Kenneth Hopper discusses his observations of British manufacturing. He writes about his apprenticeships with G&J Weir of Cathcart and Metropolitan Vickers, and his early interest in what made American manufacturing companies so much more successful than their British competitors. Hopper says that according to Professor William Cumming, the best managed factories in the United Kingdom were those of Procter & Gamble's wholly owned subsidiary, Thomas Hedley. After being invited by Procter & Gamble, Hopper learned that half of the first level managers held "good honours degrees." He also found that there were no inhibiting class rules about who could work for and with whom at Procter & Gamble. Hopper explains that after only a few months at Procter & Gamble, he was able to see what was wrong with G&J Weir and Metrovick. In particular, he saw the inhibiting and demoralizing separation between the British shop floor and the technical departments. Hopper goes on to discuss his work as the engineer in charge of Procter and Gamble's Manchester Standard Tower Unit (STU), Unilever, participative management, Tide detergent and soap substitutes, Arthur Spinanger, and shop floor management.
Hopper, Kenneth, 1926- Procter & Gamble Company World War II Management Manufacturing industries Cumming, William M. (William Murdoch), 1891- Factories Unilever (Firm) Engineers Engineering Detergents Supervisors, Industrial Great Britain Management - Employee participation Inoue, Bunzaemon, 1906- Kondō, Y. (Yoshio), 1924- Matsushita, Kōnosuke, 1894-1989 Just-in-time systems Business enterprises Parkinson, C. Northcote (Cyril Northcote), 1909-1993 Spinanger, Arthur
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