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JULY • 1966
SfHW
GASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
JMercer Division President; Darwin
General Manager; Hall Planning-
Projects Manager
DIVISION HEADQUARTERS
MOVED TO GASTONIA
■■OOKING AROUND
CAMP FIRESTONE
on the trail
Horseback riding on the
many trails of Western
North Carolina is one of the
relaxing activities of “time
out” in the High Country of
the Southern Appalachians.
Firestone employees and
their families have found the
^^11 of the bridle trail a good form of recreation as an added
■^pnus to their stay at Camp Firestone on Lake James. The
picture here is a typical scene in the Fontana area. Camp
firestone at Bridgewater, in its 31st year of service, offers
Variety family recreation on one of the Southeast’s great
^an-made lakes, in the heart of the Southern Blue Ridge
V^yground. It extends its season into early autumn to coin
cide with the landscape color parade which makes the
Southern Highlands one of the most-visited areas of the
*^ountry. Employee applications for a stay at Camp Firestone
made in person through the industrial relations office.
HAROLD
MERCER
(left)
JOHN
DARWIN
When Harold Mercer in late June was advanced to president of The Firestone
Textiles Company, division of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, adminis
trative offices of the textiles division were transferred from Akron, Ohio, to Gas
tonia. L. J. Campbell, vice president of non-tire plants of the parent company, an
nounced Mr. Mercer’s appointment and the administrative offices move to the
plant here, the textiles division’s largest manufacturing operation.
No personnel moves were in
volved. Some members of Ihe
textiles division at the former
Akron headquarters have been
assigned in other departments
there. The textiles division's
sales office remains in Akron.
Mr. Campbell also an-
n o u n c e d appointment of
John V. Darwin as general
manager of the textiles di
vision and H. G. Hall as man
ager of the division’s produc-
t i o n planning and projects
program. All three men will
work at the Gastonia plant
headquarters.
AS HEAD of the division, Mr.
Mercer succeeds the late Richard
M. Sawyer. The new president,
plant manager here from 1938
until his latest appointment,
joined Firestone in 1931 in the
auditing department of h e a d -
quarters in Akron. He transfer
red to Gastonia in 1935 as comp
troller and was named plant
manager three years later. He is
^hen it comes to a bargain-
Ask The Man
w ho Knows One
Atkins Michael Jr. began his summer
^^ployment at Firestone after completion of
sophomore year in high school. Now in
fourth summer of between-school em-
^*loyment here, he’s looking forward to his
?®cond year majoring in electrical engineer
's at North Carolina State University—
Raleigh.
Atkins is typical of the growing number
students who work summers here, but
^Uite unordinary when it comes to collect-
his pay. He’s channeling all his wages
U. S. Savings Bonds through payroll
^^CQunting.
Atkins is a grandson of retired plant
'fperintendent Nelson Kessell, and nephew
A. C. (Freddie) Kessell of mechanical
Service.
oooor ;
a graduate of the University of
Illinois.
In his new assignment, Mr.
Darwin is general manager of
the Gastonia plant and the com
pany’s textile plants at Ben-
nettsville, S. C.; Woodstock, On
tario, Canada; Sao Paulo, Brazil
and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
His collective management over
the five plants represents a new-
ly-created position.
THE NEW manager began
with the Gastonia plant as an
accountant in 1943, was named
sales manager in 1950 and since
1960 has been administrative as
sistant to the general manager.
He is a grnduato of Duke Uni
versity.
H. G. Hall, in his new job is in
charge of production planning
and pi’ojects for the textiles di
vision. He joined Firestone at
Gastonia in 1951 following grad
uation from NC State College.
He advanced from asignments
in quality control to sales at
Gastonia before being transfer
red to the Sao Paulo, Brazil,
Firestone textile plant in 1961.
More on page 2 •
Record Sales
and Profits
THE
FIRESTONE
WORLD
A concentrated and continuing drive by management and
all employees to improve sales volume, quality and effi
ciency; and to reduce production, distribution and operating
costs in all divisions of the business is credited with realiz
ing Firestone’s record performance for the second quarter
of 1966.
• Atkins Michael Jr. of the mechanical depart
ment; All of his pay into Savings Bonds.
ond Sales Increased Since June
„ ^Uying of U. S. Savings Bonds
^ rough payroll deduction at
^^estone, Gastonia, showed a
^^ght percentage increase among
f ® number employed here,
^lowing “Savings Bonds Sign-
emphasis at the company’s
^^estic plants during the first
of June.
Stepped-up amounts of Bonds
already being purchased and
new accounts put the figure at
a little more than the 88 per
cent participation in Bonds-
buying for last quarter. The next
report which will reflect the
June increase here is due in
mid-July.
Payroll supervisor Mrs. Eula
Wilson, who oversees the Bonds
sales here, notes that added pur
chase of Bonds are due mostly
to the June “Signup” program,
the latest wage and salary in
creases here, and advancement
early this year in the interest
rate of Bonds. It was the fourth
such interest increase in the
quarter-century history of the
U. S. Savings Bonds program.
Second-quarter net sales were
$463,443,340, compared with
$399,875,724 for the same fiscal
period (February, March, April)
last year. The increase was 15.9
per cent.
Estimated net income of $25,-
302,912 compares with $20,253,-
575 for the 1965 second quarter,
an increase of 24,9 per cent.
Net sales of $870,660,127 and
estimated net income of $43,930,-
630 were also the highest ever
attained for a first six-month
period reflecting increases over
the same period last year of 17.5
per cent and 17.7 per cent re
spectively.
EARNINGS for the first half
of the fiscal year were equiva
lent to $1,52 per share of com
mon stock compared with $1.30
last year. Earnings per share for
the second quarter increased
from $ .71 to $ .87. Provision for
domestic and foreign taxes on in
come amounted to $37,340,000
this year and $33,300,000 last
year.
“We are hopeful of the fu
ture,” said Raymond C. Fire-
istone, company chairman.
“Shipments of replacement
passenger-car tires in 1966
should total more than 100 mil
lion for the first time.”
All passenger-car tire ship
ments will reach 152 million, an
increase of 4,000,000 over the
1965 total. Total tire shipments
— passenger, truck and farm
tires — should reach some 179,-
000,000 this year, or about 6 mil
lion in excess of 1965 shipments.
“Expecting increasing de-
More on page 4 #