(Registered with U. S. Patent Office) f Volume VII HIGH POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, MARCH, 1955 No. 28 MESSAGE EROM THE PRESIDENT TO MY FELLOW WORKERS: Whenever I visit an Anvil Brand production department a recurring thought comes to my mind. To the eye such a department is a picture of industrious men and women, quantities of cloth in a variety of stages of manufacture, busy machines and equipment, work and play clothes in process. But to me it is more than a pic ture. I think of this scene as a typical cross section of our indus trial nation — living evidence of hy ours is the most progressive and strongest country in the world. For our Anvil Braiid dej_;rtment represents true Productivity. Being ambitious we develop spe cial skills. But hands by them selves mean limited production. So we devise machines to give skilled hands greater opportunity. As machines are refined and im proved, new and higher skills de velop and as our productivity in creases our rewards increase proportionately. In this age of better living for all, we owe a salute to these things called machines! In the light of our industrial de velopment it seems strange that there should have been days when the invention of a machine was looked on w'ith distrust and abhor rence. Instead of considering that it meant better things, faster, for more people, it was regarded as an evil instrument for depriving manual workers of jobs. Quite to the contrary, the machine has al ways freed its operator from the tedious drudgery of manual pro duction and historically the intro duction of machines has created new needs for vast numbers of ad ditional jobs. However, this beneficial side of machine production was not real ized in the early days. Back in the 600’s weavers drowned a fellow workman who built a loom handl- (Continued on Page Two) Simplification Study Classes End; 24 Awarded Certificates Twenty-four Anvil Brand em ployees have been awarded certifi cates in recognition of their com pleting the work simplification classes conducted recently by Reit- zel Morgan, supervisor of the en gineering department, and Ossie Wright, Training Director. The classes were held at the YMCA and work included class room instruction as well as home work. A textbook outlining the many phases of work simplifica tion covered, were distributed and Reitzel and Ossie cooperated in presenting the material. The in struction also included films show ing application of motion studies and other factors of work simpli fication. A series of time study classes was concluded Monday of this week. Ruitze! and 0*sie instructed in these, too. In a brief talk to the class Reit zel pointed out there is never a “best method,” but rather there is always a chance of making im provements in methods. This, he said, is one of the many interest ing and gratifying factors in work simplification. He said employees of Anvil Brand should feel fortunate that they work for a company that will support an engineering department as progressive as Anvil Brand’s. “We are fortunate,” he said, “to (Continued on Page Ten) Seven Employees' Donate Blood Seven Anvil Brand employees were included in the donors who gave blood at the last visit of the Red Cross Bloodmobile here. High Point has consistently led the area in its cooperation with the blood program, and it is the consistent support of industrial employees which has insured its success. Donors this time from Anvil Brand included Beatrice Brown, Kathryn Johnson, Gertrude Stutts, Herb Ross, Roger Tate, Patricia Bradshaw and Nancy Potts. CLASS—A portion of the class in work simplification which Reitzel Morgan and Ossie Wright conducted recently, is shown above. The instruction was at the YMCA and 24 Anvil Brand employees were awarded certificates after successfullv completing the course. Safety Film Is Shown In Plants For First Time; Grades Listed A plan designed to increase the effectiveness of Anvil Brand’s safety program is now underway and Ossie Wright ordered a safety film which was to be shown in the plants this week. For some time the possibility of showing these safety films, which the safety inspectors view at their regular monthly meetings, has been discussed. Recently Ossie was told to go ahead with her plans and she ordered one of a series of films which show the “personal side of safety.” Plans were to show the films during a lunch hour in one depart ment of each of the local plants. “We hope these films will show the importance of each individual em ployee making safety their per sonal job,” Ossie said. She pointed out that since Anvil Brand inaugurated its safety pro gram, about 20 percent of the em ployees have seen the films under the rotating safety inspector pro gram. At the safety meeting this month, Ossie, in speaking to the current safety inspectors, empha sized that accidents are becoming a major problem in the plants. She pointed out that in February four employees were sent to the doctor with injuries ranging from a hurt arm, two sewn fingers and a sta ple in finger. She said the total of 23 accidents for the month is “heavy.” Any suggestions for making jobs safer will be welcome, Ossie said, and urged everyone to keep the avoid ance of accidents constantly in mind. A film entitled “Decide To Be Safe” was shown at the meeting which emphasized that each em ployee should “develop his own personal brand of accident control. Such factors as lifting heavy ob jects in the proper way, using the correct tool for each job, taking care to avoid falls and many other potential accident causes, were included. This is the type film which will be viewed in the plant-wide show ings. Safety grades for February, by departments, are: Hudson office, 96; Sales office, 100; Engineering, 100, White office, 100; Sherrod Cutting, 100; Sherrod Pattern, 100; Sherrod Sewing, 98; Ladies’ Slim- eree, 96; Dungaree I, 98; Dunga ree II, 90; Hudson Cutting, 100; Hudson Maintenance, 100; Hudson Shipping, 96; Pants I, 100; Pants (Continued on Page Two)