OUR emphasis of the importance of the used machinery industry in the economic picture is again depicted in a brief article this month by Harry F. Shea, public accountant. Costs and values are relative; therefore, appraisals, or estimated worth, should be governed by what an item will bring on the open market.
The used machinery in a plant is worth so much money because it will earn a certain amount from the products it makes. But once the market for this product is lessened or lost, this machinery is only so much iron and steel.
The majority of surplus industrial equipment is purchased by dealers for resale. Some dealers recondition or rebuild; others resell it in its existing condition commonly termed “as is.” If this important field of endeavor which represents millions of dollars in invested capital did not exist, we wonder what would happen to that phase of the economic front.
It’s a sure bet that there isn’t enough capital going around to replace all the production equipment in the country every ten years. Neither is there sufficient demand for used machinery to absorb such a turnover. However, the dealer in used equipment, the plant liquidator or the auctioneer is constantly acting as an economic balance wheel in the most important part of our daily program, namely, American Industry.
There are scores of machinery warehouses throughout the country containing thousands of heads of machine tools, motors, generators, engines, boilers, cranes and crushers—in fact, almost any size and type of industrial plant equipment. Some of these machines are the most modern available anywhere and practically all are in good usable condition. They were purchased for resale to domestic or foreign plants.
Today, this machinery represents the invested capital of the dealer. Tomorrow, it will represent capital of the manufacturer.