Company Reports World Expansion Progress ☆ ☆ ☆ Production Begun At Portugal Unit Production operations have begun at the Firestone plant in Portugal, another new unit of the overall, worldwide expan- A Plant For India A loan of 27,100,000 Indian rupees—largest loan of foreign currency in the history of the Export-Import Bank of Wash ington—went to Synthetics and Chemicals Limited, of India, for construction of a synthetic rub ber plant. This amount is equivalent to $5,700,000 in U. S. currency. The India concern was organ ized by the Firestone company and Kilachand, Devchand & Company, Private Limited, of Bombay. The firm will spend the loan to help finance a syn- Canada Facility Ready By August The first tire ever manufac tured in Western Canada was assembled and cured at Fire stone of Canada’s new Calgary plant early this year. The “No. 1” tire, a 750-14 Firestone De luxe Champion tubeless is first- line stock of the latest type and design. It was produced to test the installation of the first tire- building and curing machines of the most advanced type and design in North America. Full production is expected to begin at the multimillion-dollar plant by August. The first tire was presented to the mayor of Calgary, in a cere mony at City Hall. Calgary, with around 200,000 population, is in southern Alberta province, near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Firestone selected it sion program for Firestone. An nual production capacity at the Alcochete operation, ten miles from Lisbon, is expected to reach 120,000 tires for truck and passenger cars. Firestone formed the new company—known as Firestone Portuguesa — with Portuguese bankers and industrialists. A skeleton force of technicians and supervisors went from Ak ron and other Firestone plants to direct the beginning opera tions. Early this year, a man aging director, a plant manager, and a production manager had been assigned to the new opera tion. The Portuguese plant is Fire stone’s 17th foreign tire plant in production. thetic-rubber manufacturing works near Bareilly. Total cost of the project will be around $30,000,000. The facility for production of synthetic rubber will include plants for producing butadiene and styrene, principal raw ma terials used in the manufacture of synthetic rubber. With a 30,- 000-ton capacity, the plant will be the first of its kind in India. Annual production at first will be 20,000 tons. India is expected to save ap proximately $10,000,000 each year in foreign exchange, as a result of the new project’s op eration there. as the site of its new plant be cause of its importance as a trade, rail and industrial center, and its convenience to the market of Western Canada. When completed, the new plant will manufacture a full line of passenger, truck, bus, farm and implement tires. French Factory Is Being Built The company’s 18th foreign tire manufacturing operation is being located at Bethune, France, 123 miles north of Paris, near the coast. Construction of the one-story, multimillion-dollar unit was be gun in February. When com pleted late this year, it will begin producing a full line of tires and tubes for passenger cars, trucks, buses, farm equip ment, motorcycles, and scooters. Plans to locate a tire plant and synthetic-rubber manufacturing unit in France were revealed by Company chairman Harvey S. Firestone Jr., on a visit to Europe several months ago. The plant, on an 81-acre site near an important industrial and rail center in northern France, is another project of the com pany’s worldwide expansion pro gram. THE HILLS BEYOND Mrs. F. W. Docker Mrs. Fred W. Docker, 82, was buried March 25 in Pine Grove cemetery at New Bedford, Mass. Funeral for Mrs. Docker, who died March 20 in a western North Carolina hospital, was held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Gastonia. Mrs. Docker was born in Hay- field, Dervyshire, England, and came to the United States in 1904. She lived in Canada and New Bedford, Mass., until her husband's death in 1935. For punching Catth on a Jack Habbii m some time she made her home with her daughter and son-in- law, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Davis of Gastonia. Mr. Davis is man ager of the Cotton Office at Firestone. Besides her daughter, Mrs. Docker left two grandchildren: Frank Davis Jr., Littlefield, Tex as; and Fred W. Davis, Birming ham, Ala. Mrs. R. G. Spencer Funeral for Mrs. Robert G. Spencer, 43, was held March 23 at Bradley Memorial Methodist Church of Gastonia, and burial was in Pisgah AR Presbyterian Church cemetery. Surviving are her husband, manager of supply at Firestone; and two children, Mary Janice and Robert Gerald Spencer of the home at 2362 Hedgewood circle. Other survivors are brothers, H. C. Watkins of Ker shaw, S. C.; Hoyt W. Watkins, Dallas, N. C.; L. B. and Jerry T. Watkins, Camden, S. C.; J. C. Watkins, Jacksonville, Fla.; Le roy Watkins, Vancouver, Wash.; Robert F. Watkins, Winston- Salem, N. C. General manager Harold Mercer presents Boys' Club gift check to Leonard Geter. co-chairman of the special gifts committee, and a Weaving (synthetics) employee here. Others are (left) Boys' Club vice president Charles Costner, Firestone comptroller E. J. Mechem; and Nathaniel Barber, Boys' Club fund campaign man ager. Company Donated $2,550 To Help A Boys’ Club Rise A Firestone gift of $2,550 in late March brought the open doors of Gaston Boys’ Club, Inc. closer to reality. When the company made its contribution, it brought the subscribed amount to $42,000. An initial goal of $50,000 had been set for the club which will serve Negro boys 6 through 18 years of age. The fund campaign, which began February 1, was reaching for its goal by early April, with Gaston county’s prominent Negro citizens leading the way. The clubhouse will be located in the Highland community— center of Gastonia’s Negro pop ulation—but will serve the en tire county. Project leaders said that an estimated 5,000 Negro boys 6-18 are attending schools in the city and county. To be affiliated with Boys’ Club of America, Inc., the facili ty will be operated by a profes sional supervisor. It will exist primarily for the underprivileg ed, but will have a program for others as well. Building campaign manager Nathaniel Barber noted that the Firestone contribution was the largest single gift received up to that time. “It gave the drive a big push, just when it was needed to help us to reach the goal,” he said. Firestone Tires Helped Them Roll In 1959, more cars and trucks moved more miles over Ameri ca’s growing street and highway network than in any previous year. A record 70.4 million motor vehicles traveled nearly 700 billion miles. More than 175 million motor vehicles have been produced in the U. S. since the industry’s birth in 1896. Nearly three out of four fam ilies own automobiles. Multi-car households have in creased 67 per cent in five years. More than 18 per cent of car- owning families — or 13.5 per cent of all families—now own two or more automobiles. Of the 81.5 million drivers in the U. S., 38.2 per cent are women. Taxes take 21 cents of the automotive retail sales dollar. One out of every six business firms in the U. S. is in the auto motive field. One out of every seven em ployed persons works in a high way transport industry—a total of 10.4 million automotive jobs. U. S. automotive companies have a total of about 1.7 mil lion stockholders. Farmers operate more than 3 million trucks and 4.3 million passenger cars. FROM TEXAS Admission of Alaska and Ha waii as the 49th and 50th States seems to have stepped up Texas people's pride in the superiori ties of "The Bluebonnet Land." At least, that's the way John Mercer of the Mechanical de partment looks at it. This picture, being widely cir culated from down Texas way. is typical of the friendly brag ging which is a firebrand of the Lone Star folks. Mr. Mercer re ceived the picture from lathe operator Cramer Little of the Shop. He and Mrs. Little mailed it while on a recent visit with their daughter Betty, who is a psychiatric social worker on the staff of Jefferson Davis Me morial Hospital in Houston. APRIL, 1960 f'ire$tone PAGE 2 Friends for your Company WINNING and keeping the good will of the public is a vitally important part of business. In these days, it is essential to the successful operation of any organization that produces goods for customers to buy. Making friends for a company is far more than making known the company and its products. In a larger sense, to those who have contacts of any kind with the com pany, it leads them to recognize and ap preciate the company’s character—its atti tudes, integrity, and its problems of opera tion as an asset to the community. A program of building good will helps to increase sales, to be sure. Beyond that, it establishes the kind of faith in the company that builds a foundation for growth, ex pansion and job security for the future. A company’s publicity and good-will pro gram is made up of thousands of things, large and small. Everybody in the company is part of this endeavor. . . Each piece of quality work turned out . . . every letter typed, every telephone call, every meeting with plant visitors—all have a lasting effect on what the public thinks of the company for which you work. Whenever you speak, write, or act as a member of your company team—whether the contact is personal or indirect—you in fluence the company’s standing in the pub lic eye. To those who meet you, or know your work. . . YOU are the Company
