FOTOFAX
BREVARD PLANT
PHOTO PRODUCTS DEPARTMENT
i ^
FOCUS:
Changes Delayed
But Inevitable
Most people quickly forget much of what they see and hear. In fact,
researchers report that only 1 % of the viewing audience remembers TV
commercials they viewed 30 days previously. This is why we are shown
the same commercials over and over again.
With this thought in mind, 1 want to repeat the facts that Norm Alford
and I presented in the Employee Business Seminar. Unlike most televi
sion messages, this information is immediately important to all of us,
and our futures depend on our being conscious of these new realities as
we go about the day’s work.
Our business situation is changing, due to increased competitive pres
sures, governmental programs to curtail rising medical costs, investor
owned hospitals negotiating for lower priced x-ray film, and the shifting
of patient loads from hospitals to out-patient clinics.
All have contributed to a slow decline in the demand for our prod
ucts.
We are now finishing Industrial Products and Medical Recording film,
which gives the appearance of inrroa;pr) demanH Rut thi« 19 not moro
business, just a transfer of jobs from other locations to our own.
Although it is fortunate that we received this work, it only delays the ar
rival of the challenges that were forecast in the seminar.
1 have stated many times during the past year that change is inevita
ble, and this is still valid.
We cannot stop change from taking place, but we can manage it.
Those who survive in the years ahead will share a few things in com
mon. These include:
• Making high quality products that meet customer needs.
• Selling at competitive prices.
• Being profitable enough to stay in business.
The message to us is clear. The road to success means a continual
focus on product quality, cost containment, and productivity improve
ments. Successful startup of new equipment is essential.
Above all, we must realize that personal excellence in job perform
ance is vital for our continued success, and that concern for the eco
nomic needs of the plant is in our own best self interest.
room w/THA V/£™o“ng go/d " unseen hands, to avoid associating
people with food.
Vol. 17, No. 3
1984
m
Dave Barron and son, Chris, at their camp in Max Patch, tending young eagles for release
into the wild.
DAVE BARRON:
A Hope For Eagles
Dave Barron didn’t really “soar with
the eagles’’, but he may have come
close, as he took his family over miles
of rough and narrow mountainside
logging roads, into the Max Patch area
of Pisgah National Forest, to try to
bring back eagles to our skies.
“It’s beautiful there,” Dave reports,
“but it’s sort of tough for a family to
stay very long. We had to carry our
drinking water in with us, and the only
place to bathe is a pond, ’way down
the road. If you wait till dark for pri
vacy, it can be a long, lonesome walk
back for a wife and kids.”
The Barrons were tending two gold
en eagles, hatched and raised in Min
nesota, then brought to North Caro
lina for release.
“The problem is getting them to live
without human help,” Dave explains.
The birds have never lived free, nor
had wild parents to teach them.
Volunteers such as Dave and his
family go to remote areas to care for
the eagles until they seem prepared to
move into nature. Once a day, two and
a half pounds of raw meat is dropped
through the trap of a special cage that
allows the keepers to tend the birds
without being seen. The eagles see
only the mountains and sky before
them; volunteers observe from a blind
to be sure there are no problems.
After weeks of looking out into na
ture, it’s hoped the birds will forget
their association with human-kind,
and take their rightful place in the sky,
learning hunting skills as hunger drives
them.
“At least, that’s the notion,” Dave
explains, “it may be too soon to know
if it will work or not. But at least we’re
trying.”
Dave heard about the effort to save
the eagle through his bowhunting club.
“Lots of folks don’t understand
hunters,” he says. “And I guess we do
take some understanding. But we’re
often seen as — I don’t know, de
stroyers, I guess, and that isn’t so. We
feel that hunting is part of man’s true
nature, and we want the same thing
for all animals: to live free, raise
young, hunt or be hunted, as it was
meant for each of us.
“I think thoughtless developers, not
hunters, are the enemies of wildlife.
“Our bowhunters club is active in
several environmental projects,” says
Dave. “But there are a lot of other
groups, and individuals, doing stuff
like the eagle project — it still isn’t
nearly enough to protect the natural
world.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a
hunter or an anti-hunter. If someone
wants to protect the environment,
we’ll all be glad to help you find a way
to get involved!”