Word: tires
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What is it like to work in a U.S. factory that has been taken over by the Japanese? It has been more than four years since the Firestone Tire & Rubber plant in LaVergne, Tenn., was bought outright for $52 million by Bridgestone of Tokyo, Japan's No. 1 tiremaker. Some obvious things have not changed in that time: workers still labor over tire presses, for example, and steel- belted radials still roll off the line. But in any number of subtle and not so subtle ways, the influence of the new owners can be felt throughout the factory and indeed...
...Hollywood film about Japanese-American factory relations. The movie depicts the Japanese takeover of a mythical Pennsylvania company town as a comic clash between a lackadaisical work force and transplanted managers obsessed with efficiency. Although Bridgestone and LaVergne officials play down the comparison, workers at the Japanese-owned tire plant have another perspective. Says Roger Sherrill, a longtime tire assembler at Firestone who was on hand when the Japanese arrived: "That movie hit it right on the head...
...making the long drive to the kiln. He drove slowly to keep his tires from overheating under the heavy load. Ray is a careful man. He cuts carefully, loads carefully and carefully tots expenses. "It takes two-days work to pay for one blowed tire." And he blows them often, because he has to overload the truck to make the 60-mile round trip from home to woods to kiln pay. His chain saw cost $500, and he can only run it a few years before it needs replacing. He has just had to overhaul his truck's engine; that...
...decision is a dramatic rebuke and potential financial disaster for RKO's parent company, Akron-based GenCorp (formerly General Tire and Rubber). Unless the ruling is overturned on appeal, the value of RKO assets -- now estimated to be worth $750 million or more -- could plummet by 90%. Reason: most of the value of a broadcasting station resides in its license. Nonetheless, GenCorp may be able to salvage some of its RKO investment. The company has agreed to sell its highly regarded KHJ-TV to the Walt Disney Co. for $217 million and three radio stations to other buyers...
Allegations of RKO improprieties arose in 1965, when investors challenged KHJ-TV's license, claiming that RKO was not broadcasting in the public interest. Later, detectives hired by rivals discovered that General Tire was maintaining slush funds for such uses as improper overseas payments and questionable campaign contributions. RKO lost its license for Boston TV station WNAC in 1980. Among the misdeeds cited by the FCC judge last week: the chain allegedly filed false and misleading financial statements between 1971 and 1975 and overcharged its advertisers on 55% of its ad invoices during a 17-month period...