PAGE 4
S!3I1WI
APRIL, 1959
J. E. Trainer Outlines U.S. Industrial Complex
Editor’s Note; J. E. Trainer, executive vice presi
dent of the company, presented a keynote address
as part of a course on material management at the
Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort
McNair, Washington, D. C. His talk, “The Ameri
can Industrial Complex,” was heard by 200 top-
ranking military men taking the course.
The Industrial College of the Armed Forces is a
joint institution on the highest level in the education
al system of the Department of Defense. It operates
under direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Because Mr. Trainer’s message dealt with subjects
vital to every employee in industry, highlights of it
are published here. Reproduced with the text are
charts which illustrated Mr. Trainer’s study.
☆ ☆ ☆
The story of American economic life can be describ
ed simply in this way: People making goods and per
forming services, while in turn using the products
and benefiting from the services of others.
In addition to being dependent upon each other, the
various units of our economy comprising the entire
field of industrial activity are governed by speciali
zation—the principle of labor and its refinement. It is
this division of labor and the resulting need for co
operation that tie together the many parts of a com
plex economy.
Let’s look at the influence of specialization on the
general economy. It means:
Greater quantities of goods in less time and with
less effort.
Wider variety of goods.
More unusual products.
Improved quality.
Less waste and increased use of by-products.
Increased efficiency of the use of materials, labor
and capital.
Generally rising standards of living.
But specialization has its disadvantages. A chief one
is the dependency it creates. Every single enterprise
is dependent upon thousands of others over which it
has no control. Let a strike or a breakdown occur in
plants making sheet steel, for example, and the whole
automobile industry will be slowed down or forced
to shut down completely. In turn, this will affect coal
and iron mining; transportation; rubber, leather, tex
tiles, electrical, glass, paint and associated industries.
This example may be repeated many times over and
over.
The price that must be paid to secure the benefits
and avoid the dangers of specialization is Scientific
Management, and the closest cooperation through the
whole economy.
There are four great processes which make up the
structure of our economic system:
1. Basic Production. Approximately 8 million work
ers (farming, fishing, forestry, mining).
2. Processing or Manufacturing. Approximately 14
million workers (steel, rubber products, automobiles,
furniture).
3. Distribution. Approximately 15 million workers
(wholesaling, retailing, transportation, communica
tion).
4. Services. Approximately 12 million workers
(finance, law, amusement, medicine, beauty culture).
In this discussion we are mainly concerned with
one of these processes. This is the field of manufactur
ing industries, or as is commonly called, Industrial
Enterprise.
Guided by Management, an industrial enterprise
uses Land (materials), Labor and Capital. These are
used in varying proportions to make a producing unit
to transform raw materials by factory methods into
things wanted by society.
This manufacturing process, explained further, is in
volved with;
Men Machines Management Methods
Money Materials Markets
These categories will serve as an outline for the
remainder of this study of our industrial complex.
Many experts debate the relative position and im
portance of these “7 Ms.” By showing their relation
ship in circular form we are aware of their importance
as contributing factors to the Manufacturing Process.
At times, however, one may seem more important
than the others, but this is due to a problem in that
specific field.
All are necessary and their importance varies under
different conditions. —More next page
Mrs. Clayton Wilson, payroll supervisor, and Mr. Wilson spent
a recent week-long vacation in the northeastern United States.
They stopped for a visit in Baltimore, Md., New York City and
Rochester, N. Y., and at Lake Ontario.
Miss Helen Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Brady Spencer and son
Haskell, were in Chapel Hill recently visiting Helen’s nephew,
Wayne Spencer. He had undergone an appendectomy there.
On a recent week end Mr. and Mrs. Howard McCarter enter
tained Asheville visitors Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Emory and children
Debbie and David. Mrs. McCarter works in Payroll; her husband,
in Spinning.
Jerry Sparrow spent the spring holiday period with his par
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sparrow. Jerry is in his second year at
Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa. He plans to enter Western
Carolina Teachers College at Cullowee, with the beginning of the
school year next fall.
Company Acquires
Trade Volumes
A 15-year search was ended
recently when 46 leather-bound
volumes of '‘India Rubber
World” were presented to the
Firestone company. The rare
publications completed the com
pany’s 139-volume set. They
were presented to Leonard K.
Firestone, president of the Fire
stone Tire & Rubber Company
of California, by L. C. Barnard,
automotive editor for the “Los
Angeles Examiner.” Bernard’s
late uncle, Henry C. Pearson,
was editor and publisher of the
rubber industry trade journal.
“India Rubber World,’’ first
published in 1889, gives an ac
curate month-by-month report
of the activity of the rubber in
dustry as it developed from an
infant business into a multi-bil
lion-dollar industry. It is con
sidered the “bible” of the indus
try and includes news of tech
nical progress, new products, as
well as personnel changes as
they took place.
In 1954 the publication drop
ped the word “India” from its
title, becoming “Rubber World.”
“It is possible that we now
have the only complete set of
these journals in the United
States,” said Dr. Overman, man-
Number Of 20-Year Records
Has Passed 10,000 Mark
Of the 10,000 Fireston.e
employees who had re
ceived engraved watches
in commemoration of 20-
year service records as of
March this year, 318 of
them were from the Gas
tonia plant.
This history-making 10,-
000th timepiece went to
Victor Pulk, a production
analyst at the Akron Syn
thetic Rubber plant. Ray
mond C. Firestone, presi
dent and son of the com
pany founder, presented
the watch and 20-year
service pin.
The service award pro
gram includes pins for
5, 10, and 15 years of serv
ice; a service pin and en
graved watch for 20 years;
a service pin and $100
check for 25 and 30 years;
a diamond-set pin and
$100 check for 35 years; a
diamond-set pin and $200
check, 40 years; and a
diamond-set pin and $300,
45 years.
It was on July 12, 1934
that the company founder
started the service award
program, with a dinner at
the Akron, Ohio, head
quarters. On that occasion,
286 persons received
watches and pins for 20
years of service. In rec
ognition of 25 years' serv
ice, 32 employees also re
ceived engraved watches,
pins and cash.
ager of the Firestone library and
archives. The books are avail
able to others in the industry for
study and reference.
The Firestone library at the
company’s home offices in
Akron, Ohio, has nearly 30,000
specialized volumes relating to
the history and development of
the rubber and allied industries.
An estimated 2,000 persons a
day are added to the 65-years-
or-more age group in the United
States. The Public Health Serv
ice reports that there were 3,-
000,000 Americans in that age
group in 1900, compared with
15,000,000 today. The figure is
expected to reach 20,000,000 by
1975.
Mrs. Benjamin F. Massey arrived in Frankfort, Germany in late
March, where she joined her soldier-husband for an 18-month stay.
Massey is on leave from Firestone here for service in the corps of
engineers with the Army. At the time he left for service in August
of 1958, he was working in Weaving (rayon). His address; Pvt.
Benjamin F. Massey, US 53307267; Company C, 299th Eng. Bat-
tahon, Combat Arm; APO 757, New York, N. Y.
Warehouse shipping clerk Harold Robinson recently spent a
week of vacation in Dayton, Ohio.
Mrs. John A. Jenkins has recovered from a recent illness. Her
husband is a Warehouse trucker.
Employees in this department have welcomed Earl MusKelly
back to work, after a leave of absence.
Tire$loite
Volume VIII, No. 5, April, 1959
Published by The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Firestone Textiles Division.
Gastonia, North Carolina. Department of Industrial Relations
DEPARTMENT REPORTERS
CARDING—Edna Harris, Jessie Ammons.
QUALITY CONTROL — Sally Crawford,
SPINNING—Lillie Brown, Mary Turner,
Leila Rape, and Louella Queen.
Maude Peeler.
WINDING—Mayzelle Lewis, Ruth Clon-
SPOOLING—Nell Bolick, Ophelia Wallace,
mger.
Rosalie Burger.
CLOTH ROOM—Margie Waldrep, Mildred
TWISTING—Elease Cole, Vera Carswell,
McLeymore
Katie Elkins, Annie Cosey, Catherine
SHOP—Rosie Francum.
Fletcher.
PLASTIC DIP—Jennie Bradley.
SALES YARN TWISTING—Elmina Brad
MAIN OFFICE—Doris McCready.
shaw.
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS—Flora Pence.
SYC WEAVING—M a X i e Carey, Ruth
WAREHOUSE—George Harper, Albert
Veitch.
Meeks, Rosevelt Rainey, Marjorie Falls.
CORD WEAVING — Irene Odell, Mary
Claude Callaway, Editor
Johnson, Samuel Hill.
Charles A. Clark, Photographer