Newspapers / Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.) / Aug. 1, 1976, edition 1 / Page 2
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On Business Regulations Let the Federal Govern ment examine regulations it imposes on business in terms of the benefit they bring the public for what they cost the taxpayer. That’s the way it should be, according to the president and chief executive officer of the Firestone company. Richard A. Riley told a group of business and civic leaders at Quincy, 111., recently: “The cost-to-benefits yardstick has as much application to the public sector as it does to the private.” In his talk, Riley point ed out: • Excessive government regu lation “usurps management’s de cision-making time and powers, greatly reduces efficiency and productivity, and feeds inflation by adding nonproductive costs to consumer goods and services. • We need stability and bal ance in American society. Let us be warned against national eco nomic planning legislation now in Congress, for it could lead to a situation where the Federal Government might “take com plete control of the American economic system. Such govern ment control would leave the consumer “totally disenfranchis ed of his right to buy what he wants when and where he wants to buy it.” “Our business institutions are today fighting to survive in a hostile environment,” Riley said, noting that the economic bal ance between the public and private sectors “has been seri ously upset.” He added: This im balance can negatively affect “progressive and vigorous eco nomic growth” and lead to eco nomic suffering for people, communities and the country as a whole. Textile School Short Courses The second of two sessions of short courses in the North Caro lina Vocational Textile School’s summer program runs Aug. 16- Sept. 17. The earlier session was July 12-Aug. 13. Summer short courses at the Belmont, N.C., school are de signed for updating and upgrad ing those employed in the textile industry. Courses are being offered in yarn manufacturing, yarn test ing, pattern-drafting & tailoring men’s slacks, dyeing, fabric test ing, defects in woven fabrics, machine barre and shop me chanics. Also, metric system, com munications, reading improve ment, training of new employees, blueprint reading, textile math and first aid. From A Few Products To Thousands The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company has en tered its 77th year “making and doing useful things for others,” as Founder Harvey S. Fire stone Sr., described “the whole structure of busi ness.” On August 3, 1900 the company was incorpo rated to produce and sell rubber tires for horse- drawn carriages and the few mechanized vehicles then on the roads. The new business was “on time” to fit into the opportunities of a changing world which the motor vehicle was to bring about. The country was yet hitched to horses, mules and oxen—but the tempo of American life was quickening. WITH $20,000 and a tire-mounting patent, Har vey S. Firestone founded a business and from his first factory in an abandoned foundry build ing in Akron, Ohio, the company has grown from 12 employees into a $multi-billion, world-recog nized corporation offering products and services in a wide range of fields. Its international scope includes manufacturing plants in the U.S. and many other countries, sales outlets, tire-test centers, rubber plantations. In 1976 the company employs some 115,000 people worldwide. In the U S. alone there are 17 major divisions and subsidiaries. PRODUCTS include more than 5,500 sizes and types of tires for all kinds of wheeled vehicles. Among these are tires for domestic and foreign passenger cars, buses,- trailers, trucks, tractors, aircraft, race cars, motorcycles, boat trailers, wagons and other farm implements, earthmoving vehicles, road graders, industrial tr\icks, cranes, hoists, wheelbarrows, lawnmowers—and more. Besides tires and tubes. Firestone produces more than 40,000 diversified products. These in clude products for automobile, home, farm and industrial uses, natural and synthetic rubbers, latices and compounds; adhesives and sealants; road, track and playground surfacing materials; fuel cells, coated fabric products; urethane cush ioning materials; metal products including truck, bus and tractor wheels and rims, farm wagons, containers, stampings. Also a variety of plastic resins, film, sheeting and filaments; molded, extruded and calendered products for the auto and other industries; auto safety equipment; rayon, nylon and polyester tire cord and fabric; steel tire cord and fabric; heavy and fine-denier nylon; brake lining. AND MORE: Defense products, chemicals for the rubber, metal and plastics industries, and medium-high-voltage radiation equipment. In the Annual Report to employees, Raymond C. Firestone, chairman; and Richard A. Riley, president, reviewing 75 years in business, wrote: “We are proud of our company’s accomplish ments, and hope that you share the same pride because through the years the contributions of Firestone employees have been a major factor in the company’s success. You, the people who pre ceded you, and those working with you now in every segment of the company are directly re sponsible for the stability, leadership and relia bility for which Firestone is noted. ■*** . . . “As we face new challenges in energy utili zation, productivity, production and marketing, we will continue to rely on the talent and dedi cation of every employee to help improve our competitive position and maintain our long rec ord of growth and progress.” What Went The "Twenty Years of Prog ress" week at Firestone's Gas tonia plant in May of 1955 was a memorable celebration featuring banquets, speeches, free barbe- r cue, continuous plant tours and A Ad. • a variety of entertainment. Panhandle Pete, who'd become a sensation a while earlier by appearing on network TV, did a series of performances from a decorated stage near the old (and now gone) "Girls Club" building. Panhandle was a one-man-band curiosity, operating a half-dozen noisemaking contraptions simultaneously with the music of his banjo and harmonica. ‘Auto Racing-Highway Safety’ Ned M. Jarrett discussed “Auto Racing & Highway Safety” when he was speaker for the Gaston Chapter, In ternational Management Club recently. He was guest at the club’s last meeting of the year, observed as Youth Night. Jarrett, well-known auto-race driver and promoter, is now manager of the Hickory (NC) Speedway, president of Ned Jar rett Enterprises Inc., and “color man” on racing radio broadcasts of Universal Racing Network. In his talk Jarrett recalled that of the 50 Grand National races (4th highest in history of NASCAR) he won, 47 were on Firestone tires. Others of his racing achieve ments: Won National Sportsman Championship in 1957 and 1958, NASCAR Grand National in 1961 and 1965, Southern 500 in 1965, Western Carolina 500 and Dixie 400 in 1964. Jarrett was the 1972 addition to Auto Racing Hall of Fame, received the Heroism Award of NASCAR in 1964 and Myers Brothers Memorial Award in 1964 and again in 1965 (present ed each year by members of the press to the person contributing the most to auto racing in the U.S.) Among guests at the meeting was Carl Metz of salary adminis tration, Firestone’s Akron head quarters. At Bennettsville: 9 Long Records Portrait In Steel WARP of steelcord makes a screened image of safety manager Bill Passmore of the Gastonia Firestone Textiles Company plant. Steel fabric, one of the company's newer intermediate prod ucts, is built into steel-reinforced belts of radial tires. More than 160 million pounds steel wire is expected to be used by the tire industry world wide in 1976, according to Firestone estimates. Of the most recent employees to join the long-service list at Bennettsville, four have 30 years each: James Abraham, cleaner in Cable Twisting; Leon P. Free man, frame mechanic in Ply Twisting; Gearldine M. Wood- berry, loom knotter in Cord Weaving; and John W. Dowdy, twister operator in Ply Twisting. The others: Twenty-Five Years • Howard Herndon, section supervisor, Ca ble Twisting; Mildred W. Cole and Ollie W. Owens, respooler operators. Ply Backwinding. Twenty Years • Billy C. Wil liams, weaver. Cord Weaving. Fifteen Years • Carl Starnes, section supervisor. Cord Weav ing. Volume XXII August, 1976 Number 8 Page 2 • GASTONIA Claude C. Callaway, Editor Plant Offices REPORTERS Warehouses Industrial Relations—Bobbie Baldwin Main Office—Freida Price Mechanical Dept.—Rosie Fletcher Twisting Tire Cord—Elease Cole, Katie Elkins Warp Preparation— Nell Bolick Warehouse—Harold Robinson Chafer Weaving—Ruth Veitch BENNETTSVILLE PLANT Frances Fletcher, Redona David, Mar garet McCaskill, Jimmy McCaskill BOWLING CREEN T. J. Slack In This Bicentennial • I think the true Year discovery of America is be fore us. I think the true fulfill ment of our spirit, of our mighty and immortal land, is yet to come. —Thomas Wolfe Monthly publication of the Gastonia, N. C., plant of Firestone Textiles Company, a division of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio. Division Headquarters, Gastonia. N. C. 28052. James B. Call, president. Mem ber Carolina! Association of Business Communicators, Formerly South Atlantic Council of Industrial Editors.
Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.)
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