UNIROYAL CHEM-TEXTS
Vol. 7, 1973 PUBLISHED FOR THE PEOPLE OF UNIROYAL CHEMICAL No. 4
Gaetz To Head UG
[IMAGE: Photo of Roderick Gaetz wearing glasses]
Roderick Gaetz has been named Chairman for the annual United Givers campaign to be conducted at the Naugatuck plant, it was announced by James Cronin, Factory Manager.
$22,300 Contributed In 1972 Drive
The United Givers drive in 1972 was the most successful ever conducted at the Naugatuck plant when employees pledged $22,300 and topped the 100% goal, one of the few industries in the community to go over its quota. The amount represented approximately one third of the total Industrial goal.
(Cont’d on page 3)
Company Cancels Stock Plan
The Company decided to refund all money paid into the 1971-1973 Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan, plus 5% interest. The plan officially ended September 28.
The right to cancel the plan was exercised by the Company when the stock fell below the original offering price of $19.3125.
Separate refund and interest checks were to be mailed to employees in early October.
Under the two year plan employees could purchase up to ten percent of their earnings for one year in Uniroyal’s common stock.
At the August meeting of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors it indicated that a new stock purchase plan would not be offered to employees at the present time.
New Roylar Plant To Be Constructed At Naugatuck
A new multimillion dollar Roylar polyurethane facility will be constructed at the Naugatuck plant. This will be the first million dollar capital expenditure for a production operation at Naugatuck in over twenty years —except for the $3,000,000 liquid waste pretreatment plant. Presently Roylar is manufactured in Bldg. 47. Operations will be continued there until the new plant is ready.
The new manufacturing facilities will be installed in Bldgs. 80 and 7 which were formerly used for Drying and Grinding thiazoles.
Completion of the new plant is scheduled in mid 1974.
Thiazoles Moved
The thiazole production operations were moved to a new Chemical division plant in Geismar, La. The thiazoles (MBT-MBTS-DELAC-S-OXAF) represented about % of the Chemical Production output. These delayed action accelerators are the workhorses of the rubber and are used in almost all automobile tires, footwear, and wire and cables.
Complete Operation
The new facilities will have a larger and more sophisticated casting line for not only making the intermediates but also for doing the finishing and compounding operations. The Bldg. 47 plant now makes only the intermediates which are sent outside the plant for finishing.
Production will be increased more than double when the plant is in full operation.
Can Replace Metal
Demand for Roylar has grown significantly over the past years to a point where the facilities in Bldg. 47 can no longer meet customer requirements.
Roylar is the Chemical division trade name for a family of urethane elastomers that are so tough that they have been used to replace metals. They can be processed by conventional thermoplastic techniques and can be formulated as hard as ebonite or as soft as an eraser.
Engineers Involved
The Project Manager for the new plant is Neil Klarfeld, of the Corporate Engineering group at Oxford. Gary Arndt, Bertil Frennesson, Alamin Hoodbhoy, Alan Zimmerman and Peter Gucciardo—of the plant Engineering department—will provide the technical assistance for the job.
Chemical Builds Brazil Plant
Uniroyal Chemical will construct a new $4 million rubber chemicals complex in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Completion is scheduled in early 1975.
The Flexzones—the family of antiozonants—used in tires, industrial rubber products and synthetic rubber—will be the first of a series of chemicals manufactured at the new facility.
The new plant will be constructed outside Sao Paulo, on a 200 acre tract purchased by the Company for chemical manufacturing operations.
Styrene Shortage
Synthetic Production has been cut back to no more than five days of work because of a nationwide styrene shortage. The manufacturers of styrene supplying the Synthetic plant have put it on an allocated basis and have not been able to supply the requirements for more than a five day production schedule.
Production had been operating on a 6 day week schedule prior to the cutback.
Styrene is one of the basic chemicals used in the manufacture of synthetic rubber and latex. It is expected that the shortage of styrene will continue into 1974.
Vila Visits Bethany Greenhouse
[IMAGE: Photo showing George Vila and Dr. Alfred Mitlehner examining plants in a greenhouse, with signs visible reading “P944-01E”, “100ppm”, and “SEVIN Ex.”]
George Vila, left, checks the results of a new agricultural chemical developed for food crops at the Agricultural Chemicals Research center in Bethany. Dr. Alfred Mitlehner, right, explains how the chemical reacts when applied at different dosage levels.
George Vila, President and Chairman of the Board of Uniroyal, Inc. visited the Agricultural Chemicals Research and Development laboratory in Bethany for a review of the research work for new and safe chemicals for use on food crops.
One of the more interesting new chemicals under test are the antitranspirants. These reduce the amount of water required for a plant’s normal growth. An average crop requires about 22 inches of rainfall per acre but the antitranspirants could markedly reduce this amount and conserve water, according to Dr. John Zukel who is doing the research work on them.
Other chemicals under study for commercial use are soybean growth regulants, new types of preemergence herbicides, new insecticides, growth regulants, abscission agents and Omite® safening agents.
Bulletin
3 Lost Time Accidents occurred in September to make it the worst month for safety during the year. As a result of the injuries the Accident Frequency Rate jumped from 10.32 in August to 11.12 in September.
Accident Frequency is the number of Lost Time Accidents and Serious Injuries per 1,000,000 man-hours worked. For the first 6 months it was 8.93, one of the best among Company plants.
A study of the accidents show that most of them were person-caused and could have been avoided by greater alertness and awareness of personal safety.