American Production Costs

American Production Costs

Item	Man-Time Needed	Cost
P-38 (First Aircraft)	360,000 Man Hours	Unknown
P-38 (500^th Aircraft)	17,000 Man Hours	Unknown
P-38 (10,000^th Aircraft)	3,800 Man Hours	Unknown
B-17 (1942)	54,800 Man Hours	Unknown
B-17 (Seattle Boeing ; 1943)	35,400 Man Hours	Unknown
B-17 (Seattle Boeing ; 1944)	18,600 Man Hours	Unknown
B-24 (Consolidated San Diego; 1943)	24,800 Man Hours	Unknown
B-24 (Consolidated San Diego; 1944)	14,500 Man Hours	Unknown
B-25 (North American Inglewood; 1943)	14,800 Man Hours	Unknown
B-25 (North American Inglewood; 1944)	10,700 Man Hours	Unknown
C-46 (Curtiss Buffalo; 1943)	113,000 Man Hours	Unknown
C-46 (Curtiss Buffalo; 1944)	49,500 Man Hours	Unknown
C-54 (Douglas Santa Monica; 1943)	142,100 Man Hours	Unknown
C-54 (Douglas Santa Monica; 1944)	62,600 Man Hours	Unknown
P-38 (Lockheed Burbank; 1943)	14,800 Man Hours	Unknown
P-38 (Lockheed Burbank; 1944)	9,600 Man Hours	Unknown
P-47 (Republic Farmingale; 1943)	9,600 Man Hours	Unknown
P-47 (Republic Farmingale; 1943)	9,100 Man Hours	Unknown
M1 Garand (July 1939)	22.8 Man Hours	Unknown
M1 Garand (July 1941)	12.2 Man Hours	Unknown
M1 Garand (Unknown)	5.1 Man Hours	Unknown
20mm Oerlikon (1941)	428.4 Man Hours	Unknown
20mm Oerlikon (1944)	76.2 Man Hours	Unknown
M3 SMG	--	$15
M1A1 SMG	--	$40
Fleet Submarine (Early War)	2,000,000 Man Hours	Unknown
Fleet Submarine (Late War)	650,000 Man Hours	Unknown
Light Cruiser (Early)	7,700,000 Man Hours	Unknown
Light Cruiser (Late)	5,500,000 Man Hours	Unknown
35,000 Ton Battleship (National Geographic)	26,900,000 Man Hours	Unknown
35,000 Ton Battleship (Work done in Shipyard) (Arsenal of Democracy: How Industry Builds Our Defense)	39,200,000 Man Hours	Unknown
35,000 Ton Battleship (Work Done outside Shipyard) (Arsenal of Democracy: How Industry Builds Our Defense)	36,800,000 Man Hours	Unknown
35,000 Ton Battleship (Total Work needed) (Arsenal of Democracy: How Industry Builds Our Defense)	76,000,000 Man Hours	Unknown
LST (Early)	750,000 Man Hours	Unknown
LST (Late)	450,000 Man Hours	Unknown
2,100 Ton Destroyer (Fletcher?) (Early)	1,675,000 Man Hours	Unknown
2,100 Ton Destroyer (Fletcher?) (Late)	925,000 Man Hours	Unknown
PT Boat (Early)	65,000 Man Hours	Unknown
PT Boat (Late)	35,000 Man hours	Unknown
Liberty Ship (March 1941 Estimate)	640,000 Man Hours	Unknown
Liberty Ship (1943; North Carolina Ship)	414,000 Man Hours	Unknown
Liberty Ship (1943; Oregon Ship)	352,000 Man Hours	Unknown
Liberty Ship (1943; Average of All Yards)	574,000 Man Hours	Unknown

Times are from D.K. Brown's “From Nelson to Vanguard”
Conversion Factors: Man Month = 160 man-hours Man-Day = 8 Man-Hours
Type	Man-Time Needed
BB	46,000 Man Months (original) 7,360,000 Man Hours (calculated)
CV	31,115 Man Months (original) 4,978,400 Man Hours (calculated)
Fiji	15,017 Man Months (original) 2,402,720 Man Hours (calculated)
Dido	8,214 Man Months (original) 1,314,240 Man Hours (calculated)
'M' Class DD	4,991 Man Months (original) 798,560 Man Hours (calculated)
Hunt	2,944 Man Months (original) 479,040 Man Hours (calculated)
Corvette	922 Man Months (original) 147,520 Man Hours (calculated)
Submarine	2700 Man Months (original) 432,000 Man Hours (calculated)
Mahan DD	150,000 Man Days (original) 1,200,000 Man Hours (calculated)
Benson DD	165,000 Man Days (original) 1,320,000 Man Hours (calculated)
Fletcher DD	185,000 Man Days (original) 1,480,000 Man Hours (calculated)
River Class Escort	350,000 to 400,000 Man Hours (original) 375,000 Man Hours (average)
Captain Class Escort	600,000 to 700,000 Man Hours (original) 650,000 Man Hours (average)
Early US DE's	1,000,000 Man Hours
Late US DEs	600,000 to 700,000 Man Hours (original) 650,000 Man Hours (average)
US Liberty Ship	500,000 to 650,000 Man Hours (original) 575,000 Man Hours (average)
UK Empire Ship	350,000 Man Hours

Masters of Mass Production by Christy Borth

The M3's riveted hull took 1,100 man hours to make, an experimental cast hull required only 100 man hours.
Knudsen: "We can talk about money all we want, but time is the most valuable thing in the world. Dollars aren't production; man hours are."
You know the Flash Hider (that cone on the end of the muzzle) on the WW2 40mm Bofors? The original specs for that were to be it to be machined from a 40 pound solid steel forging. At the end, you would have the flash hider, and a huge pile of metal shavings, which would be then gathered up and melted down. We of course, changed this to a much cheaper method, in which IIRC, we stamped out the two halves of the cone, and then welded them together.
When Rolls Royce brought over the Merlin blueprints, the American officer who's job was to bring it to Washington thought he would be able to fit it into a briefcase and carry it to Washington. The British escort just shook his head, and pointed towards a couple of crates. Two tons of paperwork