Five Years After the Metric Conversion Act, Where Do We Stand?
Abstract
A mail survey of randomly chosen 202 of the 1000 largest manufacturing and mining firms, as listed by Fortune magazine, was conducted in late 1979 and early 1980. About 64 percent (112 firms) responded with useful data. This Executive Summary draws on the full report (U.S. Metric Board 1979 Survey of Selected Large U.S. Firms and Industries, Lisa King, King Research, Inc., May 1980; AD-A-091-618) and provides an overview of the study's findings. Some selected findings are: (1) About 30 percent of the large firms produce at least one hard metric product; (2) About 48 percent of foreign sales are of metric products; (3) Little corporate coordination and planning seems to accompany conversion to the metric system; (4) About one-third of the firms see laws and regulations as impeding conversion; (5) Over 50 percent see lack of customers demand as inhibiting conversion; (6) The most realistic time period for conversion is 10 years, the minimum time for conversion (under pressure) is three years, and the preferred time (at the firm's own pace) is eight years. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1980
- Accession Number
- ADA095116