In 1946 the acute shortage of women workers in Trafford Park led to the taking over of a part of Barton airport for coil winding and of a small factory known as California Mill, Bury, for making house service meters and for Sunvic domestic control apparatus. The Bury works was only on a short lease, but it served its purpose well until permanent quarters were ready at Motherwell, near Glasgow, Here a new factory was acquired from the Government in 1947, and by the following year it was making standard instruments, relays, house service meters and domestic temperature control devices. Part of the factory is occupied by Newton Victor for the manufacture of medical and industrial x-ray equipment and supplies and physiotherapy apparatus.

The Motherwell works is laid out on industrial estate lines on a site of twentythree acres and has well lighted single-storey workshops covering 300,000 sq. ft. together with offices and canteen blocks. Substantial progress has been made in establishing this light engineering unit in a heavy engineering centre, though the training problem remains severe; most of the 600 workpeople were enlisted locally, and eventually over 2000 are expected to be employed.

At the main works increased production required more offices; additional accommodation was provided by building a 'north office block' in 1945 and adding a storey to the west office block in 1946.

The Company now occupies over 200 acres of land with some two-and-a-quarter million square feet of covered floor space, and a heavy load falls on the works engineer's department, which is responsible for all upkeep and maintenance as well as policing, fire protection, safety precautions and salvage. One wartime development—the complete rebuilding of worn machine tools at the works—has been continued as the quickest and most convenient method of maintenance.

The Trafford Park works alone consumes thirty million units of electricity a year. Though the maximum demand is 9500 kVA, only 5500 kVA is taken from the grid, thanks to the works power station, which also produces 647,000,000 lb of steam a year for heating and process work. Another aspectof the growth of the works is seen in the weight of material received yearly by the purchasing department, which has risen from 78,000 to 131,000 tons during the last thirty years.

The transport of today's big loads is a special problem. To move stators or transformers weighing 100 tons or more requires elaborate planning of the route by the traffic department under A. Mycoe, who joined in 1907 and was appointed traffic agent in 1919. The department also arranges for the transport of workers in and out of Trafford Park; nearly 250 buses, about one-fifth of the local municipal transport, are at the works gates morning and evening.

A comprehensive scheme of foundry reorganization began in 1947. When there is enough other employment the laborious and unpleasant nature of foundry work is a deterrent to workers, particularly to the apprentices who should be providing the foundrymen of the future,