Rosy Reynolds

ALUMINUM Rosy Reynolds

The Reynolds Metals Co. has punched plenty of holes in the tough hide of pachydermic Aluminum Co. of America since war (and Jesse Jones's millions) gave the U.S. a second aluminum producer. Less well known is the fact that there are just about as many Reynoldses in Reynolds Metals as there ever were Mellons in Alcoa. The company as a whole revolves around tiny Richard Samuel Reynolds, 61, ex-tobaccoman (Camels). But most of its parts are specifically managed by R.S.'s four sons.

J. (for Julian) Louis Reynolds, 35, is vice president in charge of the foil division (which accounted for 65% of the company's sales before the war) ; Richard Jr., 32, is treasurer of the Reynolds companies. But the sons making the news now are the babies: 30-year-old William, the family giant (his 5 ft. 8 1/2 in. puts him four inches above the other Reynolds men) , and David, 28 last month. For Billy and Dave run Reynolds' wildly expanding Aircraft Parts Division in Louisville.

License Plates to Wing Ribs. Two years ago Billy began brooding over two wasteful facts about aluminum production: 1) about 20% of his sheet was regularly rejected because of minor blemishes that, when cropped, left the sheet less than standard size; 2) at least 30% of the approved sheet became scrap when parts were cut out of it at an aircraft factory. Then as much as nine months (plus hundreds of scarce freight cars) are needed to get the scrap back to an aluminum mill, remelted, rerolled and ready to be cut up again.

Billy figured that he could mass-produce aircraft parts out of his odd-sized reject sheets by fitting them around the blemishes as a careful dressmaker fits a pattern to precious fabric. He also saw how to eliminate most of the usual waste and delay on scrap aluminum: his parts factory would be right next door to his ingot mill, where the scrap could be remelted and poured right back into more production.

Billy stumped the country for parts orders. By the time he got his first big one -- for wing ribs for Curtiss P-40s -- he had found enough unused machinery to handle it: mechanical presses that used to make auto fenders, shears that used to stamp out license plates at Kentucky's La Grange Reformatory, etc.

Onwards and Upwards. Since then things have boomed for Billy and Dave. Early this year they took more floor space (a 250,000-sq.-ft, tobacco warehouse). When the plant is fully equipped this summer, Reynolds' capacity for parts will be six times its current rate--and today's figure is 40 times what it was a year ago. Current production includes some 70,000 different parts for 16 different planemakers from rivet washers to wing sections.

Crucial equipment has now been diverted to Reynolds. In their rambling redbrick plant last week, workmen were frantically preparing the way for an enormous 5,000-ton hydraulic press, one of the five largest in the world, originally destined for Douglas Aircraft. By late this month the monster will be working around the clock for a score of planemakers.

Canny R.S. likes the look of the future; vis-`a-vis huge Alcoa, he thinks he has a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose proposition. Reynolds will come out of the war with 160,000,000 pounds of ingot capacity, and with almost twice that much fabricating capacity. Much larger Alcoa will have about as much ingot as fabricating capacity. If aluminum demand should nose-dive as much as 50%, R.S. thinks he can keep his primary plants running full tilt, while Alcoa would have to cut ingot production and finished products in half.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.