Newspapers / Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.) / March 1, 1968, edition 1 / Page 1
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Tir«$ton« MARCH • 1968 s^sw GASTONIA NORTH CAROLINA Citizenship Award Firestone at Gastonia has been awarded the Outstand- iiig Citizenship recognition ^or employees’ exceptional contribution to the most re cent Gaston County United Appeal. The presentation last month the UA annual awards meet ing is the plant’s seventh such honor over the past seven years of the UA drive for funds to Operate health-welfare, recrea tional and other ‘people’ serv ices. Firestone was among a num- Another Honor For UA Participation ber of business and industrial firms, schools and other institu tions listed for noteworthy UA participation. In the 1967-68 UA financial campaign Firestone people con tributed an all-time-high $32,- 240, with pledges averaging $21 per person of the employment. Among other awards at the UA meeting, Samuel E. Craw ford, Firestone Zero Defects co ordinator; and Alvin Riley, in dustrial relations manager, were honored for their work as divi sion chairmen. They were among Division I Rice Joined Company President In 1941 Robert W, Rice, new president of Firestone Synthetic fibers and Textiles Company, joined the parent company 1941 as a laboratory analyst in the synthetic products plant at Akron, Two years later he was trans- J. V. Darwin, Gastonia; Ralph ferred to the company’s Lake thetic-rubber plants at Lake Charles, La. plant where, in 1947, Charles and Orange, Texas in he became chief chemist. 1964. In 1966 he was named vice He held the positions of tech- president and general manager ^ical manager and production of the Firestone Synthetic Fi- ^anager before becoming plant Coxnpany. Manager of Firestone’s syn- His latest promotion to divis ion president came earlier this year when the Synthetic Fibers Company and the company’s domestic textile operations were combined into a single unit, with headquarters at Hope- well, Va. Mr. Rice's executive assign ment over the textiles operations followed the retirement of Ha rold Mercer, who spent 37 years with the company, most of that time at the Gastonia plant. Besides management of the synthetic-fibers operations from Hopewell, the division president is chief executive over the Fire stone Textiles plants at Gastonia and at Bennettsville, S. C., and the new textile facility near Bowling Green, Ky. Managers of these plants are • Robert W. Rice: From laboratory Analyst to Division ^resident. division chairmen who turned in 100 per cent or more of indi vidual quotas. The latest Citizenship Award is a silver-embossed strip added to the wall plaque presented three years ago. The original plaque of the seven-year period represented the first four of those years. The current plaque and its strips represent the fifth through ninth seventh. Naming of new officers was part of the UA meeting pro gram. Among them is Carl J, Stewart Jr., UA president, a Gastonia attorney and member of the NC General Assembly. His parents work at Firestone. Mr. Stewart and J. V. Darwin, Firestone Gastonia plant man ager, are each serving a second year of two-year terms on the UA board of directors. The last UA campaign gather ed financial support for 33 com munity agencies. A total $353,- 317 was collected, exceeding the campaign goal by nearly $10,000. The last campaign was the first to include several com munities with Gastonia, to make the UA services county-wide in scope. Citizenship Awards are pre sented to participating UA firms with 15 or more employees, which have a payroll arrange ment of paying UA contribu tions; at least 80 per cent of employees giving, and contribu tions averaging $10 or above among the employment. Ralph King, Bennettsville; F. B. Galligan, Bowling Green. The division president has a BS degree in chemical engineer ing from Iowa State University at Ames. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and Alpha Tau Ome ga fraternity. Mr. and Mrs. Rice have one daughter. P THE FIRST TIRE FABRIC ever manufac tured in South Central Ken tucky came from Firestone's new production unit at Bowling Green early this year — from twisters, creels and looms which are familiar to the people who work at the Gastonia plant. Here, with a loom which turns out synthetic tire fabric is Jesse Liles, former Gastonian who transferred from the plant here to help start up and operate the new facility. Shuttle guards on the Bowling Green looms are patterned after those which Liles designed on the job at Gastonia several years ago. The guard has become standard re finement on looms which weave synthetic fabric here. Bowling Green Producing Fabric Could it be that a record was set from beginning con struction to start-up time at Firestone’s new textile plant near Bowling Green, Ky.? Initial production at the tire- fabric unit operated by Fire stone Synthetic Fibers and Tex tile Company began in January —little more than seven months after ground-breaking for the facility located seven miles north of town. The first ship- THIS SILLY THING Veteran workers on the job here more often tend to be prone to carelessly “flirt with injury,” than are em ployees with less service, notes R. E. Mack, plant safe ty manager. “It’s the old undesirable thing of carelessness growing out of the routine and the familiar,” he said at a February supervis ors safety meeting. “We perform on our jobs for years, and may know the safe procedures inside and out — then too often lapse into a thoughtless tempting of injury and tragedy.” ment of fabric went out in Feb ruary. Production will continue to increase throughout this year, with full capacity expected by early 1969, said F. B. Galligan, plant manager. Mr. Galligan and eight other men were trans ferred from the Gastonia plant to form the basic production-ad- ministrative staff of the new plant. — More page 2 .. Never Do It Again’ Mr. Mack told of one man here, a long-time employee with years on his job operation, who went to first-aid recently with a nicked fingertip. He confessed that he’s foolishly tried to un clog a carding machine while the licker-in mechanism was still running. Licker-ins have vicious teeth, as is well-known by people familiar with cards. For that employee, near tragedy taught a lasting lesson. "I've done this silly thing many, many times throughout the years," he recalled. "But I'll never do it again!" QC And ZD: Working Together-Striving For Excellence . Quality Control and Zero Defects industry share one big goal: Main- .^ining highest istandards and turn ing out the best \ products and serv ices for the customer. In a broad ^nse, QC is the main operation and is a major tool to help make it ^ork, . “Many of us think of Zero Defects relation to the quality of our prod-: '^ct. It is a quality-control program, there is a distinct difference be- t\veen the two,” reminds the Gas- ^nia plant ~ZD committee. , S. E. Crawford, ZD coordinator J^re, points out -that “The slogan ,^0 It Right TherFirst Time’ applies quality — to be sure — but it also a broader meaning.” He says ^^at ZD acts as an aid in other Phases of our operation, such as safety, maintenance, employee re lations, office procedures, and in many other areas, "ZERO DEFECTS is an Attitude Concept to develop Quality Aware ness. And it is a tool to inspire peo ple on the job — taking a positive approach to a person’s pride in workmanship,” says Mr, Crawford, What makes a ZD program ‘go’? Full participation of management and employees, for the main thing, “Everyone in our operation must be actively involved,” adds the ZD co ordinator. He notes that many of our quality problems^ can be traced to wrong thinking of the person on the job. The problems quite often originate in lack of pride and lack of attention to the job being done. As to Quality Control, it is a big ger part of the total picture of meet ing standards and working efficient ly to turn out top workmanship in our products, explains R. B. Hull, Gastonia manager of technical serv ices and quality control. “Zero Defects is a major tool in quality operation and production — one of the most effective tools we have to use,” Mr. Hull adds. He makes clear that Quality Control, technically, is a program of main taining production levels according to specifications. "ITS MAIN function is to deter mine the problems and the level of quality performance on which our plant is operating,” he says. “Besides finding the problem'?. Quality Con trol offers possible solutions or courses or action to be followed so as to make corrections or eliminate problem areas.” If it were possible to perfect every single factor that goes into our work and the production we turn out, Quality Control and Zero Defects would no longer be needed, notes Mr. Hull. “So, we keep on trying — striving for excellence,” he adds. Concludes Mr. Crawford, ZD co ordinator: “Zero Defects is one of the most useful approaches to our continuing efforts of doing our best in per formance and product quality. ZD is simply a Way of Feeling (attitude and pride in work); and a Way of Doing our best, from the beginning all the way through — day in and day out.”
Firestone News (Gastonia, N.C.)
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March 1, 1968, edition 1
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