The United States Army and the Motor Truck: A Case Study in Standardization

This work focuses on the efforts of the Quartermaster Corps to apply the concept of standardization to the Army’s motor transportation system. The experiences of the Quartermaster Corps and the automobile industry indicated that the most efficient and cost effective method of motorization was to adopt a fleet of standardized trucks with interchangeable components. To attain this goal, the Quartermaster Corps faced many obstacles: bureaucratic inertia, technological limitations, insufficient funding, and resistance from the truck industry. But, in 1940, as America prepared for war, thanks to the efforts of the Quartermaster Corps, the haphazard policies that had once governed truck procurement were superseded by a standardization policy that purchased predetermined makes and models of trucks manufactured specifically for Army service.