CARRERAS NEW FACTORY

Evening Star, Issue 20054, 20 December 1928, Page 12

CARRERAS NEW FACTORY

Carreras’ new factory, which was recently opened by Dir Bernhard Baron, the chairman of the company,_ constitutes not only the largest reinforced concrete building under one roof in Great Britain, but also that rare thing —the realisation of a man’s dream. Mr Baron is a practical idealist. He set out to make cigarettes. _ Consequently ho sought perfection in cigarettes He wanted them made in the besi way, and in the best conditions, lit, wanted the people who made them Vo be happy in their work. It ini* all come true. . The opening ceremony was as impressive in its simplicity as the-new building is in its efficiency and design. Mr Baron performed it himself, not so much as chairman of the company as the father of the 3,000 employees who have helped him to achieve success. Ho said, at the luncheon, that he felt it a great honour to have opened the factory, and that ho wanted his employees about him at that moment to share his pleasure. That was why lie decided on a simple ceremony, a family celebration, as it were, of the culmination of one stage of his life’s work. He presented each of his in memory of the ©vent, with a silvei medal inscribed “My thanks for all your help.” Carreras’ new building embodies all that is best in factory design. It is well lit, as well ventilated and as healthy as it is possible to make itMost important of all, it has been fitted with an air conditioning plant which is the only one of its kind in the British tobacco industry, ana which ensures a consistently ideal atmosphere for the manufacture of cigarettes. The an- which enters the building is first washed clean with water. It is then adjusted to the required temperature and humidity. Outside, London may be shivering or sweltering, damp*or dusty. Inside, every day is a fine day; all weather is fair weather. The dust extractors are another example of the thoroughness of _ this sell erne which has created the hygienically perfect production of cigarettes. One forms uart of every emarette-mak-iiig machine, and, working on the vacuum principle, sucks up the last particle of dust and foreign matter fioin the tobacco. The main features of the factory as a whole are spaciousness and light. The windows reach from floor to ceiling. Thera are nine acres of floor space. _ All overhead shafting has been eliminated, and every machine has its own motor. The conception and construction of the factory are entirely British. Three thousand tons of British steel are included in its structure; nearly 4,000 square feet of Canadian maple are in its floors. The window frames are of British bronze, and every cog in its machines—from the ventilating plant in the roof down to the transformers of electric current in the basement—lias been made, in Great Britain.