Book talk

I just finished reading a recent arrival at our library: Freedom’s Forge by Arthur Herman. It recounts the story behind the rise of America’s breath-taking WWII economy; how big-business masters-of-production organized and implemented our “arsenal of democracy.”

I was struck by the awesome reach of can-do executives, the speed of construction and factory development (in pre-EPA times!), and the dependency on collaboration between industries, companies, managers, and line workers to solve problems, streamline processes, and “make it work.” And they did.

It was equally surprising to read how fluid communication and delivery must have been in the pre-digital age between the tens of thousands medium, small, and Mom and Pop sub-contractors that enabled Gargantuan assembly facilities to roll out Liberty ships, B-29 bombers, Higgins Boats, tanks, and munitions in huge numbers.

And all along this story are these examples of incremental “next ideas” that continually improve the preceding best idea. For example, General Motors supplied Russia with over 20,000 trucks. Somebody noticed that that you could fit as many trucks-in-pieces in eight Liberty ships as you could fit completed ones in 100 ships. So GM set up a re-assembly plant in Iran, trained locals, and assembled 2500 trucks a month; one every 30 minutes!