We can no more
afford to carry large stocks of finished than we can of raw material.
Everything has to move in and move out. And we have had some narrow
escapes. Some years ago the plant of the Diamond Manufacturing Company
burned down. They were making radiator parts for us and the brass
parts--tubings and castings. We had to move quickly or take a big loss.
We got together the heads of all our departments, the pattern-makers and
the draughtsmen. They worked from twenty-four to forty-eight hours on a
stretch. They made new patterns; the Diamond Company leased a plant and
got some machinery in by express. We furnished the other equipment for
them and in twenty days they were shipping again. We had enough stock on
hand to carry us over, say, for seven or eight days, but that fire
prevented us shipping cars for ten or fifteen days. Except for our
having stock ahead it would have held us up for twenty days--and our
expenses would have gone right on.
To repeat. The place in which to finance is the shop. It has never
failed us, and once, when it was thought that we were hard up for money,
it served rather conclusively to demonstrate how much better finance can
be conducted from the inside than from the outside.
Pages:
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290