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Maybe some marketing hyperbole if they're "making a million a week."
I know volumes were huge but 24 hrs X 60 minutes X 7 days = 10080 minutes a week. Translates to 99.36 models a minute or about two a second, every second non- stop around the clock each week. No down time, 1950s technology, no machine maintenance.

I love the old films too.
Thanks

radar wrote:Maybe some marketing hyperbole if they're "making a million a week."
I know volumes were huge but 24 hrs X 60 minutes X 7 days = 10080 minutes a week. Translates to 99.36 models a minute or about two a second, every second non- stop around the clock each week. No down time, 1950s technology, no machine maintenance.

I love the old films too.
Thanks

Radar... your calculation only assumes for the use of one machine/line for production - have you taken note of the size of the factories and the number of production lines in operation?

Assume 20 production lines and this becomes 60m * 12h * 5d = 3600 (note the reduced hours of work) 1000000/3600 = 277.77 items per minute / 20 lines = 13.88 items per minute (0.23 per second). I have seen several films and many photos indicating the size of the factory and the number of lines used in various parts of the production - in one photo of 3 lines in the packing department I counted around 100 staff - so the total staff for Binns Road must have been in the thousands.

I just wish more of these films were available to us so we could really see the scope of operations at Binns Road and other factories at the height of production for UK toys.

Ian

Thankyou Ian

Reminds me of possibly apocryphal tale when Einstein was told Hitler had a letter signed by 100 German scientists showing he was wrong.
Wasn't concerned at all, cos "it only takes one scientist to show me where I'm wrong."

Slightly changing the thread but how many regular wheels Matchbox toys can you spot in this film.
https://www.facebook.com/blackcoffeeclu ... 133484218/

nickjones wrote:Slightly changing the thread but how many regular wheels Matchbox toys can you spot in this film.
https://www.facebook.com/blackcoffeeclu ... 133484218/

Greta film Nick.... counted lots and then added all the Dinky and Corgi and got even more!

Ian

I really enjoyed the film too, I lost count of the number of models I saw though. They were very different times, how things have changed.

Great history lesson
I loved the twin controlled scooter

Fred7A wrote:These old films are great! Thanks for pasting the links.

The Dinky film claims that they :turn out several millions each week". That sounds a lot more than I would expect. I haven't seen many quantities given for Dinky production, unlike Corgi where a lot of information is readily available. However, I seem to recall reading that 1956 was a peak year with about 26 million sold (relying on memory here, so might be wrong!").

Several million per month still seems to be stretching things given Corgi survivors out number Dinky by at least 4 to 1 here - perhaps a million a month in their peak would make Dinky 2/3 of Corgi at their best - certainly UK has more Dinkys relative to Corgis from same years as here