J M* f
/ VP** I
/ *r MH Sttas I
No. 6 and 4 Mills
At W. Durham In
Production of Percales
Will Be Doubled To Meet
Increasing Market Demand
In order to centralize the output
of percale sheeting, now made only
in our No. 6 Mill, it has been de
cided to combine No. 6 with No. 4
Mill in West Durham. No. 1 Mill,
also in Durham, will eventually be
converted to percales in order to
double production. These changes
are part of the s2y 2 million mod
ernization program announced last
summer.
The nearly 200 employees now
working at No. 6 have been offered
jobs in West Durham. Those who
accept can plan to make the change
about nine months from now. Space
for the machinery from No. 6 Mill
must be prepared before the move
can be made.
• Digging to Begin Soon
It is expected that work will be
gin within the next month to ex
cavate under No. 4 Mill. The area
to be dug will extend from the Main
Gate of No. 4 Mill to the west end
of the building and across the en
tire width. Present plans call for
the Cards and Sliver Lappers from
No. 6 to be installed underneath the
present No. 4 Card Room. The
Weave Room will be under the pres
ent No. 4 Spinning Room. The en
tire area will be air-conditioned.
Employees Informed
Before the announcement of the
change was made public, W. V.
Byers, Manager of the Durham Er
win Mills, talked to the employees
at No. 6 about the move and the
reasons for it. He said that bv
putting both mills under one roof.
* we could work more efficiently and
lower production costs. "One of our
problems here at No. 6," said Mr.
Byers, "is transportation of both
* raw cotton and finished goods.
Combining the two mills will elimi
nate this problem entirely."
Mill History
No. 6 Mill is the former Pearl
Cotton Mill, established in 1892 by
B. L. Duke. It was named after
his favorite daughter, Pearl. Op
erations began with 10,000 spindles
and 210 broad looms, the first mill
constructed in the South for the
manufacture of wide sheeting. Since
there was no bleachery in the South,
brown goods were shipped to Utica,
N. Y., to be bleached and sent to
customers. Erwin Cotton Mills even
tually did the bleaching. Erwin
Mills bought the plant in 1932 and
added new equipment. It has been
producing percales since 1950.
E. M. Holt, Director of our new Research and Development Division, is re'
garded as one of the best technical men in the industry. He started working
for the Company in Erwin in 1921. In 1926 he moved to Durham as Super
intendent of No. 1 Mill and later Superintendent of No. 4. He was Assistant
Manager of the Durham plants for two yean and moved to Cooleemee to be
come Manager there in 1934. Prom January 1947 until his recent appointment
as Director of Research and Development, he was General Manager of all
Erwin Mills.
THE ERWIN CHATTER
Vol. VIII, No. 11
>V. V •> .h "* V . "?•
103,400 square feet under No. 4 Mill will be excavated in next nine months,
Managers In Durham For Two-Day Meeting
It's front page news when all of
our Managers gather at the same
place at the same time! Here they
are, in conference and between ses
sions at the Durham meeting No
vember 4 and 5 when decentraliza
tion plan was announced.
' :HEr. - B
M. R. Harden, Manager of Plant 8,
Stonewall, Miss, gets the latest news
from N. A. Gregory, Assistant Secre
tary.
E. H. Boat, Erwin Manager, and J. L.
James, Manager of the Cooleemee
units in conference. W. H. Muse, As
sistant Manager at Erwin is seated be
hind Mr. James.
President Ruffin announced that
no decision has been reached as to
what will be done with the No. 6
mill property after it is vacated.
NOVEMBER, 1952
C. R. Harris, Vice President of Erwin Mills, calls managers meeting to OTder.
Seated on right are President Ruffin and W. V. Byers, Durham Manager.
M. R. Harden in left foreground.
i& aaiifiiii i sgm
_ ~ i
kMSm «. I
ft * B
yklL Yi X-JI ■£,-. ■ I
E. H. Boat discusses problems with R. H. Lewis, Standards Department, and
J. L. James, Cooleemee Manager.
25 Year Club
Banquets Planned
Magic Shows, Speakers
Scheduled For Annual
Quarter- Century Banquets
Wallace the Magician will wave
his magic wand over guests at the
annual Twenty-Five Year Club Ban
quets for Durham, Cooleemee and
Erwin employees this year. The
speaker for each banquet will be
an executive of Erwin Mills.
Durham will have the first ban
quet this year on November 29. The
Cooleemee banquet will be held in
Salisbury at the Yadkin Hotel on
DIGGING UNDER NO. 4 TO BEGIN SOON
1" i .jMrnmaig^
DOCK LOVE, Overseer in No. 4 Carding indicates where No. 6 equipment
will eventually be moved. Some of area is now used to store old looms.
Changes In Executive
Management Announced
the night of December 6. In Erwin
the celebration will be held at 12:30
p.m., December 13.
Two new Fifty Year employees
will be added to the roster this year.
They are Graham A. Wilson of
Durham, and Robert W. Wilkerson
of Erwin.
Altogether there will be eighty
two new Twenty-Five Year Club
members. Thirty-eight new mem
bers are from Erwin, twenty-nine
from Durham and fifteen from Coo
leemee.
The NLRB election for Plant No.
7, Neuse, is scheduled for Wed
nesday, December 3. Employees
will have the opportunity to vote
for the CIO Union, AFL Union,
or No Union.
Circulation 6,000
All Managers Given Added
Responsibilities; Neto
Research Division To Aid
Modernization Program
Some changes in the executive
management organization of Erwin
Mills were announced this month
and went into effect immediately.
The changes have placed more re
sponsibility directly upon the man
agers. This is a decentralization
plan which gives managers greater
independence in operating their
mills.
Division Created
A. Research and Development Di
vision has been created, and E. M.
Holt has been named Director. His
work will include machinery re
search, quality control of products,
as well as development of new
products and styles. This is in line
with our expanded efforts toward
modernization and improvement.
To Help Managers
As Vice President and Assistant
Treasurer, C. R. Harris will con
tinue to have the responsibility of
over-all production of the Mills.
Marchant Cottingham and E. G.
Mclver, Jr. assist Mr. Harris and
are available to help the managers
with manufacturing problems which
they may have.
Return to Early Ideas
According to President Ruffin,
the decentralization is ''really a re
turn to practices which proved suc
cessful in the early days of Erwin
Mills. There is a general tendency
in industry toward decentralization
and we find that it fits in with our
modernization program and our ef
forts to meet our competition with
greater efficiency."
Negotiations In
Full Swing
The first contract negotiating
meeting between the Company and
the UTW (AFL) was held in Dur
ham on November 10. The AFL
represents employees in Cooleemee
and Durham. Last month the AFL
«nd the Company reached agreement
on the extension of the old contract
through November 25. In the event
a new contract has not been signed
by that date, negotiations will con
tinue.
In Erwin, negotiations between
Erwi* Mills and the TWUA CIO)
began October 30.
The Company will notify employ
ees immediately when the de
cisions are reached and the eontraefa
are gigned.
]
J rmpkj 1
/kfUMSUtaX
( AknMs J