Profit Lives in the Overload

“Motivated in part by concern for workers, Kaiser insisted that they have the most modern tools available. He drove men to their limits with long hours, but he was very interested in lightening physically demanding tasks. As noted, he rigged up wheelbarrows with wide rubber tires, which were easier to push through gravel and mud than old-fashioned, iron-wheel models. He preferred to wear out machinery rather than workers. When he purchased new trucks, he had them outfitted with sideboards so they could carry larger loads. Ordway warned that trucks would break down more quickly under excessive weights. Kaiser replied, “Ord, our profit is in the overload.””

“With typical exuberance, Kaiser did not wait for final approval to get started. Fourteen months earlier he had commandeered the services of Clay Bedford in setting up the Richmond shipyards. In mid-February 1942, he called chief engineer George Havas and rumbled, “George, you’re going to build me a steel mill.” Havas, as familiar as Bedford with his boss’s style, asked, “What kind of a steel mill?” Kaiser replied, “Oh, just a steel mill, a small one.” Yet from the beginning, Kaiser had no intention of being limited to a “small” mill. The initial RFC loan was a modest $ 22 million, but Kaiser was back in Jones’ office within weeks, seeking another $ 100 million for plant expansion.”