January/February, 1975
PIEDMONITOR
page three
Piedmont fabricators is our non-aviation division
Of the several not-so-familiar businesses that
make up Piedmont Aviation, Inc. Piedmont
Fabricators is probably the least well-known.
It is the only manufacturing area of the
Company’s operation and is the fourth feature
topic in this Piedmonitor series about the other
than airline businesses of Piedmont.
Piedmont Fabricators manufactures furni
ture, primarily for beauty and barber shops.
But they also do custom fixture work for a
variety of clients. One of their most unusual
products was a cardiac unit which they built
for a Winston-Salem hospital.
Though it is almost an entirely non-aviation
business now, Piedmont did get into it, if in
directly, through some work being done by the
Business Aircraft Department several years
ago. A number of Piedmont’s business air
craft customers were bringing in planes to be
reconfigured for corporate use. These custom
ers had very definite ideas about how they
wanted the interiors of their airplanes. Their
requests frequently required woodworking
capabilities beyond those Piedmont had in-
house. This led to the Company’s buying out a
small carpentry shop, the Irvin Manufacturing
Company, in Winston-Salem.
After the Irvin acquisition Piedmont took
in more outside work in this field. Then, in
1968, the Company purchased another small
firm, Fabricated Products, of Greenville, South
Carolina. Fabricated Products manufactured
laminated plastic furniture. The name of this
South Carolina firm was changed to Piedmont
Fabricators and it w'as moved to Winston-Sa
lem.
One of the first early homes of Piedmont
Fabricators was an old church, located not far
from the Company’s genei’al office building.
In these serene surroundings Piedmont Fab
ricators grew rapidly and soon began making
a profitable contribution to Piedmont Aviation,
Inc.
Fabricators has since moved into new facili
ties and has become one of, if not the, largest
manufacturers of beauty and barber shop
equipment in the Southeast.
They have representatives in 28 states and
regularly ship their products into New England
and as far west as North Dakota and Colorado.
The 20 employees at Piedmont Fabricators
proudly offer their customers designs ranging
h-om French Provincial and Mediterranean to
Early American. The furniture is made mostly
of Novoply and then laminated with plastic.
Nearly 40 per cent of their business last
year was custom equipment for chain stores,
like The Jewel Box. Piedmont Fabricators can
produce a turn key shop, including display
cabinets and desks. In other words, everything
but the wall can be supplied.
Piedmont Fabricators did build all of the
counters in the airline’s Central Reservations
Office several years ago. And they are cur
rently working on the display boards for the
Greensboro-High Point Airport. But other than
these two projects. Piedmont Fabricators is
basically Piedmont’s only diversification from
the aviation business.
■■I
Fabricators General Manager Ralph Hicks makes a final
check of a carrousel mirror for a beauty salon. Beauty
and barber shop equipment are the primary products of
Piedmont Fabricators.
jssiStm
TP
Filing, to Vera Taylor, has nothing to do with putting
papers in a folder. She files to a smooth finish the
furniture's formica edges.
Plant Superintendent John Stowers examines the gril
work on a PF manufactured reception desk.
Mary Williams, who has been with Piedmont since 1969,
is shown here trimming a laminate plastic counter top.
Mary is also skilled in the use of other precision tools.
Spring is
Braniff has invited you to come fly with
them to New Orleans. The $54 price tag in
cludes round trip air fare from any point on
their system, three days and two nights to the
Braniff Place Hotel on the edge of the French
Quarter, a tour of the city and a French Quar
ter carriage tour. The trip is available for
employees, spouses and family members. For
reservations contact the Braniff Pass Bureau,
P.O. Box 35001, Dallas, Texas 75235.
Shakespeare's England
Depart New York on April 3 and return on
April 10 for a spring tour offered by Caesar
Hotels. Available to full-time employees,
spouses and dependent children, the tour will
fine time for
feature 5 nights in London and a 2-day, 1-
night visit to Stratford-on-Avon, Oxford and
The Cotswolds. Price, including round-trip air
fare via Pan Am from New York to London
as well as accommodations and all the features,
is $199 per person double or triple occupancy;
single supplement is $36. Brochures and res
ervations may be requested through Caesar
Hotels’ Interline Vacations Department, 7733
Forsyth Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63105, (315)
727-1503. Caesar Hotels also offers year-round
“leave any day” Interline Specials to London,
Paris and Rome.
Disney doings
Celebrating its 17th year, the Magic Kingdom
interlining
Club is offering more money-saving values. For
example, during 1975 a 10'/ discount on double
occupancy accommodations for club members
at participating Howard Johnson’s Motor
Lodges throughout the U. S. is available. Ad
vance reservations must be made, identifying
yourself as a club member. Also, with a single
phone call, Magic Kingdom Club members can
obtain complete information and make advance
reservations for vacation plans at Disneyland
and the Disney Hotel in California, or Walt
Disney World and Lake Buena Vista in Florida.
Call Disneyland at (714) 965-2600 and Walt
Disney World, vacation plans at both destina
tions, plus golf and camping holidays at Walt
Disney World.