ABSTRACT
The three factors constraining war industries were raw materials, skilled labour, and machine tools. Similar to the First World War, the military capability of the combatant nations during the second conflict depended upon machine tool supply, crucial equipment in the large-scale production of the munitions of modern warfare. M. M. Postan provides a detailed analysis of the broad trends in machine tool demand and supply, as well as giving an insight on the requirements of the main users. Machine tool firms, during the war, devised strategies that were conditioned by the constraints that they faced, and set within the context of relations with government agencies and the implementation of national industrial planning. The company took every measure to ensure priority to the tools in greatest demand, but effective supply by sub-contractors remained a serious concern. In the 1920s and 1930s, British machine tool exports had averaged 30 per cent of total output; by 1946 this had risen to 46 per cent.
