APRIL 1976
Gastonia Bennettsville Bowling Green
North Carolina South Carolina Kentucky
Textiles Company
HIGH Bennettsville
SAFETY MARK
• • Ten years without a lost-time industrial injury.
In Bennettsville, Mayor Charles Hollis declared a
“Firstone Recognition Day.” And during that day,
March 25, the 135 people of Firestone Textiles Com
pany’s plant were honored at a luncheon program and
a ceremony at the factory. Safety Recognition Day in
volved top officials of the textiles division and The
Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, civic leaders and
representatives of government.
There were awards, con- year history of the worldwide
gratulations, special recogni
tion and a challenge to
continuing achievement.
The high safety-performance
mark was set Feb. 10, and from
then until the special recogni
tion day, Bennettsville people
added 40,000 more injury-free
manhours, bringing the total
hours worked without a lost
time injury to around 2,685,000.
"THIS IS a record ‘first’ in the
textile industry and among the
very finest ever set by Ameri
can industry generally,” said
James B. Call, president of Fire
stone Textiles Company. “This
is also a record within the 75-
Firestone organization. ... It
can be described only as ‘stu
pendous,’ indeed, a ‘fantabu-
lous’ safety record.”
Awards presented at a plant
ceremony following a luncheon
program were the National
Safety Council’s Award of
Merit, a plaque from the SC De
partment of Labor and Fire
stone’s corporate Safety
Achievement Award.
Employees at the Bennetts
ville plant have received Nation
al Safety Council honors of one
form or another on 14 occasions
over the past 22 years.
More on page 3
Employees looking over plant safety award certificates of the
past (from left): Annie Mae Watson, Sylvia Lockamy and Freddie
Brown. Another grouping of plaques and trophies was displayed at
speakers' platform.
Grant Honorary ATIE Member
Thomas A. Grant, manager of
Industrial Engineering at Fire
stone, Gastonia, has been made
honorary continuing member of
the Association of Textile Indus
trial Engineers. At the Atlanta
meeting in March, Grant was
recognized for contributions to
the group during his 20 years of
membership.
The IE department manager
has been president, vice presi
dent, treasurer and a member of
the board of directors. He con
tributed a chapter to TIME
STUDY MANUAL, one of two
books which the organization
has published. The other book is
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
MANUAL.
ANOTHER Firestone Textiles
*
Richard A. Riley, president
and chief executive officer of
the Firestone company, speak
ing at the Bennettsville plant
ceremony on "Tops in Safe
ty" Honor Day. On plat
form (from left); Glen Cross,
Firestone corporate manager of
organization planning, safety
and suggestions; W. L. Kinney
Jr., editor-publisher of Marl
boro Herald-Advocate and rep
resenting U.S. Sen. Strom Thur
mond from South Carolina;
Frank LePage, Firestone direc
tor and executive vice presi
dent; Bennettsville Mayor
Charles Hollis: James B. Call,
Firestone Textiles Company
president; Edgar A. McGowan,
commissioner of the S.C. De
partment of Labor; and Jay
Rosenson, Firestone vice presi
dent, chemicals and raw materi
als group which includes Fire
stone Textiles Company.
Smith, Fuller & Farmer: New Assignments
Claude W. Smith, named manager of the Bennettsville
plant in March, succeeds Edwin E. Fuller, who was at Ben
nettsville the past six years. Fuller, appointed technical
manager of the Bowling Green plant, is temporarily assigned
to Gastonia and will move to the new job in June.
B. R. Farmer, since 1970 the (Hursey) Smith is a special edu-
member of ATIE is Luther C.
Brown, formerly of the Gastonia
plant and now IE member at
Bowling Green.
ATIE, organized in 1951 as
Southern Textile Methods and
Standards Association, was re
designated Association of Tex
tile Industrial Engineers in 1971.
That same year its regional limi
tations were removed.
Purpose of ATIE is to advance
sound and equitable principles
of industrial engineering in the
textile industry through inquiry
and research, conferences and
educational programs. Its two
scheduled meetings each year
are held in Atlanta and Char
lotte.
Gastonia Process & Product De
velopment projects manager,
succeeds Smith as manager of
technical services.
Smith has been on that assign
ment at the Gastonia division
headquarters since July of 1973.
From Union, S. C., he has a B.S.
degree in textile management
from Clemson University.
FROM a textile firm in Georg
ia, he joined Firestone at Gas
tonia in July of 1965, and soon
afterward was transferred to
Buenos Aires as assistant plant
manager of the company’s tex
tile operation. He returned to
Gastonia from Argentina after
two years, and in early 1968 was
transferred to Bowling Green.
He was plant production man
ager there until his move back
to Gastonia in 1973.
The Smith family will move
to Bennettsville in June. Mrs.
☆ ☆ ☆
• The city of Bowling Green,
Ky. offers land space for people
to grow vegetables through its
free Garden Plot Program. For
this 1976 growing season plots
are being made available in
Pedigo Park, Kereiakes Park and
on land off Lee Drive.
Applications are made through
City Hall and by now, most like
ly all the spaces have been as
signed. ... A good thing for a
city to do! An example of City
Hall serving the people.
THE WEAVER
cation teacher in Costner Ele
mentary School of Gastonia.
The Smiths’ sons—Jeffrey, 11
and Brad, 8, are students at
Gastonia Gardner Park School.
In Gastonia, Mr. and Mrs.
Smith each teach a Sunday
school class in Parkwood Bap
tist Church. He is cub master of
Cub Scout Pack 503 of Gardner
Park.
B. R. Farmer, from Wilson,
N. C., has a B.S. degree in tex
tile engineering from NC State
University. From a textile job
in Kinston, N. C., he joined Fire
stone at Gastonia in early 1964.
Soon thereafter he was appoint
ed manager of the company’s
textile plant in Buenos Aires.
AFTER more than four years
More on page 4
Above:
Claude Smith
(left) and
Edwin Fuller
B. R. Farmer
• Textiles—one of the earliest
great American industries, to
day employs more than a mil
lion people, producing 17 billion
yards of fabric annually.
Six Ended Work Careers
Gertrude McDaniel, reclaimer in preparation, was
5 months into her 41st year of employment at the
Gastonia Firestone plant when she retired in March.
Wayne Odell, weaver in TC Weaving, had 36 years
and 7 months when he finished his employment
record last month.
Others who retired in March: George Honeycutt,
section supervisor in Chafer Weaving, 33 years and
5 months; Claude S. Jonas, section supervisor in
Chafer Weaving, 29 years and 4 months.
Those retiring as of April 1 were Nelson Jackson,
cleaner in Shop, 35 years and 2 months; Joe Bur
roughs, shift maintenance technician, Shop, 30 years;
and William Broome, yarn sorter in Preparation, 33
years and 5 months.