Conclusions

In November 1918, when peace returned to Europe, GKN, though essentially healthy, had developed a number of minor complaints which could, if unattended, threaten its vital constitution. Whilst the group comprised a unified and coherent collection of manufacturing subsidiaries, embracing the various processes between coal mining, steel making and the production of fasteners, some of its plant was outdated and had only been kept alive by war-inflated demand. It would soon be difficult to earn a respectable profit at Cyfarthfa, Dowlais and Cwmbran, and before long the first two would close. The collieries belonging to the company, once a source of great wealth, were to experience declining fortunes. To balance the picture, the screw and bolt works in Smethwick were very successful. The steelworks at East Moors, though modern, had been designed to roll plate and would soon find that the market for its products had shrunk considerably. Possibly most serious for the well-being of GKN were the gaps that retirement and death had opened in the highest levels of management. The great entrepreneurs and engineers of the late nineteenth century had departed and the reconstituted board of 1918 lacked broad industrial experience and technical expertise.