Search Results

Title: Interview with Jim Flynn, 2017 April 4 and 2017 April 17
Date(s): 2017-04-04, 2017-04-17
Contributor(s): Flynn, Jim (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Flynn spends a significant portion of the interview discussing his role in the construction of a DuPont Poly Acryl plant in Iran. He recalls the difficulties faced during the process in detail, commenting on the complicated politics involved with the project and providing insight into the Textile Fibers Department's efforts at global expansion. Flynn also relates some details about the major change in the DuPont Engineering Construction Division from union shop to nonunion. The incident at...
Show moreFlynn spends a significant portion of the interview discussing his role in the construction of a DuPont Poly Acryl plant in Iran. He recalls the difficulties faced during the process in detail, commenting on the complicated politics involved with the project and providing insight into the Textile Fibers Department's efforts at global expansion. Flynn also relates some details about the major change in the DuPont Engineering Construction Division from union shop to nonunion. The incident at the Cape Fear River is discussed and is a significant turning point in the move to nonunion. He also provides insight on the Engineering Department's shift from a "functional organization" to one more supportive of the businesses as prescribed by DuPont Co. management.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20170404_Flynn
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Ron Steele, 2017 August 9 and 2017 August 10
Date(s): 2017-08-09/2017-08-10, 2017-08-09, 2017-08-10
Contributor(s): Steele, Ron (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Ron Steele's interview provides insight into the technical work required to maintain DuPont's position in the Nylon hosiery and apparel market. He discusses how having a background in mechanical work, including welding experience, as well as a chemical engineering degree prepared him well for his job responsibilities. When he was hired by DuPont in the 1960's the hosiery market had left the monofil basis and was looking for better yarns at a lower cost.

Steele worked in the ATO process groups...
Show moreRon Steele's interview provides insight into the technical work required to maintain DuPont's position in the Nylon hosiery and apparel market. He discusses how having a background in mechanical work, including welding experience, as well as a chemical engineering degree prepared him well for his job responsibilities. When he was hired by DuPont in the 1960's the hosiery market had left the monofil basis and was looking for better yarns at a lower cost.

Steele worked in the ATO process groups and he comments on the impact this had on his development. He states that he had a great peer group and that this mentoring helped him in his work. He offers detailed comments on his efforts to develop specialty yarns for the warp knitting trade, for instance gear crimped yarn and knit de knit yarns. His view and details of the POY, PTY, Undrawn, and fully drawn yarns are really informative. DuPont was really struggling to keep its position in hosiery and light denier yarns and the market was oscillating on the preferred way to process the yarns. This indecision was requiring DuPont to look at all the ways of supplying yarn to the trade, and Steele explains the technical efforts involved in this.

At a point in Steele's career, management suggested that each engineer develop a career specialty and he chose windups. In the interview, Steele discusses several DuPont windups and the reasons and capabilities for each. One issue he dealt with is the melt polymer supply to the spinning blocks. Contrary to the SM 25 NRD 402 test at Martinsville, Steele was convinced the NRD 402 was inadequate for the modernized process. He was joined by others in this opinion. Steele explains in detail the process of screwmelter and extruders and his logic for his opinion. This provides information on Nylon polymer melting and spinning machine supply at Martinsville.

In 1984, Steele was selected as a member of the team formed to modernize the Martinsville plant. After a short period of work, Martinsville was dropped mainly because it was a one-product (light denier yarn) plant and the team was moved to Chattanooga to modernize that site. [Interviewer's note: there are several other opinions for the demise of Martinsville that relate to the union situation there. These are expressed in other interviews.] The Modernization Team was convinced that DuPont in-house development of a spinning machine was not attractive and that commercial equipment was the better option. The team visited all equipment vendors to select a partner. At this time the product choice was narrowed to selling POY to the trade and this would be the basis of the machine design. Steele discusses this in the interview.

The team did a worldwide search to select a machine designer and builder to partner with for the modernized machine. They selected Barmag as their partner. With information in-house and gleaned from Monsanto, which had exited the nylon business, they had the basic data for the machine. This basic data included different concepts from the previous processes and allowed much higher spinning speeds with better quality and higher texturing speeds. Steele describes this in detail. The first machines introduced and installed were named type 90.

After successful startup of the T90 machines, Steele describes the development of the next generation machine for nylon apparel yarns. He discusses in detail the process and the keys to making a better yarn at a lower cost. Steele was the technology manager for this process with several engineers reporting to him only for technology development as he was reluctant to take on supervisory responsibilities. Again DuPont partnered with Barmag and developed the T95 machine. This was in the later stages of DuPont's history in the textile fibers business and management decided to partner with international businesses to install and operate this machine. The machines were installed in Taiwan, Brazil, and Mexico with JV's. Much later machines were installed at Chattanooga but only operated for a short period of time.

[Interviewer's note: In my opinion there were three stages of the hosiery and light denier nylon apparel yarn business. The first was the period 1940 to 1960, a slow speed process which was the original split process; the second was the high speed coupled process for POY; and the last one (which is the one extremely well described in Steele's interview) which is an ultra-high speed process based on new polymer technology. It is impractical for me to capture all this interview in these few words but I highly recommend this interview as a source of information for any interested in Nylon technology.]
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20170809_Steele
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Robert "Bob" Brandt, 2018 June 5 and June 13
Date(s): [2018-06-05, 2018-06-13], 2018-06-05, 2018-06-13
Contributor(s): Brandt, Robert (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Bob Brandt spent his career at the DuPont Martinsville, Virginia, plant. After graduating high school in 1961, he attended East Carolina University for two terms before deciding to leave to seek a career. He was hired at the Martinsville plant in 1962 and progressed through various operational assignments. A talented artist, Brandt was often called upon to create posters and fliers for different groups at the plant.

In 1978, having reached the top of the manufacturing progression system and...
Show moreBob Brandt spent his career at the DuPont Martinsville, Virginia, plant. After graduating high school in 1961, he attended East Carolina University for two terms before deciding to leave to seek a career. He was hired at the Martinsville plant in 1962 and progressed through various operational assignments. A talented artist, Brandt was often called upon to create posters and fliers for different groups at the plant.

In 1978, having reached the top of the manufacturing progression system and wanting to extend his career, Brandt applied for a transfer to engineering crafts. Despite speculation that the plant was to close, in 1990 he moved into a Technical Assistance role, winning the position over several competitors. Brandt held this assignment until he retired in 1994 with one of the "reduction of force" offers DuPont made. The Martinsville plant was demolished in 1998. After retirement Brandt continued to do craft work in the Raleigh area, eventually forming his own company.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20180605_Brandt
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Dolores Williams Kelly, 2018 June 22
Date(s): 2018-06-22
Contributor(s): Kelly, Dolores Williams (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In her interview, Dolores Kelly describes her career in various roles at the DuPont Kinston plant.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20180622_Kelly_Dolores
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Earl H. Jackson, 2009 January 29
Date(s): 2009-01-29
Contributor(s): Jackson, Earl H. (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Jackson's role in the DuPont Co.'s Nylon business.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090129_Jackson
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Julius H. "Bud" Zobel, Jr., 2009 April 30
Date(s): 2009-04-30
Contributor(s): Zobel, Julius H., Jr. (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Zobel's role in the DuPont Co.'s Nylon and Dacron business.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090430_Zobel
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with J. Thomas "Tom" Mills, 2008 June 10
Date(s): 2008-06-10
Contributor(s): Mills, John Thomas, 1933-2011 (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In his interview, J. Thomas "Tom" Mills explains to Plasky how marketing works at DuPont in order to sell fibers and how he and his team impacted the nylon industry.

Mills covers some of his life before he started working for DuPont in 1960. He then talks about what it is like selling to costumers around the United States and the types of costumers he would sell cordage to. He talks about tech marketing and the organizations he worked with and how they would interact with one another. He talks...
Show moreIn his interview, J. Thomas "Tom" Mills explains to Plasky how marketing works at DuPont in order to sell fibers and how he and his team impacted the nylon industry.

Mills covers some of his life before he started working for DuPont in 1960. He then talks about what it is like selling to costumers around the United States and the types of costumers he would sell cordage to. He talks about tech marketing and the organizations he worked with and how they would interact with one another. He talks about the introduction of nylon tying material over conventional twine. He then talks about his accomplishments while working in textile marketing, like putting the well-known name of Cordura on an unknown product at the time known as nylon. He then talks about working in fiberfill and going to trade shows to demonstrate and sell products. Then he discusses the bonding of batting for bedding from converter companies and how he created the "special finishes" on the fiber so it would retain its fluff when washed and dried.

Mills then discusses marketing more, explaining the differences between direct marketing and in-use marketing. He goes on to talk about the nylon enterprise and what nylon was used to create: women’s hosiery, men's socks, upholstery, specialty sheets, and intimate apparel. He talks about marketing in hosiery and how that made a big profit in DuPont. He talks about the Type 90 machine and yarn and how Cordura and Tazlan were under those names. He then talks about what happened to DuPont after he retired, including the introduction to Invista, and talks about what other coworkers did after Mills left. He then discusses his retirement more and the effect of computerization in marketing, adding on what is done in production shows and the process of flocked fabric. He then talks about how the New York Sale office operated, and the evolution of DuPont including outside influences affecting production. He then closes the interview with Plasky with some of his best memories of his time with DuPont.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20080610_Mills
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Harold Baldwin, 2009 June 02
Date(s): 2009-06-02
Contributor(s): Baldwin, Harold (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Baldwin's role in the DuPont Co.'s Nylon business.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090602_Baldwin
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Earl W. Kelly, 2018 June 22
Date(s): 2018-06-22
Contributor(s): Kelly, Earl W. (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In his interview, Earl Kelly details his career in plant operations at the DuPont Kinston facilities. He provides a thorough description of the ETF spinning process at Kinston. The process was one of the first times that split processes were converted to a coupled process, which was a major process change invented and lead by DuPont. His interview provides an example of the day-to-day contributions of individuals to a large manufacturing entity.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20180622_Kelly_Earl
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Joyce Harris, 2017 September 11
Date(s): 2017-09-11
Contributor(s): Harris, Joyce (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In her interview, Joyce Harris describes her career at the DuPont Kinston plant. As a child, she lived in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where her parents worked in the local cotton mill. Later they moved to the Virginia Beach area to help with the war effort. Her father was hired at DuPont on start up as a mechanic and the family moved to Grifton, which at the time was becoming the community for the DuPont workers. It was in this environment that Harris finished school and after year in...
Show moreIn her interview, Joyce Harris describes her career at the DuPont Kinston plant. As a child, she lived in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where her parents worked in the local cotton mill. Later they moved to the Virginia Beach area to help with the war effort. Her father was hired at DuPont on start up as a mechanic and the family moved to Grifton, which at the time was becoming the community for the DuPont workers. It was in this environment that Harris finished school and after year in nursing school applied for a job at the DuPont Kinston. During this time, she married Roger Harris (whose interview is also archived). She was offered a position at DuPont and her first assignment was bobbin prep, a standard entry level job at the plant which entailed cleaning yarn from spinning bobbins and inspecting them prior to reuse.

Harris then moved to the Draw wind area. At the time this was an all-women assignment. The spinning assignment was all men at the time. The assignments which Harris explains was to doff, restock, restring, and patrol the machines. She could not remember the number of machines but it was a lot. This was the end of the two step yarn production process where the yarn was drawn, twisted and wound on customer bobbins. Harris describes the different jobs within the draw winding area.

Harris then got a transfer to the PT lab by an ambiguous job selection process. Harris felt comfortable in the new role, and she explains the test machines prior to automation and after automation, concluding that manually testing was far less accurate than the automated testing. She describes all the yarn test machines and their purpose. As management changes allowed her to increase her responsibility she did so, becoming the scheduler for group.

Harris also describes the maternity leave policy for Kinston. The policy was clear and unchangeable but required the mother to leave at 5 months and return 2 months after birth. Service was lost during this period but the job was saved for the employee's return. Harris recalls the early policy (1961 to 1964) but is unclear as to later changes.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20170911_Harris_Joyce
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Cheryl Estes, 2017 June 07
Date(s): 2017-06-07
Contributor(s): Estes, Cheryl (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In her interview, Cheryl Estes provides insight into the experience of female employees at the DuPont Martinsville, Virginia plant. Estes describes her first job as a wage role operator in the textile area organization and work crews, detailing that the textile area contained 350 drawtwisters with 144 "women's only" operating positions on each drawtwister. Estes describes the changing policies for female employees during her time at Martinsville, significantly that that plant jobs were opened...
Show moreIn her interview, Cheryl Estes provides insight into the experience of female employees at the DuPont Martinsville, Virginia plant. Estes describes her first job as a wage role operator in the textile area organization and work crews, detailing that the textile area contained 350 drawtwisters with 144 "women's only" operating positions on each drawtwister. Estes describes the changing policies for female employees during her time at Martinsville, significantly that that plant jobs were opened up to all employees regardless of sex and the maternity leave policies were updated. Once the jobs were opened, Estes describes how she progressed to higher levels with the goal of entering a craft position. Testing was required for entry and Estes studied and passed the test. DuPont supported her during a three year period of study at a local community college to become a plant electrician. Estes describes her completion of the work and assignment as a relief shift electrician. Her next move was to a group called field maintenance which had construction responsibility for the plant projects. Estes advanced to maintenance planner, which was a promotion from wage roll to nonexempt.

Estes also speaks about the shutdown of the Martinsville and mentions that many employees believed the local union and its hostile attitude toward DuPont was at least partly responsible for the closing.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20170607_Estes
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with John Hall, 2017 April 25
Date(s): 2017-04-25
Contributor(s): Hall, John E., 1946- (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: John Hall describes his career as an operator at the DuPont Martinsville plant, and his interview provides insight into plant life from a wage roll viewpoint. It provides a clear understanding of the problems and lack of solutions DuPont developed while trying to modernize the spinning areas.

Hall's early years describe what it was to live in the rural mountainous area of southwest Virginia. After several attempts he was hired by DuPont in 1968. It is significant to note that Hall describes...
Show moreJohn Hall describes his career as an operator at the DuPont Martinsville plant, and his interview provides insight into plant life from a wage roll viewpoint. It provides a clear understanding of the problems and lack of solutions DuPont developed while trying to modernize the spinning areas.

Hall's early years describe what it was to live in the rural mountainous area of southwest Virginia. After several attempts he was hired by DuPont in 1968. It is significant to note that Hall describes the hiring as 500/600 in 1965 and 300 in 1968. He was in the latter group and the large group ahead of his affected his seniority all through his career.

Hall describes the T28 and T29 spinning machines which were the light denier modernized spinning machines. They were installed at Martinsville and later moved to Chattanooga. The process was not at all liked by the operators and Hall describes how and why. He relates the life of an operator in the spinning area and also relates various concerns about management decisions.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20170425_Hall_John
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Dwight Crainshaw, 2017 May 03
Date(s): 2017-05-03
Contributor(s): Crainshaw, Dwight (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In his interview, Dwight Crainshaw discusses his career as an operator at the Cape Fear site, where he was the first operator to be hired. Crainshaw describes how he opted for the operations job after deciding he did not have the basic skills to be a mechanic. Since the highest skill level in operations was the continuous polymerization operator (CPO) this was the assignment for Crainshaw. DuPont gave him and others a six month training program aimed at understanding the polymerization...
Show moreIn his interview, Dwight Crainshaw discusses his career as an operator at the Cape Fear site, where he was the first operator to be hired. Crainshaw describes how he opted for the operations job after deciding he did not have the basic skills to be a mechanic. Since the highest skill level in operations was the continuous polymerization operator (CPO) this was the assignment for Crainshaw. DuPont gave him and others a six month training program aimed at understanding the polymerization process. This was book learning in the plant under construction. Since Crainshaw was hired first and went directly to CPO he completely bypassed the spinning assignments, which was very unusual. He discusses many events where he (and others) took the lead to address and correct a problem. He mentions the "minimum adequate" concept that was used to build this plant. This was a clear attempt to avoid the excesses that existed in previous plants. The concept "not to staff for emergencies" is also mentioned and was one of the key principles of the Cape Fear Plant. Crainshaw worked as CPO for a number of years and related his experiences in that assignment and then he moved to power. He discusses the power operator assignment and how two operators ran the area, and this was a good example of the "not to staff for emergencies" concept. He also mentions the Iranian trainees and offers his viewpoint of their brief training period.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20170503_Crainshaw
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with George McMicken, 2009 May 27
Date(s): 2009-05-27
Contributor(s): McMicken, George (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to McMicken's role in technical services at DuPont Co.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090527_McMicken
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Roger Harris, 2017 August 09
Date(s): 2017-08-09
Contributor(s): Harris, Roger (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In his interview, Roger Harris describes the progression system at the DuPont Kinston, North Carolina, works and the machine operation in both the staple and yarn area in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Harris was in yarn and made several significant contributions to the operations which he describes in fair detail. Harris also details progressing from the plant entry level to the highest level of the nonexempt progression system. He describes utilizing his creativity to make improvements...
Show moreIn his interview, Roger Harris describes the progression system at the DuPont Kinston, North Carolina, works and the machine operation in both the staple and yarn area in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Harris was in yarn and made several significant contributions to the operations which he describes in fair detail. Harris also details progressing from the plant entry level to the highest level of the nonexempt progression system. He describes utilizing his creativity to make improvements to the operations at Kinston and the support he received in his efforts by plant supervision. As things changed over the years the Technical Assistants (TA), as Harris was, were given more authority and responsibility and Harris relished this change. He describes being one of the first TA's given assistance to operations (ato) in the spinning area. an assignment with much responsibility. Harris was later assigned to the CP area as the ato TA, the position he held at retirement. He finally remarks on his role as secretary of the Retired From DuPont (RFD) club for the Kinston plant.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20170809_Harris_Roger
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Gene Thompson, 2009 February 26
Date(s): 2009-02-26
Contributor(s): Thompson, Gene (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Thompson's role in the DuPont Co.'s Nylon and Dacron business.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090226_Thompson
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with James V. "Vic" Hartzog, 2008 August 20
Date(s): 2008-08-20
Contributor(s): Hartzog, James V., 1937- (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Hartzog details his work on silicone and slickner processes in the late 1960's and 1970's, his development of a crimp tailgate which solved problems and improved the type 106 staple, and his work on Fiberfil and antimicrobial technologies.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20080820_Hartzog
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Rex Clarke, 2009 April 28
Date(s): 2009-04-28
Contributor(s): Clarke, Rex (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Clarke's role in the DuPont Co.'s Nylon business.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090428_Clarke
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Jude Foxall, 2008 September 24
Date(s): 2008-09-24
Contributor(s): Foxall, Jude (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Foxall's role in the DuPont Co.'s Nylon business.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20080924_Foxall
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Leland "Jay" Dawson, 2016 April 7
Date(s): 2016-04-07
Contributor(s): Dawson, Leland (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: In his interview, Leland Dawson speaks on the role of Industrial Engineering (IE) groups at DuPont Co. during the 1960s. In additions to overseeing manufacturing budgets and cost work, these groups were a key factor in final output decisions. Dawson also explains the significant planning function of the IE groups. Addressing his time with the Transportation and Distribution Department (T&D), Dawson describes the role of Staff Departments at DuPont during the period. T&D provided...
Show moreIn his interview, Leland Dawson speaks on the role of Industrial Engineering (IE) groups at DuPont Co. during the 1960s. In additions to overseeing manufacturing budgets and cost work, these groups were a key factor in final output decisions. Dawson also explains the significant planning function of the IE groups. Addressing his time with the Transportation and Distribution Department (T&D), Dawson describes the role of Staff Departments at DuPont during the period. T&D provided transportation equipment needed by the manufacturing departments.

Dawson also relates the development of the computer systems at the Kinston plant during his time with the Information Systems group there. He describes his role installing and maintaining the hardware from computers to communication systems. He also explains the broader computer systems development which took place from 1980 to 1992.
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Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20160407_Dawson
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Robert "Bob" Heckrotte, 2008 November 20
Date(s): 2008-11-20
Contributor(s): Heckrotte, Robert (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20081120_Heckrotte
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Ernie Bennett, 2009 December 07
Date(s): 2009-12-07
Contributor(s): Bennett, Ernie (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Bennett's role in management at DuPont Co.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20091207_Bennett
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with Dick Stine, 2009 February 19
Date(s): 2009-02-19
Contributor(s): Stine, Dick (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Stine's role in the DuPont Co.'s Nylon business.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090219_Stine
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with John Page, Sr., 2009 February 12
Date(s): 2009-02-12
Contributor(s): Page, John, Sr. (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Interview primarily relates to Page's role in management at DuPont Co.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090212_Page_Sr
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

Title: Interview with William D. "Bill" Walker, 2009 July 13
Date(s): 2009-07-13
Contributor(s): Walker, William D., 1937- (interviewee), Plasky, Joseph G. (interviewer)
Description: Walkers' interview discusses the development of the high speed wind-up, his work on fanning gun for spinning machines, and his work on the metered finish on Dacron machines and his patent on that applicator. He also talks about the textile industry, and DuPont's attempts to replace conventional fabrics.
Collection ID: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department (Accession 2010.215)
Hagley ID: 2010215_20090713_Walker
Collection: Oral history interviews with former employees of DuPont Company's Textile Fibers Department

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