Need For Science In Industry

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30739, 1 May 1965, Page 22

Need For Science In Industry

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, April 29.

The Minister of Science (Mr Taiboys) feels there is little enthusiasm for scientific research in many industrial fields, and little appreciation of the need for it. Addressing the Wellington branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand he said this was unfortunate because New Zealand’s manufacturing had as much need for research as its agriculture.

Though New Zealand’s agricultural productivity was the highest in the world by a big margin, its industrial productivity was low by international standards.

A book on freight handling, produced last year by the Transport Department, had reported that progress in efficient handling of cargo had been slow. Reasons given had been: the isolation of New Zealand from overseas developments, the small scale of the country’s production and the lack of economies inherent in mass production, “often used as a pretext for inefficient methods,” and the fact that restraints on competition because of balance of payments problems, and the general buoyancy of the economy had bred complacency.

If these were also reasons for lack of interest in research, Mr Taiboys said the effects of overseas affiliation. 1 must be added. Many firms with parent companies over seas relied entirely on those companies for their research They gave little thought to the different conditions in this country which may invalidate overseas research work.

The experience of many scientists in industrial research had been out that of the Transport Department. “The scientist is consulted only when all else fails, when quick results are demanded and there is neither time nor sympathy for painstaking study,” Mr Taiboys said. Industrialists sometimes had a peculiarly naive attitude, best expressed in the phrase: “What does he know about running a factory?” The scientists could not be expected to know how to run each factory he visited. He was there to investigate the more fundamental aspects of factory processing. The management should be able to explain all he need to know about the running of the factory. “If not, then they should not be in the business anyway.”

The influence of scientific research on industry in other lands had been impressive, particularly since the Second World War and especially in the United States. A seven-million-dollar industry based on scientific research in the University of Minnesota was said to have grown up within a decade.

Mr Taiboys said he believed there was a list of some 60 major firms spawned from the

work of Stanford University. “We have noteworthy examples in this country, too, but the story does not seem to have got access to industry as a whole. Perhaps it has not been told in the right way.”

Studies carried out by the D.S.LR. showed that research was a sound investment. Officers of the department had studied the effects of artificial breeding of dairy cattle. They had taken as investment ill the Department of Agriculture’s research expenditure in the 14 years that Ruakura had worked in this field, the whole operating expenditure of the herd improvement associations since these assumed responsibility for artificial breeding in 1954, and 20 per cent and 10 per cent respectively for overheads. For the return on this investment the officers had taken the rise in average butterfat yield achieved by artificial breeding, assuming that it would go no higher than today’s level. They had found that in 10

years' time the return would be equivalent to 7 J per cent a year, and in 16 years about 8| per cent a year. Mr Taiboys said some of the research associations were excellent examples of science in industry. “I do not need to be convinced of the value of research work, I am more anxious that industry itself should be convinced,” he said. “I am given to understand that there is a trend toward greater use of science, but progress is slow. 1 would like to know what can be done to speed it. I have of course the advice of my departments and of the national research advisory council. What I do not have, and what 1 would value are suggestions from industry itself.”