Word: swirbul
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Hellcat Birth. Shortly after World War II began, Grumman heard that the Wildcats, which were in production, were having trouble with Jap Zeros. So Swirbul hopped to Pearl Harbor, buttonholed Navy flyers ("just calling on the trade," says Grumman), listed their complaints. Back at Bethpage, he cocked his feet on the desk, read them to Grumman...
...Five months later, the production line began to tick them off. This was unheard-of speed in an industry which used to need years to translate blueprints into planes. When a Navy brass hat dropped in to tell Grumman that he should expand to take care of Hellcat production, Swirbul pulled a mess of blue prints from his desk, said: "We are." When the officer said he would rush priorities for steel, Swirbul said: "I've got steel." And he had it, from Manhattan's razed Second Avenue elevated railway. But Grumman was still crowded for space. Wildcat...
...shortest time. As a result, neither absentee ism nor lack of manpower, the plagues of other war plants, have been a Grumman problem. Turnover, for all causes, including the draft, has been a small 2.3% so far this year, about half of the aircraft industry's average. Swirbul is fond of saying: "We're cold-blooded about all this, simply go out in the plant and tell the boys: you work a little harder and the company will make more money. If it does, then we'll give you more money...
...strike or a slowdown. It has handled the explosive race problem just as smoothly, now has some 600 Negroes in all types of jobs. Worker morale is so good that Grumman can always strain production in emergencies. When the Navy lost an unexpected number of planes on Guadalcanal, Swirbul rallied the workers on a weekend, to make up the deficit. Although production then was only three planes a day, they uncrated parts already packed for shipping and sweated out 23 planes in 24 hours...
...twin-engined fighter, the Tigercat, in the first six months. After renegotiation and taxes, Grumman expects to net a little more than last year. Roy Grumman, who owns 14% of the stock, collects a $65,000 salary, gets an-other $100,000 from the stock dividends ($1.50 a share). Swirbul is paid $60,000, collects $47,250 from his 6% stock interest...