1,180 weeks without a lost time accident

                                                                                is the record of  the  K.C. laboratory.       

 

1949 Moonbeams article...

 

The KANSAS CITY Story

THE year 1903 marked the beginning of P&G's expansion program, and Kansas City, Kansas, was a natural spot for that expansion.  The midwestern part of the country was growing both in population and in the number of industries locating there.  One industry's growth in that part of the country particularly influenced P&G's expansion westward and that was the meat packing industry.  The meat packing industry is one of the principal sources of fats for soap.  It was a lot more practical for the Company to buy fats from Kansas City to Cincinnati and send them back to Kansas City in the form of soap.

 Its excellent transportation system was another factor in the choice of Kansas City.  Many railroads were making it a terminal point, boats were going up and down the Missouri River, and there was also the famous Santa Fe Trail, which had been used by stagecoaches and the Pony Express to the Far West.

A site of 23 acres along the banks of the Kansas River was purchased in 1903 and construction of the factory began in 1904.  Production started the following year with Mr. F.F. Skillman as Superintendent.  At that time 102 people were employed.  Today Kansas City has over 500 employees.

Since the original plant was built, approximately 23 acres of land have been added and 32 additional buildings erected through the years.

In 1917 a Silicate House an the Alkali Plant were built.  Milled soap production got underway in 1927.  And in 1929 another large expansion program took place at Kansas City.  At that time 5 new kettles were installed and two full-size granules towers were erected to meet the production schedules for Oxydol.  Kirk's Coco Hardwater Castile soap became a Kansas City brand in 1930.  Dreft, the first packaged synthetic detergent, was the next product to be added.  The freezer method of making Ivory bar soap came in 1940, followed by an Ivory Flakes mill and dryer.

At the close of World War II only Kansas City and Ivorydale had Dreft towers in operation.  To produce the Dreft required for the Kansas City territory, the Dreft Department ran seven days a wee, 24 hours a day for almost a year.  The latest additions are a standard tower unit for making Tide, completed at the end of 1948, and a new hydrolyzer which will be in operation by the end of this year.

Today, there are 16 production departments making P&G's most popular brands of soap and synthetics as well as several grades of glycerine.  In addition, the factory acts as a distribution point for P&G products shipped from other factories.

The people who work in the factory are from two states--Kansas and Missouri.  Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, are twin cities located at the junction of the Missouri River and the Kansas River (locally called the "Kaw").  To get to work the people from Missouri have only to cross the State line on excellent highways.

If you were to visit the factory in its busy industrial area, you might be surprised to hear so much talk about crops, gardens, and cattle raising.  It so happens that many employees live on nearby farms in western Missouri and Kansas.  For many of them it mans getting up at the crack of dawn to feed livestock before driving to work  Some of them raise mink, bees, and bird dogs, as well as the "usual" farm animals such as chickens, cows, and pigs.

Stories told by the old-timers reflect the pioneer spirit of the people of that region.  They tell about the early days of the factory when they ate their lunch in a cook tent and meals were served family style.  "All you can eat for 15 cents" was the only price list needed.  They washed before meals in 3-gallon buckets.

In later years a gardener raised vegetables for the lunchroom on the factory grounds.  He had an irrigation system rigged up which consisted of perforated pipe over each garden row.  All he had to do to water the garden was turn on the pump. The lunchroom girls canned some of the products and served them in the wintertime.

Going to and from work was quite different in those days, too.  The closest transportation was a street car. But the end of the line was a mile from the gate.  Most of the mile was unpaved and on rainy days many people were brought to the gate in wagons.

In the early days the factory laboratory people did double duty as control analysts and first-aid men.  Any employee with a minor injury was treated by the laboratory technicians.

The Kansas City Factory had the outstanding baseball team in the Kansas City Industrial Baseball League from 1925 to 1935.  During this time the P&G team won more than its share of championships.  The trophy cabinet is full of many proofs of the team's ability.  Many of the players and managers on these teams are still working in the factory and the older employees still talk of some of the plays and crowds at the games.

Employment in the Kansas City Factory seems to be a family affair just as it is in many other P&G factories.  of the people employed, nearly a third have relatives (brothers, sons, daughters, cousins, nephews) working in the factory.  [28 sets of brothers!]

You could get an inkling of long service records by attending a Kansas City Dividend Day Picnic or other Company celebrations.  you would see many people wearing 25-year service pins.  A recent survey showed that the 30, 35, and 40-year pins of the people around the factory represent over ten centuries of service.  Almost half of the employees have over 15 years of service.  [82 employees with more than 25 years of service!]

Kansas City people have an outstanding attitude toward safety--and an outstanding safety record.  During 1947 and 1948 they accumulated a total of 1,582,823 consecutive man hours worked without a lost-time accident.  This is the highest man-hours-worked record yet accumulated in Procter & Gamble.  Kansas City people are naturally quite proud of this.  Safety is a personal matter with them.  Each individual assumes a share of the responsibility for seeing that no one gets hurt.

The choice of Kansas City for P&G's initial expansion was a wise one.  The reasons why it was selected in the first place are even more compelling now.  Its transportation and distribution facilities have grown, and the sources of fats for soap-making have increased.  But the basis of the success of the Kansas City Factory (as of any factory) is its people.  While the factory itself has changed from its early days, the industry, loyalty, and resourcefulness of its people remain the same.

The new cafeteria, less than a year old, is centrally located,                            On-the-job training.  A Tide Tower operator

clean, light, and well ventilated.                                                                              explains the dry materials unloading system.

                                                                                                                                      He will use a flow chart, terminology list, job

                                                                                                                                      breakdown and training questions before the

                                                                                                                                      training is complete.

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Kansas City Plant in 1949