When Lange became managing director in 1913 he appointed H. Mensforth as works manager, and G. E. Bailey became superintendent of the engine department. 'G.E.B.' was a popular superintendent as he was always approachable by the men in the shops, most of whom he knew by their Christian names. Very little escaped his notice: when reprimand was deserved it was given in no uncertain terms, but for some indefinable reason ill-feeling did not linger.

Mensforth was later responsible for setting up works and staff committees and also for starting foremen's efficiency meetings; these were monthly conferences at which the foremen throughout the works could discuss any matters affecting efficiency in the shops. His appointment synchronized closely with the extension of the 'clocking' system to the whole of the staff, an edict that caused at least one important resignation. Later it gave rise to a rumour that the managing director and the comptroller had missed their boat to Norway through calling in at the Newcastle office to clock off.

Early in 1914 the works was startled by a sensational accident on 'dynamo test'— the bursting of the flywheel of a d.c. equalizer set. The wheel, which was made in Germany, was of cast steel 8 feet in diameter and weighing about 6 tons and, when the fractures were examined, showed signs of insufficient annealing, which accounted for failure at 85 per cent of the designed speed. As the fragments tore through the shop they killed one man, injured several others, wrecked a nearby generator stator, and punched a hole through a 9-inch bedplate. Other pieces went up through the roof, one landing near the Traffbrd Park Hotel, close on half a mile away, where it caused some damage to the houses and broke through a main sewer. Another large section was never recovered.

For the engineering staff a notable event was the arrival of K. Baumann in 1909. Having, as we have seen, cast the die for impulse turbines the Company required an engineer to take over their development, and during a visit to the Continent Lange consulted probably the greatest living authority, Professor Stodola of Zurich. As a result Baumann, who had been one of Stodola's assistants, was chosen to come to Trafford Park, and a year later he became chief engineer of the engine department. In 1912 he read before the I.E.E. a paper on "Recent Developments in Steam Turbine Practice", which was the first of a notable series on steam turbines, and at the end of the year he was raised to the position of chief mechanical engineer, having charge of the design of the Company's mechanical products. H. L. Guy, who had joined Baumann's staff in 1910, was appointed turbine engineer in 1916; later he became chief engineer of the mechanical department.