Show I RELIANCE RELIANCE PLANT PLAYS IMPORTANT I PART IN SANPETE ECONOMY We Ve recently had the privilege of going through the local Reliance plant to see just what its function is We had seen the big blue and white buses bringing workers to and taking them from work most every every day and had hadJ hadI I J I seen the local men and women passing passing passing pass pass- ing through the doors of the plant but this is the first we fully realized what the plant means to the people of this valley We Ve were conducted on this tour of the plant by Mr L. L N N. Ellis Superintendent of the plant and an anI I I employee of the Reliance Co for 25 years Mr Ellis explained each of the thirty-four thirty operations to us and we saw the progress of things from long bol bolts ts of cloth to finished jackets for men The plant is turning out about dozen jackets per day at present and andI has the capacity r for more if additional I workers can be obtained for the job Two hundred and fifty dozen jackets jackets- that's three thousand jackets a day and fifteen thousand packets per week The local plant was purchased by bythe bythe bythe the Reliance Mfg 1 Company in June 1944 the month our armies swept across the English Channel to invade Europe Up until that time the plant had been producing parachutes for the I Army Anny and Navy Air Corps' Corps and had I been under the direction of Col C. C E E. Fauntleroy The change of the plant to bring it under the Reliance system caused only a short stoppage of work and then the plant went to making parachutes again During the course of the war parachutes made in Manti undoubtedly provided safe passage to the ground for many of our paratroopers paratroop paratroop- ers airmen cargos of supplies for troops cut off from other supply lines and even for flares and bombs destined to make things miserable for the enemy and shorten the war for us With the end of the war the manufacture manufacture manufacture manu manu- facture of chutes was terminated a and d dit it was plain that the plant would have to be converted to the production of civilian goods or be bo closed Reliance however had no intention of closing the plant so called four fou of the local workers to a Reliance plant in Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi Miss Miss- to look over production methods and study means of converting the local plant Upon return these representatives of the Wasatch Manti plant organized organized organized organ organ- the machines workers and materials materials materials mat mat- for fox the production of mens men's jackets When this oper operation tion was started started started start start- ed there was a considerable training period for many of the workers as they felt out their new duties but the production soon i began to grow I and things began to run smoothly At present there are about two I hundred persons on the payroll at Reliance and the average payroll which comes out every two weeks is almost When Mr Ellis disclosed these figures to us us we were a bit surprised and at the same time became became be became be- be came elated over the presence of the Wasatch branch of the Reliance Mfg Company Just think folks the payrolls payrolls payrolls pay pay- rolls of this plant put almost fifty th thousand usand dollars into circulation in Sanpete every month that means more than five hundred thousand II dollars a half million every year In return for this money they put I into circulation the Reliance company takes only the work hours of the people They dont don't drain any of our natural resources unless you term labor so and yet pay payout out over a half million dollars a year to the workers they draw from this valley To keep up the production of their three thousand jackets per day the local plant imports about pounds of raw material cloth buttons buttons buttons but but- tons zippers thread etc every month and there meets one of the bad features of the Wasatch plant Most of the materials mentioned come from the Atlantic seaboard and that makes freight rates extremely l high gh in inthis inthis inthis this distant area Of the two twenty-two plants owned and operated by the Reliance Mfg Company only three are west of the Mississippi River and theother the theother theother other two which are west of our biggest biggest biggest big big- gest river are a thousand miles East of Manti That means that the freight rates paid by the Manti plant for a thousand pounds of material from the East coast will be about four or five times as much as rates paid by the average Reliance plant for the same thousand pounds of material Working conditions as we saw them and as Mr Ellis explained them to us seem to be tops here in Manti The light heat cleanliness tir time schedule and working conditions in general ap appear appear appear ap- ap pear to us to be the best and we i doubt if any of them would draw a complaint from the workers Recreation Recreation Recreation tion for the workers is also part of the plan at Reliance and the workers have been guests of the company at picnics dances and parties with more activities activities activities planned The wage system was also explained to us by Mr 11 Ellis and we can imagine no way that would be more mor fair to the workers The wage system used here in Manti is the same as that used in all branches of the Reliance Mfg Company Mr Ellis stated that the average wage for the women workers is 87 cents per hour with all workers guaranteed at least fifty cents per hour even in the training period When a woman starts her training period at Reliance she has hasa a production goal to reach which is usually referred to as Standard When the worker reaches Standard her work hours are are determined by her output of goods Each operation has a set required output for an hours hour's work and any output over that re requirement requirement requirement re- re is counted on additional hours Under this system some of the workers can perform twelve or more hours work in an eight hour period It appears to us that Reliance is doing us a lot of good here in Sanpete Continued on last page RELIANCE PLAYS AN I PART IN SANPETE ECONOMY Continued from page 1 It is the Ule first scale large round year manufacturing industry we have ever had in Sanpete and although comparatively comparatively small it has a great capacity for output Mr Ellis states that Re Reliance Reliance Reliance Re- Re liance will probably be a permanent part of our community and county if we can keep the labor supply up high enough so that production will offset high freight rates rales and other great overhead expenses such an establishment establishment establishment establish establish- ment has to meet We Ve would like to express our thanks to Mr Ellis for his fine explanation of the workings of the local branch of the Reliance Mfg Company and to wish it success in future operations The sh Publishers rs |