WIRE
TO
WEAVE
Matching Gifts: $2,159,407
It started in 1967 and from
then through fiscal 1976, the
Firestone Matching Gift Pro
gram has helped colleges,
universities and private sec
ondary schools receive a total
$2,159,407.
During the last fiscal year,
683 employees and retirees gave
$131,631 which the company
matched for a total of $263,262.
This was the second-highest
amount in matching gifts in the
history of the program.
Educational institutions (382
of them) received a total 752
gifts, reported the company’s
committee on contributions.
In fiscal 1975, 589 employees
and retirees contributed $95,993
to 273 schools. That year there
were 684 gifts.
FOR 1976. Akron employees
led with the most contributions,
followed by company retirees,
then employees at Gastonia,
NC.; Quincy, 111.; Pottstown, Pa.,
Equal Employment Opportunity
Firestone has continually stressed its commitment to
Equal Employment Opportunity, so that all employees would
be aware of this policy.
As a part of the company's concern lor its employees
and to improve on communication, we again identify our
Equal Employment Opportunity coordinators at the three
plants of Firestone Textiles Company;
S. E. Crawford J. C. Claypool Frances Fletcher
Gastonia Bowling Green Bennettsville
Any employee who wishes to discuss this program or its
application is encouraged to do so with his or her immediate
supervisor, department manager; or directly with the co
ordinator. Copies of our Equal Employment Opportunity
policy statement are on bulletin boards throughout the
plants. For a personal copy, see your g
department manager or the President
coordinator. Firestone Textiles
“T977
Textiles Company
Gastonia Bennettsville t> ^ l
7V7- ^ /• r I ^ Bon>Imp (jreen • Kentucky
rsorth L,aroltna South Carolina
A Rccovd 1977 For The Tire Industry
Look for 1977 to be an all-time record year in the
tire industry, with sales reaching 255.6 million tires
of all types. (The previous record was 251.4 million
sold in 1973.)
This outlook by Firestone
board chairman Richard A.
Riley pointed to the expect
ed record sales also as being
a gain of 10.9 per cent sales
over that of 1976. The Fire
stone chairman said:
Hundreds of strands of wire are woven into steel
fabric used in Firestone steel-belted radial tires.
Here, Firestone photographer Chuck Lyons, visit
ing from the company’s Akron headquarters in
1976, examined the warp of steel during a produc
tion operation in Wire Weaving at the Gastonia
plant. Worldwide, the tire industry annually builds
more than 160 million pounds of steel wire into
tires.
and district offices and stores.
Under the company Matching
Gift Program, an employee, re
tiree or spouse of an employee
or retiree can contribute up to
$1,000 per year to any accredit
ed tax-supported college or uni
versity in the United States, or
up to $3,000 per year to any ac
credited private college, univer
sity or secondary school. Each
contribution will be matched by
the company.
Your donation must be at least
$25 per year, if it is to be match
ed by the company.
Suppose you want to con
tribute to a school and you don’t
know if it’s on the accredited
list. You can find out, along
with any further information, by
asking industrial relations man
ager or controller at any Fire
stone plant. Or, you can contact
Martha L. Sample who adminis
ters the program at corporate
headquarters in Akron, Ohio.
“This would set the industry
on a new path of unit growth,
expected to continue into the
1980s.” He noted that the an
ticipated sales gains reflect
growth expected in overall de
mands as well as replenishing of
wholesale and retail supplies
which were greatly reduced by
the 131-day industry strike last
summer. On the tire industry,
Mr. Riley added:
• In dollar volume, signifi
cant gains are expected in 1977
because of the continuing in
creased marketing of radial
passenger tires. In 1977, total ra
dial passenger-tire sales are ex
pected to reach 97.9 million
units (in 1976 it was 81.3 mil
lion.)
This 20.4 per cent year-to-year
gain in radial passenger tire
sales should have a positive ef
fect on the industry’s 1977 dollar
volume, net income and profit
margins.
• Of the international market:
The overall picture should be
brighter than in 1976. Some
pick-up is expected especially
in Canada and Europe. In 1977
we expect the industry to move
along steadily but not dramatic
ally—with the second half of the
year better than the first.
Mr. Riley said specifically of
Firestone:
"WE EXPECT to strengthen
our industry position in tires in
1977 in line with the expected
growth of the market. And we
are anticipating continued
growth in our diversified, raw
materials and chemical opera
tions which—taken as a whole
—were reasonably strong in 1976
and will be stronger in 1977.”
They’re Interested In GREAT
Three Marlboro County (SC)
towns in a recent joint meeting
discussed particulars on the S.C.
Development Board’s “GREAT
Town” Program.
Bennettsville, the county seat,
in late December was in its final
seven-step program known as
the Governor’s Rural Ek;onomic
Achievement Trophy (GREAT).
Interest created through Ben-
nettsville’s industrial recruit
ment efforts of the GREAT pro
gram extended to the other
towns in the county—Clio, Mc-
Coll and Tatum. All three are
hometowns of Firestone (Ben
nettsville) employees.
The GREAT Town program
promotes community improve
ment; encourages and prepares
for industrial development, and
assists existing industry to ex
pand operations.
In Bennettsville’s GREAT ef
fort, Firestone Textiles Company
was one of 16 industries inter
viewed, and helped in promoting
the development program.
‘Smog Hog’ Going In
• • Installation of the new pollution-abate-
ment equipment for No. 8 Treating Unit at
Gastonia was completed in late December,
with start-up scheduled for early January.
The main cleaning equipment, trade-
named “Smog Hog,” was manufactured by
United Air Specialists of Cincinnati and in
stalled by Industrial Piping Inc. of Pine-
ville, N. C. Several Charlotte sub-contract
ors helped in the project.
In these photos, workmen were making
control connections and installing ductwork
to join hot-air exhausts to the two electro
static precipitators.
Projects engineer E. H. (Chip) Hurst ex
plains its operation: The “Smog Hog” elec
trically charges the smoke particles from
the Unit, then collects them on the thou
sands of vertical plates. Polluting particles
are thus short-stopped, removed and dis
posed of before they get out to the environ
ment. Says Hurst:
“The electrostatic-collecting principle is
party rub a balloon against fur and stic
the balloon to a wall.”
lav
ick