The spread of the large Sheffield firms from the lower Don valley to the coalfield and other outlying locations created some problems of coordination that were not present in single-works companies, especially before the telephone. One of the first things that Cammell's did in 1864 after acquiring Penistone was to install a telegraph connection with Cyclops. The building up of the Cumberland operations increased the difficulty of interplant liaison, and, as events proved, management there could sometimes go its own way with unfortunate commercial consequences. Later still acquisition of shipyards by Vickers, John Brown and Charles Cammell added another dimension to integration and control. This was shown above all with Birkenhead, but an association with the Fairfield company brought in another range of problems. Cammell's most serious problems from associated companies came from Coventry.

The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company began, like Laird's, in small-scale engineering, in this instance a millwright engineering works set up in 1834. In 1852 John Elder became interested in the venture and began to emphasise marine engineering. Shipbuilding began in 1860 and four years later it was concentrated under the title John Elder and Company at a new yard at Govan. At its inception Govan built blockade runners for the conflict in the USA. By 1869 engine and boiler works had been added. That year the young naval architect William Pearce became a partner; later he was the dominant force. Pearce was obsessed with the construction of ever faster liners for the Atlantic, including the Arizona (1879) and the Alaska (1881).