E.S.C. quarterly

              AtJ*
North Carolina State Library
Raleigh
The E. S. C. Quarterly
VOLUME 16, NO. 1-2 WINTER-SPRING, 1958
DUPONT AND AMERICAN ENKA MANUFACTURE CHEMICAL FIBERS IN NORTH CAROLINA
In four eight-hour shifts employees of the Kinston Dupont "Dacron" Plant carry on the continuous process around the clock. The huge plant is shown
above as it appears at night, in operation. Superimposed is Dupont Business Machine Operator June Wilson of Kinston and Tarboro wearing a black and white
satin ensemble made of "Dacron" and silk and fashioned by Pierre Belmain in Paris, France. This was one of 19 creations by famous French designers
shown in the "Paris to Kinston" Spring Fashion Show commemorating Dupont's fifth anniversary of operations for the Kinston plant.
PUBLISHED BY
Employment Security Commission of North Carolina
RALEIGH, N. C.
PAGE 2 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1951
The E. S. C. Quarterly
(Formerly The TJ.C.C. Quarterly)
Vol. 16, No. 1-2 Winter-Spring, 1958
Issued at Raleigh, N. C. by the
EMPLOYMENT SECURITY COMMISSION OF
NORTH CAROLINA
Commissioners: Mrs. Quentin Gregory, Halifax; Dr. Maurice
Van Hecke, Chapel Hill: R. Dave Hall, Belmont; W. Benton
Pipkin, Reidsville; Bruce E. Davis, Charlotte; Crayon C.
Efird, Albemarle.
State Advisory Council: Public representatives: James A. Brid-ger,
Bladenboro, Chairman; Sherwood Roberson, Roberson-ville;
W. B. Horton, Yanceyville; Mrs. R. C. Lewellyn, Dob-son,
and Dr. J. W. Seabrook, Fayetteville; Employer repre-sentatives:
A. L. Tait, Lincolnton, and W. A. Egerton, Enka;
Employee representatives: Melvin Ward, Spencer, AFL, and
H. D. Lisk, Charlotte, CIO.
HENRY E. KENDALL Chairman
R. FULLER MARTIN Director
Unemployment Insurance Division
JOSEPH W. BEACH Director
North Carolina State Employment Service Division
TED DAVIS Editor
Public Information Officer
Sent free upon request to responsible individuals, agencies,
organizations and libraries. Address: E. S. C. Informational
service. P. O. Box ~>S!>. Raleigh. N. C.
TABLE OF CONTENTS WILL BE FOUND ON PAGE 39
SOME CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE
With this issue of "The E. S. C. Quarterly" you
will note several changes. Roy Brantley who so ably
edited this magazine for the last couple of years has
moved on to a Public Relations position with the
State Personnel Department.
In his place is Ted Davis, who was selected in
February to fill the office of Public Information Offi-cer
for the Commission.
The most obvious change is in the format of "The
E. S. C. Quarterly." The magazine has for many
years been printed in ten point type, two columns to
the page, one of the most "readable" of type sizes
and faces. However, the new style featured this
issue will enable us to get more information into the
same amount of space. The three narrow columns,
although in smaller, eight point type, almost triples
the reading matter per page.
Pictures may now be published in one, two or three-column
widths with a degree of standardization
which will eliminate "odd-sized" engravings requir-ing
special type setting.
The last change is in the Table of Contents. Here-tofore
we have not listed in the index all articles by
name. All industries of a certain type have some-times
been "lumped" under one set of page numbers.
We hope that this change will enable you to use the
"Quarterly" to greater advantage.—td
KENDALL
Henry E. Kendall, Chairman
Employment Security Commission
A matter causing constant amazement is the larg
number of manufacturing firms within the variou
industries which are covered by the work of th
Employment Security Commission. And yet, in
fast growing economy such a
we have here in these Unite
States, and more specificall
here in North Carolina, w
should hold few things, such a
industrial growth, in awe.
In the chemical field alont
which is featured in this issu
of THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY
there are almost 200 plants o
varying sizes manufacturin
chemical products in this Stat*
These range in size from con
panies with the minimum d
four employees to the large te>
tile chemical plants employin
thousands.
Perhaps we'd not be astonished if we knew moi
about the types of plants accomplishing chemic?
work in this state. For instance, how many of u
knew that in Waynesville, North Carolina, is or
of the two chemical plants in the United State
manufacturing Epsom Salt? My curiosity we
aroused when I learned that Epsom Salt can also t
extracted from Olivine, a substance which is foun
in the western part of our state. In fact the Balsai
Gap Company, affiliated with the Giles Chemic;
Company, owns an entire mountain of the materi;
a few miles from Waynesville.
Another odd fact about North Carolina's Epsoi
Salt industry is that the Waynesville plant ca:
within a matter of a few hours, switch from Epso:
Salt to Milk of Magnesia, using the same Olivir
substance.
The production of Nylon, Rayon, and Dacron
North Carolina is a multi-million dollar busines
In Kinston, North Carolina, Dupont's Dacron plar
operates around the clock as does the America;
Enka plant at Enka, just outside Asheville. Th
processes by which these materials are chemical!
manufactured are as closely guarded as are tlji
secrets of the atomic age.
A study by the Manufacturing Chemists' Associji
tion, Washington, D. C, points out that in 1958 arj!
1959 approximately $79 million will be invested f<f
construction of new chemical producing facilities lj
North Carolina. The figure includes $54 million f<
nine projects already begun and $25 million for oi
project definitely planned and scheduled for cor
pletion before 1960.
In the survey for a three-year period, 1957-5
$82 million is the combined estimated expenditu
for 14 privately-financed projects in 10 commur
ties, and accounts for three percent of the Unit*
States domestic chemical construction for that pel
od.
North Carolina ranks 21st in chemical products
and 13th in the MCA construction survey. Dout
less the fabulous Research Triangle will increa
these figures as more industrialists become inte
ested in its development and expansion.
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 3
Manpower In The Chemical Industry
NOTE
Ruth Rosenwald was primarily responsible for
the preparation of numerous industry man-power
studies in her long service as labor econ-omic
with the Bureau of Employment Security.
A graduate of Wellesiey College, she went ;o
Washington. D. C. in 1933 and joined the staff
of the Bureau of Employment Security in 1940.
Her analyses, based largely on data collected
by local offices of the State employment security
agencies throughout the country, were widely
used by industry, labor unions and government
agencies. The article reprinted here, prepared
shortly before Miss Rosenwald's death in April,
1958, reviews current and anticipated employ-ment
developments in the chemical industry.
The Bureau of Employment Security
has recently completed a pilot survey of
engineering and scientific occupations in
major segments of the chemical indus-try,
undertaken at the request of the
National Science Foundation and the
President's Committee on Scientists and
Engineers. It was one of a series of
studies of scientific and engineering
manpower sponsored hy the National
Science Foundation, in which several
government and private agencies were
engaged.
In conjunction with the regular col-lection
of industry data (through indivi-dual
employer report Form ES-211 ) in
April and May 19 57, local offices of
State agencies affiliated with the BES
gathered a special supplementary form
and narrative information designed to
supply manpower information on the
following occupations: chemists, chemi-cal
engineers, engineers other than
chemical, medical scientists, biological
scientists, and other natural and physi-cal
scientists.
Segments of the chemical industry
from which reports were collected were
industrial organic chemicals, industrial
inorganic chemicals, drugs and medi-cines,
and paints and varnishes. To-gether,
these four segments employ 71.5
percent of all workers engaged in the
chemical industry. The BES received
manpower reports from 98 4 establish-ments
whose aggregate employment re-presented
8 3.5 percent of total employ-ment
in the surveyed industries, and
the requested supplementary data on
the selected scientific and engineering
occupations from 8 90 establishments
whose aggregate employment represent-ed
71.3 percent of total employment in
the surveyed industries.
These reports are analyzed in Indus-j|
try Manpower Survey No. 84, "Scientific
and Engineering Occupations in the
Chemical Industry," which is available
upon request to the BES. Major find-ings
are summarized in the article be-low.
The chemical industry, with a payroll
of more than 800,000 workers, employs
large numbers of scientific and engineer-ing
personnel. During the past 10 years
the industry has expanded rapidly, with
production, stimulated by new product
development, increasing at about twice
the rate of the average of all manufac-turing
industries. This expansion has
been accompanied by heavy and increas-ing
expenditures for new plant and
equipment and relatively moderate em-ployment
gains.
Most of the industry's employment
By Ruth Rosenwald
rise during the past 10 years occurred
between 19 47 and 1953; since 1953 the
rise has been less rapid. Total employ-ment
of 8 41,800 workers in April 1957
was only 6,000 higher than a year ear-lier.
The proportion of nonproduction
workers employed in the chemical in-dustry
has been rising. This has been
true of manufacturing industries gener-ally,
but the ratio of nonproduction
workers to total employment to the
chemical industry is higher and has
risen faster during the past year.
Overall Employment Steady But Drug-
Medicine Segment Gains
Total employment in the establish-ments
covered by the BES April-May
survey changed very little in the preced-ing
year, execpt for a 2.8-percent in-crease
in drug and medicine establish-ments.
Relatively few additional work-ers
were expected to be needed in the
year following the survey, the estimated
required net increase of 1.3 percent
only slightly exceeding the 1.0 percent
employment rise that had actually oc-curred
during the previous year.
Overall, employers seemed to have
had little difficulty filling their needs
for nonprofessional workers, though
there were occasional reports of diffi-culty
in securing a few skilled workers.
Most of the estimated employment
increase required by May 19 58 was for
surveyed engineering and scientific oc-cupations,
but there seemed to be few
urgent operating problems arising from
any lack of such personnel. While re-cruitment
for engineers and scientists
was active, hiring standards were selec-tive
and the emphasis seemed to be on
preparing for future needs.
The vast majority of surveyed estab-lishments
employed at least one indivi-dual
in one or another of the selected
occupations. A few of the smaller es-tablishments
employed none, either con-tracting
such work outside the establish-ment
or having no need of it. Alto-gether,
personnel employed in engineer-ing
and scientific jobs in the surveyed
industries constituted 9.6 percent of the
total work force. Chemists and chemi-cal
engineers constituted almost two-thirds
of all engineering and scientific
personnel. The next most numerous
group was engineers other than chemi-cal
engineers, accounting for 23 per-cent
of employment in the surveyed
occupations.
Moderate Need for Additional Personnel
The trend toward more nonproduction
workers in relation to total employment
is pointed up by the selected occupa-tions.
While total employment in the
surveyed establishments was expected to
increase only 1.3 percent within a year,
reporting employers estimated they
would need 9.3 percent more workers
in the specified engineering and scien-tific
occupations.
One-third of the reporting establish-ments
had current vacancies in the
selected occupations. The proportion
was highest (45 percent) among indus-trial
inorganic chemicals plants and
lowest (18 percent) among paint and
varnish establishments. Size of estab-lishment
is a major factor in this differ-ence,
the larger ones being more likely
to have at least one vacancy at any
point in time (the average surveyed in-dustrial
inorganic chemical plant em-ployed
670 and the average paint and
varnish plant employed 180).
Altogether, 2,661 current vacancies
for engineers and scientists were report-ed
in the surveyed establishments. This
represented 6.5 percent as many as
were currently employed in those occu-pations,
and 10.7 percent as many as
those employed in the surveyed occupa-tions
in the establishments where there
were vacancies. The ratio of vacancies
to current employment in the surveyed
occupations was highest in the indus-trial
organic chemicals industry and
lowest in the paint and varnish indus-try.
In the aggregate, establishments with
vacancies employed a proportionately
higher number of engineers and scien-tists
than did those with no vacancies
(10.7 percent as compared with 8.5 per-cent).
Well over one-half (54.2 per-cent)
of the total employment in sur-veyed
establishments and three-fifths
(60.4 percent) of engineering and scien-tific
employment was in establishments
which had current vacancies.
Occupational Distribution of
Dabor Needs
Most of the job vacancies were for
chemists and chemical engineers, the
occupations which comprise the bulk of
the engineering and scientific employ-ment
total. There were differences in
the occupational composition of labor
demand in the four industry segments,
however. In the industrial organic
chemicals group, for instance, vacancies
for engineers numbered almost as many
as those for chemists and were seven
times the combined number of vacancies
for medical, biological, and other scien-tists.
In drugs and medicines, on the
other hand, vacancies for engineers
other than chemical engineers were only
7.4 percent of all vacancies, while open-ings
for medical, biological, and other
scientists were four times as many, ac-counting
for 30 percent of the total.
The greatest demand, both as mea-sured
by number of vacancies and in
relation to current employment, was in
the occupation of chemical engineer,
where the 8 94 vacancies were 8.5 per-cent
as many as the number currently
employed. Even though the number of
vacancies (70) for medical scientists
was small in absolute terms, in relation
to the number employed it was compara-tively
high.
Urgency of Demand
More than 80 percent of all vacancies
in the surveyed occupations had been
open over 30 days. In the industrial
organic chemicals industry, the corre-sponding
proportion was nearly 90 per-cent,
while in the drugs and medicines
segment it was 63 percent. Neverthe-less,
there were few reports of operating
difficulty due to lack of the sought-after
workers. For the most part, recruit-ment
seemed to be aimed at developing
See MANPOWER, page 13
PAGE 4 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
hts Of Wilmington's Industry And Employment
BRADLEY
Earle L. Bradley, State Labor Market
Analyst, Bureau of Research and Statis-tics,
Employment Security Commission of
'North Carolina
Wilmington is located in New Hanover
County in the southeastern coastal sec-tion
of North Carolina. It is the largest
city in the eastern portion of the State,
and according to
the 1950 Census it
ranks seventh
population wise.
It missed being
listed with the six
standard metro-politan
areas in
North Carolina,
having 50,000 or
more people, since
its population of
45,043 fell short
by less than 5,000
individuals. Its
population growth
rate in the ten
year period, 1940-
1950, was 34.8 per
cent. This com-pares
very favorably with the state-wide
urban growth rate of 27.1 per cent and
with the total growth rate for the State
of only 13.7 per cent. New Hanover
County experienced a growth rate of 32
per cent over the same period, 1940-1950.
The 1950 Census shows the median age
of the residents of Wilmington is a little
higher than the whole of the State. The
State's population has a median age of
25 years while the inhabitants of Wil-mington
has a median age of 28.9. The
New Hanover County population median
age is 28.3.
Since employment data is to be develop-ed
in terms of the whole of New Hanover
County, we believe that some interesting-facts
about the county's relationship to
the State would be worthwhile. Popula-tionwise,
it has 63,272 people according
to the Census of 1950. Although less
than an average county in terms of land
area with its 194 square miles, the aver-age
is 491 square miles, its population
density of 326.1 persons per square mile
ranks it fourth among the State's coun-ties.
This leaves only three of the metro-politan
areas, Durham, Forsyth, and
Mecklenburg, with a higher population
concentration.
15,600 Insured
The Employment Security Law insures
more than 15,600 workers in over 730
different firms reporting from New Han-over
County. Total earnings paid to in-sured
employed workers in 1956 amounted
to more than $42.8 million. This ac-counted
for 1.65 per cent of the State's
insured pay roll total.
Employment in manufacturing is re-sponsible
for approximately 6,240 (40 per
cent) wage earners of the 15,600 insured
employed group. In the non-manufactur-ing
segment of the economy: Construction
provides jobs for almost 1,150 (7.4 per
cent) workers; Transportation and Com-munication
employs over 1,575 (10.1 per
cent); Trade has over 4,630 (30.0 per
cent); and Finance and Service employs
over 2,000 (12.8 per cent).
According to the recent study, Personal
Income Estimates for North Carolina
Counties by B. C. Jones, New Hanover
County inhabitants per capita current
dollar personal income per year increased
from $456. in 1939 to $1464. in 1954; the
Constant dollar for the same period in-creased
from $768. to $1275. In compar-ing
these data with the other counties of
the State, New Hanover ranked number
6 in 1939 and 8 in 1954. Current dollar
income is the raw estimate of income re-ceived
in the period measuring the value
of the monetary unit in the particular
period. The constant dollar is to provide
an indication of real income change.
The principal products produced by the
manufacturing establishments are: Food;
Textile-mill products; Apparel; Chemi-cals,
and Allied Products; and Fabricated
Metals. Among other manufacturing in-dustries
are firms producing: Lumber
and Wood; Paperboard Products; Ship
and Boatbuilding; and Products of Petro-leum
and Coal. The basic dominating
manufacturing are Apparel, Chemicals
and Fabricated Metals; however, all of
the different products add to the diversi-fication
of the economy.
If a comparison of covered employment
is made with 1948, a steady growth is
seen in both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing
segments of the economy,
in 1948 in manufacturing, there was a
monthly average of 4136 workers covered
by the Employment Security program as
compared with a 1956 average of 5,446.
In nonmanufacturing, there were 7,114 in
1948 as compared with 9,344 in 1956. Per-centagewise,
there were no changes in the
two segments for the two years 1948 and
1956. In 1948 manufacturing had in its
employment 36.7 per cent of the covered
workers in the county and nonmanufac-turing
employed 63.2 per cent; the same
percentages applied in 1956.
Agricultural Changes
While the nonagricultural segments of
the economy were experiencing a numer-ical
change the agricultural economy was
also changing. By the 1954 Census of
Agriculture there was in evidence a de-cline
in number of farms with 400 farms
in 1950 and only 376 in 1954. This repre-sents
a drop of 6.2 per cent. As might
be expected from this drop there was a
decline in the cropland acreage for the
same period; from 7,655 in 1950 to 7,031
in 1954, a decrease of 624 (8.2 per cent)
acres. There was also a drop of farm
operators residing on farms for the same
period, 355 to 336. The principal prod-ucts
in terms of acreage devoted to them
are corn, soy beans, and land used only
as pastureland.
Current labor data indicates that 2,950
workers are recruitable for industrial jobs
in New Hanover County. Of this number
775 are either skilled or semi-skilled,
while there is a total of 1,750 persons
under forty-five years of age deemed train-able
for jobs requiring skills. An indus-try
locating in the area would be able to
recruit workers from portions of adja-cent
counties and the plant staffing could
be done from approximately 6,000 indi-viduals.
The recruitable worker is not
necessarily unemployed, but would be
available were an industrial job oppor-tunity
attainable in the area. In this
coastal county of North Carolina, for the
third quarter of 1957, the average weekly
earning of workers covered by the Em-ployment
Security Law were a little be-low
the average weekly earnings of
workers for the other areas of the State.
Average weekly earnings of workers in
New Hanover County was $58.79 as com-pared
with the State average of $59.83.
Total wages paid to insured workers in
the County for this particular period was
$11,920,568.
Wilmington has much to offer industry
seeking to expand or relocate. Some of
the advantages are: (1) Transportation
—there are two railroad lines; waterways
for overseas shipping; a large airport
with almost unlimited tonnage capacity;
and several major highways leading into
this area.
(2) Climate—there is extremely mild
temperature both winter and summer.
(3) Recruitable Labor—there is a read-ily
available supply of labor both train-able
and skilled from which a prospective
employer could staff a plant of almost any
size.
"NEW LOOK AT MATURE
WORKER" PROVING POPULAR
By James S. Massenburg
Counseling Supervisoi% ESD, ESC
Governor Luther H. Hodges, in a state-ment
issued June 26, 1958, set aside the
week of July 13-19 for special attention
to be given to the health, happiness and
welfare of the
State's aging citi
zens.
More than 286,
000 North Carolin
ians are 65 years
of age or oldei
and this numbei
is increasing bj
some 7,000 persons
each year. This
trend puts i
heavy responsibil
ity on the State
county and munic
ipal and privati
agencies that mus
meet the growing
need for housing
economic oppor
tunity, medical and health care, welfan
service and recreation.
In cooperation with the Governor's Co
ordinating Committee on Aging, whiclj
was created in 1956 to study and evaluat*
the problems confronting these senior ci<|
izens, the Employment Security Commia
sion early this year published a pamphlej
entitled "A New Look At The Matur
Worker".
The four-page folder has been requestei
from employers in other states and pai
ticularly from those firms having subsic
iaries in North Carolina. It may be ot
tained in limited quantities by writing t
Informational Services, Employment S<
curity Commission, Box 589, Raleigl
North Carolina.
Concisely it points up the many advar
tages of hiring mature workers, an
points up the tremendous number of pe(
pie still gainfully employed who are 1
the "older" group. In compiling the trac
I have in every instance tried to keep i
mind the advantages to the employe]
since the advantages of full employmer
of the older citizen is obvious.
MASSENBURG
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 5
Industrial Chemicals - - Materials Suppliers
By Mrs. Grace Z. Moen, Research Analyst,
Bureau of Research and Statistics, ESC
The chemical industry provides the larg-est
field for employment in the natural
sciences, with industrial chemicals as
one of its major components. Millions of
tons of industrial
chemicals are pro-duced
yearly; but
the public is scarce-ly
aware of the
products, because
these chemicals
never reach the con-sumer
in the same
form in which they
leave the factory.
The i n d u s tr y is
known as materials
suppliers. Its prod-ucts
are purchased
by other chemical
manufacturers or
by industrial plants
which make use of them in the manufac-ture
of other products. For example, its
products are used as raw materials and
as processing agents by almost every man-ufacturing
industry and by some non-manufacturing
activities. The industrial
chemical industry in North Carolina in-cludes
establishments engaged in the man-ufacturing
of chemicals ranging from sul-furic
acid and chlorine to synthetic fibers.
The synthetic fibers industry is an exam-
MOEN
pie of that industrial chemical group
which often overflows its boundaries into
other industrial fields, i.e., rayon, nylon,
and dacron may be considered either a
chemical or a textile.
The textile industry, which constitutes
a large segment of the manufacturing in-dustry
in this State, is a heavy user of
the industrial chemicals manufactured
here, such as bleaches, solvents, softeners,
wilting and penetrating agents, warp siz-ing
compounds, dyes, elastomers, plastics,
synthetic rubber, and man made fibers,
etc. Other industrial customers include
furniture manufacturers and leather tan-neries.
Access to markets, as well as location
of raw materials, has influenced the loca-tion
of the industrial chemical industry.
North Carolina had only a small portion,
between 1 and 2.5 percent, of the national
employment in the industry in 1956. Dis-covery
and development of new combina-tions
of basic ingredients have created
new markets for the industry, and North
Carolina is an attractive market. It is
not surprising that the dynamic man-made
fiber industry, in early development, pen-etrated
the well established textile in-dustry
in this State.
Products developed from the synthetic
fibers have competed successfully in mar-kets
previously dominated by natural
fibers—cotton, silk, wool-—and are expect-ed
to continue to make inroads in these
markets.
In the late thirties industrial chemical
operations in North Carolina opened new
avenues for manufacturing, with Ameri-can
Enka in Asheville taking the lead.
By 1950 employment in the industrial
chemical group reached 4,000. And as
may be seen from the accompanying chart,
employment held between 3,500 and 4,000
through 1951. Since the industrial chem-ical
industry is affected by the general
industrial activity, employment in 1952
was rather sluggish, as it was influenced
by the economic adjustments in the tex-tile
industry; but still it maintained a
level above 3,000. The end of the third
quarter 1953 marked new entrants to the
industry in the State, the most significant
of which was E. I. duPont de Nemours &
Company in Kinston. Employment in the
industrial chemical group in North Caro-lina
has been remarkably stable over a
long period of time. Seasonality does not
enter into the activity such as is evidenc-ed
in the employment peaks and valleys
of highly seasonal activities in fertilizer
manufacturing, which is reflected in the
employment trend in the chemical indus-try
as a whole, as is shown in the upper
line trend of the chart.
Employment in industrial chemicals in
1957 was curtailed slightly the first half
of the year, but it turned upward in Au-gust.
During 1956, the latest annual data
available, there were 20 establishments in
North Carolina operating with a monthly
See SUPPLIERS, page 9
Thousands of Workers
15
COMPARISON OF EMPLOYMENT TREND IN INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS
WITH TOTAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
(19 5 - 195 7 Thousands of Workers
15
PAGE 6 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
Union Carbide Has Three Plants In North Carolina
Union Carbide is one of the ten largest
corporations in the world and has three
plants in North Carolina. Sales of this
organization during last year totalled 1
billion. 395 million dollars. 1957 was the
third straight year that sales exceeded
the billion-dollar figure. Chemicals and
plastics accounted for approximately one-half
of the total sales last year.
National Carbon Company, a division
of Union Carbide Corporation has three
plants in North Carolina located in Green-ville,
Charlotte and Asheboro. They em-ploy
about 1,200 people. The plant at
Greenville has an outstanding safety rec-ord
with no lost time accidents since it
opened in 1945. Other National Carbon
plants in this state also have excellent
safety records.
Indicative of this huge company's pol-icies
toward employees is the manager of
the Asheboro plant. F. W. Poulton has
been with the company in excess of 30
years and has been with the Asheboro
plant since 1951, having been transferred
from Bennington, Vermont.
The lunch room is furnished with rook
and cribbage cards and boards. At coffee
breaks and lunch employees play card
games. "When they are busy with card
games, they're usually happy," commented
Mr. Poulton.
North Carolina plants make batteries
under the "Eveready" trade name. They
also make batteries to other manufac-turers'
specifications who use their trade
names. The "chemical" part of battery
making comes into being with the reac-tion
of amanganese ore and zinc. Plants
are highly mechanized and true "automa-tion"
has been standard procedure for
years in these factories.
The Asheboro plant, formerly a plastics
plant in World War II, began operations
under the Union Carbide banner in 1948
when it was purchased from the former
owners. At Siler City Union Carbide also
had a plant which manufactured military
items out of plastics during the war. All
three plants now in this state have been
running full time since 1948.
Manager of the Greenville plant is Mr.
F. P. Preissle and of the Charlotte branch
Mr. E. D. Carr. All plants make bat-teries.
Charlotte began operation in 1946
and Greenville in 1945.
Dial's Report
In his annual report to the stockhold-ers
April 15th this year, M. G. Dial, presi-dent
of the company said, "Net income for
the year 1957, after charges and taxes,
amounted to 134 million dollars."
In an excellent delineation of the com-pany's
activities, Mr. Dial continued:
"This Corporation is predominantly a
producer of basic raw materials for other
industries. We work with the elementary
building blocks of nature. So far, scien-tists
have isolated and named more than
100 of what are considered the basic
chemical elements. Our people work with
nearly half of these elements, separating
and combining them in endless ways to
create thousands of products. To capture
these elements, we take apart minerals,
coal, gas, oil and even air, then by re-arranging
atoms and molecules, create
new chemical patterns. These are made
available to industry in the form of met-als,
carbon products, gases, chemicals and
Walter Beddings, engineer, and E. V. Williamson, general foreman of Union Carbide's Asheboro plant
check the quality of two Eveready cells. Arro Mae West, top right, runs a constant inspection test as
batteries pass her position. Battery jackets, riding one conveyor, meet battery cells that come in on
another. Cells are automatically inserted into jackets, and bottoms set in place.
plastics, which are used in making many
of the familiar things in our daily life.
As a supplier of basic raw materials to
almost all important industries, we par-ticipate
in the growth of those industries.
Not only do we have among our own prod-ucts
many fast-growing ones such as
chemicals, plastics, and oxygen, but
many of our products are used as raw
materials in the production by other com-panies
of fast-growing products such as
synthetic fibers, plastics, supersonic
planes, missiles, atomic energy, deter-gents,
oil and gasoline additives, drugs,
latex paints, and other newer surface coat-ings.
The advantages that accrue to us
from being a supplier of raw materials to
these industries also impose upon us cer-tain
obligations. If we are to participate
in their growth and expansion, then we
must equip to take care of such growth
and expansion.
Half Sales from "Non-Chemicals"
"There is another important character-istic
of our business. One-half of our
sales come from products not generally
thought of as chemicals, yet Union Car-bide,
together with a number of other
companies, is classified as a Chemical
company. This is a broad, general classi-fication,
and does not imply we are all in
the same businesses, although operating
within the same broad industrial field.
For exemple, no one other company in
our industry has the same five major
divisions that we have, and conversely,
we are not directly a large factor in tex-tiles,
fertilizers, or drugs, which are ma-jor
lines of some other chemical com-panies.
It, therefore, follows that with
a different product mix, different condi-tions
will affect different companies in
this same industry in a different manner
and to a different degree. This also ex-plains
why the Chemical Industry itself
is one of our largest customers since it
takes our products as raw materials and
converts them into other products which
make up their sales.
New Products Important
"Now as to our plans for the future—
I think these can best be illustrated by
our plans for expansion of our productive
facilities.
"Last year our total construction ex-penditures
were 190% million dollars.
This is the largest in our history, and was
about 45 million dollars more than we
spent in 1956. More than half of this—
101 million dollars—was for Chemicals
and Plastics.
"Following a complete review of all ma-jor
construction projects in the light of
present-day volumes, we have decided to
proceed with plant expansion totalling ap-proximately
150 million dollars during
1958.
"As was the case last year, we antici-pate
that more than half—possibly over
60%—of this expenditure will be in the
Plastics and Chemicals groups, and a sub-stantial
amount will be in the Industrial
Gas group for adidtional on-site oxygen
plants where we have firm contracts with
our customers for the output of these
plants.
"It is from the development of new
products through Research that our high
rate of growth comes. We used to say
some years ago that we developed a new
product per month from our laboratories,
See UNION, page 9
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 7
Financing Unemployment Insurance in Chemical Industry
By Robert G. Kellogg, Research and
Methods Specialist, Bureau of Research
and Statistics, Employment Security
Commission of North Carolina
If workers are to receive benefits dur-ing
periods of unemployment, someone,
naturally, has to underwrite the cost.
Employers do this by contributing annual-ly
from 0.2 to 3.7
per cent of their
taxable pay rolls.
The contributions
are held in re-serve
for weekly
payments of from
$11.00 to $32.00 to
eligible workers.
Unemployment is
almost inevitable,
but industry,
through carefully
planned utiliza-tion
of the work
force, endeavors
to maintain a min-imum
incidence
of unemployment;
thereby reducing
costs to themselves.
For example, let's assume a new firm
with 100 employees engages in the pro-duction
of chemicals. During the first
two years of operation the firm must con-tribute
at a 2.7 rate. Only the first $3,000
of worker earnings is taxed, so, if each
worker earned a minimum of $3,000, the
taxable pay roll would be $300,000. This
means the firm would contribute $8,100 in
each of the first two years. After several
years, if unemployment has been negli-
KELLOGG
gible, the firm may qualify for a reduced
rate and eventually earn the minimum
0.2 per cent rate, or an annual contribu-tion
of $600. If unemployment is severe,
and reserve funds depleted, a penalty rate
of from 2.8 to 3.7 per cent can be assessed.
How does the chemical industry com-pare
with other manufacturing? Suppose
we compare the contribution rates of the
ten major industries based on experience
with unemployment.
Benefits Paid Each
Contribution Dollar Contributed
Rate Fiscal 1956-1957
Manufacturing (All
Industries) 1.46 $ .94
Taper 91 .37
Food Products 1.08 .64
Machinery (Non-electrical)
1.14 .53
Furniture : 1.39 .55
Lumber and Wood 1.39 .95
Tobacco 1.41 2.30
Chemicals 1.44 .68
Machinery (Electrical) 1.50 .41
Textiles 1.54 .99
Apparel 1.98 1.03
We can see chemicals contribute at a
slightly lower rate than over-all manufac-turing.
Also, in fiscal 1956-57 only $.68
was paid in benefits for each dollar con-tributed.
Tobacco was the only industry
with benefits in excess of contributions,
but the accumulation of a sizeable reserve
fund by the greater, and generally stable,
cigarette segment of the industry over a
period of several years enabled the reten-tion
of a favorable contribution rate. In
relation to all manufacturing during fiscal
1956-57, chemical industry pay rolls rep-resented
2.8 per cent of the total taxable
pay roll; 2.7 per cent of contributions;
and, 2.0 per cent of benefit changes.
Within the chemical industry rates
vary between the major divisions. The
two larger divisions, industrial organic
chemicals (synthetic fibers) and fertiliz-ers,
account for over 70 per cent of total
taxable pay rolls within the industry.
Industrial organic chemicals with 49.2
per cent of contributions had only 13.4
per cent of benefit charges. Fertilizer, a
seasonal activity, was charged with 41.2
per cent of benefits paid while contribut-ing
only 17.5 per cent of taxable pay roll.
SELECTED DATA, CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Per Cent
Taxable
Pay Roll
Chemicals 100.0
Industrial Organic Chem 54.7
Fertilizers '.... 16.2
Vegetable & Animal Oil 11.8
Drugs 5.5
Miscellaneous Chemicals 5.4
Paints, etc. 4.3
Detergents 1.4
Industrial Inorg. Chem 5
Gum & Wood Chem. .2
Per Cent Per Cent Benefits Contribution
Contri- Benefits Paid Each Rate 1958
butions Charges $ Contrib. Computation
100.0 100.0 $ .68 1.44
49.2 13.4 .18 1.30
17.5 41.2 1.61 1.56
18.9 37.5 1.35 2.30
3.8 1.6 .29 1.00
5.7 4.5 .55 1.51
3.0 .6 .13 .99
.9 .4 .30 .95
.6 .8 .96 1.55
.4 .0 .00 2.24
Estimates WorkerTraits, Requirements
By Blanche R. Lancaster
Occupational Analyst, ESC
A new occupational information tool
has been developed by the Bureau of Em-ployment
Security to resolve some of the
problems of shortages and surpluses in
the labor market
created by rapid
change-over in
mlanuf acturing
processes and
equipment. This
new tool is called
"Estima t e s of
Worker Traits
Requirements."
It has been
found that similar
worker traits are
needed in jobs
which carry wide-ly
differing job
titles. By use of
the refined classi-fication
technique
of the Estimates,
the Employment Security Commission
will be able to include worker traits as
well as acquired skills in classifying ap-plicants
for jobs. Use of this technique
will also necessitate obtaining more de-tailed
information on the nature of the
job and its requirements. This will re-
LANCASTER
suit in a more precise matching of the
worker qualifications to the job require-ments.
As a result, the employer will
obtain a worker more completely suited
to his job.
The initial coverage of the Estimates
is a group of 4000 jobs selected from the
Dictionary of Occupational Titles. Each
job is rated by experienced job analysts
in terms of the amount of certain worker
traits required for standard job perform-ance.
The worker trait components selected
for inclusion in the Estimates are: Train-ing
Time, Aptitudes, Temperaments, In-terests,
Physical Capacities, Working Con-ditions,
and Industries where the job is
found.
The Training Time component is defin-ed
as the amount of general education
required in terms of reasoning ability and
acquisition of "tool" knowledges such as
mathematical and language skills, and
vocational preparation in terms of specific
techniques acquired. This component
carries a graduated rating scale to reflect
increasing development in the two phases
of training.
Aptitudes refer to specific capacities
and abilities required of an individual in
order to learn or to perform the duties
of the job adequately. Eleven aptitudes
are used—Intelligence, Verbal, Numerical,
Spatial, Form Perception, Clerical Percep-tion,
Motor Coordination, Finger and Man-ual
Dexterities, Eye-Hand-Foot Coordina-tion,
and Color Perception. Five levels
are used in estimating aptitudinal re-quirements
of a job. These levels cover
percentage distributions of the aptitudes
as found in the general working popula-tion.
For example, an accountant re-quires
numerical ability to the degree
found in the upper 10% of the working
population; whereas, a newspaper report-er
would need only an average amount of
numerical aptitude but would require a
high degree of verbal ability.
Temperament—This component consists
of 12 different types of occupational sit-uations
to which workers might adjust,
such as variety and change, repetitive
short cycle, working under direct super-vision,
or having control and planning of
work, dealing with people or working in
isolation. Evaluation of a worker's abil-ity
to meet these situations is made in
terms of his adjustments to similar sit-uations
in other areas, as in school, in
leisure time activities, or in previous
work experience.
Interests—This component is defined as
a preference for certain types of work or
experiences and rejection of opposite
types. Only the two most characteristic
interest factors (out of 10 listed) are in-dicated
for any one job. Some of the in-terest
patterns are for: things and ob-jects;
people, ideas; routine, concrete;
abstract, creative; scientific, technical.
See TRAITS, page 12
PAGE 8 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
Nation's Chemical Industry Shows Rapid Growth
By Hugh M. Raper, Director, in our mortality rates. One might con- and fat products, related products of the
Bureau of Research and Statistics, ESC tinue to enumerate countless other prod- denned industry.
Very few chemical products reach the
ucts' I
aryinS from t
+
he luxury items like The State's insured employment in the
T^hiir a* an item for consimmtion in Pertumes and cosmetics to such everyday chemical manufacture increased more
puDiic as ioi consu npuon m materials as our vegetable and animal oils than 27.7 per cent between 1950 and 1955
+ i,f ! th mZ.faPt vp nf ntw or even such useful industrial products as and was more than double the 12.3 per
materials in tne manuiactuie oi ouiei
giues, plastics, and synthetic rubber which cent employment growth rate experienced
pioaucis ccou are alg0 outgrowths of chemical produc- by manufacturing as a whole. When cur-tor
tne iact mat
__ tion rent employment data is available, it most
the chemical in- j^ In North Carolina, employment in the likely will show further significant
dustrys contriDu- ^ 200 chemical establishments exceeded 13,- growth, even though the rise may not be
tion to our pres-
250 workers in December, 1957, and wage nearly as rapid.
ent-day economy . payments to these workers exceeded $50,- Another striking measure of the chem-is
so little under-wf^-^^^
g^T^ 000,000 in 1957. Less than one per cent ical industry's growth in North Carolina
stood and general- JV« fT i of the State's employment in chemical is found in the fact that for the nation
lyunappieciated. ^f manufactures was in the production of this industry had only a 19.5 per cent
Historically, in v , inorganic chemicals. In 1957, roughly employment growth between 1950 and
the I nited States fifty per cent of the State's chemical em- 1955 which was considerably less than the
the beginnings of ployment was in the production of organic State's growth rate.
industrial cheinis- industrial chemicals, particularly synthet- Data on the national employment level
try date back to | j c organic fibers. Another forty per cenl of the chemical Industry, as well as the
1831 when uses for was divided between fertilizer production growth rate of the major divisions of the
some heavy mo. and extracted vegetable and animal oils industry, for the 1950-1955 period follow:
ganic chemicals j!r
such as sulphuric '"•' Industry Group Employment Average Monthly % Change Between
and nitric acid '• *** and Industry Code 1950 1955 1950 & 1955
and caustic soda
RAPER Chemicals — Total 670,550 801,350 + 19.5
were developed Actually, the demands 281 Industrial Inorganic Chemicals 76,700 116,800 -j- 52 -3
of World War I for added chemical pro- 282 Industrial Organic Chemicals 215,100 292,650 + 36.1
duction to match the progress made by 283 Drugs and Medicines 85,650 91,700 + 7.1
European countries provided the impetus 284 Soaps, glycerin, mineral oils __ _ 49,450 47,550 — 3.8
to the chemical industry's real develop- 285 Paints, varnishes & lacquers.- 69,725 74,500 + 6.8
ment in America, The demands of the 287 Fertilizers 33,725 37,000 + 9.7
World War I period encouraged large 288 Vegetable and animal oils.... ..... 46,700 41,050 — 12.1
scale research, which has been character- All other chemicals .. 93,500 100,100 + 7.1
istic of the industry's progress, particu- Other articles in this issue analyze North Carolina's chemical manufacturers
larly of the organic chemical program. more completely.
The chemical industry differs greatly —
from manufacturing as a whole, primarily
SS.jyro/r^Toaucts'aS'S1
- American Cyanamid Celebrating 50th Anniversary
tained which, in turn, become the subject
of research and further development. By M. N. Gadboury, Mgr. tinuous research, product development
Rather than attempt to introduce a Organic Chemicals Division and diversification, the company today
technical definition of chemicals, it seems A _ . . „ ... makes over 6,00 products in more than
better to suggest the wide range and , J^e"can Cyanamid Company m its 40 plants in the United States and
variety of products produced by the more '.'Fiftieth Anniversary year, is the pro- abroad. We employ more than 27,000
than 840,000 workers in the nation's chem- 3 ected shadow of four men three of pe0 ple and have approximately 60,000
ical establishments as of April 1, 1957. whom have been Southerners. Our foun- stockholders. Last year Cyanamid sales
Some concept of the range and variety of
dei\ ^rank Sherman Washburn, who were more than half billion dollars. We
products coming from the nation's chem- s
T
tarte d the company 50 years ago on i GOk for a modest increase over that
ical industry can be seen in the diversity July 22 ' 1907> was a natlve of Tennes- figure in 1957.
of products and in the contradictory ap-see
" Equally important in our history Cyanamid plants and mines are locat-plications
of these products in our Indus- was
n
James Buchanan Duke — North e d m 11 Southern states and 13 of its
trial economy Carolina's own giant of industry and major sales offices may be found in
'
. philanthropy—who in 1916 acquired a Southern cities.
Greater Variety substantial position in Cyanamid's com- Here in North Carolina, the company
Workers in our chemical firms produce mon stock. While Mr. Duke brought currently has two major sales offices,
pigments, lacquers, paints and dyes to financial support to the company, his is operating two plants and is in the
give color and attractiveness to textile greatest contribution came out of his process of building a third,
goods, papers, and other materials; while extraordinary ability to appraise and The Charlotte plant, managed by
other workers produce soaps, bleaches, select men with executive ability. It Carle Mason, is operated by the Organic
and other neutralizing acids to produce was he who selected William Brown Chemicals Division. While it isn't the
colorlessness or yield whiteness in some Bell to become president of Cyanamid largest compared with many Charlotte
textiles, papers, and other products. Our in 1922. Mr. Bell controlled the destiny industries, it does employ more than
chemical factories make fertilizers to pro- of our company for 28 years during 100 people and adds more than a half-mote
increased fiber growth, while other which time it grew from a small com- million dollars annually to your busi
chemical factories are engaged in pro- pany, dependent almost entirely on agri- ness community. We are now in the
ducing competing man-made fibers of ray- culture, to the well-diversified institu- process of adding a new manufacturing
on, nylon, dacron and other synthetic tion that it is my privilege to represent. unit to cost better than $100,000 on
fibers. Chlorine is a destructive chemical The fourth man who has had a profound which construction is underway. Among
constituent of military poison gases; but effect on our success and growth has its products are: textile finishes, soften
it likewise is a very useful material for been Kenneth C. Towe, who has been ers and sizes; acids and urea formalde
sterilization of our drinking water, treat- president of Cyanamid since 1952. A hyde resins. It became part of our com
ment of sewage, recovering of metals from native tarheeler, Mr. Towe was born in pany in 1937. Our Plymouth plant,
ores, bleaching of textiles and papers, and Elizabeth City and received his school- which went into operation last year for
related uses. Currently, we associate fis- ing at Duke (then known as Trinity Col- the Industrial Chemicals Division, manu-sionable
materials, a chemical develop- lege). factures commercial alum and services
ment, with our most advanced destructive American Cyanamid began in 190 7 at the paper industry in North Carolina
weapons, but on the other hand our mir- Niagara Falls, New York, as the first and Virginia. It is managed by Earl
acle drugs, products of the chemical in- manufacturer of synthetic nitrogen fer- Walsh,
dustry, too, have yielded a decided drop tilizer in this hemisphere. Through con- See CYANAMID, page 9
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 9
CYANAMID (Cont. from Page 8) CARBIDE (Cont. from Page 6) SUPPLIERS (Cont. from Page 5)
As for our sales offices, Henry G.
Keziah is branch manager of our unit
here in Charlotte which is the sales out-let
in this area for five of our manu-facturing
divisions. His group services
the sales managed by Messrs. J. E.
Moore, Hugh Puckett, R. W. Angstadt,
E. J. Adams, G. H. Melvin, R. S. Meade
and F. S. Kuester. The Lederle group
is represented by E. E. Thomison and
E. D. Jackson. W. J. Page heads up
our sales branch in Raleigh.
Ground has been broken and con-struction
is underway at Farmville on
a new Cyanamid plant to be operated by
the Formica Corporation, a wholly-own-ed
Cyanamid subsidiary. When com-pleted
it will be our 17th facility in the
South and our 3rd in North Carolina.
American Cyanamid Company was
among the first of the large chemical
companies to make use of the South's
wealth of resources and labor. Within
the past five years we have built a plant
in New Orleans to produce acrylonitrile;
a pigments plant in Savannah (which
is currently being expanded), and the
alum plant in Plymouth. A triple super-phosphate
plant is now being added to
our manufacturing facilities in Brew-ster,
Florida. In addition, construction
of a plant near Pensacola, Florida to
produce Creslan, the company's new
acrylic synthetic fiber, got under way
this summer.
The question is sometimes asked:
"Just what is Cyanamid?" To the chem-ist,
Cyanamid is calcium cyanamide
which is nitrogen extracted from the
air and combined with lime and coke.
To almost any American farmer, Cyan-amid
is known as one of the rich sources
of fertilizer nitrogen. For many years,
the market for Cyanamid was confined
almost entirely to its use as a plant
food, but through continuous research
it is now finding its way into a variety
of new products and uses, among which
are the sulfa drugs, melamine plastics;
insecticides; and metallurgical and rub-ber
chemicals.
Cyanamid's business in pharmaceuti-cals
and biologicals compares now with
that of the large independent companies
in the field. Though they are drugs that
are available only by prescription from
a licensed member of the medical pro-fession,
our Aureomycin (first of the
broad spectrum antibiotics), its deriva-tive,
Achromycin, and our Diamox an
excellent diuretic, have become house-hold
words in recent years. We make
and sell a wide range of industrial
chemicals, including acids and alums,
dyes and their intermediates; organic
and inorganic pigments, synthetic re-sins,
melamine plastics (which include
Formica laminated plastic) and other
plastics; industrial explosives, chemical
specialties for the mining, rubber and
textile industries; fertilizers, weed-kill-ers,
insecticides, and fumigants. 'Davis
and Geek" sutures are well known to
the surgeon, and to housewives all over
the world Formica is a synonym for
quality in kitchen counters and table
tops. Cyanamid's process using Acronize
(by which relatively minute quantities
of Aureomycin are used to retain the
freshness of food) was approved on
November 30, 1955 by the Federal Food
and Drug Administration and the United
States Department of Agriculture for
then a few years ago we changed that to
two new products per month. Today the
number has increased substantially.
"In the Chemicals Company alone dur-ing
1957, 35 new products—nearly 3 per
month—were shipped for the first time in
drum quantities. These new products
found use in polyurethane foams, phar-maceutical
intermediates, metal-refining
chemicals, detergent bases, plastic raw
materials, agricultural chemicals, and
gasoline- and oil-treating compounds. In
addition, another 23 of our newer chem-icals
were shipped in carload or tank-car
lots for the first time. These were used
by our customers to purify uranium,
formulate latex paints, synthesize drugs,
process foodstuffs, manufacture lubri-cants,
and treat asphalt for road-building.
Several million dollars of these new chem-icals
were sold in 1957, and we look for-ward
to their continued growth during the
next few years.
Water Solubles Important
"One of the most important additions to
our new chemicals in 1957 was water-soluble
resins which have been introduced
as Polyox Resins. They are based on
ethylene oxide as a raw material. This
development represents a significant
broadening of the uses for ethylene oxide
derivatives. Also, the Carbon group has
invented a new fuel cell in which hydro-gen
and oxygen—2 gases—are directly
converted into electrical energy. This
cell has been in operation over 16 months
without a sign of deterioration, and was
selected by Chemical Engineering maga-zine
as one of the top 10 technological
achievements for the year 1957."
Mr. Dial summed up the feeling of
everyone employed in the North Carolina
plants of Union Carbide when he said:
". . . there is little that we alone can do
to change the current level of industrial
activity—aside from continuing to run
our business in a prudent manner, with
confidence in the future—yet I have the
belief that our Organization has the will,
the ability and the ingenuity to adjust it-self
to the current operating conditions
in a manner that will meet with the ap-proval
of our Stockholders. We have an
organization that is vigorous, it has high
morale, it is resourceful, and it is ambi-tious;
and it is ready to take advantage
of any improvement that occurs in our
economy. For these reasons, I have every
confidence that the business of Union Car-bide
will continue healthy, that we will
capitalize on the upturn in the business
level when it comes, and will fully realize
the great future growth potentialities of
this Corporation."
application to poultry.
In addition to our own company ac-tivities,
we are associated with other
companies as partners—with the Pitts-burgh
Plate Glass Company, we jointly
own Southern Minerals Corporation, a
large independent producer of oil and
gas in Texas; with the Texas Company,
we are joint-owners of Jefferson Chem-ical
Company, Inc., which was formed
to exploit processes for making chemi-cals
from petroleum gases and oily re-finery
residues; and with the Interna-tional
Paper Company, we are associ-ated
in the ownership of Arizona Chemi-cal
Company, which produces chemicals
from residues of kraft paper operations.
average employment of 6,070. Employers
paid $29,159,160 to these workers during
the year, which amounted to an average
earning of $4,800 per worker or $92.36 a
week. The relative contribution this in-dustry
makes to the State's economy is
readily comprehended when these worker
earnings are compared with those for
other groups. For example, the average
annual worker earnings in total manufac-turing
was slightly "over $3,000, a weekly
average of $56.74; and in the over-all
chemical industry, $4,200 annual earnings
or a weekly average of $81.56; but in in-dustrial
chemicals $4,800 annual earning
or $92.36 weekly.
The industrial chemicals industry in
North Carolina contributes to the total
chemical industry as follows: 10 per cent
of the total number of establishments; 52
per cent of the employment; and 59 per
cent of the wages. Nationally, earnings
of workers in the industrial chemical in-dustry
are among the highest for factory
workers in American industry. In 1956
the national average for this industrial
group was $98.12 a week or $3.13 more
than the average weekly earnings for all
manufacturing industries; and North
Carolina was only $6 under this national
weekly average.
The outlook for increased employment
at favorable wages is very bright. To
encourage new markets, chemical plants
employ a high proportion of professional
workers for laboratory research to de-velop
new products and new methods of
production. The greater complexity of
products and processes are expected to
result in a greater need for chemical en-gineers
and technicians. The advance of
instrumentation and automatic equipment
in processing and control operations will
increase the demand in maintenance and
repair occupations. The increase in em-ployment,
however, is expected to be at
a much slower pace than increase in pro-duction,
because the output per worker
increases with increased and improved
automation.
Despite the tecnological progress which
is anticipated in the industrial chemical
industry, the expansion of output is ex-pected
to result in employment above the
1956 level. Processing equipment opera-tors
will continue to be the largest occu-pational
group in the industry, but the
industry also employs a wide variety of
administrative, clerical, and other "white
collar" personnel. Many of the adminis-trative
and management positions are fill-ed
by technically trained men, many of
whom are chemists or chemical engineers.
Many of the job opportunities will result
from the expansion of the industry, the
future growth of which is directly related
to the general expansion of the economy
which determines the market for the ma-terials
this industry supplies for further
manufacturing.
CAROLINA AND SOUTHERN
PROCESSING COMPANY,
GASTONIA
This company, known as Carolina and
Southern Processing Company, is lo-cated
in Gastonia and employs 88 peo-ple.
It began operation in 1947.
The firm collects and processes waste
animal products and produces refined
animal fats and proteins for industry.
President of the firm is Stanley Frank.
PAGE 10 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
Du Pont's Kinston Plant And "Dacron"* Polyester Fiber
By Neil Gabbert
Publications Editor, Kinston Plant
E. I. du Pont de Nemours <% Co.
The Du Pont Company's Kinston Plant
for the manufacture of "Dacron"* poly-ester
fiber celebrated its fifth anniversary
of operations in March. A review of
progress at this ^SKr,,s ,,.,«»
Eastern North ft
Carolina in d us- ;
trial site since l
.
"Dacron" made its
debut is a suc-cess
story about a
plant, its product
and the communi-ties
where its em-
GABBERT
ployees live.
The Kinston
Plant's location is
no coincidence.
The plant site,
formerly a 635-
acre tract of farm-land
seven miles
north of Kinston,
was selected from
among 87 possible locations after an in-tensive
13-month search for the best place
to produce the new miracle fiber Du Pont
scientists had developed.
The chosen location scored 93 out of a
possible 100 on the so-called "pinball
scoreboard" established by Du Pont to
weigh various factors in selection of plant
sites. These factors include proximity to
customers; ease of obtaining raw mate-rials;
labor supply; water and power
available; transportation facilities; op-portunity
for housing developments;
churches, hospitals and recreational facil-ities
available; climate, and many others.
Definite plans for building the plant
near Kinston were first announced in
September, 1950, and called for facilities
to cost an estimated $33,000,000, creating
jobs for about 1200 employees with an
annual payroll exceeding $4,000,000. To-day,
the plant employs about 2,000 resi-dents
of 11 counties in Eastern North
Carolina, and the monthly payroll is ap-proximately
$1,000,000.
On April 20, 1951, various dignitaries of
Kinston, Grifton and Greenville gathered
at the site of the plant for groundbreaking
ceremonies. Construction began a few
days later.
The culmination of slow, careful and
expensive work by scientists to develop
"Dacron" actually came when the first
staple was produced at the new Kinston
Plant in March, 1953, followed by pro-duction
of the first continuous filament
yarn in July, 1953. Those days marking
the birth of the new man-made fiber made
good a bet of some $80,000,000—the
amount Du Pont had invested in construc-tion
of the Kinston Plant and an inter-mediate
plant in New Jersey.
Original plans of the Kinston Plant pro-vided
for production of 37,000,000 pounds
of "Dacron". The construction of addi-tional
facilities to increase production
capacity of staple and tow by about 25
per cent began in the fall of 1956. Expan-sion
plans of the plant at that time in-cluded
an increase in staple spinning
capacity, minor changes in chemical proc-essing
equipment and enlargement of
storage and shipping facilities. Part of
that program and several other projects
are now under way at the plant. Mean-while,
Du Pont has begun construction of
a second plant to produce "Dacron" at the
site of the Company's rayon plant at Old
Hickory, Tenn.
Kinston Construction Began 1953
In December, 1952, plans were announc-ed
for a $3,000,000 laboratory for research
and development work on "Dacron" at the
Kinston Plant site. Construction began
in the summer of 1953, and the lab was
completed in the summer of 1954. The
importance of scientific work in the high-ly
technical processes of making "Dacron"
is illustrated by the fact that more than
200 engineers, chemists and other tech-nically
trained men are now employed at
the "Dacron" Research Laboratory and in
the Technical and Process Sections of the
Kinston Plant. These technical men are
in addition to those members of manufac-turing
supervision with technical train-ing.
Registered Du Pont trademark.
William Bryce "Bill" Rhue, a Draw Machine Op-erator
in the Staple Finishing Area of the Kinston
Plant, is typical of Kinston area residents whose
lives changed when they joined Du Pont. A former
painter, he has praised the wages, working condi-tions,
employee benefits, fair treatment by manage-ment
and safety philosophy he found at the plant.
The manufacture of '"Dacron"* is a highly tech-nical
process, requiring skill and strict adherence
to standard procedures by operators.
The full economic impact of a large in-dustrial
plant is not revealed by the pay-rolls
and purchases of the plant, but the
amount spent for these purposes provides
an indication of the boost such a plant
gives to the local economy. Figures on
the Kinston Plant's payrolls and pur-chases
in 1957 are not yet available. How-ever,
Plant Manager W. E. Gladding an-nounced
last year that the plant spent
more than $11,600,000 for payrolls and
purchases in North Carolina in 1956.
Wages and salaries at the plant in 1956
totaled $10,836,010. Goods and services
purchased for the plant from 171 Kinston
suppliers cost $268,965. An additional
$544,380 in goods and services was pur-chased
for the plant from 356 other firms
located in North Carolina. Approximately
2,700 salesmen called on the plant to sell
supplies that ranged from heavy machin-ery
for manufacturing to bicycle spokes
for use in tests.
Business Boosted
Among businesses boosted by the plant's
operations also are those involved in
transportation of raw materials and bi-products
to and from the plant, including
railroads, ports and motor carriers. The
two basic raw materials of "Dacron"—di-methylterephthalate
(D. M. T.) and ethy-lene
glycol—are shipped to the plant by
rail. Pellets of DMT above the size and
shape of peach seeds are delivered from
Du Pont's Repauno Works at Gibbstown,
N. J., by hopper cars; while glycol follows
one of three different rail routes which
have been set up for its journey to Kin-ston
from a plant of the Dow Chemical
Company at Freeport, Tex.
One bi-product, methanol, is transport-ed
by tank trucks from Kinston to New
Bern, where it is stored until shipment
to Gibbstown, N. J., by barge. Another
bi-product, contaminated glycol, travels
by rail from Kinston to Morehead City,
where it is stored until an ocean-going
tanker transports it back to Freeport,
Tex.
It is also significant that so much of
the "Dacron" produced at Kinston is proc
essed and converted to consumer products
by mills in North Carolina. Du Pont has
sold "Dacron" to about 1600 different cus-tomers
throughout the nation since the
Kinston Plant started producing it. How-ever,
40 to 60 per cent of the plant's out-put
goes to some 80 mills of North Caro-lina
firms and other North Carolina mills
of companies with headquarters in other
states. About 125 locations in this state
are familiar to personnel at the plant as
shipping points for "Dacron".
The Kinston Plant produces only
"Dacron" staple and continuous filament
yarn. The staple and yarn are dyed,
spun, woven and put through other proc-esses
necessary to produce end products
by various textile mills. In tow form
"Dacron" is rope-like and fluffy. Most
textile mills have the plant cut the strands
of tow into lengths only a few inches
long. In this form, it looks much like
cotton and is known as "Dacron" staple
A special type of staple particularly
adapted for use as filling material is call
ed fiberfill.
As products of "Dacron" have growi
in popularity and end uses of "Dacron'
have multiplied, communities where tht
people live who make "Dacron" havi
grown, too. They have grown not only ii
population and economically, but in th
scope of social, cultural, recreational an<
religious activities. The City of Kinstoi
is an example. It is impossible to say, o
course, how much of Kinston's growth i
a direct result of the Kinston Plant; bu
it is no secret that the city's progress ha
been remarkable since the plant was built
The U. S. census revealed a populatioi
of 18,336 for Kinston in 1950. The presen
estimate by the Kinston Chamber of Com
merce is 26,300. Since 1951, the area o
the City has doubled, with four extension
WiNTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 1
1
of the City limits. More than 125 new
business firms, mostly small businesses,
have been established. More than 1,300
new homes, 11 new church buildings and
three new schools' have been built. More
than 40 men and women in professions
—
doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects
and others—have set up practice in Kin-ston.
Kinston Budget Increased
The City's budget increased from $1,-
513,234 in 1951 to $2,557,286 in 1957, in-cluding
$107,464 for the Recreation De-partment
last year compared with $70,000
in 1951. Assets of two Kinston savings
and loan associations had jumped from
$3,002,883 in 1951 to more than $17,000,-
000 in 1957. School enrollment has in-creased
to 5,737 last year, compared with
4,258 in 1951; and the number of tele-phones
in the city had advanced from
4,258 to 5,737.
Figures do not tell the human side of
the story—the change in the lives and
outlooks of people directly involved in
the business of an industrial plant. Per-haps
the best way to express this is to
briefly describe one case. A typical em-ployee
of the Kinston Plant is William
Bryce "Bill" Rhue, a Draw Machine Op-erator
in the plant's Staple Finishing
Area. A native of Kinston, Bill is mar-ried
and has a one-year-old son. Before
joining- Du Pont in 1954, he worked as a
painter.
"I like my work much better now,"
Bill said recently. "My job is more in-teresting,
and I am always learning." He
added that "working conditions are a lot
better, too." Joining the conversation,
his wife Frances commented that the
cleanliness of his job appealed to her, as
well as the fact that "Bill gets home earli-er."
Recalling former days, she said, "He
used to come home late in the evening.
He would be real tired and would have
paint all over him."
Various tests and inspections of "Dacron"* are made throughout the processes of manufacturing both
staple and yarn. Here Barbara Smith, an Inspectress at the Kinston Plant, observes a tube of yarn thor-oughly
to be sure no defect or error has been overlooked. After this final inspection, the tubes of yarn
are wrapped in cellophane and placed in cardboard cases for packing and shipment.
Dr. E. D. "Bud" Hall, Research Chemist at the
"Dacron"* Research Laboratory, is among more
than 200 engineers, chemists and other technical
men at the Laboratory and the Kinston Plant, where
"Dacron" is made. Here he is using an infra-red
spectrophotometer to determine molecular structure
of polymer for making "Dacron". Dr. Hall is typical
of Du Pont scientists from large northern cities
who have become active in civic, cultural and edu-cational
programs of communities in the Kinston
area of Eastern North Carolina.
Bill explained that his former job us-ually
required at least 50 hours a week.
At the Kinston Plant, he is normally on
his job 40 hours a week. He receives
one and one-half times his normal pay for
overtime or two and one-half times his
regular pay if he works on a holiday.
Bill and Frances moved into a new
home and acquired a new automobile in
1955; and they completed paying for the
car last year. The combination of Bill's
income and leisure time is one aspect of
his working for Du Pont especially appre-ciated
by the Rhues, who enjoy trips on
long weekends. When Bill completes a
week on the 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. shift he is
off from 8 a.m. Friday until he begins
the day shift at 8 a.m. Tuesday. If Tues-day
happens to be one of his scheduled
days of rest, his weekend continues until
Wednesday.
Stock for Employees
Benefits the Rhues receive through the
Du Pont Company's Industrial Relations
Plans include eight holidays with pay per
year; two weeks of vacation with pay
annually; and savings through the Du
Point Thrift Plan, which provides a con-tribution
of 25 cents from the Company
toward the purchase of Du Pont common
stock for every dollar the employee in-vests
in U. S. Savings bonds.
All employees with at least one year
of Du Pont service are eligible for bene-fits
of the Disability Wage Plan if non-occupational
illness or injury makes them
unable to work. This plan provides full
wages for as long as three months, less a
two-day waiting period while an employee
is absent because of disability. Other Du
Pont employee benefits include the Pen-sion
and Retirement Plan, Contributory
and Non-Contributory Group Life Insur-ance
Plans, Hospital-Surgical Coverage
and the Salary Allotment Insurance Plan.
The contributions of Kinston Plant Du
Ponters to the social, cultural and re-ligious
life of Eastern Carolina commun-ities
provide another human side of the
story- More than 600 of the plant's em-ployees
live in Kinston alone, with about
385 children in the City's schools. Many
Du Pont parents take leading roles in
educational activities as officers of Par-ent-
Teacher groups. Principals of Grain-ger
High School and the two elementary
schools attended by the majority of the
children of Du Ponters living in Kinston
say that almost all Du Pont parents are
active in the work of the Parent-Teacher
Association. Impetus also is added to
educational advancement by active par-ticipation
of Du Pont technical men in
science symposiums and plant tours for
high school students and teachers; talks
on scientific subjects at schools and civic
clubs; and a well-planned program of
activities during annual Chemical Prog-ress
Week observed in April.
Employees Civic Minded
Du Ponters are active in every phase of
work in churches of all faiths at Kinston.
All of the city's civic clubs also have
Du Pont representatives. In both the
Kinston Community Theater and the
Toastmasters Club, the majority of offi-cers
are Du Pont personnel; and the
active membership of each is predominat-ed
by Du Ponters. About 20 young men
of the Kinston Plant are busy in the Jun-ior
Chamber of Commerce, which conducts
at least 20 major civic and youth welfare
projects in the community each year.
Many members of management at the
plant are officers and committee chair-men
of the United Community Fund, the
American Red Cross and other charitable
groups. Technical men on all levels take
active roles in projects of the East Caro-
PAGE 12 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
lina Section of the American Chemical
Society. About 100 Kinston Plant em-ployees
are active leaders in all phases of
work in the Caswell and Pitt Districts of
the Eastern Carolina Council of Boy
Scouts of America, and scores of others
spend much of their leisure time in the
summer working with small fry on Little
League baseball teams.
It is easy to see why natives of com-munities
in the Kinston area know trans-planted
Du Pont employees better as
energetic citizens than as scientists and
production men. Meanwhile, back at the
plant, the highly technical process of
manufacturing "Dacron" continues around
the clock. It requires strict adherence to
standard procedures by operators and
other hourly roll employees in mainten-ance
and other auxiliary groups; applica-tion
of latest methods by supervision,
both in personnel relations and in manu-facturing
techniques; and constant search
by technical men for quality improve-ment,
better processes and new end uses
for "Dacron".
2,200 Scientists, 30 Laboratories
The Du Pont Company as a whole spent
$80,000,000 on research and development
in 1957, not including laboratory construc-tion
and technical assistance to manufac-turing
and sales. This work was carried
forward by 2,200 scientists in 30 labora-tory
locations. No better example of the
reasons for such heavy expenditures of
time, money and effort in seeking new
products could be cited than the develop-ment
of "Dacron". Since this miracle
fiber made its debut, hundreds of new and
improved uses have been developed for it
in clothing, home furnishings and indus-trial
materials.
In clothing, "Dacon" is favored for its
durability, wrinkle resistance, wash-and-wear
qualities and shape retention. It is
found now in all types of garments for
men, women and children. Among newest
developments are "automatic wash and
wear" suits, dresses and sportswear of
"Dacron" blended with rayon or cotton
that need absolutely no ironing. Others
include lightweight tropical uniforms of
"Dacron" and rayon for truck drivers and
delivery men that withstand rough
weather yet remain neat. "Dacron" has
gradually become a by-word of Americans
shopping for clothes ranging all the way
from lingerie to raincoats.
In home furnishings, uses of "Dacron"
include filling for comforters and pillows,
washable curtains and tapestries and a
variety of fabrics for other uses—all noted
for long wear and ease of care. Industrial
materials of "Dacron" include upholstery,
fire hose, conveyer belts, laundry nets,
sewing threads, tapes, fishing lines, sails,
sleeping bags and many others.
Quality and Cost Control
Quality, cost reduction, and productivity
are terms well known by Kinston Plant
employees. Rigid standards, numerous
tests and regular inspections to insure
the built-in qualities of Du Pont's
"Dacron" have been routine practices at
the plant since it began operating five
years ago. Operating efficiency is not
only normal but necessary in a plant com-peting
with manufacturers of numerous
new man-made fibers, not to mention the
Cartons of "Dacron"* polyester fiber in yarn form
are loaded on a conveyor which carries them to
scales for weighing and final check of quality, then
to equipment for strapping them before shipment
to customers. "Dacron" staple, which is fluffy and
looks somewhat like cotton, is shipped in bales.
natural fibers. Increases in output and
reductions in operating costs have been
musts in the plant's operations to offset
forces that keep the margin of profit low
on "Dacron". Factors in this race include
the extremely high costs of manufactur-ing
"Dacron", compared with other fibers,
and increases in the wages and benefits
of employees.
Despite the stiff competition "Dacron"
faces in the fast-moving textile fibers field,
coupled with the recent slump in the mar-ket
for all man-made fibers, Kinston Plant
people and the Du Pont Company are
optimistic about the future of their young
but famous product. Du Pont's second
plant for manufacturing "Dacron" is now
under construction at Old Hickory, Tenn.
In the Spring of 1958, W. E. Gladding,
Plant Manager at Kinston, said, "Plans
of the Company to build the new plant
reflect its confidence that the market for
'Dacron' will continue to grow, even
though the current textile industry reces-sion
has made a cutback in production
necessary here."
Registered Du Pont trademark.
TRUMBULL ASPHALT CO.,
MOREHEAD CITY
The Trumbull Asphalt Company,
Morehead City, is a subsidy of the Dela-ware
company of the same name and is
a part of the largest independent com-pany
producing asphalts in the United
States. It was established in 1935 and
opened the Morehead City plant in
1950. The unit was opened to provide
North Carolina with prompt service on
asphalts both industrial and street
types.
The company employs 500 employees
in all, and officers are: Robert H. Ga-skill,
manager of the Morehead City
Plant, 10 7 Arendell Avenue; J. Aikens
Miller, president and Milton A. Toskey,
vice-president.
WICA CHEMICALS, INC.,
CHARLOTTE
Wica Chemicals, Inc. began opera-tions
in Charlotte in 1947. Services of
the plant include sales, sales engineer-ing,
laboratory application of various
chemicals for the textile, paper-pulp
industry, paint and adhesive manufac-turers.
Products are designated as specialty
chemicals to the above mentioned in-dustries
and include, but not limited to,
surfacants, detergents, thermoplastic
and thermosetting resins, synthetic lat-ices,
wetting agents, dye fixatives, and
numerous others.
Thirty-seven people are employed by
the plant which is an increase of 100%
in personnel during the last four years.
Of Wica Mr. R. O. Simpson proudly
says, "We believe that we are the fast-est
growing native-owned chemical com-pany
in the state. Our sales coverage
is extensive over the entire eastern sea-board
states and our products and com-pany
name is recognized quite well
throughout the rest of the nation.
William C. Caldwell is president and
treasurer of the corporation and John
C. Boesch is vice-president.
AIR REDUCTION SALES
COMPANY, CHARLOTTE
Employing forty-five regular employ-ees
the Air Reduction Sales Company,
2300 South Boulevard, Charlotte, began
operations in 1927. Products either
made or distributed by the firm are
oxygen, acetylene, nitrogen, argon, heli-um,
rare gases, and carbide. Also manu-factured
and/or distributed are welding
and cutting apparatus and supplies; arc
welding machines and electrodes; and
inert gas arc welding equipment. N. H.
Hobbie is the Charlotte plant manager.
TRAITS (Cont. from Page 7)
Physical Capacities—include a 5-point
rating scale for requirements of strength,
whether sedentary, light, medium, heavy,
or very heavy. Other factors are includ-ed
when pertinent.
Working Conditions—This component
reflects physical surroundings of the job.
All jobs are rated for inside or outside
and for other factors, such as heat, cold,
humidity, noise, fumes, hazards, etc.,
when these are present.
In North Carolina this technique is be-ing
tested in one pilot office. Results ob-tained
to date indicate an early installa-tion
in other Employment Security offices
in the State.
KIRBY CHEMICAL COMPANY,
INC., SEVERN
Employing twenty workers the year
around the Kirby Chemical Company,
Inc., Severn, began operations in 1947.
The firm, with an investment of $200,-
000, is headed by owners W. H. Jen-nings
and M. D. Jennings.
Kirby Chemical manufactures crude
tall oil and refined tall oil for industry.
Other plants of the corporation are lo-cated
in Jacksonville, Florida and Vir-ginia
Beach, Virginia.
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 13
Radiator Specialty Co. 30 Years Old
(Note: This article was furnished by the
company and was originally publish-ed
in "Trucking".)
Charlotte's I. D. Blumenthal has al-ways
been a man with ideas. And ideas,
as everyone knows, make the world go
around—and forward.
One of his very best ones struck him
about 30 years ago. And ever since, it
has been paying dividends for President
Blumenthal and his Radiator Specialty
Company.
Things were a lot different back in
the 19 20's, but even then it was a me-chanical
world. It was while consider-ing
that whirring, clanking scene about
him that Mr. Blumenthal felt the first
stirrings of his idea.
He observed that all machinery, no
matter how well tended, was plagued
by enemies as old as the metals they
attacked. The culprits were rust and
corrosion.
Thirty years ago a common victim of
the pair was the automobile radiator.
To Blumenthal, the family jitney seem-ed
a likely place to engage the enemy
in battle. With his knowledge of chem-istry
as a background, he learned every-thing
he could about the causes of rust
and corrosion. Then began to fashion
the first of his "chemical tools" to com-bat
them.
The original product was a chemical
radiator repair powder, to seal radiator
leaks and prevent further ones. To in-troduce
it to the world, he drove his
Packard car to the center of Charlotte
one morning, drummed up a crowd, and
to the astonishment of all, punctured
the core of his radiator. As water pour-ed
from the hole, Blumenthal confident-ly
dumped some of his powder into the
radiator. The stream of water from the
puncture dwindled to a trickle, then
stopped.
The crowd, sold, shouted for some of
the "Magic" powder, and its voice was
heard across the land . . . and Radiator
Specialty Company was on the move.
Since then, the story of the company
is one of a continuing warfare against
rust and corrosion. A growing number
of products have been added to the orig-inal
one, and almost all that is made in
what now is a huge combination chemi-cal
and rubber plant has something to
do with the correction or disarming of
the two malefactors.
After the radiator sealer came a
"tool" for leaking steam and water
boilers, a cleaner for car radiators, a
motor block seal, an anti-rust chemical
for both auto radiators and factory boil-ers.
Then followed development of
chemical sealants for gaskets and joints
that also are used in automobiles and
steam and water boilers. The sealants
now are manufactured in special densi-ties
for all industrial application—for
railroads, aircraft, factories, gas and oil
lines, L-P gas and others.
Today, the list of products carrying
the Solder Seal name is long: truck and
car cooling system cleaners, rust inhibi-tors,
a fuel oil additive to ward off rust
and corrosion in oil tanks — a plastic
spray that protects against dampness as
well as the rust and corrosion it brings.
Probably the most widely used chemi-cal
product made by Radiator Specialty
is its Liquid Wrench — an amazing,
super-penerating rust solvent that loos-ens
rust-frozen joints when all other
means fail. It is known and used every-where,
but particularly in garages,
service stations, factories and on farms.
In addition to its chemical tools and
protectors, President Blumenthal's plant
manufactures rubber products for all
kinds of automotive, plumbing and
hardware outlets.
For the plumbing trade alone, more
than 600 rubber items are producted,
ranging from washers to tank balls and
gaskets of every type.
Motorists everywhere are familiar
with the company's Safe-T-Cone rubber
traffic markers, those all-rubber cones
used throughout the U. S. in guiding
motorists through congested areas, pro-tecting
dangerous areas, protecting
freshly painted lines on highways, or
indicating dangerous areas under repair
or construction.
Constantly at work checking the
quality and performance of products
—
as well as developing new ones—is the
company's modern, completely equipped
and staffed laboratory.
Long a national organization, the
Radiator Specialty Company has a sales
organization that is directed by four
division sales managers and 45 top
notch salesmen, who blanket the U. S.
It maintains an affiliate in Canada and
foreign export agents, also. All sales
are made through wholesalers to the
trade.
Because of motor transport's flexible,
fast service to every American city, the
bulk of the Charlotte plant's raw mate-rials
and products moves by truck. It
has been Great Southern's privilege for
many years to serve the constantly ex-panding
company that grew from a
thought in its founder's mind.
MANPOWER (Cont. from Page 3)
adequate staff for future needs rather
than to fill current demands.
In the larger companies (and many
of the smaller ones, too) staffing needs
are set up on a long-range basis. Va-cancies
were apparently established for
a fiscal year and personnel hired when-ever
suitable applicants became avail-able.
At the time of the survey, current
vacancies equalled 70 percent of the net
increase planned during the entire year
in the engineering and scientific occupa-tions.
Even allowing for the fact that
some recruiting was being done for anti-cipated
replacement needs, the bulk of
all hiring expected to be done during
the year showed up as job openings at
the time of the survey.
Numerous comments indicated that
vacancies open more than 3 days were
not necessarily a reflection of shortage.
In many cases, openings were being
held for college students who were al-ready
committed to jobs after their
June graduation. Occasionally a plant
reported that there was no pressing
need to fill its vacancies and that a
worker would be hired when one with
the precise qualifications desired came
along.
Difficulties in filling vacancies were
frequently attributed to something other
than absolute supply and demand in the
occupations. Some small firms in iso-lated
communities found it difficult to
attract workers. Occasionally a plant
was unable or unwilling to meet the
high salaries offered by competing em-ployers.
Or specialized training was re-quired;
e. g. chemical engineers experi-enced
in viscose rayon or in the paint
industry. The paint and varnish indus-try,
as a matter of fact, seemed more
interested than other surveyed segments
of the chemical industry in hiring more
mature workers with specialized train-ing
or experience rather than inexperi-enced
young workers to be developed
in their own plants.
Utilization of Personnel
There appeared to be a general effort
to use fully qualified professional per-sonnel
at their maximum skill and to
delegate to technicians the less demand-ing
tasks. Altogether, 14 percent of
reporting establishments said they had
increased their ratio of technical aides
to professional staff within the last
year. Such increases were more wide-spread
in the industries characterized
by large establishments than in those
with characteristically smaller establish-ments.
In the industrial organic chemi-cals
segment, 21 percent of the report-ing
establishments had increased the
aide ratio; in the drugs and medicines
industry, only 7.6 percent had done so;
in industrial inorganic chemicals, 17.6
percent; and in paints and varnishes,
8.9 percent.
Very little overtime was reported for
the surveyed occupations, though it was
frequently noted that laboratory experi-ments
sometimes required long and ir-regular
hours.
Part-time workers were a rare excep-tion.
Occasionally students (in a junior
capacity) or teachers were employed on
a part-time basis in the selected occupa-tions,
usually with the prospect that
they would become full-time workers
when circumstances warranted. This full-time
employment of students and teach-ers
during the summer was widespread.
This, too, was generally in the hope
that they would become regular em-ployees
at some future date.
Hiring Practices
Hiring specifications and methods are
varied. The large companies with wide-ly
scattered plants generally have a
central personnel organization that con-ducts
aggressive recruitment in the
scientific and engineering occupations,
though local installations also have
some authority to hire.
Recent college graduates seemed to
be the expected source of most needed
personnel in the selected occupations.
There was a general and very definite
preference for young male college grad-uates.
However, many establishments
indicated a willingness to hire excep-tionally
well-qualified females or experi-enced
workers. A considerable number
of companies set no age or sex restric-tion,
stating that they would hire any
fully-qualified worker. They were in
the minority, however. The paint indus-try
differed slightly from the other sur-veyed
segments of the chemical indus-try
in its hiring specifications: the re-striction
against females in engineering
and scientific occupations was almost
universal, and the demand for workers
See MANPOWER, page 18
PAGE 14 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
American Enka Corporation One Of Few Companies
4
AYERS
By Wilson Ayeks, Editor, Enka Voice
The morning of September 23, 1928
crept silently, as Sunday mornings do, in-to
Asheville, North Carolina.
Shortly, as the city stretched, shouts of
"Extra! Extra!"
pierced the quiet.
Newsboys sudden-ly
were pouring
over the streets
hawking a special
edition of the
Asheville Citizen-
Times—an edition
carrying the news
that Asheville and
Western North
Carolina were re-ceiving
a giant
new industry.
Their imagina-tion
astir, towns-people
read the
front page stream-er:
CITY GETS
$10,000,000 RAYON PLANT. This was
important to Asheville, vitally important.
This meant hundreds of people would be
employed—would go on an anticipated
payroll of one and one-half million dol-lars
per year.
It was important also to the merchants
of the area, to textile manufacturers of
the South, and important generally to a
section economically wobbly from a re-cent
real estate boom-and-bust.
On the day before this dynamic an-nouncement,
officials of a Dutch rayon
manufacturer, The Netherlands Artificial
Silk Company of Arnheim,—and of the
Central Bank and Trust Company, Ashe-ville,
had signed papers transferring to
newly-established American Enka Corpo-ration
2100 acres of land in Hominy Val-ley—
a slumberous, creek-notched meadow
seven miles west of Asheville.
"Best" In U. S.
The site chosen had to be the best avail-able
in the United States—one that met
these requirements: an abundant supply
of pure water; accessibility to raw mate-rials
and markets; an excellent climate;
and an ample supply of capable labor.
For months, representatives of the cor-poration
investigated more than 50 pros-pective
locations in Eastern America.
Finally they de-termined
on Hom-iny
Valley, an ac-tion
that convert-ed
the mountain
valley into one of
the nation's im-portant
centers for
textile fibers.
On May 2, 1928,
in Delaware, the
Dutch company
created American
Enka Corporation
with a capitaliza-tion
of about $16,- Dr. w R Berry js shown
000,000. working with the electron
The decision to microscope in the Enka Re-oiwt
the hno-o search Center. This is the
eletl Lue uuge on |y microscope of this type
rayon plant in in western North Carolina
Hominy Valley and
'J
,**?"** times more
.. * powerful than the most came at a time powerful light microscope.
The strongest rayon tire cord yet developed—a product of American Enka Corporation—is designated
"Super-Suprenka" and is said to be 45 percent stronger than regular grades, is examined by Dr. C. L.
Henry, the company's senior research chemist (left), F. B. Breazeale, assistant director of research in
charge of rayon research and development (center), and Dr. Forestier Walker, head of Enka's applied
chemical research section.
when this community was struggling to
recover from the dismal burst that fol-lowed
the great real estate boom of the
middle Twenties.
It brought encouragement, revived
hope, and bolstered the economy to such
an extent that it eased the great shock
of the depression years of the Thirties.
This September will mark the 30th an-niversary
of the coming of Enka to Bun-combe
County. Enka has become a true
friend of the community and through its
investments, payroll, taxes and other ex-penditures,
it has poured over the years
more than $200,000,000 into the economic
lifestream of the Asheville area, and its
leaders have made constructive contribu-tions
in many ways to the welfare of
Asheville and its religious, civic and cul-tural
life.
On June 10, 1929, the first boiler was
fired at the plant and the first unit began
operation. On July 1 of the same year,
the first of what became a continuous out-put
of viscose rayon was started. Some
1900 persons were employed, and the orig-inal
plant reached full production in Au-gust,
1930. As part of a dynamic new in-dustry,
Enka prospered and grew.
The company now ranks as the nation's
second largest producer of rayon with
production capacity for more than 150
million pounds of rayon annually. It
operates under 50 roofed acres at Enka,
employs more than 5000 people at its two
plant locations, and the annual payroll
is more than $22,000,000. Financially
strong, Enka is owned jointly by the par-ent
company in Holland, and by thousands
of investors who have purchased shares
on the New York Stock Exchange. The
company is American managed and staff-ed.
More than 43 per cent of Enka's stock-holders
are North Carolinians.
Enka's rayon textile yarns are used ex-tensively
in the manufacture of dresses,
suits and linings, sportswear, under gar-ments,
curtains, shirtings, tie fabrics, rib-bons,
laces, braids, and broad and narrow
woven fabrics. Draperies, carpets, and
upholstery fabrics made of rayon have
also gained wide acceptance.
Pushing out from traditional markets
in the textile industry, Enka developed
and produced a variety of high-tenacity
yarns with the pound-for-pound strength
of steel. In addition to automotive and
truck-tire uses, a growing number of
newer applications have been found for
this type of yarn, such as power and con-veyor
belting, high-pressure industrial
hose, wire-covering, and rope.
Through the years, Enka's share of the
rayon market has increased and it has
won recognition as a pacesetter in the
field of quality. As a producer of defense
materials such as tire cord and other
heavy-duty yarns, Enka became a key
company in war production during World
War II. Growing to meet expanded post-war
needs, the company built a second
plant at Lowland, near Morristown, Ten-nessee,
in 1947. The Lowland plant,
chiefly a producer of rayon tire cord, has
1700 employees and is this year observ-ing
its 10th year of operation.
New Nylon Plant
Looking toward the future of the newer
synthetic fibers, Enka completed a nylon
plant at its Enka, North Carolina location
in 1954, and with an eye to the need for
preparing for the coming years and for
protecting the company's competitive po-
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 15
In The United States Manufacturing Chemical Fibers
sition, Enka built a two million dollar Re-search
Center in 1955 at Enka.
The Research Center, one of the most
modern in the textile industry, symbolizes
Enka's faith in research as the corner-stone
of growth and progress. The re-search
staff, numbering more than 200, is
equipped with facilities to meet the chal-lenge
of a highly-competitive industry in
which success depends on keeping abreast
of new developments, improving present
products and developing new products.
All the achievements of rayon research,
impressive as they have been, are not in
the past. The rayon researchers are con-stantly
looking to the future. Research,
the painstaking accumulation of usable
knowledge, and the versatility of rayon
have made it one of the world's great
fibers. For rayon, born a half century
ago of scientific research, depends more
than ever on research for its continued
demand.
What men have made, men can make
still better.
The pioneering research to make rayon
better and still better led in time to a
growing body of scientific knowledge and
a growing curiosity about a diversity of
chemical materials, apart from cellulose
that possessed fiber-forming properties.
It was thus in rayon research the chem-ical
companies moved forward into the
work that has brought into being a host
of new products such as plastics, cello-phane
synthetic fibers, and synthetic
coatings.
A large number of synthetic fibers of
various types have reached the market
since late 1930's. Like rayon and natural
fibers, each of the new synthetics has cer-tain
desirable qualities. Significantly,
the consumption of rayon is still more
than three times the total of all other
man-made fibers—and since 1940, when
the new fibers began to be available in
quantity, rayon's share of the total textile
market, far from declining, has actually
more than doubled.
Production of Nylon was begun in June in the multi-million-dollar plant expansion by American Enka
Corporation. The enlarged facilities will nearly triple Enka's production of nylon yarns for the textile
industry. Inspecting pirns of the first production were (L-R) Horace Sentelle, shift foreman; Paul W.
Markwood, nylon operation manager; R. M. Hart, project engineer; W. M. Sessler, quality control and
production planning manager; Dr. R. L. Parks, chief chemist; C. W. Rice, engineering services manager;
and Ernest C. Moore, production superintendent.
Products for Daily Living
A large number of products used in
daily living are made from Enka rayon
and nylon. Many well known companies
buy the company's yarns and fibers for
subsequent processing into finished prod-ucts
which are distributed on a national
scale.
Enka is one of the three leading rayon
tire cord manufacturers in the country,
and last year produced approximately 20
per cent of all rayon cord used in this
country. Sales of tire cord amounted to
more than 50 per cent of the firm's total
business during 1957.
Rayon cord has gone into more than
700,000,000 tires since 1947. This year,
tire manufacturers will use over 300,000,-
000 pounds of rayon cord. When you buy
a new car chances are almost certain that
you will ride on rayon cord tires. Auto
manufacturers used them as standard
equipment on 99.2 per cent of their 1957
models, and they are on all production
models in 1958.
During the years that Enka has been
making rayon tire yarn, it has maintained
a research program to develop stronger
and stronger fiber. Its efforts and those
of other rayon manufacturers have been
highly successful. Since 1950, rayon has
been increased over 50 per cent in
strength, and 60 per cent in flex resist-
See ENKA, page 28
m:m :
(L-R) Nick Floros and Robert Smith, two of
Enka's large staff of highly-trained scientists at
work developing new products and seeking new
ways to improve the properties of existing cellulose
and synthetic fibers.
•
•' 4*
American Enka's plant is shown above. In the background may be seen the man-made lake which
fronts on the company club house. The multi-million-dollar Nylon building had not been built at the
time this picture was taken. The Nylon unit went into production in June.
PAGE 16 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
Hauling chemicals to textile manufacturers is big business for Ryder Tank Line, Inc., Greensboro. Here Driver J. T. Andrews steps into his cab to make a
run with a stainless steel tanker.
Trucks Play Big Part In Moving Chemicals
Specialized chemicals are becoming in-creasingly
important to North Carolina's
textile industry, with the result that there
is an increasing demand for the special-ized
transportation of these raw materials
by tank trucks.
One of the major highway carriers serv-ing
the textile mills of the Southeast is
Ryder Tank Line, Inc., of Greensboro,
N. C, which recently completed a new
$70,000 terminal at Nitro, W. Va., in the
heart of the Kanawha Valley area that
accounts for five per cent of the entire
U. S. chemical production.
For example. Union Carbide Chemicals
Co., which has three plants in North Caro-lina,
manufactures more than 400 differ-ent
chemicals, many of which go to tex-tile
mills—acids used in the production
of textile sizes, ketones used in the pro-duction
of textile sizes, ketones used in
stripping dyestuffs from fabrics, chlorine
compounds that go into dyestuffs and
dyeing assistants, metallic salts, solvents,
and surface-active agents.
"Traffic statistics show that the trend
is toward tank trucks," said W. Reid Fit-chett,
vice president and general manager
of Ryder Tank Line. "Many textile mills
are demanding liquid chemicals that must
be delivered within precise temperature
ranges on exact schedules. Fast, flexible
tank truck service is the only answer to
transportation problems of this kind."
The Greensboro company was founded
in 1949 as Miller Motor Line of North
Carolina. It is now a member of the
Common Carrier Division of Ryder Sys-tem,
Inc., with a modern fleet of 150 trac-tors
and tank trailers, and also a member
of the N. C. Motor Carriers Association,
Inc.
First With Sleepers
"We were the first tank line in the
Southeast to transport liquid glues, resins,
acid, white phosphorus—and all products
other than petroleum derivatives," said
the general manager. "We also were the
first tank line to use sleeper cabs and
specialize in long-haul deliveries of spe-cialized
liquids."
The Ryder fleet includes compartmented
trailers that can handle as many as five
different liquids on one haul.
Operating in 20 states and the District
of Columbia, Ryder Tank Line piled up a
total of 4,164,199 miles of inter-city travel
during 1957.
"Our tank trucks have contributed to
the growth of many small and middle-sized
textile mills," Fitchett said. "In the
transportation of specialized material, we
are delivering to the small manufacturer
bulk commodities which allow his busi-ness
to be on an equal basis with the
larger user who consumes many, many
tank cars in a year. We render him the
same service . . . save him labor, save
him freight charges."
CHAMPION MANUFACTURING
COMPANY, CHARLOTTE
By J. L. Goines, Manager
The Champion Manufacturing Com-pany,
80 North Brevard Street, Char-lotte,
started from scratch in 193 9. The
owners worked out formulas for Cham-
PADco Padding Cement and began
manufacturing the product at that time.
ChamPADco is used by printers in mak-ing
tablets or to pad printed sheets into
tablet form. The product is wholesaled
to fine paper merchants who retail it to
the printing industry.
World War II completely halted
operations of the firm when raw mate-rials
could not be purchased. Follow-ing
the war operations were resumed
and today the original formula is used
to manufacture the cement which is
sold through the United States and sev-eral
foreign countries.
Other products of the company are:
Champ Wood Glue, Champ Book Back
Glue and Tipping Glue. The latter are
used by the graphic arts industry while
the wood glue is used by cabinet shops
and millwork plants.
Six employees work full time at the
plant with equipment which was built
by the owners with a small investment.
The payroll runs about $27,000 annual-ly.
Officers of the firm are: John L.
Goines, president; Albert C. Goines,
vice-president; Charlie S. Goines, secre-tary;
and Paul W. Goines, treasurer.
WIKOFF COLOR CORP.,
CHARLOTTE
Wikoff Color Corporation, 410 South
Gardner Avenue, Charlotte are manufac-turers
of printing inks for letterpress,
offset, flexograph and gravure. It also
makes special coatings for the graphic
arts industry. There are nine employees
in the company which was started in
May of 195 6.
Officers of the corporation are: Fred
C. Wikoff, Jr., president and Robert S.
Stiteler, vice-president. Mrs. Faye Stro-upe
is office manager.
INTERCHEMICAL CORP.,
CHARLOTTE
Robert L. Phillips, Jr., is the manager
of the Charlotte Branch of Interchemi-cal
Corporation which began operation
in 1951. The corporation is engaged in
the manufacture and servicing of print-ing
inks which are sold to commercial
printers, carton plants and newspapers.
Fifteen people are employed in the
Charlotte plant.
BLACK PANTHER COMPANY,
INC., SANFORD
The Black Panther Company, Inc. of
Sanford was organized in 19 48 and in
addition to charcoal, manufactures in-secticides,
fungicides, rodenticides and
charcoal products. The products are
merchandised through wholesale gro-cers,
hardware, drug, feed and seed
chains. Total investment for the plant
employing 50 to 100 people seasonally
amounts to $500,000.
President of the firm is B. D. Smith,
Jr. S. J. Smith is vice-president in
charge of sales and C. M. McBryde is
vice-president in charge of production
and is treasurer of the corporation.
Lucille Gross is secretary and assistant
treasurer.
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY
fclprth Carolina Stele Library
Raleigh PAGE 17
Morton -Withers "On The Grow99
By Joseph R. Morton, President
The business was started in Novem-ber
1931 as Textile Chemical Prod-ucts
Company, with a small plant lo-cated
on West Lee Street in Greensboro.
The business was originally a partner-ship
consisting of Joseph R. Morton,
who at that time was Southeastern sales
manager for Tubize-Chatillon Corp., and
J. D. Fell (originally of Raleigh), who
was general manager of Angle Silk Mills
at Rocky Mount, Virginia. On last
August 1, Morton-Withers Chemical
Company was acquired by Chas. Pfizer
& Co., Inc. of Brooklyn, N. Y., and on
January 1 of this year, merged and
since that time has operated as a divi-sion
of the parent company.
In September 1938, it was changed to
Morton-Chemical Company and the busi-ness
was incorporated. Early in 19 50,
the company name was changed to
Morton-Withers Chemical Company up-on
the entry of John P. Withers, who
had been raised in Raleigh and who had
been working for ESSO Standard Oil
Company in their chemical business.
The plant is located at 2110 High
Point Road, Greensboro, directly across
the High Point Road from the location
for the new auditorium-coliseum. The
company is built on an 8-acre tract of
ground served by siding from the South-ern
Railway yards and comprises six
buildings.
Some High Vacuum
Equipment generally consists of a
series of reaction vessels, mostly of
glasslined or stainless steel construc-tion,
with heat provided by either steam
or circulating Dowtherm and with some
of the reactors being provided for at-mospheric
and others for high vacuum
operation. Two new items have been
added within the past year, one of these
being a new high-temperature, high-vacuum
stainless steel polymer reactor
with the necessary Dowthern heating
and cooling equipment, and the other a
complete new continuous unit for the
production of high molecular weight
oil soluble sulfonates by a new synthe-sis.
Complete laboratories are available
for research, control, product evaluation
and technical sales service, together
with a well-equipped technical library-
The company's operations currently
are divided pretty well into four fields,
as follows: Plasticizers for vinyl resins
as well as other synthetic resins and
rubbers—A complete line of plasticizers
is manufactured for this usage, these
comprising phthalate, sebacate, adipate,
azelate, citrate and other acid esters in
both monomeric and polymeric forms.
Polyester resins — A line of special
polyester resins for use in the produc-tion
of the new type polyurethane foams
and rubbers that have been receiving
so much prominence over the past few
years.
Synthetic lubricants—A line of mo-nomeric
and complex esters for use in
the formulation and fabrication of syn-thetic
lubricants for usage in turbojet
and turboprop engines.
Synthetic sulfonates—A line of synthe-sized
petroleum sulfonates of both high
and low molecular weights, produced by
a new synthesis and the first continuous
process for the production of such mate-rials,
with the products being utilized
as bases for lubricating oily additives,
cutting oils for metals, textile soluble
oils, ore flotation agents, fat splitting
catalysts and the like.
The plant has a value of approximate-ly
1 % million dollars. Currently addi-tional
employees are being added, with
the present number being between 80
and 8 5. Annual payroll approximates
$400,000.
Division officers are Joseph R. Mor-ton,
President, and John P. Withers,
Vice-President, but as mentioned above,
the company is now a division of Chas.
Pfizer & Co., Inc., who have world-wide
operations in the drug, antibiotic, phar-maceutical
and chemical businesses. The
company is headed by John E. McKeen,
who is president and chairman of the
board, and the annual report for 19 57
operations was recently published as
a supplement to the Sunday New York
Times of March 23, this report showing
a steady, continued growth and success-ful
operation. Sales for 19 57 were al-most
20 8 million dollars, and the com-pany
presently has production plants in
14 foreign countries. The acquisition
of Morton-Withers Chemical marked
their entry into the petrochemical field
and should result in expanded opera-tions
both here at Greensboro and pos-sibly
in the Gulf Coast area.
FULBRIGHT LABORATORIES,
INC., CHARLOTTE
By C. O. Fctlbeight, President
Fulbright Laboratories, Inc., 213 East
Tremont Ave., Charlotte began opera-tion
in 19 40. The entire plant, labora-tory
and production unit, as well as the
general offices is located at the above
address.
Services consist of chemical engineer-ing,
specializing in industrial water
treatment and corrosion engineering.
Chemical formulas are designed to
individual specifications, according to
the quality of the water being treated
and to the operating conditions. These
formulas are easily adjusted to meet
fluctuation and evaporation, thus main-taining
top efficiency of heat transfer
surfaces at all times.
Power plant supplies for boiler treat-ment
are FUL-O-FOS, FULKOLLOID
and OXY-CIDE.
Products for steam and return line
treatment are FULAFILM and FULA-MINE.
Products for air conditioning and re-frigeration
equipment include RUSTI-SOL
and FUL-O-CIDE.
Twenty-three people are employed by
F^ulbright Laboratories, three of which
are female.
The officers and executive personnel
of the corporation are: C. O. Fulbright,
president and treasurer; J. Lewis Car-ter,
vice-president; Lois E. Sasser, sec-retary
and assistant treasurer; J. A.
Huff, general manager and J. M. Reitzes,
technical director.
ROME CHARCOAL CORP.,
SANFORD
In the village of Colon, population
300, located a few miles from Sanford
is the Rome Charcoal Corporation. Sev-eral
years ago the state of North Caro-lina
had no company producing char-coal,
today it is one of the leading states
in production.
While the industry does not employ
a great number of people to produce the
charcoal (Rome Corporation has 25 em-ployees
) , it does furnish employment
for many indirectly. Farmers and wood
haulers use spare time to add to their
income by hauling wood to the plants.
Unlike most wood-using industries
Rome Charcoal manufacturers uses only
"waste" woods. The company purchases
hardwood slabs that have no other com-mercial
value and low grade round wood
that would never develop into commer-cial
timber. When Rome's Lillington
plant, now being built, goes into full
production, that firm will produce 10
million pounds of hardwood charcoal
each year.
The Colon plant is one year old and
has as its officers Sidney A. Rome,
president; Milton Rome, vice-president;
and Robert Noneman, general manager.
REICHHOLD CHEMICALS, INC.,
CHARLOTTE
Reichhold Chemicals, Inc. began
Charlotte operations in 19 52. The plant
is located on New Pineville Road. The
company offers technical sales service
and industrial resins and chemicals to
industry.
The plant employs about forty people
full time. T. R. Johnson is general
manager of the Charlotte operation.
President of the company is Henry H.
Reichhold who was born in a Berlin,
Germany, suburb. He received his tech-nical
education in German Universities
and came to the United States when he
was twenty-two to study automobile
surfacing techniques. He took a job in
the Ford Motor Company paint depart-ment.
Within a short time he began experi-menting
with synthetic resins in order
to perfect a faster drying, more durable
auto finish. He conducted these trials
in the garage of a friend of his, Charles
J. O'Connor, today Chairman of the
Board and a Director of RCI. The finish
he developed dried satisfactorily in a
few hours as against the two weeks time
required for the finishes then in use.
In 19 27, Mr. Reichhold gave up his
job with Ford—soon to be an RCI cus-tomer—
and bought a paint factory in
Ferndale, just outside Detroit, where he
founded his first plant. Today the com-pany
has fourteen vice-presidents.
CONSOS, INCORPORATED,
CHARLOTTE
With an investment of $100,000, Con-sos,
Incorporated has, since 1943, been
manufacturing specialty products for
textile plants in the south. These prod-ucts
are softeners, penetrants, coning
oils and wetting agents. The firm also
offers, in the way of services, a commer-cial
laboratory and personal assistance
in textile plants in the southeast.
The plant is located on Statesville
Road in Charlotte and its president is
Charles J. Wolhar.
PAGE 18 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY WINTER-SPRING, 1958
Labor Turnover Program And 1957 Turnover Data
For The Chemical Industry
By Arleene A. Holloway
Research Analyst, Bureau of Research and
Statistics, ESC
The North Carolina Cooperative Labor
Turnover Program is operated jointly by
the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and
the Bureau of Employment Security.
This Program in-volves
collecting,
processing, and
publishing labor
turnover statistics
based on informa-tion
reported
monthly by a sam-ple
of establish-ments
engaged in
manufacturing
and mining activi-ties.
In seeking to
make the original
survey of national
labor turnover fig-ures
more mean-ingful
for the
North Carolina
employers, the North Carolina Employ-ment
Security Commission in May 1956
undertook the responsibility for carrying
out and expanding the program. At the
outset there were around 350 participat-ing
employers, which number has now in-creased
to more than 1,200. The purpose
of enlarging the sample was to improve
the coverage in terms of industry seg-ments
and to insure that the industry
rates for North Carolina would be repre-sentative
of the industry's experience in
North Carolina.
Labor turnover statistics are beneficial
when used to compare the turnover rates
for an establishment with the over-all
rates for that industry in the State or
possibly in the area in which the estab-lishment
is located. These data are help-ful
to those seeking a better understand-ing
of labor mobility and desiring to
utilize the existing labor force to the high-
HOLLOWAY
Accessions
Year's Monthly
Industry Total Average
State-wide—All Manufacturing.... 35.7 3.0
Chemicals and Allied Products.. 44.1 3.7
Fertilizers „... 96.9 8.1
Vegetable & Animal Oils
and Fats 118.4 9.9
Other Chemical Products 18.2 1.5
est degree by reducing unnecessary and
costly movement. By having a clear pic-ture
of conditions and grasping the ex-tent
of wastefulness incurred by exces-sive
turnover, the employer can improve
his productivity record and can evaluate
the success of his personnel policies. The
following review of the turnover experi-ence
in the Chemical Industry during 1957
illustrates how turnover data can be used
to point up any excessive turnover that
may need corrective measures in order to
insure more efficient operations.
Participating establishments in the La-bor
Turnover Program employ more than
83 per cent of the employees in the chem-ical
industry covered by the Employment
Security Program. These firms are locat-ed
in all sections of the State with the
greatest concentration (64 per cent) in
the Piedmont section. Even though par-ticipating
employers in the manufacture
of fertilizer and vegetable and animal oils
and fats are greater numerically than the
employers engaged in manufacturing all
other chemicals, they comprise only 13
per cent of the employment for the entire
industry. Since the fertilizer and vege-table
and animal oil groups are so highly
seasonal, they impart a definite seasonal
movement to the chemical industry's over-all
rates. Nevertheless, despite the high
rates for accessions and separations, the
industry's quit rate is relatively low.
The table below shows the full year 1957
rates and also the average monthly rates
for accessions and separations, including
quits and layoffs which are the most im-portant
segments of separations. These
data show the State turnover experience
for total manufacturing as well as for
the chemical industry, including a break-down
of certain sub-divisions within the
industry.
Notice the wide variation in turnover
experience between the fertilizer and veg-etable
and animal oil groups on the one
hand and the "other chemical products"
group. During 1957 there was an over 100
per cent turnover in the first two groups,
1957 TURNOVER
Separations
Year's Monthly
Total Average
39.4 3.3
47.6 4.0
115.5 9.6
Quits
Year's Monthly
Total Average
17.2 1.4
9.5 .8
23.4 1.9
Layoffs
Year's Monthly
Total Average
17.6 1.5
34.8 2.9
85.8 7.2
107.3
20.1
8.9
1.7
3.7
7.3
101.8
10.1
8.5
Layoffs
N.C. U.S.
MONTHLY ACCESSION AND SEPARATION RATES
Total Ace. Total Sep. Quits Discharges
Month N.C. U.S. N.C. U.S. N.C. U.S. N.C. U.S.
January 2.1 1.8 2.5 1.5 .5 .8 .2 .1 1.6 .4
February 3.1 1.6 2.1 1.5 .7 .7 .2 .1 1.1 .5
March 4.1 1.5 4.7 1.7 .8 .8 .1 .1 3.7 .6
April 3.4 1.4 7.0 1.5 1.1 .7 .2 .1 5.6 .5
May 1.3 1.5 11.8 1.7 1.4 .9 .2 .1 10.0 .5
June _ 1.3 3.1 6.2 1.4 .9 .8 .0 .1 5.2 .3
July 4.0 2.0 4.2 1.7 .7 .8 .1 .1 3.3 .7
August 2.9 1.8 1.6 2.3 .8 1.3 .2 .1 .5 .6
Sept. 6.8 1.8 1.9 2.9 1.2 1.9 .1 .1 .5 .6
October 5.6 1.5 1.2 1.6 .4 .7 .1 .1 .5 .7
November 6.6 1.0 2.0 1.8 .6 .5 .1 .1 1.2 1.0
December 2.9 .9 2.4 1.8 .4 .4 .2 .1 1.6 1.2
National data for December are preliminary.
but the balance of the chemical group ex-perienced
only about one-fifth of that
turnover; i.e., about 20 per cent. This
latter turnover rate, incidentally, was ap-proximately
half the turnover experienced
by all manufacturing in the State as re-vealed
by the turnover sample.
The effects of the seasonality is also
evident as one compares the turnover
rates for North Carolina with those for
the nation. In most cases the national
accession and separation rates were low-ed
than the rates for the State. This was
due in part to the composition of the
national sample which has more non-seasonal
segments of the industry such as
synthetic fibers; drugs and medicines;
soap and cleaning preparations; paints;
and other miscellaneous chemicals. The
smaller seasonal impact makes for a more
stabilizing effect on the national rates.
The accompanying table shows the over-all
chemical accession and separation
monthly average rates per 100 workers for
the State and nation for the calendar year
1957.
Manpower (Cont. from Page 13)
thoroughly experienced in the paint in-dustry
was more widespread.
The larger companies maintain regu-lar
recruiting groups that keep in con-tact
with colleges the year 'round. En-trance
salaries are high. Prospective
employees are invited to visit the plant
and be interviewed with all expenses
paid. If the applicant decides to accept
employment, usually his moving expen-ses
are paid and assistance is offered in
finding suitable housing. If an under-graduate
looks promising and is willing
to commit himself to work for the com-pany
after graduation, the company will
frequently help defray the cost of his
education and welcome him as a tem-porary
employee during summer vaca-tions.
In addition, many companies offer
scholarships to engineering and scientif-ic
students.
Though colleges are the main source
of supply, other sources are also used.
Nearly all companies advertise in news-papers
and trade and professional jour-nals.
They also use both private and
public employment agencies.
Turnover
Once the engineer or scientist had
been hired, there did not appear to be
much of a problem keeping him on the
job. The vast majority of establish-ments
reported that turnover was no
problem—that separations in the select-ed
occupations were no higher and usu-ally
lower than among the total work
force. Higher salaries elsewhere, a
desire for more scope, or the wish to
move to another area were the most
frequently cited reasons for quits.
CAROLINA BY-PRODUCTS CO.,
INC., GREENSBORO
Organized in 19 28 and headed by
President Stanley Frank, the firm col-lects
and processes for industrial use,
animal wastes. Employing seventy-one
people the company's products are ani-mal
fats and proteins.
WINTER-SPRING, 1958 THE E. S. C. QUARTERLY PAGE 19
Impact Of Unemployment Insurance On The Community
By Dr. Frank T. deVyver, Chairman
Economics and Business Administration
Department Duke University
This speech was delivered before the
195S Annual Convention, North Caro-lina
Chapter, International Association
of Personnel In Employment Security
Durham, N. C, on May 3, 1958.
I propose this morning to discuss with
you briefly the possible impact of unem-ployment
insurance on the community.
This subject has its positive aspects,
namely, the impact on the community of
taxes and benefits. It also has its nega-tive
aspects because there are many peo-ple
who have mistaken ideas on the im-pact
of the program. Therefore, I shall
want to give you my conclusions on these
mistaken ideas as well as on taxes and
benefits.
For the examination both of the posi-tive
and negative sides of the subject,
let's refer to the law. Here we find what
the legislature thought to be the purpose
of unemployment insurance.
"Economic insecurity due to unemploy-ment,"
said the legislature, "is a serious
menace to the health, morals, and welfare
of the people of this state. Involuntary
unemployment is therefore a subject of
general interest and concern which re-
Quires appropriate action by the legisla-ture
to prevent its spread and to lighten
its burden which now so often falls with
crushing force upon the unemployed
worker and his family. The achievement
of social security requires protection
against this greatest hazard of our eco-nomic
life. This can be provided by en-couraging
employers to provide more
stable employment and by the systematic
accumulation of funds during periods of
employment to provide benefits for periods
of unemployment, thus maintaining pur-chasing
power and limiting the serious
social consequences of poor relief assist-ance."
Note, please, that the legislature set up
an insurance scheme to collect funds from
employers and pay those funds out to
workers who become unemployed through
no fault of their own. Note also that, like
so many other types of insurance, the
unemployment insurance rates might vary
to "encourage employers to provide more
stable employment." Any one of you who
pays automobile liability insurance knows
that if you have a teen-age driver in the
family your insurance costs more.
In the light of this legislative declara-tion
of purpose, let us examine some of
the positive impacts of this program upon
the community.
Community Impact
In the first place, the unemployment
insurance program has an impact on the
community because of the tax which is
collected. In the twenty-year period 1937-
57 North Carolina employers have con-tributed
nearly $388 million to the unem-ployment
insurance program. In 1957
alone these employers contributed $30,-
518,934. That, I submit, is a sizable
chunk of cash to take out of the North
Carolina economy. This tax is probably
borne chiefly by consumers in higher
prices. Just how much of the tax will be
eventually shifted to workers in lower
wages or remain on the employers in the
form of lower profits is difficult to say
because there are so many economic vari-ables
to be considered in each case. But
the tax has been paid.
You know about the tax system here in
North Carolina. The base taxable wage
is up to $3,000. The tax itself may range
from 0.1 to 3.7%, depending upon indi-vidual
employer experience and the gen-eral
condition of the unemployment insur-ance
trust fund itself. On the average,
North Carolina employers paid a tax in
1957 of 1.45 on taxable wage payments and
the projected rate for 1958 is 1.43%.
Tax rates, of course, vary with the type
of industry. Thus, in 1956 tax rates paid
by utilities was .94%, in finance 1.07%
and in construction 1.59%. In manufac-turing,
which employs the largest number
of workers covered by the program, the
average rate was 1.39%. The impact of
the tax on the community will therefore
vary according to the principal activities
of its covered industries. This will per-haps
explain in part the fact that the
average contribution rate for Mecklenburg
County in 1956 was 1.16%, whereas the
rate in Wake County was 1.10%—