Leyland/BMC merger

On this day:

JAGUAR MEMO
From: Technical Director William Heynes
To: Chairman Sir William Lyons

Points For Discussion

1. From your note it appears that you are now prepared to give Engineering fuller control of the situation than you have been prepared to do in the past, and I believe, and always have believed, and this is necessary. Whilst you had your finger completely on the pulse, it operated satisfactorily but such delegation as you have given has not been complete enough to permit the various Directors to operate completely and prove whether they can, or cannot, carry the job.


2. There is no doubt the Company is badly missing Mr Whittaker who was responsible more than anyone in the organisation for welding the various departments into a single unit. He could, and did, discuss with all the Directors the various day-to-day problems without any personal aggrandisment and was virtually the second step in the ladder, which gave cohesion.


3. Mr Silver as overall Director of the production side, has never been effectively replaced and there is no single man on the production who is capable of, or willing to, force through a programme.