There is also a considerable saving in inspection by this method, since many articles or materials are inspected at a single assembly point before they are shipped to the various shipyards engaged in construction. Where sub-contractors are employed. original contractors are required to notify the Navy of the arrangement, and inspections are made of the parts at the subcontractors' plants, and assembled jobs are inspected at the plant of the original contractor.
Spare parts for ships all over the world. and for all of the Navy yards. and tools for air stations strung from Alaska down the West, Coast to the Panama Canal through the Gulf ports and up the Atlantic, and for bases in territory leased from Britain also are bought by the purchasing office here. They are stored at several distribution points, but are readily available for the points where they are needed.
The advantages of this system are twofold: It makes possible bulk manufacture, which minimizes the tooling jobs required and it, results in considerable savings in prices. Another factor is that a good deal of duplication of work among supply officers at the various bases is saved by centralizing purchases here.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.