Strikes

By CLIFFORD WEBB

British Leyland will have to install costly new plant to modernize the production facilities of the former B.M.C. car works, George Turnbull said yesterday at the end of his first month as managing director of the newly created Austin Morris division.

In a message to his 90,000 employees Mr. Turnbull said: "Some of our production facilities are really first class but there are some which need to be brought up to date. My objective is to install new plan. and equipment which is second to none in the industry. This will cost a lot of money but we must do it because it is essential that we aim for and achieve the highest possible efficiency otherwise we shall not be able to sell all the cars we are planning to make."

Mr. Turnbull has set as his target the manufacturing and selling of one million cars a year. But he warns that this can be done only if the assembly line get the supplies they need and can be kept working. Of the widespread redundancies forecast after the Leyland-B.M.H. merger he says: "There has been a lot of nonsense talked about redundancies by the press. No company can categorically say that there will never be redundancy, therefore I cannot promise that there will never be any redundancy. What we must do is to work towards achieving maximum efficiency combining in production the new and better equipment and we must take advantage of new techniques as and when they become available. Above all, we must eliminate any waste."