Newspapers / Fotofax (Brevard, N.C.) / Aug. 1, 1970, edition 1 / Page 3
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3 PEOPLE 1 ^ DENNIS HAM I ETON-Day Super visor-Control Lab Area —Resides on Highway 64 just North of Brevard — Married with 2 children—12 years Company Service. “After getting out of the Army, I went to Western Carolina University for 2 years, then got married and de cided to leave school and go to work. I put my application in at 4 major companies in this area because I didn’t want to leave Western North Carolina. I received job offers from Du Pont and one of the other com panies the same week. I decided to accept Du Font’s offer because I felt the opportunity for advancement would be better in a newer plant in stead of an older established plant.’’ CASTING MADE IT! . . . (Cant’d from pg. 1) to do it safely, he doesn’t know the job.’ This helped.” Jack Gunter . . .“Off the job safety was included in every safety contact. People got real worried near the end after going through all their efforts. Older operators asked their super visors to be sure a new man knew about the program. Safety attitude was the best it has ever been. Now that we know the goal can be reached, we’re going for a million exposure hours.” M- :.0 CP Handshake For Safety DOUG BIRCH As promised in the last issue, here is a biographical sketch and an interview with Doug Birch, our new assistant plant manager. Biographical Sketch Doug was born in Vineland, New Jersey, in 1930, but his family moved to a farm near Macon, Georgia, in 1931. He grew up and attended pub lic schools there. He earned a degree in chemistry at Mercer College, then served two years in the U. S. Army during the Korean conflict as a First Lieutenant. After returning to the States, he earned a degree in chemical engineering at Georgia Tech. Beginning his Du Pont career in process development engineering at Belle Works, Charleston, W. Va., in 1955, he transferred to the Sabine River Works in Texas in 1960 as a pro duction supervisor. The next ten years saw him in various mechanical, tech nical, and production supervisory po sitions. In April of this year, Doug mov ed to Photo Products at Brevard. He says he feels more “at home” in Wes tern North Carolina than he has since he left neighboring Georgia nearly 20 years ago. In his role as assistant plant mana ger, Doug made the following com ments and observations on safety, the supervisor’s role, and business philosophy. Views on Safety “First, I’d like to comment on safety. New employees are frequently surprised when they discover how much time, effort, and money Du Pont devotes to safety. Our goal has been and still is for all employees to work without serious injury. As a result of this philosophy in action, it is a statisti cal fact that Du Pont employees are ten times less likely to be seriously hurt at work than other employees in the chemical industry. Also, we are twenty times safer than workers in all industry combined. Such statistics certainly aren’t very comforting, however, when someone at our plant is hurt. All of us must be constantly alert to hazards and must avoid taking “short cuts” or deviating from specified procedures. Sooner or later an act which can cause an injury . . . will cause one. We want to make safety thought and action an integral part of every job. We need to erase any idea that safety is something separate Doug Birch, Assistant Plant Manager from productive work . . . that it is something to worry about before and after a job but to ignore while doing the job.” Supervisor’s Role “I believe the basic function of a supervisor is to help his fellow employees do a better job. The vast majority of our people want to do a good job . . . one in which they can take pride. It is every supervisor’s job to assist his people in achieving this goal.” Business Philosophy “In our competitive and very complex industrial system, our cus tomers, and they alone, provide our job security. This is true whether we’re making bulk chemicals, quality x-ray film, or jet airplanes. While companies necessarily compete with each other for customer business, progressive companies like Du Pont also compete for the services of talented employees who can contribute to our future suc cess. We compete by offering good wages and benefits, good working conditions, and a history of unusually good job security. We should recognize that stockholders commit their savings to Du Pont, thus providing buildings and equipment (and jobs) in antici pation that the Company can earn a return on this investment. Du Pont employees are stewards of this in vestment. We should constantly re mind ourselves that we hold the key to Du Font’s success or failure in the marketplace by the way we do our jobs. If we produce a quality pro duct at a competitive cost, our mar ket (and our jobs) will grow. If we produce and ship substandard film, we are jeopardizing Du Font’s future business, the stockholders return on investment, and the long-term security of our jobs (yes,, that includes mine too). The main reason our plant has quadrupled in size in eight short years is that we have convinced our cus tomers that we can produce high qual ity x-ray film, delivered where and when needed at a competitive price. One of the most significant factors in this outstanding achievement has been our reliability based on smooth overall production without work stoppages or other disruptions.”
Fotofax (Brevard, N.C.)
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Aug. 1, 1970, edition 1
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