GOING METRIC: A LOT EASIER AND CHEAPER THAN EXPECTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85-00988R000400060018-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 12, 2000
• Sequence Number: 18
• Content Type: NSPR

WHAT S1XPFE600fa 2001/08/09: CIA-RDP85-00988R00U00060018-4
Going Metric: a Lot Easier
And Cheaper Than Expected
CINCINNATI
As American industry takes its first
steps into the metric age, many compa-
nies are finding to their surprise that the
shift does not bring the overwhelming
expense that had been feared.
At a metric design seminar in this
Ohio city, where a half dozen major
corporations reported on their experi-
ences, this is the picture that emerged:
? Sudden conversion of all product
lines to metric measurements can be
very costly in new machinery, tools and
training. But a gradual shift as new mod-'
els are phased in actually costs little
more than would be spent normally in
redesigning and retooling.
? Design engineers, in most cases, ap-
pear to welcome the change to millime-
ters and liters, away from inches and
quarts. With everything divisible by 10,
they find the system is easier to work
with and often saves 5 to 10 per cent in
design costs.
? New tools required are not proving
to be as costly as had been predicted.
Often the biggest single added cost is for
a micrometer at $15 or $20, or a new set
of metrically marked sockets at 75 cents
each.
? Training, too, is less of a problem
than was once anticipated. Instead of
giving all employes a course in metrics,
these companies give instruction on a
need-to-know basis, and only on aspects
related to specific jobs.
? Unexpected savings are crapping
up. Typically, in redesigning to metric
measurements, parts such as nuts and
bolts must be changed a bit, which pro-
vides a chance to cut back on the num-
ber of standard types required.
The current status of the shift to met-
rics was outlined by the American Na-
tional Metric Council, a cosponsor of the
Cincinnati meeting along with the
American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers. The ANMC reports:
"At this stage, a good majority of the
larger U.S. firms already have set up
organized planning units, put metric
units on their designs, or redesigned at
least one new model in metric, with the
encouragement of the metric bill signed
last December."
For a look at what is happening in six
major corporations that reported on
their experiences-
General Motors. The auto giant was so
impressed by ~b eic~ itk~lp~
metric Chevet e tL 1 L it now pans to
redesign all of its in,ddle and large mod-
els to the new system this autumn. Only
the engines will still be inch-designed.
Said Everett Baugh, GM's official in
charge of metric planning:
"When General Motors first analyzed
the cost of going metric, in 1966, it was
about as staggering as the national debt.
In 1972, we restudied the cost based on
going metric only with new models as
they came out. That figure was just 28
per cent of the first estimate. In 1973,
another study brought it down to 19 per
cent. Now, practical experience suggests
that the real cost will be only 4 per cent
of the original estimate."
GM plans to go metric on all new
projects, whenever a part or model
needs to be redesigned. On that basis,
officials say, metrication does not cost
anything and eventually will lead to big
savings.
The Chevette had been produced in
Germany and was to be rushed into
production in the U.S. in 18 months,
using the German blueprints in metric.
As it turned out, all of the drawings
had to be redone to conform with
American engineering procedures. But
Fisher Body, which builds the bodies for
all GM cars, reported no problems in
designing the new machinery to metric
measurements and no increase in costs.
Plans to give all 700,000 workers on
the Chevette a 12-hour course in met-
rics were dropped, because most were
not dealing with measurements.
Some union officials had predicted
that a set of tools calibrated in metrics
might cost thousands of dollars for many
skilled workers. The average outlay
turned out to be $50 to $60.
Ford Motor Company. Ford is going
s ~e`aa~yr~"i~;`wifF4
2Yinto
Engineers at GM are taught the
use of metric-oriented tools and
measuring devices. Many firms are
finding that metric training, if giv-
en on a need-to-know basis, -may
involve relatively few workers
steering assembly. An all-metric hea%
truck is in the design stage. All 197, 8
models are to be wholly metric in their
design-or close to it.
Commented Stanley E. Mallen, Ford
official in charge of metrics:
"We had no real problems in design-
ing and producing an all-metric, four-
cylinder engine for the Pinto. We didn't
try to measure the added expense, be-
cause we thought that would cost more
than the conversion itself."
Tools, Ford officials found, were an
emotional issue-particularly for those
highly skilled workers who provide most
of their own. But in the metric-engine
project, the biggest outlay for the major-
ity was for a new set of 10 sockets at 75
cents each-a total of $7.50.
Some minor problems cropped up.
The new nuts and bolts look much like
any others, so those for the Pinto are
dyed blue-adding 4 per cent to their
costs.
"Fasteners"-the thousands of nuts,
bolts and screws used in making every
car-still are not available in metric sizes
"at a good price." Officials hope this will
be self-correcting as demand for them
rises.
John Deere. This major producer of
farm and construction machinery re-
ported to the Cincinnati meeting that it
would go metric with all forthcoming
new products and models. The company
does not normally change models more
than once every eight or 10 years, how-
ever, so it will not be moving as fast as
the auto makers.
Deere officials are concentrating now
on a new V-8 engine of all-metric de-
sign, for use in a variety of tractors and
' - aas4uction machines.
Tlie first step was a training program
it metric engine .nd rack-and-pinion for engineers, who were given the met-
 Approved For ReledSe 2001/08/09: CIA-RDP85-00988R0004, 80060018-4
ric data in a four-hour course and told to
finish the learning process on their own.
Shop people were found to be "very
supportive" of the new project. They
saw the, transition from inches to milli-
meters as similar to the switch years ago
from fractions to decimals.
Training of production workers
turned out to be fairly simple. On a
"need to know and when needed to
know" basis,' only 2,500 of the 12,000
employes on the project got any metric
training.
The company, meanwhile, is making a
per cent of output
measurement.
now is in metric being ordered. Metric screws and gears
The third M-F division is the Perkins
plant in Britain, a large producer of
diesel engines that has just presented its
first all-metric diesel engine. Its other
models will continue to be produced in
inches.
Boeing Company. This aerospace firm
is moving into full-scale metric machin-
ing with the Roland missile, originally
developed in Europe. Some existing ma-
chines are being adapted and new tools
with dual English-metric capability are
the same tractor engine in Dubuque, Ia.,
and in France, its measurements cali-
brated in inches in the U.S. plant and
millimeters in Europe.
Parts, labeled both ways, are routinely
exchanged between the French and
American models.
The conclusion by a Deere executive:
"We've had no real problems yet in
converting to metrics, and we are gradu-
ally becoming bilingual."
Procter & Gamble. A major company
that makes only products used in the
home is trying another type of metrica-
tion-a shift to metrics in designing pro-
duction machines for its own use, not for
sale.
The reason, as explained by P&G offi-
cial George Nassauer, is that the firm
wants to "optimize profits" and foresees
the time, fairly soon, when maintenance
will be more costly for production ma-
chinery designed in inches.
In a pilot project, the concern is devel-
oping an all-metric machine with 14
separate operations for the production
of diapers.
Design draftsmen, working on, the
complex new machine, found that it
took longer to produce drawings in met-
ric for the first two months, about the
same time for the next four months, and
less after that as they began "thinking
metric."
The designers estimate that the shift
actually reduced design cost by at least 5
per cent.
Massey-Ferguson. This worldwide
manufacturer of industrial, farm and
construction machinery has announced
that all of its new model designs will be
metric. Each of the company's three
major divisions will set its own pace.
The tractor division, located in the
U.S., recently introduced its new model,
designed in inches and expected to have
a 10-year run. Now the company is
working on an all-metric tractor` to be
produced as the next model, possibly
within the next eight years.
Massey-Ferguson's second division
will be used to retrofit some lathes.
Conversion of European drawings for
Boeing's use has caused no major prob-
lems. One official reports: "Our workers
picked it right up. We were a little
surprised. "
Not all major U.S. firms are in the "go"
stage, and some are still holding back.
But on the basis of experience reported
at the Cincinnati meeting, this revolu-
tion in U.S. measurements appears to be
taking hold faster than expected, and
with less trauma.
WHEN YOU START "THINKING METRIC"
After the nation goes all-metric:
i C*
produces big induct~}' i iftlease 2
machinery abroad iYi de- 2
signs are already metric. Thus, about 15
A 10-ounce steak
will weigh 284
c - DP85-00988R00
/ 1 1
A 1-quart bottle will
hold .95 liters.
A warm day of 80
degrees Fahrenheit
will really be 27
degrees Celsius.
A- id first down and
5 to go will become
*s' and 9.1
8-4 '
e'ers.