The contribution of the production engineer to the improvement of aircraft structures lies in producing better and cheaper aircraft more quickly.

In the first place he must advise the structural engineers as to what methods of construction are practicable within the timescale of a particular project. He must also ensure that full weight is given to the economics of production in determining the type of structure to be employed. In this respect he must guard against a tendency to conservatism. It is always easier, and usually cheaper, to do a thing the way it has been done before than to develop something new, but in the long term some structural developments which appeared almost impossible have become routine economic processes.