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I FEBRUARY • 1967
Wonders
of the
Sea
Ship figureheads alone make your visit worth
while at this Atlantic Coast museum—from this
superb Navy Eagle to lusty mermaids or the
prim figure of a captain's wife, with parasol and
prayer book. . . (See Travel Notes on page 4).
f- B. GALLIGAN
For Safety—
Work at It
When you count your bless-
be grateful that you are
''working for a company that has
^ genuine concern and an ac-
tive program for the safety of
people, F. B. Galligan told
^embers of supervision at a
Safety meeting in January.
The division operations man
ager called training and order
liness on the job two major iac-
in the outstanding safety
Pi’ogram at the Gastonia plant.
He said a “don’t care” atti
tude is one of the greatest draw
backs to efficient injury control
in industry. Stressing preven
tion, he listed constant aware
ness on the part of everyone as
a proven way to safety.
“Instruction and good ex
amples are still unbeatable ap
proaches to building safety
awareness in everybody,” he
told the supervisors.
Mr. Galligan commended two
employees who last month re
ported an unsafe condition on a
paved area at the plant.
“That was a good example of
how each one of us ought to be
on the lookout for hazards and
to take action to have the haz
ards eliminated,” he said.
A Look at Textiles in NC
Importance of the textile industry to North Carolina
^^nnot be overmagnified, U. S. Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr.
industry leaders attending a recent annual meeting of
the NC Textile Manufacturers Association. The Senator
North Carolina noted:
• The textile industry pro
vides employment for half of all
^orth Carolinians engaged in
’Manufacturing. It pays substan
tial taxes to the state and vari-
political subdivisions
throughout the state.
• People employed in the in
dustry provide leadership in the
civic, cultural and religious life
of the state.
“It has been my privilege—
and duty—to support measures
and trade policies favorable to
the economic health of the tex
tile industry,” Senator Ervin
said.
GASTONIA
NORTH CAROLINA
Zero Defects Program
Reinforces Long-Established Quality Control Efforts
“ZD represents the two most important letters of the Alphabet. They are
the key to your future.” It was the message from Firestone Textiles Company
President Harold Mercer, as the plant here launched its Zero Defects program—
the first in the textile industry for the immediate Gastonia area.
February 1 had become an historic date at
Firestone, Gastonia.
Thomas Yelton, ZD program coordinator, said,
“Once again we have become leaders in our
field. Not only are we proud to be first in our
area, but we will strive to be the best in the
entire industry.”
How It Began « Although the ZD concept is
new here, it has been proven in the field of
quality control, Mr. Yelton says. The oi'iginal
ZD (or ‘do it right the first time*) idea, he re
calls, began with the Orlando, Fla., division of
the Glenn L. Martin Company several years ago.
The plant had a rush order for the Govern
ment NASA program but the schedule did not al
low for delays caused by error in workmanship.
The idea of ‘do it right the first time’ evolved,
and from it has grown a nationwide ZD program
reaching to many areas of business and industry.
• • Firestone Textiles Company President
Harold Mercer signed the first Zero Defects ac
knowledgment card, beginning the organized
quality-control effort at Gastonia Feb. 1. With
him were (left) Thomas Yelton, ZD program
coordinator; and J. V. Darwin, general manager
of the company's textile division.
Several of the Firestone company plants, es
pecially tire-building facilities, already have the
program well established. Mr. Yelton said that as
of the time the program began here, there were
known to be at least two textile plants with ZD
programs in this Western Carolinas Piedmont
region.
“ZD is a new approach to quality control,”
notes Mr. Yelton. “It aims at eliminating defect
causes, rather than finding, correcting and re
doing workmanship errors already occurring."
—more on page 2
cEman * Products Will Sell More Than Ever During This Year
, Demands for the company’s products will be greater
jhis year than ever, Raymond C. Firestone told a stock
holders annual meeting in January, The company chairman
^^view^ed 1966 progress and told of new plans for the current
in which record sales and earnings are expected. He
noted:
Uq
ti,
To meet increasing domes-
and foreign sales opportuni-
present Firestone plants are
^t^erating at capacity and plant
^^Pansion projects are under-
around the world.
. In 1967 the company plans to
^'^est some $150 million in
I^^Pital expenditures to realize
^ full share of growing sales
Pportunities and continue its
^^sition of leadership in the
^bber industry. The number of
chicles in use in the United
^^tes and abroad will be great-
than ever in 1967, said Mr.
^^estone, adding:
"We are fortunate to be in an
industry that sees its sales po
tential rise year after year with
more cars, trucks and tractors
on our roads and in our fields,
using the products we sell.
“We believe 1967 will be a
year that Firestone will again
break all past records for sales
and profits,’’ the chairman said.
In fiscal year ending Oct. 31,
1966, the company reported
profits increased by 17.4 per
cent to $101,765,793 and sales
were up 12.7 per cent to $1,-
814,592,393 as compared with
the previous year’s figures.
Highlighting last year’s prog
ress, Mr. Firestone noted that—
• The company is expanding
present production facilities at
Barberton and Dayton, Ohio; at
Los Angeles, Calif.; Des Moines,
Iowa, and Memphis, Tenn.
Abroad, expansion projects are
going on at Firestone facilities
in South Africa, New Zealand,
Portugal, France, England, the
Philippines, Brazil, Argentina,
Venezuela and Thailand.
In the U. S. in 1966 company
tire plants at Bloomington, 111.;
Salinas, Calif., and Decatur, 111.,
were enlarged for greater pro
duction.
• Firestone purchased majori
ty interest in the Hardie Rub
ber Company of Australia. It
includes three tire - building
units, industrial products facil-
ties, retread shops throughout
that continent and 150 service
stores. Also, the company pur
chased majority interest in Visk-
afors-Gummifabrik AB in Swe
den, one of that nation's oldest
tire-manufacturing companies
and one with which Firestone
has been affiliated the past 20
years under a licensing agree
ment.
The company also acquired a
majority interest in a tire plant
in Italy and began manufactur
ing tires there for the first time.
New plants are being built in
England, Spain, Costa Rica and
Tunisia. Mr. Firestone further
noted;
The company's vast research
and development departments
continue to provide new prod
ucts. Examples in tires are the
Super Sports Wide Oval, the all-
new Deluxe Champion and the
F-lOO Radial-ply tire.
• Firestone tires again excell
ed on auto racing courses of the
world. It was the 43rd time in
a row that winner of the In
dianapolis 500 was on Firestone
tires. The company’s tires were
on winning cars in two-thirds of
the major auto races around the
world.
The company was honored by
the National Association for
Stock Car Auto Racing
(NASCAR) with its Industrial
Award for Excellence for pro
viding stock cars “Rasafe” rub
ber fuel cells, which deter fire
in event of crashes.