s
PURCHASED FROM DAYCO CORPORATION
Firestone Adds Dayton Subsidiary
WAGONS WEST
It was “Westward Ho!”
last summer for a number of
Firestone’s Gastonia em
ployees. And all along the
trail there were spectacular
vacation sights like Window
Rock in the heart of Ari
zona’s Navajo country. With
the vacation travel season
rolling again, more employee
families are looking West for
a memorable tour of Ameri
ca the Beautiful.
Company And 16 Divisions
Are Presented NSC Awards
The Firestone company and
16 of its separate divisions have
received National Safety Coun
cil Awards for excellent safety
records in 1960. Presentations
are made on the basis of im
provement over the safety per
formance average of the three
previous years.
A Safety Council award is
made only when a company’s
safety record satisfies rigid re
quirements outlined in the
Council’s award plan for recog
nizing good industrial safety
records, according to M. R.
Batche, manager of safety for
Firestone manufacturing plants.
Fewer than 10 per cent of the
plants enrolled for Council mem
berships win awards in any one
year.
14th Honor
—From page 1
production was presented at
the Masonic Temple April 19
by North Carolina state labor
commissioner Frank Crane.
Safety supervisor Ralph John
son stood up for the presenta
tion in behalf of employees, at
the 12th annual industrial safe
ty meeting sponsored by the
Gastonia Chamber of Com
merce.
Il was Ihe 14lh conseculive
year that Firestone has earned
the award. Commissioner Crane
termed the plant's safety record
"one of the State's most out
standing." The plant was eligi
ble for this year's award on the
basis that no disabling injuries
occurred during 1960.
The engraved bar is to be
attached ,to the plaque which
was presented when the plant
reached its 10-year record. The
citation is made jointly by the
The Award of Honor, highest
recognition given by the Coun
cil, has been presented to the
Gastonia plant; also the textile
plants at Buenos Aires, Argen
tina; the Los Angeles, Calif.,
Guided Missile division; and the
Quincy, 111., Electric Wheel Com
pany division.
An Award of Merit, second
highest presentation of the
Council, went to Firestone for all
plants on a company-wide basis.
A similar award was given to
the Akron Mechanical Building;
the Buenos Aires tire plant; and
plants in Bombay, India; Brent
ford, England; New Bedford,
Mass.; and Orange, Texas.
Certificates of Commendation
have been awarded to the Akron
Research Laboratory; the Ben-
nettsville, S. C., textile plant;
the Los Angeles Industrial Prod
ucts plant; Memphis, Tenn.,
Xylos plant; and the Woodstock,
Canada, textile plant.
The Los Angeles Coated Fab
rics division has received a
President’s Letter from the Na
tional Safety Council.
NC and US Departments of
Labor to firms employing more
than 50 persons. Firms of less
than 50 employees get awards
from the State Labor Depart
ment.
FIRESTONE was among 50
firms honored for progress in
on-job injury control in 1960.
Presenting awards, commission
er Crane said that 777 firms in
the state had earned safety hon
ors for their efforts last year.
He pointed out that the fre
quency of disabling injuries in
the state's manufacturing today
is 45 per cent below the figure
when the Labor Commission
awards program began 15 years
ago.
The Firestone company has
purchased assets of the Day
ton Tire Division of the Day-
co Corporation at Dayton,
Ohio, including manufactur
ing facilities, equipment and
furnishings, inventory and
the “Dayton” brand names.
Announcing the purchase in
March. Firestone president Ray
mond C. Firestone explained
that acquisition of the Dayton
plant was part of the company's
program of increasing produc
tive capacity to satisfy its ex
pected increase in business.
None of the technical service
agreements of Dayco or its
predecessor, the Dayton Rubber
Company, with foreign tire com
panies, was included in the sale.
“We plan to increase produc
tion of Dayton tires in the plant
and offer full cooperation to all
Dayton dealers, distributors and
other customers,” Mr. Firestone
said.
On Tour Of Plant
Twenty-five students of the
eighth grade at Bethel High
School near Sugar Grove, N. C.
went on a production tour of the
Firestone plant in late April.
The students were with the
school principal, Russell Henson,
and two other adults.
They had gone to Raleigh for
a visit in the State Capital, stop
ping on their way back for a
tour of one of Winston-Salem’s
large industries. After a night
spent in Charlotte, they came to
Gastonia.
This was the second consecu
tive year Liiai Belhel school had
sent a touring group to Fire
stone.
Bethel is in Watauga county,
bordering on the Upper East
Tennessee state line.
A. L. Freelander, chairman of
Dayco Corporation said, “Sale of
our tire business to Firestone
will enable Dayco to concentrate
its activities on other segments
of the rubber industry and at
the same time assure Dayton
tire distributors throughout the
country of a steady supply of
Dayton brand tires, as well as
continuing to supply tires to its
private brand and other cus
tomers.”
At the time of the Firestone
purchase, the Dayton plant was
devoted almost exclusively to
tire production, since Dayco had
moved its v-belt production to
a new plant at Springfield, Mo.
Dayco also manufactures v-
belts at a Waynesville, N. C. fac
tory. Besides v-belts, Dayco’s six
subsidiaries manufacture and
distribute plastic products, air
craft seats, and specialized hose
for petroleum and chemical in
dustries.
The tire division which Fire
stone purchased from Dayco be
came The Dayton Tire & Rub
ber Company, a subsidiary of the
Firestone organization.
NAMED PRESIDENT of the
newly-organized corporation
was C. M. (Pat) Barnes, a vet
eran of 30 years in all phases of
tire marketing. Mr. Barnes had
been assistant to Leonard K.
Firestone, president of the Fire
stone Tire & Rubber Company
of California since 1960.
The new Dayton Tire presi
dent joined Firestone in 1931 as
manager of the company store at
Kalamazoo, Mich., and soon was
pi'oiuoled tu supervisor of &lures
in the Detroit area.
He transferred to California
in 1932 as assistant to the di
vision sales manager, and six
years later became district sales
manager at Denver, Colo. Next,
he was named division manager
for the southwestern United
States before appointment as
coast division sales manager.
In this job he supervised some
2,000 sales personnel in 14 west
ern states, and headed nine sales
districts which included more
than 150 company stores and
thousands of franchised dealers
and associate service station
dealers.
Methods Engineer
STMSA President
James M. Cooper has begun
serving as the 1961-62 president
of Southern Textile Methods and
Standards Association. He is
chief methods-standards engi
neer at Firestone Textiles.
Other officers chosen for one-
year terms were W. A. Funder
burk of The Kendall Co., Char
lotte, vice president; Foye Bos
well of Bibb Mfg. Co., Columbus,
Ga., treasurer; and Howard
Loveless of the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, executive
secretary.
Around 80 persons registered
for the recent two-day session of
the group’s spring meeting at
Clemson House, Clemson, S. C.
Southern Textile Methods and
Standards Association has mem
bers in North Carolina, South
Carolina, Alabama, Georgia,
Tennessee and Virginia. Purpose
of the non-profit organization is
to advance sound principles of
industrial engineering as applied
to the fields of methods and
stanuards of the Southern tex
tile industry.
MAY, 1961 PAGE 4
Two Out Of Three
MONROE JACKSON (left) receives pay for his
suggestion on beam straps. Presenting check is
Hobart Aldridge, overseer in Twisting.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
On his job as beam man in Twisting (synthetics)
Monroe Jackson thinks of ways to improve things
and cut operating costs. Some time ago he wrote
his first suggestion on beam racks and it earned
him a $10 reward.
On his second try, he didn’t score, but when he
turned in his third one a few weeks ago, the sug
gestion board took a closer look. The payoff; $60
for his idea on straps that hold the wrapper on
beams of synthetic filament shipped from the com
pany’s Hopewell plant. He suggested two instead
of three straps.
It is estimated that the idea in operation will
save several hundred dollars a year in materials,
time and labor.
FIRESTONE TEXTILES
P. O. BOX 551
GASTONIA. N. C.
POSTAL MANUAL
SECTION 134.1
U. S. POSTAGE PAID
GASTONIA. N. C.
PERMIT NO. 29
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