UNIROYAL CHEM-TEXTS

Vol. 2 PUBLISHED FOR THE PEOPLE OF UNIROYAL CHEMICAL No. 2.

New Equipment for Reclaim Plant Will Keep Us in Reclaim Rubber Business

Our present reclaimed rubber plant dates back to 1895, after fire destroyed the original plant in 1893. For 75 years, we have played an important role in the rubber industry by supplying high quality stocks.

Several years ago, with combining higher production costs and increased shipping expenses, profitability reached a critical point for us in the reclaimed rubber business. Faced with keen competition, reduced prices and low-cost SBR rubber as an alternate, our business was placed in a difficult position. A decision had to be made either to discontinue the business or make major capital investments to modernize the facilities.

After detailed study of the present operation and various improvements and considering the skills of our people, it was decided that a modernization of the facilities would be practical and increase our ability to successfully compete in the market place. An appropriation request for these plans was drawn up and approved.

The “new” plant, efficiently and effectively operated, will help protect the job security of 100 employees while the alternate of going out of the business would have eliminated 150 employees, many with long seniority. Changes in the millrooms, reduced from 3 to 1, will affect the jobs of about 50 employees.

A project team was formed to work on the problem. The team settled on 5 major changes which would offer the best return on investment at this time: 1. fibre separation; 2. fine grinding; 3. central mix in the mill room; 4. revision in the mill room; 5. Zenith and dryer revisions.

The team in charge of the project working closely with the New York engineering group were R. Gaetz, Engineering Dept., Ted Lainas, Reclaim Development; C. Reich, Production and F. Wintsch, Industrial Engineering. Since his transfer to Industrial Relations, Wintsch has been replaced by B. Daily.

This team was charged with the responsibility of making the project go; by developing the flow sheets and recommending the type of equipment. All the details of engineering is being handled by approximately 12 members of the New York corporate engineering staff.

The job to be done consists of removing the fibre from old tires to prepare them for the fine grinding operation. By doing a better job of removing the fibre in the early steps and also by finer grinding, the digester cycle will be shortened, and chemical costs reduced. Also, fine grinding prior to digesting, allows us to make one pass through the mill rooms instead of 4 passes under the old system. The fine grinding, fibre separation and central mixing will be new departments and will require new skills. Engineering also estimates that we would have

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U.S. BOND DRIVE AIMS FOR 50% PARTICIPATION

John D. Evans, Factory Manager, named Fred Wintsch chairman of the 1968 U.S. Savings Bonds and Freedom Shares Drive at the Naugatuck plant. The drive was sponsored for two weeks from May 6 to May 17.

Last year’s campaign at the Naugatuck plant added 72 new savers to the payroll deduction plan; 88 employees increased their participation; and 152 purchased the new Freedom Shares. Approximately 40% of the Chemical employees are enrolled in the purchase of U.S. Savings Bonds and Freedom Shares.

The goal for the 1968 drive according to Wintsch was to attain 50% participation by Chemical plant employees. A committee of 71 canvassers had been organized in different sections of the plant. Members of the committee were the following: Warren Singleton, E. G. Broderick, Mary Sullivan, J. Flickinger, Harold Smith, L. Anderson, S.E. Salva, R.W. Stutzman, L. P. Ferrigno, T.J. Shilinskas, Harold Campbell, O. Zaprazalka, R.M. Bioski, M.A. Lasky, D. Johnson, E. J. Greene, F.X. O’Shea, R. Rosenbaum, C.C. Smith, A. Budd, I.A. Prager, P.J. Lazaras, W.R. Smith, V.R. Lardi, A.J. Loman, J.F. Zappala, M.E. Kuryn, G.M. Stone, R. Juliano, D. Pagnoni, C. Terniko, L. Scheithe, M. Dodd, T. Dowling, J. Homyetski, F. Magnamo, L. McCoy, G. Baktis, W. Frankerberg, A. Enamait, A. Pistarelli, E. Polonis, W. Booth, D. Rappe, T. Skehan, H. Piascik, R.R. Foltz, M. Mazur, S. Petkis, R. Magnamo, T. McMahon, L. Opdyke, L. Evan, J. Casey, J. Tierney, S. Korpusik, C. Bulka, W. Lannon, D. Nelson, J. Murtha, K. Pittner, R. Burns, J. Quint, V. Alves, J. Carroll, R. Terino, J. Vergosen, P. Norton, R. Krajewski, A. Nole and A. Juliano.

George Murdock of the Treasury Department addressed the group on the advantages of payroll deductions as an important part of an employee’s savings program. 70% of Savings Bonds purchasers do not redeem them until after age 65. In this way, the tax liability on E. Bond interest could be greatly reduced and even eliminated entirely under some circumstances.

[IMAGE: Black and white photograph showing industrial equipment on a rooftop]

New cyclones have already been installed on roof of reclaim plant.

Foremen’s Club Elects Officers

The Naugatuck Chemical Foremen’s Club elected Lou Kaiser president of the Club at its monthly meeting at the Elks’ Club. Other officers named were Joe Bucciaglia, Vice-President; Jan Baclawski, Secretary and Joe Murtha, reelected as Treasurer. They succeed Vic Alves, Earl Wright and Eric Johnson who served as the Club’s officers the past year.

The Club held its annual banquet on May 16; and will hold a dinner dance in October; outdoor summer picnics and a summer picnic for the family.

A membership drive is being organized to increase the Club’s members. Any salaried, male employee of the Naugatuck plant can join the Club which sponsored a $250 scholarship fund this year.

Still in the idea stage, Kaiser hopes to organize discussion meetings between representatives of various departments to interchange ideas and to become better acquainted with and understand the problems of different departments. By open table discussion, production, engineering, R & D, materials handling, maintenance and other departments can get to know each other’s problems and to coordinate and integrate their activities more effectively.

CHEM TEXTS

Vol. 1 No. 3 | Page 3

Materials Department Saves Shoe Leather

Supervisor Frank Lynch is shown below with the first bicycle recently acquired by the Materials department. The vehicle is saving considerable walking and enables the supervisors in the department to save a lot of time in getting around the plant. Since this picture was taken, the department has received two additional bicycles and several other departments have indicated an interest in this method of in-plant travel.

Fireman On The Job 55 Years

On Monday, October 2, a fire in a bale of rubber in Mill Room “C” of the Reclaim production department touched off 3 sprinkler heads. The fire was contained by the sprinkler equipment and extinguished by the fire department with no resulting damage. When the spent heads were replaced one of them was found to have a 1912 date (all sprinkler heads are stamped with their date of manufacture and back in those days were installed the same year they were produced).

Our insurance carrier has suggested that we replace all of the old sprinkler heads in the Reclaim department with modern up-to-date units. This project will get underway soon; meanwhile, the old timers on the job after over 50 years still give us 100% protection.

Old Timers Corner

Approximately 1934 – our Laboratory group – how many do you recognize? First Row: l to r: C.S. Johnson; J. Brandien; G. Gesslander; J. Breachevelt; E. Anderson; H. Reardon; L. Sokoloski; P.H. Watkins; H.C. Miller; A.W. Holmberg. Second Row: R. Evans; C. Durbin; R. Palomski; J. Smey; A. Maine; A. Sears; M. Moriarity; I. Schildgen; E. Deady; P. Jillson; L. Meuser; F. Holbrook; E. Burns; H. Newman; A. Bernard; P. Leaper. Third Row: F. Mikalchus; J. Fairbanks; H. Bassford; J. Titley; H. Monroe; A. Smey; D. Fowler; M. Shepard; A. Anderson; V. Smith; M. Aeschbach; J. Marnuccio; W. Miller; M. Booth; F. Cretella; A. Rau; W. Messer. Fourth Row: D. Valvo; W. Gillich; C. Holt; H. Edmon; T. Lynch; R. Grele; D. Volpe; J. Murtha; E. Weaving; J. Convard; J. Ash; A. Pistarelli; K. Rappe; J. Worrell. Fifth Row: L. Sequenzia; B. Lynch; O. Blomquist; L. Steinle; W.G. Kirby.

PLANT EMPLOYEES EARN DEGREES

Earl Wright | Pat DePaolo | Fred Wintsch

Earl Wright, Pat DePaolo and Fred Wintsch all have something in common – a college degree earned in 1967.

Earl was awarded his BS degree in Industrial Management from Quinnipiac College in New Haven. He came with us in 1946 as a trainee in the Kralac department of Chemical Production. He was made a foreman, 2nd class in 1959, 1st class in 1961 and an area foreman in 1963.

Pat earned his master’s degree in chemistry from Southern Connecticut State College. He was employed in 1963 and worked in the Research and Development department prior to his recent transfer to the Sales Department. He earned his BA degree from Univ. of Mass. in 1963.

Fred was awarded a Master’s Degree in Management from Rensselaer Poly. Inst. branch in Connecticut. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. in 1962 with a BA degree in Industrial Administration. He came with the company in 1963 as a time study man in the Industrial Engineering department. He is presently a supervisor in the Industrial Relations Department.

The degrees were earned under the Company’s tuition aid plan.

SPORTS….

Basketball… Two teams are being formed again this year for entry into the Industrial Council League. Practice sessions have been held at the YMCA and league play began on Wednesday, December 6 at Hillside Junior High School. Anyone interested in joining a team should contact J. Prior at Ext. 575 at Synthetic or Bob Pettigrew, Ext. 692 at Chemical. The two teams were active in the league last year with the Chemical team winning the championship.

Bowling…
Friday Nite Alembic League
With 3 weeks of bowling left before the end of the first round, Chemical Production is enjoying a comfortable lead. The standings:
1. Chem. Prod. – 23-7
2. D & G – 19-11
3. Dust Collectors – 18-12
4. Office – 17-13
5. Syn. “Odds” – 16-14
6. Pipers – 12-18
7. Syn. “Evens” – 10-20
8. Tinners – 5-25

…Tuesday Nite Alembic League

Team Standing	Won	Lost
Office	27	17
Production	25	19
Rubber Testing	22	22
Development	21	23
Bethany Lab	21	23
Hi Fi	21	23
Lab	21	23
Engineers	19	25

A Big Spender

In the last five years the company has invested an average of 80 million dollars a year in expansion and modernization. In addition, we purchase from 17,500 companies, large and small, more than 600 million dollars worth of materials, supplies and services a year. Much of this is spent in communities where the company operates plants. These purchases, added to payrolls, taxes and other payments, pour more than a billion dollars a year into the nation’s economy.

1967 Safety Box Score

10 Months Thru October 31st

	1967	1966
Lost Time Injuries	14	19
Serious Injuries	47	58
Total	61	77

Our on-the-job record of injuries continues at an unsatisfactorily high level. If the present rate continues, 1 out of every 10 workers in the plant will be involved in a serious injury in 1967. We must all decide now to do everything within our power to make Uniroyal Chemical a safer place to work.

This means we must do our jobs in the safest way possible – no shortcuts, no taking chances and no inattention. Each of us must concentrate on performing his part of the operation to the best of his ability while obeying the rules of safety required for the area.

At Press time, three more lost-time accidents have taken place in early November. Only you can stop this record from climbing higher.

Tire Tip

For long tire mileage and safety, our tire engineers recommend checks of tire pressure at least once a month. Such checks should be made after the car has stood for three hours or has been driven less than a mile. By the way, air pressure should not be reduced in a warm tire after a long trip. Air pressure naturally drops as tires cool down.

Garnet Gleam of the Air

Uniroyal Chemical is again sponsoring the high school radio program “Garnet Gleam of the Air”. The program, produced by Naugatuck High School students, is broadcast over radio station WOWW at 1:00 P.M., Sundays.

CHEM-TEXTS – Vol. 1, No. 2 – Page 1