September 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



925 



INCREASED FACTORY EFFICIENCY 



The great change in the Akron rubber industry as a result of 

 the business depression which has now lasted about a year is 

 nowhere more apparent than in the increased efficiency of the in- 

 dividual workmen in the factories. At the present time with pro- 

 duction of all the Akron factories close to 75,000 tires a day, a 

 total of 27,000 day and piece-workers are employed. A year ago, 

 when the industry was running at peak and approximately 90,- 

 000 tires were made daily, approximately 72,000 men and women 

 piece-workers and day-workers were employed. As a typical ex- 

 ample of the increased efficiency The Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

 Co. recently announced that the company is now producing 30,- 

 000 tulies daily, a new record, with a total of 525 piece-workers. 

 A year a.so it required 1.100 men to produce a total of what was 

 then peak tube production of 23,000 a day. 



These figures indicate the change which has come about in 

 the industry. Men are today working with every ounce of 

 cnergj- bent upon production. The overhead has been cut to 

 the very bone, and the process of readjustment continues. Every 

 man and woman in office or factory who can be dispensed witli 

 is dismissed and his place is not being filled. Wages have taken 

 a drop which is almost as large as the increase in efficiency. 

 Tire builders and finishers who were paid $1.25 an hour a year 

 and one-half ago are now being taken on at 60 to 80 cents an 

 hour, and common labor which a year ago would scarcely con- 

 sider anything less than a dollar an hour is now being hired for 

 30 cents an hour, while the rate for women has dropped to 25 

 cents an hour. With piece-work still an important feature in 

 those departments where it is feasible, it is possible for the 

 workers to make much larger sums, hut at best the wages re- 

 ceived do not compare with peak post-war wages. It is con- 

 servatively estimated that wages as a whole have dropped between 

 35 and 40 per cent to date and that other adjustments can be ex- 

 pected, especially in salaries. 



AKRON NOTES 



Shelby A. Falor. president of the Falor Manufacturing Co.. 

 126 West South street, Akron, Ohio, is a native of Akron, and 

 his entire business career is connected with the rubber industry 

 of that city. Beginning twenty years 

 ago W'ith The Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

 Co. as a clerk, he has successively filled 

 various positions, becoming manager of 

 one of the departments, and finally, three 

 years ago. was appointed a member of 

 the company's board of control. 



Mr. Falor has a wide acquaintance in 

 the rubber industry, and is familiar with 

 the business, along both selling and pro- 

 duction lines. The new company will 

 specialize in the manufacture of high- 

 grade inner tubes. 



The Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 

 Akron, Ohio, reports an increasing production of tires and tubes, 

 which almost equals the peak production of 1920. At present 

 the schedule varies between 26,000 and 2S,000 tires daily, with 

 a corresponding output of almost 30,000 tubes. The plant is 

 operating six full days a week, with two shifts of nine hours 

 each. In one or two departments three shifts of eight hours 

 each is the rule. Sales to manufacturers continue encouraging, 

 while August sales to dealers promise to be among the highest 

 for any one month in Firestone history. 



The h'ivestone Tire & Rubber Co., .Akron, Oliio, has gathered sta- 

 tistics concerning the care being taken of their tires by automo- 

 bilists and truck owners. They find that more attention is being 

 paid to this subject than formerly, and there are fewer cases of 

 tire abuse. Motorists and operators of trucks realize the im- 

 portance of frequent checking up for possible imperfections in 

 wheel alincment, tire inflation, etc. Today, with prices at the 



Shelby A. Fai.or 



lowest level and qua'ity of the liest, an opportunity is afforded 

 to demonstrate the worth that has been built into the modern 

 tire. 



Reports to the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, early in 

 the month indicated that the automotive industry is operating at 

 about 61 per cent of the production registered in July this year. 

 Firestone manufactures original tire equipment for 47 automobile 

 manufacturers and also produces about about 65 per cent of the 

 rim e(iuipment for the country. It was reported at Firestone that 

 although there is little actual profit in the manufacture of tires 

 at the present time because of the actual cost of materials, the 

 first of September will probably see enough of the old high- 

 priced inventory worked of? to enable the company to show an 

 actual production profit. 



H. B. Clingerman, industrial cufiineer of The B. V. Goodrich 

 Co., Ernest Brownwoud, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and 

 J. A. Hildebrand, chairman of the smoke abatement committee 

 of the .\kron Chamber of Commerce, are among the five citizens 

 appointed by the Mayor of Akron to serve as the smoke abate- 

 ment commission recently organized. 



The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, announced during 

 the middle of August that 900 men were to be laid off. E. G. 

 Wilmer, president of the company, stated that the decrease in 

 working forces will not materially reduce production of 25,000 

 tires and 30,000 tubes a day. 



Goodyear has inaugurated the budget plan which demanded 

 either decrease in personnel or cuts in salary and personnel de- 

 creases were impossible in many departments. During the month 

 Don Stevens, for many years head of the factory labor depart- 

 ment of Goodyear, resigned. With him went Marshall Morris, 

 formerly assistant general manager of the Los .Angeles plant and 

 later in charge of stock sales for the company. Harry Black- 

 burn, assistant treasurer, and F. F. Dugan, formerly in charge 

 of sales personnel, were among the others who left Goodyear 

 during the month. C. C. Prather, manager of the products de- 

 partment, has been transferred to the sales department at Cin- 

 cinnati and W. D. Shilts, formerly chairman of the board of 

 control, has been made traveling auditor. 



Willard Seiberling, head of the aeronautical department of The 

 Good} car Tire & Rubber Co., and Wade T. Van Orman, official 

 of the department, will take part in the international free balloon 

 race which is to be staged in Belgium, September 18. The "City 

 of Akron," to be flown by these aeronauts, has been designated 

 by the Aero Club of America as one of the American contenders 

 for the international cup. 



E. E. Helm, formerly head of the publicity department of The 

 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., has resigned and will be succeeded 

 by Hugh Allen, formerly managing editor of the Beacon Journal, 

 an afternoon daily, and subsequently editor of The W'ingfoot 

 Clan, the official paper of the Goodyear factory. 



The Amazon Rubber Co., Akron, following complete reorgani- 

 zation and some refinancing, started into production on a small 

 scale during the second week in August and by the first of Sep- 

 tember will be manufacturing several hundred tires a day. L. J. 

 Shott, founder of the company, is president of the new company ; 

 Albert Kroehle, .\dam Kroehlc Sons Co., Cleveland, is vice-presi- 

 dent ; R. C". Fulmer is treasurer, and C. E. Bettler is secretary. 



-Mr. Schott founded the Amazon Rubber Co. in 1916 and ac- 

 tual production started early in 1917. A year and a half ago 

 the company was taken over by Dr. E. E. Quirk who has with- 

 drawn from the company. The return of Mr. Schott to the 

 business has created confidence on the part of the stockholders 

 regarding the company's future, and to a large extent his return 

 was responsible for the ready response of the stockholders to 

 the request for additional capital. 



The Adamson Machine Co., .Akron, reports that while the 

 plant is not operating anywhere near capacity, sufficient work 

 is being found to keep it operating at less than half of normal. 



