Newspapers / Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.) / March 1, 1959, edition 1 / Page 5
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MARCH, 1959 PAGE 5 - ■"“r*-''* r* ^ ' -*1.- « •. ' '’V''* ■ , ' ''. “' ' ‘ W" . li. w-r>.t' i< III ir * » « , ,- ' %* *K‘, , gggn" ' ^ ^ I 3?^ ' - ' .' ■ , * ‘■^ ' i'~ >■ s- »■ V/w* S »* - . .li^, " i MEN AND RUBBER—The Fireslone Tire & Rubber Company (SS) Ltd. of Singapore. Harvey S. Fireslone Jr. once described Singapore as "that remarkable metropolis of Malaya, halfway around the world, where rubber plays so prom inent a part in the lives of men." Singapore Plant In 41st Year Firestone’s world leadership in rubber es tablished another landmark in 1958, when the company completed 40 years of operation at its Singapore plant in the Far East. Since Harvey S. Firestone established the op eration in 1918, the company has bought well over 3,000,000 tons of rubber in the Singapore and Malaya markets at a cost of more than $1,800,000,000. Setting up the rubber-grading-preparation plant off the southern tip of the Malaya Peninsu la was a bold venture in 1918. Today, establish ment of a faraway plant may seem a fairly routine procedure. The great number of plants, plantations and sales outlets the company now has throughout the world, easily leads us to think the building of a foreign plant is a rather normal undertaking. But in, 1918, it took the foresight of the com pany founder, to envision the future possibilities and the necessity of the Singapore operation. It was necessary, reasoned Mr. Firestone, that it might insure the highest quality of natural rubber and make it available for Firestone tires and other products. FIRESTONE is today a world leader in the production of rubber through its plantations and synthetic rubber plants. Too, it is one of the world’s largest purchasers of natural rubber, and this primarily through the Singapore operation. A buying office had been established in 1915 at Singapore. Decision to build the grading and preparation plant was made soon thereafter, be cause Mr. Firestone realized the importance of representation near the supply for better control of quality and for improved price advantage, by buying competitively, at the rubber source. Firestone’s annual purchases of natural rub ber represent approximately 10 per cent of that consumed by the free world. In addition. Fire stone annually produces on its own plantations in Liberia 40,000 tons of natural rubber, much of which is a premium grade such as latex and pale crepe required for special uses. During the 40 years of the Singapore operation, rubber prices have fluctuated between a low of 2% per cent per pound in 1932 and a high of $1.23 in 1925. Rubber was considered the most speculative basic world commodity in the early Singapore is an island off the lower tip of the Malaya Peninsula. The city of Singa pore, with a population of almost 700,000, is a great commercial center and major British naval base in the Far East. It is a leading port for tin and rubber. The Sultan of Johore ceded the Island to the British in 1824. Japan took it in World War II. It was part of the Straits Settle ments colony until 1946. It is now a crown colony, which includes Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. days of the industry, causing the rubber manu facturing enterprises to be very risky from the business standpoint. THE SYNTHETIC rubber industry which emerged during World War II has made a vital contribution to the total available rubber sup ply and has served as a stabilizing influence on the price of natural rubber. Yet Firestone, along with other companies in the industry, is using more tons of natural rubber today than before synthetic rubber was developed. J. C. Roberts, president of the Firestone Syn thetic Rubber & Latex Company and director of rubber purchases, emphasizes this when he says that the procurement of natural rubber is just as important to us now as it ever was. Reasons for this are the development of more and more uses for rubber and increased require ments for tires and other uses already existing. As one of the few American companies with direct representation in the Far East, the com pany buys an impressive share of the production of Malaya and Singapore. An important part of the output of these countries is produced by Asian small holders on their own land. In addi tion to raising rice and other food, hunting and fishing, these small-land holders cultivate rub ber trees. They tap the trees each day, allow the latex to coagulate and press it into sheets which are dried. They trade it to merchants who put it through a smoking process before it is forwarded to packers like Firestone. AT THE GO-DOWN (the Malayan word for warehouse), rubber is examined and samples are tested for cleanliness and quality. Stock meeting the highest quality standards is purchased, wash ed, graded, baled and marked for shipment. Bales are loaded into lighters on the Kellang River on which the warehouse is located. The harvest is taken to Singapore Harbor, transferred to ocean steamers and sent to ports of entry throughout the world, to supply Firestone plants in the United States and 24 in other countries. During World War II Singapore—along with most of the Far East—^was possessed by the Japanese. When the war was ended Firestone representatives returned and put the plant into operation in record time. The facilities had not been destroyed by bombing. Another national emergency was declared dur ing the Korean conflict. Company chairman Harvey S. Firestone Jr. gave his organization’s wholehearted cooperation to the General Serv ices Administration in Washington which took over rubber buying and allocation. The Firestone buying system and the Singapore preparation mills were placed at the government’s disposal. Today, production goes forward under company operation. D. E. Clutter is managing director of the Fire stone Tire & Rubber Company (SS) Ltd., of Singapore. There, in the Far East, the company plant has operated for more than 40 years under the Firestone slogan; “Better Rubber from Start to Finish.” m. IDENTIFICATION—One of the Asian stencil girls at the Singa pore plant shows the handiwork which identifies the contract number and destination of a bale of natural rubber. INSPECTION—Before natural rubber is purchased it is ex amined and samples are tested for cleanliness. The best is washed, graded, baled and marked for shipment. m CONVEYOR BELT—Bales of top-quality rubber are readied for shipment in the Singapore classifying and preparation plant. WORLD JOURNEY—This view from the Kellang River Firestone warehouse shows bales of rubber being loaded lighter to bs taken to Singapore Harbor for shipment to nine in the United Stales and 24 in other countries. of the mto a plants
Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.)
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March 1, 1959, edition 1
5
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