M H
M N
H I
If ■■
VOL. 1, NUM. 12
NEWSLETTER
GASTONIA. NORTH CAROLINA
MAY, 1988
PLANT MANAGER'S MESSAGE
By: J. Anand
Happenings from the last month were mixed and will
definitely impact our future.
First the election was held with the votes being
213 to 198 in favor of the union.
Next the Bridgestone Corporation acquired The
Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. on April Z5th.
General Motors advised Firestone on April 22 that
after the next year they will not be buying tires
from Firestone. Firestone currently supplies about
6 million tires per year to GM. This is equal to
17,000 lbs. of tire cord fabric per day for
Gastonia.
We reached the 2 million hour mark without a lost
time injury cind then had an employee seriously
injured.
As I said, the news has been very mixed, but all
that has happened cannot be controlled or changed
now. The only mission facing all of us at Gastonia
is to work together to improve our operation so
that regardless of other factors we caji feel
secure. Let us all concentrate on the job ahead of
us.
PRODUCTION
Pounds per
Day
March
April
Decartment*
Required
Actual
Actual
Ply Twisting
158,000
XkX,kkb
133,346
Cable Twisting
158,000
143,004
129,984
Sales Yarn
2,000
2,087
2,381
T. C. Weaving
158,000
149,257
145,312
Ind. Weaving
2,500
2,377
2,630
Treating
165,000
167,820
167,043
Total Lbs. Shipped
4.610.106
4,542.453
‘■‘Operating days vary by depsurtment.
WASTE REPORT
Actual %
Objective %
to Production
to Production
March
Aoril
Twisting
1.40
1.69
1.13
Weaving
.53
.64
.43
Treating
.83
.82
.78
1988 GRADUATES
We plan to honor our high school, college, nursing
school and technical school graduates in the next
issue of our newsletter. If your son, daughter,
grandson or granddaughter is graduating, tell us
about him/her. Send this to Johnette Mitchell,
Personnel. We need this information by June 1.
1988.
NAME OF GRADUATE:
SCHOOL GRADUATING FROM:
CUSTOMER COMMENTS
By: Jeff Heavner
Gastonia's perfomvance for the past two months has
shown significant improvement with respect to
material charged back from the tire plants. One
reason for the improved performance was reaction to
the customers' complaints. It would appear that we
now have identified and corrected Decatur's problem
with untrimmed selvages (filling tails). This had
been the major contributor of chargeback for
Gastonia.
The remaining uncuiswered complaint from Decatur is
for the number of short rolls (less than spec
length) that Gastonia ships them each month. In
April, 19% of the P5126 shipped to Decatur was less
than 1600 yds. (1925 yds. is the spec). Gastonia
shipped 10 rolls that were less than 750 yds. We
need to work together amd concentrate our efforts
on the problems creating the short rolls.
QUALITY
FIRST!
'lum mpucTs mBR
our
Quality sells the customer.
That keeps your company
in business and you
on the payroll.
To address customer complaints emd to prevent
others, Gastonia has begun a program which is
designed to address the problem, identify
corrective action, and assign responsibilities for
the corrective action. The system Ccin be used to
h£indle complaints between departments, as well as,
customer complaints.
Cooley evaluated a roll of polyester fabric woven
by Gastonia, and they were satisfied with the
results. Gastonia is now weaving two other styles
for Cooley for purposes of qualification. It is a
large accomplishment for the west end to weave this
material since the quality requirements are
extremely tough to reach (zero defects).
REWORK REPORT
March
April
EMPLOYEE:
ARE YOU THE GRADUATE'S PARENT OR GRANDPARENT?
(circle one)
Weaving Rerolls Generated
Reweaving Rolls Generated
Treated Rerolls Generated
227 160
60 60
221 191