ATTAINMENTS OF POLISH METAL INDUSTRY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600330411-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 26, 2011
• Sequence Number: 411
• Publication Date: August 1, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AG PORT 50X1-HUM
1k
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY Poland
SUBJECT Economic - Metal industry
HOW
PUBLISHED Book
WHERE
PUBLISHED Warsaw
DATE
PUBLISHED 25 May 1948
LANGUAGE Polish
THIS 0000MINT CONTAINS INFORMATION APFICTINS THE NATIONAL 09FINSI
OF THE UNITID STATES WITHIN INS NRANINS Or INPIONA40 ACT RO
V. S. C.. 31 AND SI. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION ON THE REVELATION
OF ITS COSTA NTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAOTHOII120 PERSON 10 PRO-
NISITID by LAW. RIPRODUCTION or THIS FORM II PRONI01TED.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1947
DATE DIST. ! Aug 1950
NO. OF PAGES 7
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
Rocznik Przemyslu Odrodzone Polski (Yearbook of the Industry of Re-
generated Poland), Part 3, Chapter VII, "Ingos" Economic Information
Publishing Cooperative, 1948.
ATTAINMENTS OF POLISH METAL INDUSTRY
M. Lesz, Managing Director
Central Administration, Meta. Industry
The metal industry, headed by the Central Administration of the Metal In-
dustry, is composed of metal-manufacturing plants employing over 50 workers.
According to the prewar classification, these would be factories in Categories
I to V. In 1938, plants in these categories employed 102,000 workers and had
annual sales of 650 million zlotys.
Primarily, the metal industry produces investment goods: locomotives,
railroad cars, bridges, signaling and station equipment, motor vehicle spare
parts, etc., for carriers. The metal industry produces textile and paper ma-
chinery; coal cutters and coal-hoisting machinery for the coal industry; stone
crushers, cement mixers, etc., for the. construction industries, boilers for
the power industry, chemical apparatus for the chemical, petroleum, and sugar
industries; and cranes and conveyers for all manufacturing processes. Further-
more, the metal industry produces the machine tools for its own machine-build-
ing plants. It also provides farm machinery, plumbing supplies, and hardware.
In addition to producers' goods, which comprise the greater part of its
production, the metal industry manufactures a variety of consumers' goods, such
as enameled and tin-plate utensils, hardware, metal house furnishings, steel
furniture, etc.
The Warsaw metal industry, which used to employ 20,000 workers, was com-
pletely wiped out during the war. In addition, factories in the Warsaw suburbs
were demolished (Association of Mechanics in Pruszkow and the State Engineering
Plants in Ursus). The occupation forces also removed the machine tools from
factories located west of the 1944-45 front line; namely, from the plants of the
former COP (Starachowice, Ostrowiec, Skarzysko, Radom). Thus, as a result of
the war, the metal industry lost about 60 percent of its productive capacity.
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CONFiOE I 'A.'
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CONFIDENTIAL
Reconstruction was begun immediately after liberation with the Regained
Territories keeping pace. Although reconstruction was somewhat haphazard in
1945, in 1946 it was encompassed in a plan which was introductory to the
Three-Year Plan. This was the so-called "9-month" plan, covering April to
December 1946. This plan called for rebuilding a variety of plants which
would attain the prewar level of production, in value, by December 1947.
The 9-month plan was carried out before the expiration of its term, and pre-
war production was reached in November 1947. The following table gives pro-
duction in 1937 zlotys for individual associations representing separate
branches of the metal industry:
Monthly Production, in 1,000 zlotys,
Branch of Metal Industry
at 1937 r
1938
Nov 1946
Nov 1947
Railroad rolling stock
8,600
21,073
32,244
Machine tools, implements,
precision and optical instruments
2,750
4,065
6,868
Farm and grain-milling machinery
1,630
1,900
3,799
Machine-building industry
6,900
4,122
6,120
Boilers (pressure)
5,330
3,392
5,179
Automotive industry
9,400
2,026
4,052
Castings
4,920
3,840
5,738
Screws and rivets
1,920
3,830
4
02
4,2269
Sheet-metal products
2,000
080
5
27
,
3 5
3
4,611
Wire and nails
Steel furniture
,
1,080
,
770
1,277
Output of 14 plants acquired in
3
227
4th quarter
--
,
As can be seen from the above table, the metal industry after liberation
was restored along somewhat different lines conditioned by the different
needs of the postwar period, by the nature of devastation in the former ter-
ritories, and by the nature of the metal industry in the Regained Territories.
At present, production of railroad rolling stock, machine tools, agricultural
machinery, screws, and rivets is greater than before the war.
The automotive industry has fallen short by the widest margin as a re-
sult of the total destruction of both automotive factories: the State Engi-
neering Plants in Ursus and in Warsaw. Automotive production will be restored
completely only within the framework of the Three-Year Plan. Significant
achievement in the production of railroad rolling stock was the result of-the
reconstruction of factories with credit priorities (financed by the National
Bank of Poland) given to plants producing locomotives and cars. Other favor-
able factors were allocations of raw materials, and special attention from the
government and Minister Minc.
Facing difficulties in railroad transportation, the government instructed
the metal industry to rebuild and activate three freight-car factories. The
first and largest of these was developed from the ruins of the former Linke-
Hoffman Factory in Wroclaw; the first 100 cars left the factory in January
1946, 6 months after the plant was turned over to the Central Administration.
The second freight-car factory was built in Zielona Gora in the abandoned
buildings of the former submarine factory; Beuchelt; the 100th car left this
factory in July 1946. The third plant was the restored Zieleniewski Factory
in Sanok, which had been co.:pletely demolished and burned;-the 100th car left
the Sanok factory in November 1946.
4'ith the three new freight-car factories, besides two old ones in Chor-
zow and Ostrowiec, it was possible to increase production to over 600 units
monthly and to attain a monthly production as high as 1,200 cars during the
CO iFIDENTIAL
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fourth quarter of 1947, whereas the maximum prewar monthly production amounted
to 288 cars in 1929. During recent months, after the period of plant recon-
struction and activation, 11,318 cars were produced, or 240 percent more than
any full year's production in Poland. The plan for 1948 calls for the produc-
tion of 12,000 freight cars.
To start the production of railroad passenger cars, a plant for the man-
ufacture of passenger cars was rebuilt in Poznan at the Cegielski Factory.
The first postwar passenger car of Polish make left the factory in November
1946.
Great emphasis has been placed on the production of locomotives. Locomo-
tives were produced. before the war, but many parts were imported from Germany.
At present, all intricate equipment, including such items as lubricating
pumps, speedometers, etc., is produced domestically. Production of standard-
gauge locomotives for the Polish State Railroads in two factories alone -- the
Cegielski Factory in Posen and Fablok in Chrzanow ??- reached a figure of 18
units monthly in 1947, whereas before the war the production of three factories
never surpassed 14 units monthly. The third locomotive factory, in Warsaw, was
completely destroyed during the war.
Production of railroad car and locomotive brakes was begun in Starachowice
in a plant completely vandalized by the Germans who did not leave a single ma-
chine tool. Today, after a year of intensive work, the plants at Starachowice
contain 540 machine tools for the production of railroad brakes and equipment
and employ 3,600 workers. The blast furnace at Starachowice was also activated.
The second major task assigned to the metal industry by the government was
the maximum increase in the production of machine tools. A machine-tool plant
with 250 machines was activated at the Cegielski Factory in Poznan. This plant
will employ 2,000 workers. The machine-tool factory of the Association of Mech-
anics in Pruszkow was rebuilt, and already 1,900 workers are employed there.
Not a single machine remained in this factory after the departure of the Germans;
there was no roof over the main hall, and even the shop walls had been blown up.
With the activation of these factories and the intensive operation of old
factories, the current production of machine tools has already doubled prewar
production. The following table illustrates the quantitative increase in the
most important products of the metal industry during 1945-47.
F, r
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CONFIDENTIAL
50X1-HUM
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Along with these achievements in production, an enormous amount of work
was accomplished in engineering design. In demoiishingfactories, the occu-
pation forces gave first attention to the destruction of factory archives.
Without their replacement, it would have been impossible to activate produc-
tion. During"1945-47, the engineering offices of the metal industry designed
a number of new models, some of which have already gone into serial i,:oduc-
tion. The new Polish freight locomotive, Ty-45, was designed, and dozens
have already been produced. Other models include: the P-47 express locomo-
tive, production of which will begin in 1948; a new 20-ton Polish coal car,
thousands of which are already in operation on our railroad lines; and a new-
type Pullman car, also completed by now.
Dozens of types of machine tools were designed which had never before
been produced in Poland, such as: turret lathes, automatic machine tools, hy-
draulic saws, coal-face-drilling machines, radial drilling machines, etc.
Three types of port cranes designed for the port of Gdansk are already under
construction and will be assembled in 1947 and 1948. Drawings were completed
for a farm tractor and for a heavy truck to be produced under the Three-Year
Plan.
The prewar production level was reached by the metal industry in November
1946, simultaneously with the prewar employment level, indicating prewar pro-
ductivity of labor.
Before the war, fixed capital of enterprises in the metal industry, Cate-
gories I to V, amounted to 650 million zlotys. The value of capital invested
currently in enterprises of the Central Administration of the Metal Industry
amounts to 680 million zlotys in 1937 prices (after deducting empty structures
and certain unused facilities. This indicates a prewar level of efficiency
for machine installations.
All the attainments of the metal industry were contingent upon activation
of the Regained Territories. The metal industry of the Regained Territories
had been very rich, amounting to one half the size of the prewar Polish metal
industry. However, war damage was so great that the industry had to be built
from the bottom. The main rapidly rebuilt industrial plants of the Regained
Territories are well-known. In addition to the Wroclaw and Odra railroad car
factories, the following deserve mention: Gliwice Machine Factory, Traveling
Crane and Hoisting Equipment Factories in Jelenia Gora and Klodzko, State Op-
tical Manufactures in Jelenia Gora; the Machine-Tool Factory in Gdansk, and
the Foundry in Nova Sol.
In October 1946, 19,000 metalworkers were employed in the Regained Terri-
tories; and production amounted to 16 percent in value of the production of the
entire Polish metal industry. By October 1947, 27,000 workers were employed
and the value of production amounted to 26 percent. For many commodities, the
production of the Regained Territories holds a high-ranking place in the country
as a whole. For example, the Regained Territories produce 78 percent of the
freight cars, 10 percent of the farm machinery, 13 percent of the wire products,
36 percent of the steel cables, 40 percent of the precision instruments, and 30
percent of the machine industry.
All economic indices of the metal industry of the Regained Territories,
such au productivity of labor, share of wages in the value of production, and ef-
ficiency of installations, are almost equal to the indices for the country as a
whole. The factories of the Regained Territories complement the factories of the
former territories and cooperate closely with them. The Pokoj Foundry supplies
the railroad-car factories with wheel assemblies; the Chorzow Plants supply
springs, thc< Cegielski Factory in Poznan supplies bumpers; the Brevillier and.
Urban Factory in Ustron supplies sprirg supports, etc. Optical glass fused by
the State Optical Producers in Jelenia Gora is ground in the Polish Optical
Plants in Warsaw. Cables from the Bode Factory in Bytom draw hoppers in the
Dabrowa and Krakow.coal mines. Traveling cranes produced in Jelenia Gora and
Klodzko lift crucibles of steel in the Cegielski Factory in Poznan.
CONFIDENTIAL
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In the course of the Three-Year Plan, the metal industry is to double its
monthly production, with 25 locomotives, 1,200 freight cars, and 40 passenger
cars; the production of tractors and heavy trucks is to be activated. In com-
parison with prewar production, the output of farm machinery is to be doubled
and the quantity of machine tools increased tenfold. With these aims, the
metal industry will receive during the 3-year period about 20 millions in in-
vestment credits. To double production, it will be necessary, during the 3-
years, to effect the major reconstruction of many factories, while some fac-
tories will need to be set up in empty buildings.
Reconstruction will be completed on the railroad car factories in Wro-
claw and Sanok and on the machine-tool factory in Pruszkow. New machine-tool
factories will be built in Raciborz, Wroclaw, and Warka. There will be new
tool factories: one in Starachowice and the Avia Factory in Warsaw. Recon-
struction will be completed on the Polish Optical Plant in Warsaw, and on the
Parowoz Factory in Warsaw. In the Regained Territories there will be two new
farm-machine factories: one in Slupsk in the Pomorze Zachodnie Cest coast]
and one in Dobre Miasto in the Mazury region. To satisfy the investment needs
of other industries, new factories for machines and apparatus will be erected
in Nysa, Elblag, and Jelenia Gora. Reconstruction will be completed on the Ma-
The automotive industry assumes a heavy assignment in the Three-Year Plan.
Reconstruction has been completed on the State Engineering Plants in Ursus and
they have started production of tractors. The first tractors of Polish make
left the factory in mid-1947. Production is to be brought up to 2,000 units
annually. A heavy-truck factory to be erected in Starachowice will produce its
first 20 motor vehicles in 1948 and 1,500 in 1949. The production of low-horse-
power motorcycles will be started.
In the course of 3 years, employment in the metal industry is to increase
from 100,000 at the end of 1946 to 160,000 in 1949, contingent on an intensive
training program. For this reason, an integral part of the investment plan for
the metal industry is a broad plan for vocational training.
Results achieved so far promise that the tasks set by the government will
be carried out.
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