Greensboro Vicks [October 1987]

              Greensboro Vicks
Vol. 30
October 1987
No. 4
Ideas Create Change
Evalina Carpenter (c) feeds corrugate
to Samuel Ray (I) and Alice Cox (r).
Two ideas, 12 years apart, at first
glance seem to have no relation to one
another. But on second glance, the
demise of the older suggestion and the
birth of the new idea were both
created by the same factor.
Last Pad Order
On August 14 the last piece of corrugation slipped under the blade to
complete the final in-house pad order.
In February 1975, with a machinery
investment of less than $15,000, the
suggestion that miscellaneous service
containers that held packaging material
such as glass bottles and cartons and
sold as salvage at s2-s3 per 100 lbs. be
supplemented with the purchase of
necessary sheet stock and cut into
pads, liners, and partitions for Greensboro, Hatboro, and Puerto Rico manufacturing operations was initiated. At
that time the corrugate supplier did not
want the pad business because of the
many changes in size and configuration and the always immediate delivery
times. In the first year of its inception
this idea realized a savings of over
s200,000. Over the years the pad
operation continued to more than pay
its way many times over. An air-
conditioned room was built, and an
exhaust system installed to remove the
paper dust.
Gradually, though, over the past few
years the need for pads has dwindled.
Why, when the plants are producing
at all time highs, did this occur?
Because of the change from glass to
plastic bottles. Glass bottles had to be
protected both coming into the plant
and leaving with their finished product.
Plastic bottles did not need the same
degree of protection. The economics of
the situation dictated the elimination of
the in-house pad operation — an
operation that at one time was being
considered for installation at other
manufacturing facilities.
A Smaller Container
A few weeks after the pad operation
shut down, Jerry Reynolds, Group
Leader in the Warehouse, received an
idea award for altering the size of the
service containers received from the
suppliers of the plastic hair care bottles.
Jerry noticed, while receiving these
bottles, that the loose bottles nested a
few inches below the top edge of the
container. He suggested that the
container be sized down while
holding the same number of bottles.
With the same number of bottles
being stored in the same number of
smaller containers, 20% less warehouse space is needed for storage.
(continued on page 2)
A New Kid
in the Racks
Mark Stroud looks on as Jerry
Reynolds is congratulated by Lee
Norman.
Don Neal and Kim Rhodes pull a Bain
de Soleil order.
On June 16 the announcement was
made of the acguisition of the Bain de
Soleil sun care business from Revlon.
Two months later, on Wednesday,
August 19, the first shipment of this
product was made from our warehouse facility, a sign of our continued
growth.
Silver Stats
August 31 and the end of the two-
month silver binge precipitated by
broken production records. A total of
233 new records was achieved, and
3,893 silver dollars were given to the
individual lines. The Accounting
Department dispensed 9,457 silver
dollars to all employees because
everyone's effort was needed to excel.
Sandra Vernon, Joyce Varner, and
Carol Burklin had silver linings on their
fingers from counting these 13,350
pieces of silver.
Reminder...
Standard time resumes October 25.
Remember to set your clock back one
hour. You gain an extra hour on Sunday
morning to sleep or, better yet, to
devote to a loved one!