Newspapers / Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.) / April 1, 1967, edition 1 / Page 3
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« Roger Donaldson on guard in Vietnam remember hope.. Pfc Roger B. Donaldson is a U.S. Marine who has been assigned to duty in Vietnam since Feb- 1‘Uary. His mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Clar ence Donaldson work at Firestone in twisting. An older brother, Clarence Jr., is a technical assist ant in process refinement and development. Aboard ship on the way to Vietnam, Roger gave much reflection to the “high-flown ideas of ''^hy we’re in this war and why we’re over there.” He concluded that many critics don’t un derstand the situation. In a letter to the Gastonia Gazette, he set down ®onie of his feelings on the military conflict, and personal reasons for being proud to be serv es as a marine in Vietnam. His letter titled “I Remember and Hope”, said: ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m a simple ype of guy who gets confused when educated '^fiters offer me metaphysical reasons about why I’m going to Vietnam. The reasons I feel I must go and fight are summed up in my memories and in my hopes for the future. “MY MEMORIES are pleasant ones of sandlot baseball on Saturday mornings or electric trains if it rained. I remember the first grade and the pains of introduction to math. I remember the third grade and the big crush I had on a cute young thing in a pink dress. “I remember fights with my brother and fights with my sister and Mom’s ever-present peace making hand (when applied to our bottom). “And, of course, there are Christmas, Easter, birthday and Thanksgiving Day memories—with Mom having a special place in each one. Each had mouth-watering goodies which only she could prepare. Then there were proms, parties, football and basketball games—and that girl who shared it all with me. “I remember that big graduation day with four years of higher math behind me—and friendships ended. I remember and my patriotism surges. It’s a great country in which I live and the benefits are great which I’ve gained through my citizen ship. “Now here I am on my way to fight and pos sibly to die in Vietnam. My memories seem to dissolve into hope—hope that the Creator, whom I learned to place my faith in—will enable me to do my duty. And if it’s His will. 111 come home to my loved ones and start a new file of mem ories. “But finally—and most important—I hope that our efforts in this war will provide the possibility for future generations to have some of the same wonderful memories that I have already accumu lated. “I remember and hope.” AT SAFETY MEETING Dr. Miller: Rehabilitation “We direct our continuing ef forts toward safety and scientif ic research to reduce the num ber of injuries and crippling dis eases which afflict people. Yet, when injury and disease strike, we’re so fortunate to have the skill and means to treat the patient and restore him to the highest possible degree.” Dr. Robert E. Miller, a staff director of the Charlotte Reha bilitation Hospital, was speaking on rehabilitation of people of all ages as “a road back” from seri ous physical injury and crip- Turner Infantry American Textiles Advertising As Early As 1712 you think advertising in ^^6 textile industry is an art ^hich has been put to use only in recent years? It’s really quite old. In the Old World, where the history of textiles reaches back heyond written accounts, adver- tisi lie ng and a basic form of pub- relations helped textiles to ^^in its place as a craft which into a major, essential in- *^Ustry worldwide. There were, long ago, crude symbols and signs announcing Availability and promoting the of fabrics and other prod ucts of the loom. The peddler hawked his wares. The coming of the printing press introduced a powerful medium for telling the textile story. As for the New World, the first recorded account of an ad vertisement in a newspaper which promoted a textile busi ness was in 1712. THE AD was in the Boston NEWS-LETTER, which had been in business since April 17, 1704, to claim title as the first successful newspaper in this country. George Leason and Thomas Webber had established a calico printery in Boston, and “took out” their historic ad in the NEWS-LETTER for dates of April 21-28, 1712. The ad informed the public that Leason and Webber had “set up a Callender - Mill and Dye Huse in Cambridge Street, Boston, near the Bowling Green. . . . Where all gentlemen, Mer chants and others may have all sorts of Linnens, Callicoes, and stuffs of Silks Callendered. We print all sorts of Linnens.” It can be assumed that the SP/4 Thomas Turner Jr., whose father works in Ihe me chanical department at F i r e - stone, has been serving in Viet nam since December. The 21-year-old Army man received his basic training at Fort Riley, Kan. He is a gradu ate of Gaston Technical In stitute. His address is E Co., 4th Bn., 39th Inf. APO San Francis co, Calif. 96371. materials which Leason and Webber processed were mostly imported at that time, since the American textile manufactur ing industry was not established on a commercial scale until the latter half of the 1700s. At the time Leason and Web ber were in the printing busi ness, American textile produc tion was still carried on as an essential household enterprise. pling or impairing disease. HE ADDRESSED a safety meeting of Firestone supervis ors in March. Dr. Miller, showing his own photo slides in color, told of the Charlotte Rehabilitation Hospi tal, and detailed some repre sentative cases of treatment to illustrate how the hospital works to restore the patient to physi cal, mental and spiritual whole ness, to the highest degree pos sible. The major goal is helping the patient to re-enter his role as a useful, self-respecting and productive member of family and community. “When this is not possible, we take the patient as far as he is able to go,” said Dr. Miller. The Charlotte Rehabilitation Hospital is the only one of its kind between Washington an^ Atlanta, and among the some 35 throughout the United States. Dr. Miller showed the many facets of rehabilitation—through intensive medical treatment, physical and occupational thera py, counselling, group dynamics, special classes. “We’ve come a long way in approaches, methods and treat ment of the injured and impair ed,” he said, “and we’re on the threshold of still greater achievement.” He noted that since World War II there have been dramatic advances in medicine, treatment techniques, equipment, and helping devices s u c h as man- made limbs and other aids. He told of a near-miracle in a historic experiment with a para plegic whose ability to walk was restored with electrode stimulation worked by a com puter. MSWi April, 1967 Page 3 Research dnd Planning ^ Hew division ^®Ips Solve [^•■oblems What may seem as routine decisions made in Akron headquarters can directly affect the Gastonia plant, or the most remote outpost of the company’s worldwide operation. Helping management to dispel some of the mystery, or risk, of conducting a complicated business is a short way of describing one of Firestone’s newest divisions: Corporate Research and Planning. The division helps to solve immediate and long- er-range problems. But its functions are not new —they have just grown larger and more com plex as the company has grown. So, functions have been coordinated into a division made up of three departments with related work to do. With John Cahoon as director, the division in cludes the departments for marketing research, advance planning, and management research. Each major section has a manager. The Library « Helping the division and al ways ready to assist all other Firestone depart ments and employees in obtaining materials and information they need in their work, is the di vision’s library group. The company library in Akron is the best in the rubber industry. Marketing Research • This phase is mostly a fact-finding function serving top management in all facets of the company’s operation. The de partment conducts all domestic marketing re search (including advertising research), consum er surveys, industrial product research and stud ies of Firestone’s policies and programs. It has a separate international section which conducts foreign marketing studies, one-time foreign sales forecasts, and studies on locations of foreign plants. Basic aim of marketing research is to obtain by the most up-to-date methods, reliable facts which management can use in arriving at right business decisions. A market researcher systematically studies each problem before him. He lists all factors he can think of that apply to his assignment and searches for still more. His tools are statistics, higher mathematics and samplings similar to opinion polls and TV rating samplings familiar to most people. The researcher can reach dependable conclu sions by studying small carefully-chosen samples such as groups of customers, employees or deal ers, product lines, geographic areas, or whatever other sample is needed. The member of management most concerned with a given problem may not agree with what the researcher reports—nor follow his recom mendation. But the facts still help him make his final decision on more solid ground. An example of the type of work done by the department has been the making of detailed studies of more than 25 large city areas to make a judgment on sales outlets which the com pany might like to develop. Advance Planning « This unit is responsible for all domestic unit tire sales forecasts, domestic long-range company dollar sales forecasts, as well as being a consulting service on forecasts for wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries, working on mergers and acquisitions, and keeping tire sta tistics. To produce tires for the replacement market and for its original-equipment and export cus tomers, Firestone opei'ates 10 U. S. tire plants, making well over 2,000 different types and sizes of tires. With these plants turning out millions of tires each year—think of the problems facing management! The sales department can't sell tires that aren't where the customer can use them. An oversupply brings concern to the finance division because a large inventory ties up money in materials and extra warehousing which could be used more profitably in other ways. Production and industrial relations divisions are concerned with keeping plants operating and people working steadily. A main function of advance planning is helping sales, finance, production and other divisions to keep a right balance in their operations, by fore casting sales. Market for tires as original equipment is hard to predict—yet so important. The company needs to have a reliable estimate of the number of new autos to be sold, so it can produce its share of the five tires needed by automakers for each new car. Other forecasting of this kind goes into finer detail. Management Research « This department is i-esponsible for many business and management assignments not primarily concerned with mar keting nor with distribution. It deals with corpo rate and divisional goal-setting and long-range plaiming. It is responsible for profit-improvement pro jects, plans for divisional sales and capacity ex pansions, domestic plant-location studies. Other “management problem research” can include studies on such subjects as organization, per sonnel practices, production capacity, inventory control, warehousing, physical distribution, cred it and many others. Management of business is a complex science. Management researchers must keep abreast with current trends and theories of management, or ganization and planning by attending special seminars and courses, and through extensive reading. They learn how to use every helpful tool, some as new as the computer. Management research includes a new-products section. It studies prod ucts to see if the company could profitably add them to its list of manufactured items. It screens ideas about proposed products to see if they, too, show promise in the marketplace.
Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.)
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April 1, 1967, edition 1
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