Abstract
IN his presidential address to the Association of Technical Institutions at the annual general meeting on February 22 and 23, Brig.-General Sir Harold Hartley discussed the question of how far the present trend of industrial development, and particularly the increasing size of industrial units, presents new problems in technical education. Following the rapid progress of both pure and applied science under which co-operative research has been initiated and the processes of the older industries subjected to scientific scrutiny, in addition to the development of entirely new industries, had come the beginnings of rationalisation. The tendency to increase the size of industrial units and to operate on the principles of mass production involves scientific research for the analysis and control of each process. While the disturbance produced by the War was a prime cause of the failure of these methods to raise the standard of living, misuse of opportunities afforded by research could intensify our difficulties. The modern method of production creates a new series of problems involving the co-operation of a team of specialists, and this team work is the characteristic feature of large-scale management. The smooth running of a large-scale unit depends on each of the components engaging intelligently in its task and performing this in proper co-ordination with the rest.
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Rationalisation in Industry and Technical Education. Nature 135, 613 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135613b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135613b0