PAGE 4
KFIgWi
OCTOBER, 1958
A CHALLENGE TO EVERY EMPLOYEE
Competition Is Spark Of American Economy
With the harvest season here,
homemakers turn attention to
food preparation for winter.
The home freezer, although a
piece of equipment that makes
for efficiency in modern living,
is not the best place to put
away some types of food. Be
fore you load your freezer with
your favorite supplies, here are
some points to remember; When
frozen—
Most fried meats lose crisp
ness and have a warmed-over
taste.
Cooked egg whites become
tough.
Fats separate in gravies,
sauces and soups—cause food to
grow rancid.
Jelly, mayonnaise or salad
dressing in sandwiches soak in
to bread and make sandwiches
soggy.
Potatoes become mushy and
are not as tasty as when garden-
fresh.
Lettuce, salad greens, raw to
matoes and other foods intended
to be served crisp become wilt
ed and mushy.
Seven-minute and similar
cake frostings, custards and
custard-type fillings lose some
of their flavor.
Spices, like cloves and black
pepper, increase their strength,
and may become bitter when in
cluded in food preparations
stored in the freezer.
Items listed here as poor for
freezing are best left out of
preparations and added as in
gredients at the time the prep
arations are heated for serving.
Almost everywhere you go,
you constantly see and hear the
names of hundreds of com
panies whose workers compete
with you and your fellow em
ployees for the customer’s order.
Why? Because we are in a
highly competitive industry.
Rubber Red Book for 1958 lists
1,610 rubber companies operat
ing 1,982 factories in the United
States.
Of course, these competitors
are not savages lurking behind
trees and seeking scalps. They
are capable, reliable firms
whose aim is to provide high
quality products at attractive
prices.
Such firms are a genuine chal
lenge to us every day.
Competition Affects
Every Employee
As a Firestone employee, do
you think of competition as
coming from only the other
leading firms of the industry?
Certainly these companies make
for strong competition in almost
every product line.
But the fact to consider is
this; Competitors, both large
and small, are arrayed against
us. That’s the way it is in a free-
enterprise system of business.
For example, our plants mak
ing industrial products compete
with firms that may be only a
tenth the size of ours, but the
Do You Know
These Names?
Names make news—and his
tory, too. Just as Jones may be
the world’s most familiar family
name, so may John be the most
commonly-used given name.
The following clues will be a
springboard for you to check
your knowledge of well-known
persons of history whose des
ignation was John. Look for the
answers on Page 6.
1. The second President of the
United States; 2. Founder of
the first permanent English
colony in America and storied
friend of the Indian princess
Pocahontas; 3. An evangelist of
Bible days (first century); 4. An
American composer of martial
music; 5. A Colonial suitor who
loved Priscilla; 6. South Carolina
statesman and co-worker of
Henry Clay; 7. A famous re
ligious reformer from Zurich;
8. An English Bible translator;
9. The US General of the Army
of World War I; 10. An admiral,
father of the US Navy.
smaller ones are specialized, ef
ficient, and able to attract cus
tomer orders, too. Likewise, our
steel products and plastics plants
are challenged every day by
hundreds of other companies.
Even in tire manufacturing—
which represents the largest
part of our business—competi
tion comes from small firms as
well as the large ones.
Any time one of our customers
is disappointed at our quality or
our prices, our competitors are
ready to move in to gain the
business we lose. When this
happens, we must conclude that
the competitors’ prices are right,
and that those companies are
not burdened with excessive
costs of production.
Customer Loyally
Not Enough
There is the case of the “old
dependable” customer who has
bought from us for many years.
If we don’t give him what he
wants, will he stick with us on
the basis of loyalty?
No. Like any customer, he ex
pects and demands quality prod
ucts at a cost in keeping with
fair prices.
As a man or woman on the
production line, you are vitally
concerned with this situation.
You may feel that competition
is a problem to be solved by
management and the sales force
of your company. Of course, it
is a problem of management and
the sales force—and others, too.
You see, competition involves
much more than “Firestone
versus ‘Company X’.’’
You actually have a personal
competitor. He is a craftsman
who is doing a job similar to
yours. How can you compete
with him? Do a better job than
he does, so your company can
outsell “the other company.”
Our company is a composite
of all our people, just as “the
other company” is a composite
of all its people. If our people
do a better job than the others,
it follows that we will do a
better job as a company team.
There Is Much
You Can Do
By doing your level best on
the job, you contribute directly
to the success of your plant and
your company. For example,
you can do much to reduce
production of defective goods,
discourage waste and needless
repair work on machines and
equipment.
These are factors that send
our costs soaring, and in turn
help to defeat us in the battle
of competition.
It is a good thing that com
petition is the spark of the
American economy. The com
pany that is able to turn out
quality products economically
will capture its lion’s share of
the customer orders. In the
process, that company will make
a reasonable profit, thus provid
ing job security for members of
its team.
That company which has the
best workers and the most ef
ficient management will make
the best product—and sell it in
volume.
Make Firestone the BEST.
That is our challenge.
J
Mrs. Lewis Rhyne is a newcomer to the Payroll department.
Mr. and Mrs. Rhyne have two children, Debbie and Paul. The
family will move from their present residence on Garland avenue
to their house being constructed in New Hope Acres.
Bill Teague is a new employee in the Accounting department.
He and his wife Margaret and son Donnie live in Cramerton, N. C.
Mrs. Dan Craig of Main Office entertained her daughter Susan
on her fifth birth anniversary, September 6. The 16 youngsters
present were served ice cream and cake and were remembered
with favors.
Shop
Assistant plant engineer H. A. Cauthen and Mrs. Cauthen went
to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., in late summer for a visit with relatives
and friends.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Littlejohn and his parents, the Frank
Littlejohns, spent a recent vacation in Daytona Beach, Fla. Richard
is a gear machine operator here.
Jerry Sparrow, son of Frank Sparrow of grounds maintenance,
has resumed his studies at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa,
North Carolina.
Painter foreman Homer Harmon and Mrs. Harmon were in
Columbia, S. C. recently, where they were guests of his uncle,
John Wilson. The Harmons went on to Charleston and Folly Beach
where they spent several days.
Mrs. Mamie Chapman of New Orleans, La., visited in Septem
ber with her daughter, Leona Lattimore, a spooler tender.
Winder tender Hazel Owens and members of her family, and
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Hemphill spent a recent week end at Camp
Firestone on Lake James, near Marion, N. C.
The welcome mat is out to these newcomers to the department:
Leveta Norris and Grace Parker. Both are spooler tenders.
Mrs. Daisy Dover died September 6 at her home in Shelby.
RozeUa Dover, spooler tender, is a daughter-in-law of Mrs. Dover.
Carolyn Spencer, daughter of spooler tender Mrs. Lillie
Spencer, is attending comptometer school in Charlotte.
Mrs. Alma Fullbright, mother of Maggie Reed, starter maker,
and oiler Roy Fullbright were honored recently at a dinner. The
occasion was Mrs. Fullbright’s 76th birthday anniversary.
Mrs. Pansy Adams and members of her family spent a Septem
ber week end at Myrtle Beach, S. C.
Yarn hauler Ralph Deal attended the Southern 500 stock car
races at Darlington, S. C., this year.
Paul Engle went to Camp Firestone at Bridgewater for a
September week end. Also going to Camp Firestone recently were
winder tender Girthel Davidson and Mr. Davidson. They made
some color pictures of the back-to-Nature retreat.
FAMILY LIVING
Freezer Not Good For Some Foods
The woods are full of competitors. Of course, they are not
savages on the warpath for scalps, but firms like our own whose
aim is to produce quality products at fair prices.
COMPETITORS
. ..ARE AFTER
OUR
CUSTOMERS
Volume VII, No. II, October, 1958
Published by The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Firestone Textiles Division,
Gastonia, North Carolina. Department of Industrial Relations
DEPARTMENT REPORTERS
CARDING—Edna Harris, Jessie Ammons.
SPINNING—Lillie Brown, Mary Turner,
Maude Peeler.
SPOOLING—Nell Bolick, Ophelia WaUace,
Rosalie Burger.
TWISTING—Elease Cole, Vera Carswell,
Katie Elkins, Annie Cosey, Catherine
Fletcher.
SALES YARN TWISTING—Elmina Brad-
shaw.
SYC WEAVING—M a X i e Carey, Ruth
Veitch.
CORD WEAVING — Irene Odell, Mary
Johnson, Samuel Hill.
QUALITY CONTROL — Sally Crawford,
Leila Rape, and Louella Queen.
WINDING—Mayzelle Lewis, Ruth Clon-
inger.
CLOTH ROOM—Margie Waldrep, Mildred
McLeymore
SHOP—Rosie Francum.
PLASTIC DIP—Jennie Bradley.
MAIN OFFICE—Doris McCready. ,
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS—Flora Pence.
WAREHOUSE—George Harper, Albert
Meeks, Rosevelt Rainey, Marjorie Falls.
Claude Callaway, Editor
Charles A. Clark, Photographer