Background
Paul Weeks Litchfield was born on July 26, 1875 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Charles Manfred Litchfield, a commercial photographer, and Julia Winter.
(Industrial Voyage: My Life As an Industrial Lieutenant - ...)
Industrial Voyage: My Life As an Industrial Lieutenant - by Paul Weeks Litchfield
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Paul Weeks Litchfield was born on July 26, 1875 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Charles Manfred Litchfield, a commercial photographer, and Julia Winter.
Litchfield attended English High School and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1896.
After a stopgap job, Litchfield took a position at $9 a week with a manufacturer of bicycle tires. He designed tires for New York City's Fifth Avenue buses, which attracted the attention of Frank Seiberling of Goodyear. In July 1900 Litchfield was hired by Goodyear as "production superintendent, chemist, engineer, employment manager and company doctor, " at $2, 500 a year. His background in chemical engineering was useful in an industry that was moving toward the scientific manipulation of a complex raw material in the revolutionary age of transportation and synthetics.
Litchfield joined a company of 176 employees; when he became president of Goodyear in 1926, it was the largest in the industry. Facing patent strangulation problems in 1900, Litchfield responded with the tire of the future: the straight-side. With the sense of the importance of time, which he always emphasized, he struck fast to reap the rewards. In 1908 he set up the company's research and development department. He added the wire bead for holding the tire on the rim better, invented the nonskid tire, and introduced a superior cord tire. In 1916 Goodyear pioneered in pneumatic tires for trucks, which, by extending the speed and range of trucks, sparked a revolution in freight transportation.
In the 1930's, Goodyear led rubber's expansion into tires for farm machinery. Litchfield also expanded his product line by adding belting and other rubber mechanical goods. Vertical integration of the processes began with a textile mill to provide the fabrics used in rubber products, coal mines for power, and in 1916 an Arizona cotton plantation and rubber plantations in Sumatra. A Canadian facility in 1910 was its first foreign factory. Litchfield again anticipated the future by branching into air transportation, building the first practical airplane tire in 1910. His interest led to the famous Goodyear blimps and two large navy airships. In 1939 he incorporated the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation to make airplane parts. This expanded into a contract for Corsair fighters that made Goodyear one of the ten largest producers of aircraft during World War II.
Goodyear also operated synthetic-rubber plants for the government, having built its first synthetic tire in 1937. After the war Litchfield continued diversification with plastics, electronics, and atomic energy. From the first Litchfield had emphasized management training, and he was confident that his "team" could make any product it set out to. In 1913 he created the "Flying Squadron, " a team of workers trained to be able to fill in anywhere and to take on special projects. The training was soon extended to include executives. Litchfield saw the value of high wages, both in improving efficiency and in stimulating consumption. In 1910 he established a labor department and in 1912 a newspaper, hospital, restaurant, and employees residential community. Shortly after Henry Ford, he established the eight-hour day and, during the Great Depression, the six-hour day. He organized an association for the purchase of sickness and accident insurance, a pension plan, and Americanization classes.
In 1915 he established the Service Pin Association for employees with five or more years of service, and personally contributed $100, 000 to a fund for them to manage and profit from. In 1919, in order to allow workers participation in decisions affecting their rights, he established the Goodyear Industrial Assembly. By the mid-1930's paternalism was out of date. Litchfield had early established an efficiency department; now men complained of the speedup. In 1937 sitdown strikes came to Goodyear, and union recognition followed. A pioneer in mass distribution, Litchfield in 1926 signed the first contract for tire distribution with a mass merchandiser, Sears-Roebuck, revolutionizing the marketing of tires. His most difficult experience was the near bankruptcy of the company in 1920-1921. Inventory losses in rubber and cotton forced Seiberling out, and banker control was established. After five years Litchfield managed to return control of the company to its stockholders, although banks retained large interests. Litchfield became chairman of the board in 1930 and retained the position until 1958.
He created the first Boy Scout Air Troop and served on the national board of the Boy Scouts. After contract with Future Farmers of America, he established a program that enabled young men to be trained in farming and eventually to own their own farms. His unusually articulate writings, as well as his vision, were strongly grounded in the study of history. They include Autumn Leaves (1945), a distillation of his business philosophy for the young, and Industrial Voyage (1954), an autobiography, Litchfield died in Phoenix, Arizona.
Litchfield, the founder of Litchfield Park, was a very innovative and professional businessman. His achievements and contributions to The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company were regarded as the most significant to the success of the company. He organized a research and development department that produced the first practical airplane tire, long-haul conveyor belts, hydraulic disc brakes for airplanes, the first pneumatic truck tire, and a bullet-sealing fuel tank for military airplanes.
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(Industrial Voyage: My Life As an Industrial Lieutenant - ...)
Litchfield married Florence Pennington Brinton on June 23, 1904. They had two daughters.
