“One of our goals in Zero Defects is to recog
nize the employee who is doing top job perform
ance. It’s a way to give our workers something
positive to aim for, instead of something negative
to avoid. —From a ZD Committee letter to supervisors
Tiftstont
OCTOBER • 1968
GASTONIA
NORTH CAROLINA
"P* , •*' ^ * * '* '*
‘Helping the
miracles along..
UNITED APPEAL
As this issue of the employee publication was be
ing printed, Firestone people at Gastonia had already
begun the annual in-plant United Appeal Campaign.
We Travel
the Lanes
• Majestic Grandfather
Mountain and surrounding
scenic beauty of the Blue
Ridge High Country present
a “grand finale” vantage
y-v-P 4-X-»^ A 1 "I 4-1 1
WX LllC XLi. tU.lllXi. \^KJ±U±
parade. This Firestone News
photo was made on NC 105
up the road north of Linville
Falls and a few miles from
Camp Firestone on Lake
James. The 33rd season of
the company-operated camp
'v* ^ X T /-> r~i rNi
iwi. cvro cixna tiicii xciiii-
ilies, closes in October.
This year’s goal for United
Community Services of Gaston
County’s United Appeal is $435,-
000. The funds will go to sup
port 37 participating services.
Each year the UA campaign
at the plant is completed by mid
or late October. Total contribu
tion figure will be reported in
the November paper.
Also in October, Firestone
employees at Bennettsville, S. C.
are participating in the United
Fund campaign in Marlboro
County.
In One Financial Effort—37
Agencies • Your contribution
goes to these services of Gas
ton United Appeal: American
Cancer Society, American Na
tional Red Cross, American So
cial Health Association, Boy
Scouts of America, Carolinas
United Community Services.
Cerebal Palsy of Gaston County,
Cherryville AFS, Cherryville
Rescue Squad, Childrens Home
Society.
Citizens Action Program
NCCD, Community Relief Orga
nization of Mount Holly; Dallas
Township Recreation, Family
Counseling Service, Florence
Crittenton Home, Flynn Home,
Gaston Big Brothers, Gaston
Boys Club, Gaston County
Assn. Retarded Children, Gaston
County Mental Health Assn.,
Gaston Life-Saving Crew, Gas
ton Skills, Inc., Gaston YMCA,
International Social Service, Jr.
Optimist Boys Club, Mt. Holly
Life-Saving Crew.
National Travelers Aid, NC
Mental Health Association, Na
tional Council — Crime & De
linquency, National Assn. Hear-
—More on page 2
BENNETTSVILLE
SUGGESTION
RECORD
Best in Company
STE Goes International
For the first time. Firestone
people attending the 25th South
ern Textile Exposition this year
Will share the international fla
vor of the Greenville, S. C.
show.
The STE, begun in 1915 as a
regional event, grew to national
Scope, and this Oct. 21-25, goes
international.
Flags of 13 countries will fly
alongside the U.S. flag. The
flags, flying from the roof of
Greenville’s Textile Hall, will
honor those countries represent
ed by overseas exhibitors at the
show.
Parking facilities at Textile
Hall have been enlarged to a
3,500-car capacity. Other conven
iences this year: Timesaver ad
mittance cards, five food-serv-
ice locations, a first-aid room,
and several hundred outside
seats for visitors with tired feet.
A number of Firestone people
from Gastonia and Bennetts
ville attend the exposition, stag
ed every two years.
☆ ☆ ☆
Many Firestone people were
among the 403 who were ex
amined in an oral cancer-detec-
tion clinic at Firestone Recrea
tion Center in September.
The free examination in “Op
eration Look-See” was sponsor
ed by the Gaston County Dental
Society and the local unit of
American Cancer Society.
The leader among production plants of the Firestone
company’s worldwide organization.
That’s the record the Bennettsville plant has established
for having the most successful Suggestion System program.
Confirmation of this high achievement came recently
in a letter from H. B. Palmer in Akron, where he is manager
of the company’s Suggestion System.
Notes the Bennettsville Suggestion Committee: This
means that the South Carolina plant of the company’s syn-
thetics-textiles division has received and adopted more sug
gestions per 1,000 employees than any other Firestone pro
duction plant.
Said a Suggestion bulletin: “We congratulate all our
employees who have helped us reach this apex. We are
ppud of this outstanding record, and feel that our Bennetts
ville Suggestion program will continue to rank high.”
Yonder Comes the Train
Tweetsie at Blowing Rock, the venerable sidewinder at
Bear Creek Junction in the Nantahalas, and the old “chug
chug” at Stone Mountain. Firestone people know these and
other steam-driven iron horses which have been revived for
short runs and tourist developments in the South.
Comes now the good news
that there’s a widespread revival
of the exciting days of the steam
locomotive. In dozens of places
Across the country you can take
short trips through the country
wide or in recreation areas, for
the thrill of riding behind a
Powerful steam engine.
And you can revel in the mu-
wic of the hiss of the steam, the
Pounding thrust of the wheel
^rivers; the wail that only steam
impart to a lonesome
'thistle.
The Firestone company has
^ad a part in bringing back
®ome of this past glory. In
^any places railroad enthusi
asts are recovering the steam
days" for oldsters to recall and
for youngsters to experience the
first time.
One of these trains had a
comeback the past summer,
when a group of railroad fans
in Akron, Ohio acquired a 22-
ton, 110-foot engine that gets up
a good head of steam to run
special excursions throughout
the East and Middle West.
Steam Tours, Inc., a group of
some 100 railroad buffs, bought
the locomotive last year from
the Reading, Pa., Railroad for
$18,000. They spent thousands
more to restore it “right.”
As the largest operating steam
CASEY JONES
WOULD BE PLEASED
engine in the country, it is re
viving the past, in time, for
millions of people.
ENGINE 2102 first had a test
run between Akron and Hud
son, Ohio. In July it made a run
from Chicago to South Bend,
Ind., and in August, a run from
Detroit to Durand, Mich., and
return.
On both trips it had gondola
cars, coaches and baggage cars
to serve the hundreds of pas
sengers.
Part of the train was a
20,000-gallon tanker with the
Firestone name emblazoned
across it — the kind of tank
often seen bringing materials
into the Gastonia plant. Nor
mally the company uses this
kind of tank to ship chemicals,
latex, dip, and other materials
used in manufacturing.
ON THE Steam Tours Train
the Firestone tank hauls water
to feed the giant steam engine.
This way, it can take water “on
the run” and not have to make
stops which might tie up the
railroad lines.
The steam locomotive started
declining about 1925 and by the
early '’50s there were more die
sels than steam engines. Most re
maining steam engines are rest
ing in museums or running on
short lines.
But not Old 2102. It will be
out on the Grand Trunk lines
letting you see and experience
how things used to be.
Did somebody say “Casey
Jones would be pleased”?