Waste Makes Costs Soar, Kills Sales And Reduces Jobs
Everything you do on your
production job in some way
affects your company’s posi
tion on the market. Every-
thing you do contributes in
part toward the final sale—
or loss of sale.
The surest way to “kill” a
sale of our products is to raise
^he cost of production to the
point where customers can buy
cheaper elsewhere. Wasting ma
terials is a big factor in pushing
the cost of the company’s prod
uct above that of others who
^ake and sell the same product
comparable quality. This en
dangers your job.
‘Waste control is a never-
ending task—the same as safety,
production itself, or building
*^Uality into our products,” says
^Neil Gamble, waste control
supervisor at the Gastonia plant.
While it is true that waste
Control is largely a responsibili
ty of the scheduling, purchasing
production departments, the
effectiveness of any waste-re-
*^'^ction program depends much
J^Pon the individual worker. If
is not conscious of costs and
he does not realize the rela-
^OHship of costs and sales, he is
^oing a great disservice to his
Company.”
^dds Mr. Gamble: “When I
a worker throw away valu-
^ble material, or toss legitimate
®crap in the same container with
^^ste of another kind, I wonder:
^sybe nobody ever told that
person how much the material
Worth. He may not realize
hat some of that scrap could
® Salvaged if he didn’t mix it.”
Production manager F. B. Gal-
igan points out:
It s mainly a matter of at-
^^de that determines whether
Person is waste-control-con-
®^ious or not. It is the responsi-
^^ity of the supervisory people
department managers to
that each worker under-
^rids the importance of waste
^oritrol and that he knows how
® ^0 his job in such a way that
y^able scrap volume is kept as
as possible.
To have the proper attitude
mmm
about his responsibility toward
waste control, each person on
the job not only needs to know
how to do the job, but must
know why he is doing it the
way he is. By knowing why, he
takes more interest in his work.
One result is that his more-
careful performance cuts down
the tremendous loss of materials
which is possible in any form
of production.”
Your ideas
can reduce
materials
losses in
production
CITING the bad effects of
waste-carelessness to the com
pany, quality control manager
R. B. Hull says “over-scrapping
can actually cause us to fail to
meet production schedules. This
can result in delayed delivery
of tire fabric to our tire-building
plants, and could cause the com
pany loss of major contracts for
our products. You can see how
this would affect our position
with competitors.”
Of quality control’s part in
waste control, Mr. Hull adds:
“Our main job is to see that
Firestone’s products are of uni
form high quality for our mar
kets. We can do this better if
waste is kept at a very low
level.
“From the worker’s stand
point, job security is endangered
by over-waste. It costs about
$18,000 in capital to create or
maintain one job for a year. If
the company is short-changed
by excessive scrap, there are
fewer jobs available.”
“We scrap a lot of material
all the way down the production
line,” you may say, and add,
“but much of it can be re-work
ed, ‘freshened’, or diverted to
other products.”
Hole-in-1
. • People in America work-
9 on their television aerials at
*^*^e suffpr more than 16,000
Maybe so. But as Mr. Hull
emphasizes, “Re-working scrap
ped material is sometimes as ex
pensive or more expensive than
throwing it away altogether. But
we don't want to waste any
thing because that amounts to
loss of natural resources.”
Mr. Gamble, Mr. Galligan and
Mr. Hull singled out the Fire
stone suggestion award system
as the best way by which the
thoughtful employee can share
ideas to reduce costs of scrap
ping, salvage, and complete
waste.
They say: “You win at least
two ways — you get paid for
your usable idea and share the
benefits your ideas eventually
mean to the company.”
The main problem in waste
control is getting persons in all
departments to realize the im
portance of small savings—small
savings that add up to almost
unbelievable figures when total
ed.
BY WAY of example, suppose
we say that a certain type of
nylon filament costs Firestone
close to $1 per pound for ma
terial and processing. Let’s say,
also, that this is the price-per-
pound of all materials used and
produced by this plant.
Now suppose man-on-the-job
“Jones” scraps a pound per day
for five day a week, he will be
costing the company $5 in that
time. Figuring a 52-week work
year for Jones and his vacation
replacement, his waste runs
about $260 a year.
Not much for a whole year,
somebody says. But remember
this is just one individual.
Suppose a Jones works with
30 other men on his s'hift three
shifts a day. This would bring
the annual cost of waste in the
department to around $23,000.
Assuming Jones works with an
average number of employees
and wastes an average amount
of material at an average price
per pound, we can multiply by
the nylon scrap value of 5 (the
approximate number of process
es through which tire fabric
must go to reach final inspec
tion), and get $702,000.00 for the
900-odd actual production peo
ple at the Gastonia plant.
TAKE AWAY one-tbird for
savings through reprocessing
salvageable materials, and it still
comes to almost $460,000. Divid
ed by the $18,000 capital re
quired to create and maintain
one job, this wasted money
amounts to possible employment
for 26 potential workers.
But even more realistically,
the resultant increase in Fire
stone’s tire prices causes us to
lose some sales, bringing the ac
tual loss to much more than the
$470,000 and a lot of jobs!
While it is true that Jones’
story is one that we have “just
supposed”, and that about one-
third of the Gastonia plant
employees are not involved in
direct production, the principle
remains the same in every de
partment here:
Less waste—more sales. More
Conserving Materials
Improves Company's Position
in the Marlcetplace
sales—more jobs and more peo
ple employed.
Waste of materials is every
body’s problem. Reduced scrap
moans increased job security
and our improved position on an
intensely-competitive market.
For the suggestion-minded,
cash awards provide tangible re
wards for usable ideas on how
to reduce material losses in
manufacturing.
These questions can be guide
lines to money awards for you
and your contribution to waste
control:
1. How can we improve op
eration of machines to save ma
terials? What can be done to
reduce trimmings, tangled and
contaminated stock?
2. How can we help schedul
ing so that less stock lies in
storage, and so that fewer ma
chine changeovers are required
for a given amount of produc
tion?
3. Are we throwing away
materials that might otherwise
have been salvageable?
4. How might we better in
sure quality of materials during
processing?
5. Are we using more materi
al than specifications call for?
6. How can we improve
“housekeeping” and handling
materials to prevent waste
through neglect or contamina
tion?
7. Just where is the waste
occurring? What is causing the
loss? What can we do to stop it?
Have a suggestion?
August Calendar: Festivals, Fairs, Rodeos
'Jis
®bling mishaps every year.
Au
9«st. 1983
Page 3
It was a hole-in-one for David
Darwin a while back, making
history in Firestone golf play
here. David, golfing for just
three years, teams up with his
father, plant sales manager J. V.
Darwin, in the Firestone Part
ners League.
Altogether there are 10 teams
in the Firestone league this sea
son.
David is working in the shop
here through mid-August. He
will enter The University of
North Carolina at Raleigh.
Employee’s Brother
Makes Colonel
Nelson W. Kessell Jr. was
recently promoted to colonel in
the U. S. Army Reserves. He is
attached to the 3280th Army Re-,
serve Garrison Unit in Winston-
Salem.
His brother, A. C. (Freddie)
Kessell, is a production staff as
sistant at Firestone. Colonel
Kessell’s father, Nelson. Kessell,
is a ' retired general superin
tendent of the plant here.
August: days of summer on the wane—but
more attractions than ever on the travel calen
dar. “Roughing it”, water sports, nature study,
festivals, early-season fairs, historic sites. These
and many more are invitations to fun and re
laxation for Firestone travelers this month.
Plant Recreation has the reminder that within
a few miles of Gastonia are such famed historic
locations as Kings Mountain National Military
Park 18 miles south of Gastonia, and Cowpens
Battleground near Spartanburg. An added at
traction near the Kings Mountain Revolutionary
War battleground entrance is “Palmetto”, a
frontier town now in the making. Already op
erating is a 1917 narrow-gauge railroad and other
amusements. The completed frontier village will
have a lake with authentic paddlewheel boat, a
sky lift and enlarged amusement park.
National Forests in NC • The Recreation
Department suggests a visit to one of North
Carolina’s National Forests. They are: Croatan
near New Bern, town dating to 1710. Here are
Civil War breastworks, lakes, pine and swamp
hardwoods near the Coast; Nantahala near Ashe
ville, with lakes, waterfalls, Joyce Kilmer Me
morial Forest, a portion of the Appalachian Trail,
four wildlife management areas; Pisgah near
Asheville has Mt. MitcheU, Linville Falls and
Gorge, Pisgah National Game Preserve and five
other cooperative wildlife management areas.
Also has Craggy Gardens and Roan Mountain
and a portion of Appalachian Trail; Uwharrie in
Montgomery and Randolph counties has more
than 200,000 acres of recreation land.
These forests offer fishing, boating, swimming,
hiking, horseback riding, hunting in season,
scenic roads and trails. Facilities and accommo
dations generally include camps and picnic
grounds, cabins, and commercial resorts.
Fair Time Coming Up ® North Carolina’s
first fair of the season is the 14th annual Drexel
Community Fair near Morganton, Aug. 19-24.
Next on the calendar is the Alexander County
Fair at Taylorsville, Aug. 26-31.
At Hendersonville the 17 th annual North
Carolina Apple Festival is Aug. 28-Sept. 2. Other
seasonal festivities include the 10th annual Macon
County Folk Festival at Franklin, Aug. 15-17,
and Grandfather Mountain’s “One-Billionth An
niversary” featuring selection of a Carolina’s
Photo Queen and Press photographers camera
clinic.
Be sun to
bring your
CAMERA (\
RECREATION
TRAVEL
NOTES
Crab Derby Down At Morehead • One of
the state’s most interesting sports events is the
NC Crab Derby, this the third annual one, at
Morehead City, Aug. 23-25. This seafoods-indus-
try center and popular resort has the Port
Terminal which provides for ocean-going vessels
and traffic along the Inland Waterway. On Bogue
Sound, Morehead is ideal for small boating and
other water sports. A large fleet of offshore and
inshore party boats dock here. There is good
GuK Stream fishing into September. Party boats
may be chartered by the day, some equipped for
eating and sleeping aboard. There are five ocean
piers.
Other sports events in the state this month
include 500-mile Grand National auto race at
Asheville, Aug. 11; NC State Shuffleboard
Tournament, Hendersonville, 13-15 and 20-22;
sailboat races on Kerr Lake, Henderson, 17-18,
also Jet 14 National Championship Races, 22-25;
Junior Rodeo and Junior Horse Show at Love
Valley near Statesville, 17-18, also Love Valley
Rodeo, 21-Sept. 1.
Further samplings of things of interest in
August: 9th annual Garden Tours at Highlands,
13; Land of the Sky Civic Ballet Festival, Ashe
ville, 13; Parade of Barbershop Quartets, Ashe
ville, 17; Virginia Dare Birthday observance at
“The Lost Colony”, Manteo, 18; Classic Car Club
of America, Nags Head, 21-24; “All for Mary”
production at Flat Rock Playhouse, Flat Rock,
27-31; Rock Swap Shop at Almond, 31-Sept.l.
September Preview • Fall Square Dance
Fun Festival, Fontana, 1-8; Lion’s Club Fair and
Exposition, Tarboro, 2-7; Cherokee County Fair
at Murphy and Burke County Fair at Morgan
ton, both 2-7; 57th annual Labor Day Celebra
tion at Canton, 3-5; Ruby Rendezvous, Frank
lin, 5-7.