Financehome In the light of experience the Company is convinced that much ground still remains to be covered before the plans they have cast are brought to a full realization if, indeed, that situation can ever be reached. SOLARTRON One of the most remarkable instances of company growth since the war has been that of the Solartron Electronic Group Ltd, started as a partnership in 1947 with a few hundred pounds by two young engineers who rented a disused stable and set up as makers of electronic test instruments. By June 1949 Solartron had built up a sales volume of £5,000 p.a. with ten employees at the end of the year. Five years later they had achieved thirtyfold growth with deliveries of £152,000 p.a. and 240 employees, and during the next five years ending in June 1959 they achieved fourteenfold growth with deliveries reaching £2,100,000 p.a. During this period increased productivity meant that the growth in personnel was only sixfold to 1,350. The main keys to the progress of Solartron during this period lie in the clear objective of expansion as rapidly as possible into the more rapidly growing sections of the electronics industry and the concept that if the operation were planned sufficiently far ahead there was time to take action to ensure the growth. The plans also highlighted the need for balanced attention to the following fundamental factors which would otherwise limit the rate of growth : 1. Rate of development of the existing staff. 2. Rate of integration of new personnel. 3. Rate of development of the Company's markets. 4. Pace of research and development activity as influenced by human and financial considerations. The founders of the Company were aware from the start of the potential future for electronic equipment in the United Kingdom and their principal aim was to create new products which the market would need by the time they were in production. They built up their whole organization to serve this purpose. In broad terms the conditions for their success were twofold : first, a large measure of freedom was allowed by top management to their executive staff, and second there was careful assessment of potential products, based partly on market research. With regard to management, particular attention was paid to the avoidance of a pinnacle organization which could have been created even against the express wishes of the Managing Director by the natural tendency of many managers to promote the idea. For example, a number of people had suggested that the Managing Director ought to buy a new car, since his current one was not as new as it might be and therefore not fully appropriate to his position. Not least of the problems that could arise in a pinnacle organization was the difficulty of hiring 'number two' men who were not intimidated by the individual brilliance of their prospective bosses. Avoidance of a pinnacle structure also encouraged the managerial initiative and drive which was a vital factor in the development of Solartron. Financehome