CORPORATIONS: International National

To businessmen the world over, the products of National Cash Register Co. are as familiar as Coca-Cola. National machines tot up their bills, figure the payrolls, keep charge accounts straight. They are operated by Eskimos in the Arctic Circle, by Fuzzy-wuzzies in Africa; they are packed by llamas in the Andes, by camel cart in Pakistan. And the machines ring up sales in shillings, drachmas, piasters, kroner, yen, francs and even Russian kopecks.

Though National sells its products in 92 foreign countries, President Stanley Charles Allyn thinks that it still has worlds to conquer. Last week he set out to conquer at least a new frontier. For about $1,000,000, National will buy 80% control of the Computer Research Corp., a Los Angeles company which produces small and relatively inexpensive ($35,000 to $245,000) electronic computers for the armed forces and industry. In Computer Research, Allyn is buying a big stake in the future of electronic brains. With the help of Computer’s staff, he hopes to turn out electronic computers for as little as $2,500, get a toehold on what he thinks is the biggest future development for business machines. Says Allyn: “There’s a limit to how far you can go with the present electrically operated machines.”

Early Bird. Wisconsin-born and educated, “Chick” Allyn has taken National a long way since, as a youth of 22, he got a job at the company’s Dayton, Ohio headquarters. Thinking to impress the boss, he got to work at 7:45 a.m. the first day. He was sharply told: “At National we start at 6:30.” In three years Early Bird Allyn was assistant controller, in four, controller. At 27 he was made a director, and twelve years ago, at 49, president.

Allyn expanded his exports, spent heavily on research to develop new accounting and bookkeeping machines, including one that figures payrolls and writes checks while automatically allowing for withholding taxes, social security and other deductions. Result: National’s sales have risen fivefold to $212 million in 1951, its net has jumped 470% to $11 million.

Minds & Machines. While concentrating on machines, Allyn has not forgotten the importance of men. Says he: “Think of making these machines—some of which have 20,000 parts—with disgruntled employees. Our machines are just as good as the mental attitude of the employees who make the parts.”

To keep their mental attitudes healthy, National has free noontime movies for its workers, a cafeteria that serves up hot lunches at an average cost of 56¢ apiece. It maintains a 166-acre picnic ground near the Dayton plant, which has a swimming pool, softball diamonds, boating lagoon, archery, miniature golf, tennis and a “Tot Lot,” with attendant, for the kids. If a National employee wants an auto, hunting or fishing license, National helps him get it. If he needs legal advice, National supplies it free. For a $1 fee, a National employee can sign up for night classes ranging from blueprint reading to typing. And if he gets stuck at the plant on a rainy day, National even lends him an umbrella to get home. On Saturday mornings, National has free movies for Dayton’s children in the big plant auditorium.; at Christmas time, National’s yuletide show is the biggest event for many Dayton moppets. As a result of all this, the C.I.O. long ago gave up trying to organize National.

National does many of these same things for its foreign employees (of 15,000, only four are Americans), and President Allyn travels 60,000 miles a year to make sure things are going right. Last spring, on a trip that took him to eight countries in the Near and Far East in 39 days, Allyn worked hard, as usual, to “make the people who work for you a part of your family.” At each branch office, he gave a dinner for all the local employees. When his Singapore manager blanched at the idea, pointing out that the Mohammedan and Hindu workers would have to eat different food and be served by members of their respective religions, Allyn ordered separate tables, kitchens and waiters so the dinner could be attended by all.