Coordination of Research and Engineering With Production and Sales

Abstract

Abstract This paper is largely an exposition of the organization of the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, Rochester, New York, in so far as it affects the function of research and engineering. This company went through a thorough reorganization several years ago and was fortunate in being of sufficient size to justify a distinct research and engineering division, and still small enough to make it possible to tie the functioning of these departments to that of the other departments without becoming involved in too much machinery and red tape. The company employs about 3000 people and has a research and engineering force of about 100. It manufactures a very large variety of small-quantity-production items, although there are a few items that are manufactured on what might be considered a quantity-production basis. It has, naturally, tried to minimize the amount of development work on articles that are expected to be sold in small quantities; still experience shows that quantity can have no great influence on the thoroughness with which the development work must be done, the company being often forced by circumstances to spend large amounts on work which will never result in large production. The head of the Research and Engineering Department reports directly to the general manager and assumes full responsibility for all expenditures for development work. A yardstick has been set up by which accomplishments can be measured. This yardstick is the relationship between money spent on development work and the value of new business created, which consists of the amount of work of a regular production nature placed in the plant for manufacture, plus all special customers’ orders requiring engineering-department design and follow-up. Figures are shown of this ratio for different classes of product. Although the Research and Engineering Department assumes full responsibility for development work, sales and production are very definitely tied into the picture and must assume part of the responsibility when manufacture is finally started. Effective means are used to bring this condition about.