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of his arrival at the office to find the entire staff
(consisting of one!) on its knees unpacking
Bearings. Members of the Despatch Department
are still at times to be found on their knees
(praying for deliveries!), but it is hoped that officials
from the Parent Company find a different kind
of welcome awaiting them now when they have
occasion to visit the British Company.
Here, perhaps, it would not be out of place
to include some acknowledgment of the tolerance
and forbearance which always characterised the
attitude of the Parent Company towards the staff
of the British Company in those days of its
early struggle.
The Factory was eventually equipped with up
to date machinery, and organised with the able
assistance of one or two skilled operatives from
Sweden, for the production of English sized
Bearings.
Many were the difficulties to be overcome,
among them being the absence of trained
workmen, for there were no other works of the kind
in the country at that time save that of the
Hoffmann Manufacturing Company, and every
hand had therefore to be specially trained.
The Englishman of the 18th Century may have
had the reputation of disdaining to admit that
he could learn anything from the foreigner. Be
that as it may, however, the present day Skefko
Englishman at any rate is by no means loath to
acknowledge the progress and high state of
engineering efficiency which has been attained by his
colleagues in Sweden.
In 1913 the Company was fully organised on
a profit earning basis, with Agents appointed in
the principal towns in the United Kingdom,
and prospects seemed good, but in the following
year, as everyone knows, the Great War broke
out, and exerted a profound influence on the
destinies of the British Company, as indeed it
did in the case of so many more industrial
undertakings in all parts of the world.
The Luton Factory became a Government
controlled establishment, and in order to cope
with the increased demand for Bearings for War
purposes the Government insisted on large
additions being made to the Works, including a Ball
Factory. The result is that today we have a
factory covering no less than 6% acres, the Ball
Factory supplying Cycle Balls to satisfy the
requirements of the organisation all over the
world.
Fig. 3 gives a good idea of the appearance of
the present establishment.
Since the original factory was built in 1911 the
surrounding neighbourhood has developed
considerably. Whole streets have sprung up on
both sides of the Works, and it may truthfully
be said that the advent of S K F in Luton has
materially contributed towards the prosperity of
the town. Apart from the large sum paid
annually in town rates, nearly a million pounds sterling
have, since the inception of the Company, been
paid out in wages and salaries to the inhabitants
of Luton. All this, as may be imagined, does not
fail to temper any jealousy which might otherwise
be aroused by the presence of any foreign element
in this abode of insularity, and the same influence
is no doubt perceptible in other parts of the
world where SKF has established itself.
Hence the organisation of which we are all
so justly proud begins, when viewed from this
standpoint, to assume the role of an agent for
the promotion of international goodwill and
mutual understanding. What member of such a
concern, even though he be, like the writer, an
ultra-conservative patriotic Britisher, could fail
to entertain towards it feelings of the deepest
loyalty and affection?
S. J. Aries.
Den första fabriken i Luton
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