CHANGES IN THE CERAMIC TABLEWARE INDUSTRY

CHANGES IN THE CERAMIC TABLEWARE INDUSTRYAuthor(s): ARTHUR BRYANSource: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 119, No. 5175 (FEBRUARY 1971), pp. 171-185Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41370564 .

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CHANGES IN THE CERAMIC

TABLEWARE INDUSTRY

I ARTHUR

A paper BRYAN by I

I ARTHUR BRYAN I

Chairman , Wedgwood Ltd., read to the Society on Wednesday 25th November 1970,

with Sir Roger Falk , OBE , a Member of Council of the Society , in the Chair

The Chairman: Some ten years ago I was battling with the problem of trying to write a book about management. As was inevitable when considering management problems, I started thinking about family businesses, and at that time the quintessential family business, it seemed to me, was Wedgwood. In this book (which I hasten to say I am not trying to sell to you!) I had an opportunity of studying Wedg- wood rather closely. I remember very well hear- ing about a wonder boy who wasn't available at that time (he was in America doing great things for his firm) and who was still a young man. Arthur Bryan was even then a name in the Company to conjure with. What has happened

subsequently is known to many of us here: that he came back to be managing director of the business; the business went public; three years ago he became its Chairman: the first non- Wedgwood family chairman, in fact.

What I esteem more than anything in Mr. Bryan's whole management approach is that he has always given high priority to the design of the products he sells. He has equated in his own mind the importance of design and marketing. He is essentially, if he will allow me to say so, a marketing man. This is a quality desperately needed in British enterprise, and that is all the more reason why I feel honoured and flattered to be presiding over this paper to-day.

The following paper , which was illustrated with slides and a small exhibition , was then read.

SOME honour of Tottery

SEVEN of addressing

To-day'.

YEARS

Many you AGO

on far-reaching

I the

had subject

the

SOME honour of addressing you on the subject of Tottery To-day'. Many far-reaching

changes have taken place since that time, when I predicted that 'real growth in our industry must come through forceful marketing of good design and advanced technical achievement'. A fairly accurate forecast, as time has so far proved; but at that stage I also said that in the foreseeable future there was little chance that there would be many great changes in the production of pottery. But now, only seven years later, one finds that developments in company mergers and production techniques have moved at great pace, and I should like to review the situation in the light of these recent developments.

I now believe the industry is embarking on one of the most exciting and progressive periods of advancement since the revolutionary days of the eighteenth-century master potters, and I am grateful to you for giving me this opportunity of presenting another paper for your interest and consideration - this time mainly dealing with the current emergence of larger manufacturing units, the progress in production techniques and the prospects for even greater and more revolutionary developments in manufacturing methods.

In contrast to many of our traditional, highly localized industries, the movement of the British ceramic industry toward larger groups and greater company rationalization has not been brought about by the pressures

171



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS FEBRUARY I97I

A small exhibition of designs in current production by leading manufacturers was displayed in the Society's Library on the day of Mr. Bryan's Paper

of contraction, but has accompanied a steady growth in turnover, both in the United Kingdom and in markets overseas.

The industry (which includes tableware, tiles, sanitaryware and electro -porcelains) comprised about one hundred and sixty individual manufacturing companies regis- tered with the British Pottery Manufac- turers' Federation in 1959. By 1969, largely due to the incidence of mergers and take- overs, this figure had declined to 109, comprised within sixty -five groups of companies. During this same period, the total turnover of the industry rose from £59.2 million (£21.4 million exported) to £95.5 million (¿36.5 million exported).

172

Examination of mergers which have taken : place in the recent past, indicates a very wide diversity of reasons behind each indi-

; vidual case. Indeed, the resulting groups often have widely differing characteristics. Some have developed across two or three sectors of the industry, whilst others have remained firmly within one sector such as

i tableware or tiles. Clearly, the reasoning ! which has led to these has been based upon ¡ several factors, though it is often possible I to identify one major factor, which was the key to each development.

The long-term development of the in- ! dustry from a cottage craft industry to its I present, rapidly changing technological posi-



FEBRUARY I97I CHANGES IN THE CERAMIC TABLEWARE INDUSTRY

tion is probably the prominent reason for this changing structure. It is significant that tile manufacture, which, due to the nature of the product, lent itself most readily to mechanization, is the sector of the industry most completely dominated by a few large industrial groups.

The tableware sector, on the other hand, has been less readily mechanized and the emergence of major groups has been slower, gathering greater momentum over the last five years.

The very high labour cost content of tableware production, the growing competition for labour from other industries, and the declining number of people skilled in certain processes have brought about mechanization of increasing sophistication. This has meant increased capital cost of key items of plant, has increased the length of production runs and lowered the flexibility of individual units.

At the same time, the size of a production unit which can be considered economically viable has been increasing. Thus, manage- ments have no longer been able to rely upon one factory to produce wide variety to serve their markets, or upon a unit of limited size to do this profitably.

The pressure has developed for smaller companies, each with limited capacity, to merge. This has allowed the resulting group either to develop specialist units, with each factory producing long runs of certain items of the group's range, or it has allowed the resources of the group to be used in the development of those factories with potential for further growth, and the rapid running down of factories with development limita- tions. Such groupings have brought about not only rationalization of factory operation, but the pooling of financial resources so necessary for the purchase of increasingly costly items of capital plant.

Whilst technological advances are important in the motivation behind present mergers, the increasing concern of the industry with modern marketing techniques and the use of resources in this area have also played an important part.

There has developed a growing awareness of the need for well -organized sales operations, proper coverage by representation, and the greater use of sophisticated and expensive promotional techniques. Small companies on their own simply did not have the resources for a well -organized sales force, and the few representatives they had

needed to rely on their own sales efforts, without the backing of a useful advertising appropriation. The pooling of limited resources has brought about far more logical and effective solutions in these areas.

Of course, not all the mergers taking place are of small companies only. Indeed, in several instances a large individual company has been the prime mover in taking over equally large and important companies. In the case of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Limited, one of the important considerations in the group development has been to use a well-established marketing organization to even greater effect. The seven companies which have joined the group over the last four years have extended the range of products on offer to the combined markets, and the marketing is done through an existing and efficient world-wide network.

At the outset, I quoted the export figures for the industry (£36.5 million last year) of which the domestic sector accounted for £25 million, and I trust you will agree that this represents an extremely good perform- ance, especially bearing in mind that a very small proportion of raw materials and no partly finished goods are imported - the value is wholly a real export figure.

The success of the British ceramic tableware industry in overseas markets is all the more creditable in view of the considerable tariff barriers which it has to face, notably to the USA and the Common Market coun- tries of Europe. On the other hand, major exporters such as Japan and West Germany enjoy much more favourable conditions in selling to the United Kingdom. Bearing this in mind, it is interesting to note the British industry's exports to Japan and West Germany, and vice versa.

W. Year: /969 Japan USA Germany

£ £ £ British Exports 144,162 7,939,804 1,079,021

British Imports 660,369 35>352 511,763

As can clearly be seen from the trade figures, the balance of trade with Japan in the field of domestic ceramics is heavily weighted in favour of that country and will get more so. However, the British industry does particularly well in West Germany compared with that country's trade into the

173




United Kingdom, and it goes without saying that the balance of trade between Britain and the USA in the field of ceramics is particularly healthy from our point of view.

Statistics on the production and export of domestic pottery in the United Kingdom and some leading foreign industries were, at the time of preparing this paper, only available for the year 1968, and in some aspects there are no figures available; but I quote the following table as a matter of interest to make comparisons wherever possible with regard to the size and output of our own industry in relation to those of our major competitors abroad:

expensive, but necessary, and can only be borne by the large company or group of companies.

In the field of personnel and training, the industry has been increasingly aware of the advantages to be gained from the employment of well qualified and experienced executives, developing and using modern techniques to provide an effective work force and a properly organized team of management.

The advent of the computer and the computer bureau has brought, for the larger company or group, the possibility of more accurate and more rapid facilities in adminis-

PRODUCTION AND EXPORT OF DOMESTIC POTTERY - YEAR 1 968

Numbers Production Production Exports

Employed Tons Value £m Value £m

United Kingdom 313625 89,056 47 22

Japan - - 75 4*i West

Germany 30,700 1173O14 60 24 France n>790 5*>7*3 - - Italy 7>700 72,000 - -

/969 Sales of United Kingdom Domestic Pottery Home £^7m Export £25111

I have covered in outline the pressures to develop larger scale operations resulting from techniques of production, and the requirements of the market. There is, however, a third area which is of increasing importance, and which will grow in importance over the next few years. This is the area beloved by economists in talking of econo- mies of large-scale production - the use of service functions.

Many service functions which in the past existed only in embryonic form, or were not even necessary, are now becoming much more important to an efficient organization. The industry is moving into a phase where mechanical and industrial engineering is overtaking the application of simple craft skills.

However, in Wedgwood's and in other world-famous potters' experience, this is a parallel development with particular skills peculiar to the company's special quality requirements. The provision of effective engineering and work study functions is

174

trative and accounting routines and in such key areas as production control. At the Wedgwood factory, for example, we manufacture a range of over twelve thousand items of tableware in fine bone china, fine earthenware and oven-to-tableware, and a wide variety of ornamental wares.

The rapidly expanding group realized the need for improving their already elaborate production control methods, and a joint investigation with International Computing Services Limited confirmed the need for a computer having considerable capacity, yet flexible enough to be adapted to all requirements.

As pioneers with ICSL of new control techniques in the production of fine ceramics, we have gained important benefits which include greater accuracy and speed in planning production and forecasting short term demand; better stock control; improved deliveries ; and a comprehensive management information service.

The computer service enabled us to achieve




In continuous production for almost two centuries , Wedgwood Jasper ware calls for highly skilled craftsmanship. The photograph shows an ornamenter putting the finishing touches to the bas-relief classical

figures

swift growth effectively and smoothly : more- over, the management can now face the problem of future expansion with greater confidence.

The logical and progressive development of the industry reflected by the emergence of larger manufacturing companies has been stimulated by the professional work of management consultants specializing in corporate planning.

However, only two or three firms have been able to use these expert services for planning on a corporate scale. The reasons for take-overs and mergers in this industry

are many and the advantages to be gained equally numerous. These are not the mono- polistic groupings of the giant cartels, but a genuine and necessary step forward in the industry's structure, permitting it to develop and use modern methods, to retain and

I improve its market at home and, of particular I importance, its market and name overseas.

I would go so far as to say that in the next five years the pottery industry will, in the

j main, comprise about five large manufactur- ! ing groups with a residue of small firms still performing a valuable service to our industry and the market.

175




Technically speaking, four distinct types of ceramic product form the basis of the British commercial ceramic industry - elec- trical porcelain, sanitaryware, tiles and tableware. Divergent as the end uses of these products are, the grouping is, nevertheless, a logical one from the point of view of manufacturing technology. For the present purpose, therefore, it is convenient to limit consideration to that of a single product type. The popular concept of ceramics as ornamental and tableware suggests the latter as a natural and interesting choice on which to centre the discussion.

Whilst significant steps have already been taken towards the development of mass- production methods for some products, notably domestic earthenware, it is probably true to say that the rate of application of technical innovations in pottery production in the next decade will be greater yet than at any other period in the last century. The problem of accomplishing this will undoubtedly be most acutely felt in the fine china field, where particularly perceptive engineering will be essential to maintain the image and intrinsic qualities of the product without compromise.

It is timely, therefore, that we critically examine the present position of the industry in general, in relation to the objectives of the eighteenth-century entrepreneurs - master potters such as William Adams and the two Josiahs, Wedgwood and Spode (now an American-owned subsidiary of Carbo- rundum) - who laid its foundation. Striving for perfection of colour, form and texture by every means available to them, these men brought fine domestic ware within the reach of a greater proportion of the population than had hitherto been possible. It is our responsibility to reaffirm that objective in the context of our period and to maintain it as a living tradition. With the resources now at our disposal we may bring our products ever closer to the point of perfection and universal use.

The ceramic industry is, by the very nature of its craft origin, a labour-intensive one and such mechanization as has been introduced to date has been primarily directed in a conventional manner towards the reduction of unit cost. Now, in an era of significant market expansion and limited availability of skilled operatives, the necessary higher levels of productivity will only be met by an increasing degree of mechanization. Successful mechanization - and

176

it is important here to differentiate the concept from that of automation - does not, of course, rest upon the acquisition of plant in isolation but, rather, upon the integration of man and machine as an efficient produc- tive unit.

The limited progress of mechanization in a craft industry such as ours can be traced to a fallacy of engineering design philosophy concerned with simulating craft methods. This approach can be criticized from two points of view - technical and psychological. Firstly, the requirements of, and constraints upon, a machine-based system must differ materially from a man-based one, and, secondly, attempts to directly mechanize manual operations inevitably create an antagonistic man -versus -machine reaction arising out of natural fear of redundancy. In either case, a planned programme of re- training is essential.

The strong 'body-orientated' philosophy of the pottery industry historically finds its roots in the traditional relationship of the craft potter to his clay, and this preoccupa- tion with raw materials at the expense of processes has also been a contributory factor in the slow progress of the industry.

The introduction of a wider range of engineering techniques is bringing increased impetus to solution of the problem, and a review of the present situation focuses attention upon two major objectives : (i) Capitalize on traditional skills . The

studied application of modern engineering methods to problems of job simpli- fication and conservation of labour is a protective measure of particular importance under present conditions of general shortage of craftsmen (and women), protracted training and, on occasion, undesirable working conditions. Without this assistance, growth of the industry is skill -limited.

(ii) Reduce production cycles. A constructive measure designed to shorten delivery schedules without resorting to increased stocks and the consequent stagnation of working capital.

The introduction of new methods, that is to say, 're-skilling' of the industry, is being accomplished by a systematic approach to the identification of work elements compris- ing traditionally skilled tasks, frequently re- grouping them, and then introducing mechanical assistance to reduce work content and increase productivity. It is essentially a pro-

¡ cess of transferring responsibility, or in-




One of the most advanced forms of mechanization - an automatic plate-making machine at the J. & G. Meakin factory. The photograph shows finished plates ready for firing at

the exit end of the 80-ft. 4-lane machine

tuitive decision -making, from the sphere of | the operative. A striking example of the far- j reaching effect of this type of work simpli- j fication is seen in the application of multi- colour lithograph and silk-screen print transfers to the decoration of pottery by a simple ť slide -off' technique where highly skilled painting was previously employed.

Other high-labour processes are being tackled in a similar manner. The recent adoption of fully automatic forming machines to the production of fine china, notably roller flatware and cup machines originally designed for the mass production of low-cost tableware, brings realization of the large chinaware factory of the future a step closer, by removal of another skill limitation. While mechanization will be increasingly applied to higher quality types of wares as experience permits, further progress in extending the range of items produced depends upon the development of a radically different method of forming hollow-ware. A number of interesting possibilities exist.

The involved manufacturing processes dictate that innovations in production techniques, whether from mechanization or process engineering, can logically be imple-

mented only in stages, rather than as a single integrated exercise - evolution not revolu- tion!

I Probably the most significant process j development in the immediate future, and the one that is expected to have the most far-reaching effect in reducing production cycles, is that of fast firing. The recent design of continuous kilns of low thermal mass offers the opportunity to speed up rates of firing to a degree that is either im- practicable or uneconomic with conventional kilns. Characteristically, the concept of this new type of kiln also permits its use in an intermittent or 'idling' mode, as the heat input to attain operating temperature, and consequently the heat loss in cooling, is minimized by its design and materials of construction. We are thus faced with the exciting potential of a process that may ultimately allow firing to keep pace with production.

The benefits are many - shorter delivery schedules, reduction of work in progress, complete integration of firing with production, reduced labour content, simplified production planning, and elimination of arduous shift work. Some problems of pat-

177




tern quality and colour durability have still to be solved, but results are sufficiently encouraging to justify commercial exploita- tion.

Undoubtedly, as experience is gained, the concept will be extended to the firing of glaze - an earlier step in the production process - and, eventually, to body (biscuit) firing. This will almost certainly present the biggest technical problem and may well necessitate considerable compositional work with raw or pre-reacted materials to optimize essential properties of the finished product. Meanwhile, the implications of linked processes capable of producing finished ware within a single working day are being studied by operational research techniques in an effort to determine the overall effect upon production planning under the conditions of variety prevailing in the industry.

A review of this type would not be complete without a brief look at the remaining production processes for further examples of short and long term technical developments as evidence of a lively interest in presenting a progressive image of our industry and creating a new technological base for its growth.

In the area of body composition, stan- dardization of raw materials by improved methods of refinement and blending at source is already proving of value in the control of working properties.

However, the sophisticated systems approach to sequencing, proportioning and blending of materials in body preparation permitted by developments in solid-state controls is likely to be justified only where the requirement is for a large volume of a single body composition. This condition is not likely to be met in the case of individual plants in the tableware field within the next decade.

Mechanization of filter press operation is already reducing the work content of this arduous task. More research is needed in this area, however, to achieve a greater degree of control over the characteristics of plastic clay for mechanical forming. A skilled craftsman is intuitively selective of his method of operation to compensate for variations in his materials - a machine is not.

In another method of body preparation gaining wide acceptance, granular 'dust' for compaction forming is produced by spray drying of aqueous clay suspensions (slip). Many wall tile bodies are now prepared in this way.

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Following the forming of ware from plastic clay, as discussed earlier, it must be thoroughly dried before firing. Present methods are relatively slow, and conventional convection driers occupy a substantial proportion of factory space, second only to that taken up by the kilns. New techniques of drying, compatible with the flow-line concept of production, are under development, and it is to be expected that infra-red and high frequency dielectric heating will find application in special cases.

By contrast, it is also necessary to hold ware for some operations in various states of partial dryness (leather hard) and the pattern of work flow is presently determined by the capabilities of existing humidity stoves. Feasibility of conditioning by re- frigerating under controlled conditions has recently been demonstrated, and this development offers the opportunity of more compact and longer storage, where desirable from the point of view of economic production planning.

Automatic glazing machines for china flatware are now a reality, and principles of mechanical glazing of hollow-ware proved on semi-automatic machines are being applied to the development of an automatic system for glazing volume items such as cups.

Developments in the decoration of tableware will permit greater emphasis upon textural qualities, literally bringing a third dimension to design. Wider application of silk-screen and electrostatic printing techniques for decorating by direct or transfer methods offers exciting possibilities of pattern enrichment on a scale not previously economically or technically feasible. Greater understanding and control of devitrification (crystallization) phenomena in glazes, resulting from research in glass -ceramic systems, will provide impetus for the development of new effects on ornamental and casual ware.

The final stage of the production process, inspection of finished ware, is probably the most difficult one on which to offer predic- tions. Aesthetic qualities are notoriously difficult to define (as this learned society well knows, but some of our more recent institutions have yet to accept) and seem- ingly impossible to quantify, beauty being in the eye of the beholder.

However, if we may dream for a moment, it is possible to visualize a type of scanning electronic comparator for the automatic




inspection of flatware, with practical limits assigned to the number, type and degree of common faults. Furthermore, the creation of new designs by the use of computer has already been investigated.

In conclusion then, it is affirmed that with perceptive process -engineering, we can in- troduce an increasing degree of mechanization into fine china production and ensure a quality of ware at least equal to that of traditional craftsmanship. Furthermore, elimination of the fatigue element present in hand operations promises a consistent and, therefore, higher average quality product. Through research and development the future course is set and all in our industry are very aware of the valuable work carried out by the British Ceramic Research Asso- ciation under the leadership of Dr. Astbury.

With regard to training in the ceramic industry to-day, important changes have resulted from the 1964 Industrial Training Act and the setting up of the Ceramics, Glass and Mineral Products Industry Train- ing Board, and also from the development of large groups of manufacturing units and the development of highly-specialized technical and professional facilities on a group basis. Since there are such varying standards of training throughout the industry, my remaining remarks largely apply to the Wedgwood Group's training programmes.

To-day there is no longer the ' sitting - next-to-Nellie' approach but a real emphasis on improving the quality and efficiency of training at all levels.

Training at our main factory at Barlaston has been on a systematically organized basis for the past thirteen years, and in many ways, our development reflects the changes that are beginning to take place in the industry itself. Personnel training and work study departments are co-ordinated to enable us effectively to integrate the selection and development of employees and to ensure they have the opportunity to make a contribution to increased efficiency and productivity.

Early emphasis was on operative training, and in the major occupations specialized programmes based on skills analysis techniques were developed with 'off-the-job' training areas under the control of full-time qualified training instructors. Out of a total of some two hundred and fifty different factory occupations which have been sepa- rately analysed, we now have twelve 'off-the- job' training areas plus a further 100 'off-

the-job' training programmes where it has not been feasible to have a full-time training area.

We are at present examining the problems associated with introducing multi -skilled operator-training programmes in our major departments.

The construction and maintenance department is an important part of an industrial development organization, and engineering craft training includes a complete first-year 'off-the-job' course at the local polytechnic.

A heavier emphasis on academic subjects is required for trainees in technical, production development and project engineering departments. At present, study at college takes the form of day-release for a Higher National Certificate in, for example, Chemis- try or Physics, but in future more of this will tend to be organized on a block-release or sandwich basis.

As part of the plan to provide a supply of highly-trained technical personnel for production management and for technical appointments, employees are also sponsored on the BSc in Ceramic Technology course at the College of Ceramics, a course which lasts four years.

Supervisory and management training is varied and is carried out on a dual approach. Following an analysis of job descriptions and specifications, we have developed series of seminars and discussions which cover areas of common need - and these are being run informally for groups, from directors and executives to first-line supervisors.

The second aspect is to draw up a development programme for the individual himself : and this needs to be linked closely to the manager's or supervisor's own job and is therefore arrived at from discussions with the manager or supervisor concerned. Such a programme may involve internal work experience as well as attendance on an external course such as the Diploma in Management Studies, the Certificate in Supervisory Studies, the Certificate in Works Management, etc.

We are also developing regular review and appraisal schemes and succession planning, to enable us to take account of the future job needs of individuals and of the company.

Over the last three years we have recruited a number of graduates direct from univer- sity. Their training includes specially prepared practical experience in the factory

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A new tableware shape in Wedgwood fine bone china - i Contour designed by Richard Brockman , DesRCA - which has had a particularly successful

launching in the North American market

and in the commercial departments (where appropriate), and special courses have been arranged at the College of Ceramics to give them a ceramic appreciation on top of their (usually) science degree.

Training for office and commercial work is an area to which little attention has been given in the past. But it is also one where the number of employees is growing and where systematic training schemes can make a real contribution to increased efficiency. Our emphasis at the moment is on the development of training in general office procedures, and then following this with specific training leading to particular occupations such as typing, comptometer operating, etc.

Without top management commitment, training schemes become sterile. Also, as a result of the levy-grant system there is the danger that emphasis is given to that which gets money back from the Training Board. We are constantly aware that the future of the industry depends upon the proper training of people at all levels. We look at it as providing opportunities for people to develop themselves within the framework of the planned development of a company.

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The promise of the technological innovations to which I have earlier referred, also raises excitement and enthusiasm among the designers in the industry. But now one can foresee a greater need for the work of full- time designers to exploit the possibilities of new styles of design which will arise from technical achievements in production.

As a rather extreme example of the scale of employment of designers in our industry, I am sure it will be of some interest to this audience to learn that the Wedgwood Group now employs a total of twenty-six trained and qualified designers.

Of these, thirteen are specialist ceramic designers who work at Barlaston and other factories in the group; ten are involved in display, exhibition and shop-fitting work, mainly in London; and two are graphic designers, one in London and one at Barlaston.

Until fairly recently, few firms in the industry have employed full-time, fully- trained and qualified industrial designers. Even in recent years many potters have continued to rely mainly on the talents of their potting and modelling departments to




produce new shapes, or on their hand painters and engravers to produce decora- tions. They have supplemented these slender resources by buying stock patterns from freelance designers and students. This very loose policy has made it difficult for such firms to establish an image for themselves or for their products, often with fatal results. However, when a number of such firms merge, their combined resources can permit the establishment of a design department to cope with their needs.

Other factors also are likely to encourage the employment of more designers. Intensi- fying competition will direct as much attention to design as to production and sales. Other things being equal, the companies with the best organized design resources will have considerable advantages, as one would expect.

New tableware shapes and patterns nor- mally involve long development periods - anything up to two years in the case of a full range of patterns on a new shape from first briefing to supplying orders. To counteract this time-lag, reserves of new designs are needed ready to go into production at short notice as soon as required. To allow for this surplus resource, more designers will be required to relieve the pressure of day-to- day work.

I predict, therefore, that there will be greater opportunities for experienced and well-qualified ceramic designers to enter the pottery industry. Young people who develop a passion for designing pots and have attained good qualifications based upon a sound training will be able to study the classified advertisements in the design jour- nals in the future with much more hope of obtaining industrial employment. Unless, as I fear, they prefer the gentle college atmosphere or 'safer and more comfortable' jobs outside industry.

To be able to forecast new trends sufficiently far ahead, designers will need to become even more involved in the total marketing activities within each company. To be able to develop their own convictions about the kind of design to which markets will respond, designers will need to subject themselves more and more to wider kinds of experience such as travel, deeper technical study of products in use, and even frequent periods back at school to study the latest techniques of design development and management, and the possibilities inherent in the most sophisticated design tools

available to industry - such as the computer. For the industry to undertake its own

basic training of its designers has ceased to be desirable for some years. The breadth of training and experience which a college of art can provide for its students is absolutely essential for any designer to-day. However, it is too often the experience of pottery firms that designers straight from schools and colleges of art come into the industry lacking an adequate sense of reality about its requirements.

The industry, through the British Pottery Manufacturers' Federation, has done much in recent years to bridge the gap between itself and the educational system. It has, for example, offered travelling scholarships to encourage the best talent and awarded bur- saries to the Royal Society of Arts. However, there is still a tendency for too many firms to leave the responsibility for education and training to others. The future health of the industry depends very much on the standard of training our new designers are receiving, and more efforts are needed to make students and teachers aware of the industry's needs. This is an area where greater co-operation between industry and education establish- ments is imperative. It would be a great help if the Council of Industrial Design could spend part of its substantial grant in this area.

This past two years, our industry has co- operated with increasing effect with the Faculty of Art and Design of the North Staffordshire Polytechnic, the most dis- tinguished centre of pottery design education in the country, where the post-graduate student in ceramic design has an unrivalled opportunity to discover at first hand, what he, or she, has to offer the industry in becoming a successful practising designer.

These are all heartening thoughts for our marketing men too; but their forces also will need to be even better organized and highly trained in modern marketing techniques. After all, if we are given advanced technology and good design, then the real growth of the industry depends, in the final count, on forceful marketing to overcome the various impediments to trade (for example, import restrictions and high tariffs) and, most of all, to cope with competition from abroad.

One of the most frequently misused and misunderstood words in the language of modern business is 'marketing'. For in- stance, many individuals engaged in business

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The birth of a new bone china tableware shape: a modeller , Mr. James Oldfield, assembling the prototype of a Contour coffee pot

wrongly believe that the word is merely an up-to-date way of describing the selling function. It means much more than that. The standard definition is :

Marketing is the management function which organizes and directs all those business activities involved in assessing and converting customer purchasing power into effective demand for a specific product, or service to the final customer or user, so as to achieve the profit target or other objectives set by the company.

There is no doubt that marketing has existed for centuries in any situation where business has been conducted, although the word itself has only come into general use in recent years.

The first half of the twentieth century has seen an accelerated rate in the development of marketing techniques. For example, as early as 1906, Wedgwood opened its first selling subsidiary in the United States of America with headquarters in New York; similar operations have subsequently been established in Toronto, Sydney and Mel- bourne. More recent developments have included the setting up of a net-work of

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Wedgwood Rooms (shops within shops) in leading markets at home and abroad, following the opening of the first in London in 1953 to provide unique, modern situations in which products may be displayed and sold by well-trained staff in ideal surround- ings. Other leading manufacturers have like- wise created similar marketing operations, and the British ceramic tableware industry to-day has become a highly competitive, well-organized force making a substantial contribution to Britain's export drive.

The future success of our industry depends on all our markets being well serviced and adequately supplied, and the setting up of warehouses, showrooms and offices abroad is a prerequisite for commercial progress, while the use of expert agents is still essential where the size of the market limits invest- ment potential.

With the advent of so many dramatic and far-reaching developments in production techniques, in company mergers, in design, marketing and training, I would affirm that the changing pattern of the ceramic industry is now leading to one of the most exciting and progressive periods of advancement




since the revolutionary days of the eighteenth century.

And now, at the outset of the 1970s, the outlook is very much the same as it was 200 years ago in the pioneering days of the first

Josiah Wedgwood, who wrote in his experi- ment book of 1759: 'I saw the field was spacious, and the soil so good, as to promise an ample recompense to any one who should labour diligently in its cultivation.'

DISCUSSION

The Chairman: I think we could almost regard that paper as a sort of blueprint for many other companies in this swiftly changing technological age. If a few more people took note of some of the things that Mr. Bryan has said, in so many different fields of training, marketing, production techniques and so forth, we might not be in our present situation.

I should now like to exercise the Chairman's privilege and open the discussion. Firstly, would Mr. Bryan tell us if he finds a very great differ- ence between design tastes in his field of production as between Britain and the USA ? Secondly, one is depressed by the sight, in so many chain stores, of disposable tableware in all its awful- ness. Does this represent a threat to the traditional industry? Maybe there is a connection with the United States, because disposables seem to have developed pretty fast there.

The Lecturer : The North American taste is quite different from that in the home market. There is, however, an overlap in design requirements, and from the manufacturers' point of view the quicker there is a bigger overlap the better we shall like it. We do not like producing for three widely separate markets. In the United States of America the major sales of medium- to-expensive china are for the bridal market. The purchasers are instructed from the age of 16 to 18 at their universities or colleges in a subject called home economics, and their taste in design is extremely conservative. That accounts for an estimated figure of 50 per cent of the total fine china sales to the American market. A large proportion of the balance goes to the 'matron* market, as it is called, and fortunately for us, American matrons do like English traditional designs.

Disposable ware is a great industry in the United States of America. We are not complacent about disposables. I share your view that they look cheap and nasty, but that can change if we can really get a good designer to adapt his designs to disposables. Some of my colleagues in industry would not share my view, but I think the growth in the ceramic tableware market is good enough and strong enough for us not to be affected by this growth in disposable tableware.

Mr. Arnold Whittick : I was for many years editor of a journal devoted to pottery and glass, and I made it one of my purposes to try to bring together the studio potter and the commercial producer. I failed absolutely. The studio

potter would have nothing whatever to do with commercial production, and it seemed to me that commercial production would have nothing whatever to do with the studio potter. One cannot be engaged in looking at pottery for many years without being conscious of some of the defects in design, and perhaps the chief defect in the commercial production of which I was conscious was an unsatisfactory relation of decoration to form, which I have found is much more successful in the work of the studio potters. It is regrettable that they could not join with manufacturers rather in the manner of the Bauhaus designers, probably the greatest school of designers of this century.

In modern commercial production does the designer merely design the pot on the drawing- board, or does he make the prototype and do all the design preparations for that prototype so that it can be reproduced by the million ? This Bauhaus method would ensure the best quality work and therefore improve the export possibilities.

Secondly, has the pottery industry any appre- hension at the challenge of the plastics industry ?

The Lecturer: I well remember Mr. Whittick when he was editing the journal. I think he is not quite fair in regard to the relationship which now exists between the studio potter and the industrial potter. First of all, most of the studio potters learn their craft either at the technical colleges provided and supported by our industry or through the art schools and colleges supported by our industry. So there is an asso- ciation from the outset. I cannot speak for all industry, but many sections of it do encourage their designers, modellers and craftsmen to handle the shapes right through to the latest stage before production. Certainly four or five of the leading manufacturers, accounting for half of the total production of our industry, allow that to take place. I think you will find also that some individual studio potters will give proper and fair recognition to forward- thinking manufacturers. So I don't really share the pessimistic view of the relationship. Cer- tainly the marketing is completely different, and whilst occasionally one might share a sensible and active retail account, both industrial pottery and studio pottery, that is quite rare.

The Bauhaus, as far as the British industry is concerned, is not really an important factor because we are exporting 40 per cent of our total products, and essentially the markets to

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which we export are interested in the typical British design. Whilst the Bauhaus has a very well deserved place in international design, I don't really think that it can have had the same influence on British design in the ceramic industry.

Fifteen years ago we were very concerned over the proliferation of plastic tableware. In my view, the money that has been put into the plastics tableware industry by the chemical industry would have been better spent in the pottery industry: they would have had a quicker and better return. I would say that the plastics industry has now settled down. We have learnt to live with it, and it accounts for not more than about 8 per cent of the total tableware market in this country to-day. In America it represents about 10 or 12 per cent, but again the total growth of the market and of the population has more than compensated for this apparent loss of ceramic tableware business in favour of plastics.

Mr. Victor Margrie, atd, msia: Mr. Bryan spoke about the improved opportunities for designers in the British ceramic tableware industry. Can he give me a figure as to the annual intake of designers and what sort of salary they enjoy in, say, their middle thirties ?

The Lecturer: I said in my paper that I thought there would be a greater demand for designers. The present intake I would assess at up to and not more than forty per annum in the industry. It is dangerous to try to give an average figure for salaries, but I would think the five leading firms in the industry would pay a successful designer who entered the industry on leaving college and became a successful designer in his mid-thirties between £2,500 and £4,000, and a designer of brilliance, £5,000 to £6,000.

Mr. P. W. Darwin: From the figures displayed to us by Mr. Bryan it seems that the German industry employs about 3 per cent less labour to get about 25 per cent more production. I wonder if he could comment on that ?

The Lecturer: I knew we would have that question, and it could not come from anyone better placed than Mr. Darwin! West Germany has a very wide and strong industry, but much of their production is low-priced massed-produced hotelware and common domestic ware. By medium to high British standards much of it is poor, and it is lightly decorated. They do not have the export demand of the British, highly decorated, multi-processed pots. That is the simple answer.

Mr. Darwin: Do the Germans also produce a lot of very high value stuff?

The Lecturer : No, not too much. Mr. Darwin: So the answer is that they

are more efficient at producing ?

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The Lecturer: In the mechanized processes they have used engineering to greater advantage than British industry has, but I must point out again that since the British industry is much more concerned in expensive bone china and expensive earthenware the comparison is not quite a fair one.

The Chairman : Perhaps German pottery manufacturers have been luckier in the way of plant replacement as a result of the war ?

The Lecturer : Yes, of course. But for the purposes of this afternoon's paper I would not want anyone to get the impression that I have a poor view of the German industry. I have a very high regard for their abilities. But they are not in the same kind of high quality business as we are and their exports in this bracket to the USA, for example, are very small in comparison with ours. Their home market is a very healthy one. The German public are much more sophisticated in their use of tableware than we are. Their hotels use better quality ware, even though low priced, than our hotels do.

Mr. Maurice Birch : From the figures as shown an important country seems to be Italy, where the ratio of operators per ton of production is about 9.8 tons per operator as against the British figure of about 2.5 tons per operator. Does this mean that the Italians are considerably more advanced in their manufacturing techniques ? I recently studied the Italian methods of production and note that in general when they modernized it was not just a matter of putting in a new machine ; they appeared to set down a completely new plant. In my experience of the industry in Stoke on Trent a new machine appears to be installed in an existing works.

The Lecturer: There have been notable examples of new factories in the potteries, but I see no possibility in the next few years of any major new ones being constructed.

But you will notice that the Italian figures do not give production value or export value. Some of the Italian factories are good, modern and highly mechanized - in fact many are superior to the German mechanized factories. But in general I am quite sure that the reason why we do not have these figures is that the Italians are rather ashamed of their export figures and of their value - of the money they get for that 72,000 tons. Anyone who has visited Italy must admit this. Whilst there is a very strong hotelware industry, it isn't a very refined product.

The Chairman : What does Wedgwood do about educating the retail trade to take an in- formed interest in the merchandise it is selling ?

The Lecturer : Over the last twenty years we have worked hard and conscientiously at this, but there is much more we have to do. Can I say that the industry, as well as Wedgwood, is better than most industries in its relations with the retailer? Although I have criticized the




Council of Industrial Design for not spending enough money on design education, I must say that the courses they organize in conjunction with retailers and manufacturers are of great help, and most of the retailers represented here to-day are generous in permitting their staffs to come to the potteries. I think our advertising is helpful. I think our educational leaflets throughout the industry are good and, again without being complacent, I think the industry has a better educational record with retailers than most other industries.

Mrs. Margaret Sandwell: I have been in the trade about forty years. I consider that distribution is absolutely deplorable at the moment, and we do not get the backing of the manufacturers. Because of our storage problems we cannot get a quick enough turnover, and as a small retailer I think we do not get a good enough delivery service from the manufacturers, and Wedgwood in particular.

The Chairman: There will be a better delivery henceforth !

The Lecturer: What can I say? The problem of servicing the small retailer is always difficult if there are inadequate stock-room facilities.

Mr. R.J. Cuttriss : Can Mr. Bryan indi- cate developments in supplying the aircraft industry ? Is there an increase in sales, or any development in the nature of materials used ?

The Lecturer: Internationally speaking, the airline industry has been a very important customer. It has gone through three phases. When air travel became increasingly popular around the mid-1950s the airlines decided to compete with the luxury steamships, and that was a bonanza for most of the ceramics manufacturers throughout the world. Then some

accountant spotted that the breakage factor was great, not because of crashes or turbulence in the air, but from the carelessness of the staff, and the airlines decided to go plastic, even for 'plastic glassware*. Now thev show renewed interest in hotel-type china and earthenware.

The toughest material in the ceramics world is the American product pyroceram, or pyrosil as it is known in the United Kingdom, which is not a ceramic body, but a glass crystalline one. There are difficulties in making decorative effects on it and it looks rather institutional, so I think that the fine china of the world is in for a good few years yet with airline business. Wedgwood has just obtained a large order from Qantas, for example.

Sir Paul Reilly (Director, Council of Industrial Design): To what extent does Mr. Bryan see all the industries serving the tabletops (so to speak) concerting their marketing and design policies in respect of glass, pottery, cutlery ?

The Lecturer: Three famous manufacturers have applied themselves to this, with limited success. In the British industry, whilst there is a certain possibility of alignment with crystal or glass, with linen and silver we rim into many practical difficulties. The department stores in the United States are keen on this concerted approach, but it is difficult to co- ordinate the four different buyers. They even have a phrase for it - the ťtable-top concept*.

The Chairman : We are immensely grateful to Mr. Bryan for a painstaking and most lucid paper, which will also read very well in the Journal when it comes to be published. I ask you all to join with me in thanking him cordially.

The vote of thanks was expressed with acclama- tion , and the meeting ended .

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CHANGES IN THE CERAMIC TABLEWARE INDUSTRY

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Transcript of CHANGES IN THE CERAMIC TABLEWARE INDUSTRY