material. Such plastic materials were just coming into
use by the model shop, and our experiment showed they would work just fine and
be much faster and cost less than traditional methods used by the Detroit
automotive industry. I had them make
back bone ridged structures from fiber reinforced plastic tubing, fiber
reinforced plastic sheet and plastic glue.
This weighed & cost less and saved time over the prior welded steel
method that had to go out for a heat treatment annealing process so they would
not warp.
Fitting
Fuselage to White Elephant: While at Grand Rapids I looked into how they
were indexing their fuselage tooling to where our gun covers were to fit. Amazingly I found their tooling had never
been indexed to their master tool! I
got together with Keith Kelsey, now their chief engineer, who had been my boss
while in Detroit. I took him out on the
factory floor and showed him what I’d found.
We went back to their tool room and he told them to do whatever I
said. With that kind of cooperation and
support I took the tooling people out on the factory floor and showed them what
had to be aligned with their master tool which they were reworking to fit our
White Elephant. They were delighted to
have something definite to go by. Once
their newly aligned fuselages arrive and met out newly shaped gun covers, they
fit like a glove producing an abundance of smiles. Jack Holms our Master Mechanic, their name for Chief Engineer,
called me into his office, complimented me on what had been done and proceeded
to tell me of how as a young engineer he’d set up a special line for making
generators at a GM Delco plant. He
surprised me by saying someday you will have my job.
The
10130 Door to Grand Rapids: The 10130 door was the part number of a door
that fit under the belly of the F-84F.
They were having a terrible time fitting this door in final assembly. Our finished door seldom fit a Grand Rapids
built fuselage. Most doors, used for
inspection or maintenance were required to be interchangeable. This required a
special set of Master Parts and tools built to the master. Chet Waxlax one of the lead Process
Engineers was in charge of all master tooling, nobody did anything with a
master tool without Chet’s permission.
Jay Groff was assigned to do the master tooling on interchangeable
doors. However the 10130 door was not required to be interchangeable and it’s
tooling was not Mastered to fit. So
when in Grand Rapids on the Gun Cover problem I made the proposition to Kelsey
that they build and install the door to their fuselage – thus solving the
constant complaint problem. I’d told
Gus Berndroth of this plan before going to Grand Rapid, to which he said if you
can get them to solve our problem that will be great. Kelsey was amenable to the idea but said you will need to sell
that to our Grand Rapids plant manager.
I said OK will you arrange a meeting.
Keith set up the meeting and we entered a large spacious office
spartanly equipped. Keith introduced me
and the reason for the meeting, adding that I had just helped solve the Gun
Cover interface problem. I then
presented my reasoning, that it would serve Grand Rapids interest to build and
install the door – that way there would be no further problem about it’s not
fitting. I explained it was not
required to be an interchangeable door and would actually serve a protective
purpose during shipping, by holding the sides of the fuselage together, rather
than using a dummy door for that purpose.
I expected a problem selling this idea,
thinking they would have to eat the extra cost – I was not yet aware it
was now a cost plus contract, and no cost to them. This arrangement worked very well an all were stratified.
Kaiser
Windshield: While in Grand Rapids waiting for a light to
change when catching a ride, I met a fellow I’d known at Fisher Body
Detroit. We exchanged greetings, and
about then a new Kaiser went by with it’s unique looking windshield, a dip in
the windshield frame, that gave it a raised eyebrow look. He said you know the reason for that dip in
the windshield frame? I said No, why is it like that. He said we had all kinds
of problems with the new wrap about windshields, when you jack up a rear tire
the windshield tends to pop out. This
was Kaiser-Frazers way of keeping the windshield in.
Job Shoppers from Detroit
The
suddenness of the Korean war caused heavy demand for people with specialty
talents – to fill this need GM KC abruptly hired Job Shoppers, most of whom came
from Detroit. Many of these people were
assigned to work for me. Most were
pro’s at making this lucrative opportunity work. They were very well paid – some 50% more than permanent employees
(including me) though many did not know this.
I got along very well with them and soon knew who were most skilled at
what.
One
we called “Smokey Stover”, as he was always smoking a cigar. Smokey had retired, but was still in
excellent physical and mental condition signed up with the Job Shop
outfit. He and his wife lived in the same apartment complex and his wife
invited us to a home cooked dinner one evening. Smokey always radiated a smile, was quick to respond to any need,
and indeed highly qualified for the work.
Training Classes
GM held training classes for all
supervisors. These were excellent and
covered a broad array of topics.
Peoples
Drives: For one class we were asked to make a pie
chart defining peoples drives and the % of importance applied to each. The instructor had a set of drives to be
defined but had us suggest drives until his list was completed such as:
recognition, money, possession, good time,
etc. Then each of us were asked
to make a pie chart of our own drives.
I found my greatest motivator was achievement. This definition of an employees interest was of value in working
with people – which was the whole point of the class. Over and over it was emphasized that People were the companies
most valued asset. The company made a
considerable investment in their people.
In fact the opportunity to go to “GM Institute” a company finance college was quite an honor. The company put out an excellent Engineering
magazine every quarter which I found to be excellent & valuable.
Fire
prevention Training: The head of the Fire Department was in
charge of fire training classes and as part of this showed a film on a recent
GM Transmission Plant fire. There was
excellent footage of the fire itself – and most striking to me was the
tremendous response, particularly by Ford to help put the plant back in
operation. Huge expensive machines were
provided and put in place almost overnight – for a while GM cars were shipped
using Ford transmissions. I found there
was much more cooperation between the major car companies than presented by the
constant sales competition image.
Rafter
Dust Caught Fire: The Transmission plant fire had been cause
by dust accumulated on plant steel rafters had exploded, when ignited by a
small local fire. Dust is very
explosive under certain conditions.
He
burst out running at full speed?: Noon hour when all was quiet in our big bay
area, we heard “bang” as someone burst through swinging doors from the east
main plant area and elevators to up stairs – all eyes focused on the fellow
running in the direction of the emergency aid center – except he grabbed a main
column and swung his trajectory out into the plant area toward the far plant
entrance. When he was half way across
in front of us, “bang”, the swinging doors popped open again and two security
guards were racing toward the emergency center right behind him. My gosh there must have been a bad accident
out in the plant? But it made no sense
when the guards also grabbed the column to make their fast turn toward the far
part of the plant? We were later
informed the guy had been up in the rafters of the third floor above the ladies
john – ladies had seen him and reported him to the security guards. He had been escorted to the elevator to go
down when he broke away and got ahead of them in his mad dash to escape. He was finally stopped by the guard at the
exit gate.
Difficult Parts to Make
Wind
Shield Faring: This
was one of the most difficult parts to make.
It was necessary to bend sheet metal in two directions at the same time:
sweeping up from the gun cover to cockpit windshield and downward to the
curvature of the body. A large form die
had been made to do this in one stroke – invariably it left wrinkles.
Gun
Cover Latch: was the only part common to both F-84E &
F models. This was a 3/8 inch thick
alloy steel piece which was Blank and Pierced by one blow using one tool. The huge Press Brake would come down hard,
unstoppable the inner punch pushed while the outer mated part held the edges. The punch part would cut about 1/3 of the
way through then the remainder would break in sheer. The resulting surface was acceptable, all except a small hook
segment which did not cut clean.
Horizontal Stabilizer from Kaiser to
Beach
Mid day Fri Gus came out and told
us, we would be working through the week end if necessary. Kaiser had fallen flat on making the
horizontal stabilizer and the contract had been switched to Beech in
Wichita. In order to provide time for
Beach to tool up and make the first assemblies, we were going to build the
first 10, starting immediately. We were
to write :quick” process sheets using simple tooling, or no tooling so
production could start immediately. Gus
said we are lucky, most ribs are of the same shape, we can use lofting
templates to create the shape and piano wire to define the surface – from that
we can make a quick holding fixture for the rib structure. The engineering shop is now cutting the
lofting sheets to make a quick alignment fixture. You fellows turn out a quick
set of process sheets accordingly. I
thought, only an outfit like GM could do a 180 degree turn without skipping a
beat. They had full confidence in Beech
but were not going to chance a slow down in meeting the production
schedule.
I was told that during the last
phase they would order airplanes to pick up needed parts, to keep the line
going. One plane for one missing part
cost less than holding up production. Production was king in their automotive
world and was still so in the aircraft world.
Special People
Gus
Berndroth spoke with
a German accent, having grown up in Germany, before coming to the US just
before WW II. He had worked in the GM
“Eastern Aircraft Division” during WW II and was called back from automotive
assembly to help run the F-84F program.
Gus was a charismatic guy, a great story teller with animation and
variety of facial expressions. He was
very competent, observant, self confident and took a genuine interest in the
people who worked for him. Gus helped set
the tone for the GM culture, which I don’t believe was all that different from
industrial Europe. I first met Gus when
he stopped me with two new hires I was taking out to the shop area to show them
around. Gus stopped asked “ver is you guys going” I said I’m showing them around. Gus said “If dey iss not capable of finding
deir own vay, I fire all of you.” And
walked on – I turned to the guys, smiled and said, I guess your on your
own. Over the several years I came to
know Gus quite well. After WW II ended
he went back to Germany and looked up family members there. He told of providing an uncle with a new
suit – adding that new suit was a ticket to a good job and opportunity.
Jack
Holms had originally
worked for the Delco Division who made generators. Generators are more
complicated than alternators which replaced them. Generators have many windings connected to commutator segments
which connect to brushes, etc all of
which required a crew of women to assemble.
Jack figured out a way of automating the process, greatly reducing cost
of manufacture. Jack had also been a key
player in the GM aircraft division.
Jack is probably the one who pulled many from that prior operation to do
the F-84F. He was reserved and did not
mingle with the troops, thus I was surprised when he asked me to come into his
office for a visit after I’d solved the gun cover tooling problem. He was always very proper and dignified.
Al
Ramon had been recalled from the prior aircraft
division. Al was a very nice fellow,
low key & highly respected, a real gentleman. I first met Al after work hours when I was headed to the Machine
Shop. Al asked, are you on scheduled
overtime? I said no, I’m just trying to
complete a job before I go home. Al
said I notice you often worked late after others have gone home. Al politely said, that’s nice but you are
now an “exempt employee”, and as such cannot be paid overtime unless it’s
prescheduled. I said that’s OK, I’m not
expecting overtime pay. Al continued,
but you see this is against company policy – something the company found it
necessary to implement. Some times
people would come in on their day off to use the machine shop – then because
they were there, would be asked to do something for the company. They felt justified in collecting overtime
and the thing got our of hand, so the company said no more unscheduled over
time. Al was not one of the engineers,
he was responsible for engineering’s pay roll records. A young man who worked for him was the one
out counting heads on who was there.
Later in CA aerospace each of us were required to fill out our own time
card. Keeping time cards was blown out
of proportion after an audit found some had improperly filled out their cards,
government inspectors came through checking on time cards, much money was
wasted. The GM method was very accurate
and efficient.
After
I was in CA Al wrote me a letter telling how the program had worked out. I had included a note to Al in a letter to
Gus. That’s how I knew the F-84F had
been produced at such a low cost as compared to the North American F-86. I was not surprised. North American would have been overlapping
engineers from F-86 to F-100 etc. and responsible for after delivery
engineering support. The GM program
operated at peak efficiency then was abruptly cut – follow on work was turned
over to Republic Aircraft, then to NATO.
Aircraft costs are elusive to compare, a $10,000 toilet seat can readily
be accounted for if peripheral costs are included. It was my experience that aerospace workers, being taxpaying
citizens, strived to eliminate waste.
People systems are complex.
Shelton was an older fellow who had grown up
on a farm in KS and had worked in the aircraft industry in Wichita. When he found I was from KS he made it a
point to be of help. We had been out in
the shop looking at Blank and Pierce dies and he had explained the attributes
of various kinds. Such instruction was
very helpful to me. On the way back we
stopped in the john, having handled well oiled tooling, our hands were dirty so
we stopped first at the wash basin. In
his slow philosophical drawl Shelton said, “you can always tell who’s an
engineer – he’s the one who has to wash his hands before he takes a piss.”
There
are many others who keep coming to mind as I write this 50 plus years
later. I miss those guys, it’s too bad
changes in work cause us to lose contact with many very good friends. I was always so intent on getting something
done. I wish I expressed the
appreciation I felt for so many of those wonderful people, now it’s too late.