Remember how special the Yuletide holidays were at Budd?
Regardless of where you were employed at Budd, there was always excitement and joy in the air.
At the corporate headquarters in Troy, our Public Affairs Department planned employee gatherings. It was always done first class, regardless of the economic times and conditions.
And my fellow employees always gave their time and talents for the benefit of all.
Maybe it was a time which gave us the opportunity to show how grateful we were to work at The Budd Company.
Perhaps you would like to share some of your experiences during the yearend holidays with your Budd family.
Feel free to post or send your thoughts to Paul Flancbaum at go2paulf@gmail.com
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
BEING FRANK ABOUT BUDD
Paul,
My name is Frank Gallagher & I started at the Philadelphia Plant, oh, so many moons ago. As we all say, we've blinked & it is now. I don't believe we've met but I've seen your name along the way many times over the years, so I know some things about your career at Budd. I might even have all the Beelines ever sent to me. I just thought it was a good time to write & express my gratitude for the chance to be a part of The Budd Company. It was grand.
I apprenticed as a Tool & Die guy, moved to assembly tooling, then to Supervision, did a stint in H&S & finally ended my career with early retirement out of Shelbyville just before the sale. Such a wonderful path I've traveled. Not always easy, but so very rewarding.
Anyway, I look at this blog almost everyday & am surprised there are not more postings. There must be a zillion folks from Budd but maybe many don't know about it. I've sent the link to all in my address book when you first started it just to spread the word. I was so glad to see Lynn Miller(Hatter) post early on. It gave me a contact of a special lady whom I've met while I was working in Shelbyville. She retired after I returned to the Philly Plant so I didn't get the chance to thank her for her kindness & say good-bye.
Aside from telling our individual stories, your site can help us rekindle these old acquaintances. Many folks never ventured, nor had the opportunity to venture, to other facilities, as I have, where I've met so many good people. I saw traveling as a chance to explore all the variations of what Budd was. Some may have seen it as a burden, while others, a new path chosen & taken, with eyes wide open, & eager for a new experience. That's what life is all about. How lucky I was.
As I reflect, which we all do, I sometimes think that it has all been a dream. How could so many years pass by so quickly? Must be a dream. It's akin to reading a good, long story & finally coming to the last chapter. I just wanted to share my gratitude at this special time. Gratitude for the chance to be a Budd employee, for all the people along the way who were in my corner. One cannot succeed alone. Even the folks not in my corner, I learned a lot about life & relationships from them also. I made my share of lemonade but that's ok too.
The next story is the story of Life After Budd. I trust the Good Lord will keep me & my family in good health, along with all the Budd people, but there are no guarantees. I spend 24 HOURS-A-DAY with my lovely wife, Dottie......but I keep busy. We're still in the Philly area. Some of my 'ol pals have relocated & it could happen to us. After Philly closed, many ended up in foreign lands, ala Michigan, Kentucky, Kitchener, etc., which then became home & have since moved again, scattered like seeds in the wind, as they say.
I'll close with a Hell-o !!!! to everyone & a special thanx to Paul for this forum. Maybe this post will encourage others to do so also.
My e- is bluepeople@comcast.net ........Long story, a remnant from a friend of my years in Kentucky.
B' well ...........Frank Gallagher
My name is Frank Gallagher & I started at the Philadelphia Plant, oh, so many moons ago. As we all say, we've blinked & it is now. I don't believe we've met but I've seen your name along the way many times over the years, so I know some things about your career at Budd. I might even have all the Beelines ever sent to me. I just thought it was a good time to write & express my gratitude for the chance to be a part of The Budd Company. It was grand.
I apprenticed as a Tool & Die guy, moved to assembly tooling, then to Supervision, did a stint in H&S & finally ended my career with early retirement out of Shelbyville just before the sale. Such a wonderful path I've traveled. Not always easy, but so very rewarding.
Anyway, I look at this blog almost everyday & am surprised there are not more postings. There must be a zillion folks from Budd but maybe many don't know about it. I've sent the link to all in my address book when you first started it just to spread the word. I was so glad to see Lynn Miller(Hatter) post early on. It gave me a contact of a special lady whom I've met while I was working in Shelbyville. She retired after I returned to the Philly Plant so I didn't get the chance to thank her for her kindness & say good-bye.
Aside from telling our individual stories, your site can help us rekindle these old acquaintances. Many folks never ventured, nor had the opportunity to venture, to other facilities, as I have, where I've met so many good people. I saw traveling as a chance to explore all the variations of what Budd was. Some may have seen it as a burden, while others, a new path chosen & taken, with eyes wide open, & eager for a new experience. That's what life is all about. How lucky I was.
As I reflect, which we all do, I sometimes think that it has all been a dream. How could so many years pass by so quickly? Must be a dream. It's akin to reading a good, long story & finally coming to the last chapter. I just wanted to share my gratitude at this special time. Gratitude for the chance to be a Budd employee, for all the people along the way who were in my corner. One cannot succeed alone. Even the folks not in my corner, I learned a lot about life & relationships from them also. I made my share of lemonade but that's ok too.
The next story is the story of Life After Budd. I trust the Good Lord will keep me & my family in good health, along with all the Budd people, but there are no guarantees. I spend 24 HOURS-A-DAY with my lovely wife, Dottie......but I keep busy. We're still in the Philly area. Some of my 'ol pals have relocated & it could happen to us. After Philly closed, many ended up in foreign lands, ala Michigan, Kentucky, Kitchener, etc., which then became home & have since moved again, scattered like seeds in the wind, as they say.
I'll close with a Hell-o !!!! to everyone & a special thanx to Paul for this forum. Maybe this post will encourage others to do so also.
My e- is bluepeople@comcast.net ........Long story, a remnant from a friend of my years in Kentucky.
B' well ...........Frank Gallagher
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Let's Not Forget Roy Schucker at Detroit Plant
I like to add my two cents worth to it. Prior to McFadden was Jack Schmitt the plant manager and he replaced Roy Schucker.
Uwe Thormaehlen
Thormaehlen111@comcast.net
Uwe Thormaehlen
Thormaehlen111@comcast.net
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Let's Not Forget Jack Schmitt at Detroit Plant
On 10/14/07, Mary Preston wrote:
Hi Paul,
My Dad was a plant manager in Detroit, Jack Schmitt. He was before McFadden and Harper, and in fact I believe my dad trained them. Someone has listed Dick Schmidt - my brother also work for Budd - Richard Schmitt (Dick) but was not plant manager. My Dad retired just before your list begins.
Thanks Mary Schmitt Preston
Hi Paul,
My Dad was a plant manager in Detroit, Jack Schmitt. He was before McFadden and Harper, and in fact I believe my dad trained them. Someone has listed Dick Schmidt - my brother also work for Budd - Richard Schmitt (Dick) but was not plant manager. My Dad retired just before your list begins.
Thanks Mary Schmitt Preston
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Official List of Budd Detroit Plant Managers
Here is the official list of Detroit Plant Managers from Mike Karwowski
As for the blogger inquiring about Detroit plant manager history, my information goes back to when I started at Budd in 1976. Here goes:
William McFadden 1975-1979
William Harper 1979-1985
Paul (Dick) Bowers 1985-1990
Robert Blaine 1990-1993
Robert Keggereis 1993-1995
William Harper 1995-1998
Larry Wahl 1998-1999
Paul Waclawsky 1999-2002
Mike Balavich 2002-2004
Larry Wahl 2004-2005
Ernest Eisenbach 2005-2007
As for the blogger inquiring about Detroit plant manager history, my information goes back to when I started at Budd in 1976. Here goes:
William McFadden 1975-1979
William Harper 1979-1985
Paul (Dick) Bowers 1985-1990
Robert Blaine 1990-1993
Robert Keggereis 1993-1995
William Harper 1995-1998
Larry Wahl 1998-1999
Paul Waclawsky 1999-2002
Mike Balavich 2002-2004
Larry Wahl 2004-2005
Ernest Eisenbach 2005-2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Detroit Plant Dismantled
Dismantling Detroit
PAUL CLEMENS
Published: September 28, 2007
Detroit
TO get to the auto plant that I’ve been drawn to for much of the last year, I drove, on my lunch hour last Monday, past an auto plant that members of the press had been drawn to for a full 45 minutes. As I drove east from midtown Detroit along I-94, the Ford Freeway, I could see a helicopter ahead, circling the General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck assembly plant — “Poletown,” in these parts. TV news crews were parked outside it, to cover the strike that had begun at 11. I exited the freeway to see a dozen or so strikers, a handful of Detroit police officers and a couple of people holding tape recorders interviewing a couple of others holding picket signs. The United Auto Workers had called a national strike against G.M., and Poletown, for the press, was the place to be.
Back on the Ford Freeway I continued east, past the abandoned Packard plant, empty for half a century now, on my way to a more recently shuttered factory just up the road. I was pretty sure there’d be no TV crews at the Budd Detroit plant. Built in 1919 by the Liberty Motor Company and bought by the Budd Company in 1925, it had been a parts supplier, producing brake drums, wheels (old-timers still call it “Budd Wheel”) and auto body stampings for the major car companies. For eight decades, it supplied jobs to the city and the industry that drove the expansion and symbolized the strength of the American middle class — a class, the striking U.A.W. workers rightly asserted, that they were proud to belong to and didn’t want to see disappear.
The Budd plant — latterly, the ThyssenKrupp Budd plant — helped shape the contours of Detroit’s 20th century. Literally: in the 1950s, Budd Detroit built and assembled the body of the iconic, two-seat Ford Thunderbird. Last December it closed, and this past summer I spent much of my free time at the plant, observing workers from General Rigging disassemble it.
I wasn’t “press,” not here. In the Budd plant, “press” means stamping presses, and many of them still stand, a couple of stories high, in numbered lines of half a dozen presses each. A Spanish auto supplier, Gestamp, has bought 16 Line for one of its Mexican plants. A couple of Mexican engineers from Gestamp, along with German engineers from Müller Weingarten, the press maker that Gestamp contracted to oversee the 16 Line’s installation in Mexico, have been observing the disassembly. “Their role is to stand there, in awe, and hope they can put it back together when they get it to Mexico,” said Duane Krukowski, General Rigging’s electrical foreman.
If the picketers I’d passed a few miles back, with their demands for job security, were trying to counter the effects of globalization, Francis Blake Sr., the owner of General Rigging, embraced it. In addition to Mexico, press lines had gone or were going to India and Brazil. “None of it’s staying here,” Fran said, “here” being not just Detroit, but America.
Fran’s foreman on the Budd Detroit dismantling is Matt Sanders, an affable fellow in a Stars-and-Stripes hard hat. General Rigging had just completed a smaller job at a plant in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, owned by Tower Automotive, the bankrupt auto parts supplier, and had moved on to another Tower plant in Kendallville, Ind.
This process has been likened to the clear-cutting of a forest. The forest, in this case, spreads through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York State, and goes by the name of the American Rust Belt. Whether anything will grow back is unclear. What is clear is that dismantling America’s industrial infrastructure has become a growth industry.
“I get no pleasure from taking these places apart,” Matt said to me more than once this summer, exhaling cigarette smoke. Tower Automotive’s new owner, Cerberus Capital Management, also owned the Chrysler assembly and engine plants that bookend the Budd plant. Despite himself, Matt couldn’t help but speculate on which stamping plants Cerberus might decide to close.
While the Big Three seek to shed workers, Matt is always looking for bodies. “When can you start?” he asked when we first met. Some of the older guys on the crew are former U.A.W. members, and the younger guys, in an earlier era, might well have been Big Three workers. Yet even they seemed to realize that by working the Budd job they were part of something historic. Still scattered about the plant were Frisbees and buttons bearing the logo for U.A.W. Local 306, and this message: “I Believe in Budd Detroit.”
“See you Saturday?” I said to Matt on my way out. “I’ll be here,” Matt said.
On my way back downtown, I saw that the picketers in front of Poletown remained, but the news crews had departed. A day and a half later, the strike would be over, and among the reported U.A.W. concessions was the acceptance of a two-tier wage structure, one that could pay new workers as little as $12 to $15 an hour. That means that a young worker starting out could conceivably make as much taking an auto plant apart as he could working in one. It’d be dirty work, occasionally dangerous and done without union backing, much like auto work had been before the U.A.W.
“I want to be here to take this apart,” Duane, General Rigging’s electrical foreman, said to me this summer. He considered the Budd plant holy. “I used to work at Ford’s,” he said, applying the possessive, as working-class Detroiters do, “and I got laid off from Ford’s. What they did was, they built a new assembly line. One day, we went over for a tour of the new line, and they showed me a machine that was doing my job. This was in 1979. They turned the lights out, and the machine was still doing the job. So I said to myself, ‘Now I need to learn how to build machines.’ Which is why I’m here taking them apart. Because I know how to put them together. Now I’m 50 years old, and I wouldn’t give up being here for nothing.”
Paul Clemens is the author of “Made in Detroit: A South of 8 Mile Memoir.”
PAUL CLEMENS
Published: September 28, 2007
Detroit
TO get to the auto plant that I’ve been drawn to for much of the last year, I drove, on my lunch hour last Monday, past an auto plant that members of the press had been drawn to for a full 45 minutes. As I drove east from midtown Detroit along I-94, the Ford Freeway, I could see a helicopter ahead, circling the General Motors Detroit/Hamtramck assembly plant — “Poletown,” in these parts. TV news crews were parked outside it, to cover the strike that had begun at 11. I exited the freeway to see a dozen or so strikers, a handful of Detroit police officers and a couple of people holding tape recorders interviewing a couple of others holding picket signs. The United Auto Workers had called a national strike against G.M., and Poletown, for the press, was the place to be.
Back on the Ford Freeway I continued east, past the abandoned Packard plant, empty for half a century now, on my way to a more recently shuttered factory just up the road. I was pretty sure there’d be no TV crews at the Budd Detroit plant. Built in 1919 by the Liberty Motor Company and bought by the Budd Company in 1925, it had been a parts supplier, producing brake drums, wheels (old-timers still call it “Budd Wheel”) and auto body stampings for the major car companies. For eight decades, it supplied jobs to the city and the industry that drove the expansion and symbolized the strength of the American middle class — a class, the striking U.A.W. workers rightly asserted, that they were proud to belong to and didn’t want to see disappear.
The Budd plant — latterly, the ThyssenKrupp Budd plant — helped shape the contours of Detroit’s 20th century. Literally: in the 1950s, Budd Detroit built and assembled the body of the iconic, two-seat Ford Thunderbird. Last December it closed, and this past summer I spent much of my free time at the plant, observing workers from General Rigging disassemble it.
I wasn’t “press,” not here. In the Budd plant, “press” means stamping presses, and many of them still stand, a couple of stories high, in numbered lines of half a dozen presses each. A Spanish auto supplier, Gestamp, has bought 16 Line for one of its Mexican plants. A couple of Mexican engineers from Gestamp, along with German engineers from Müller Weingarten, the press maker that Gestamp contracted to oversee the 16 Line’s installation in Mexico, have been observing the disassembly. “Their role is to stand there, in awe, and hope they can put it back together when they get it to Mexico,” said Duane Krukowski, General Rigging’s electrical foreman.
If the picketers I’d passed a few miles back, with their demands for job security, were trying to counter the effects of globalization, Francis Blake Sr., the owner of General Rigging, embraced it. In addition to Mexico, press lines had gone or were going to India and Brazil. “None of it’s staying here,” Fran said, “here” being not just Detroit, but America.
Fran’s foreman on the Budd Detroit dismantling is Matt Sanders, an affable fellow in a Stars-and-Stripes hard hat. General Rigging had just completed a smaller job at a plant in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, owned by Tower Automotive, the bankrupt auto parts supplier, and had moved on to another Tower plant in Kendallville, Ind.
This process has been likened to the clear-cutting of a forest. The forest, in this case, spreads through parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York State, and goes by the name of the American Rust Belt. Whether anything will grow back is unclear. What is clear is that dismantling America’s industrial infrastructure has become a growth industry.
“I get no pleasure from taking these places apart,” Matt said to me more than once this summer, exhaling cigarette smoke. Tower Automotive’s new owner, Cerberus Capital Management, also owned the Chrysler assembly and engine plants that bookend the Budd plant. Despite himself, Matt couldn’t help but speculate on which stamping plants Cerberus might decide to close.
While the Big Three seek to shed workers, Matt is always looking for bodies. “When can you start?” he asked when we first met. Some of the older guys on the crew are former U.A.W. members, and the younger guys, in an earlier era, might well have been Big Three workers. Yet even they seemed to realize that by working the Budd job they were part of something historic. Still scattered about the plant were Frisbees and buttons bearing the logo for U.A.W. Local 306, and this message: “I Believe in Budd Detroit.”
“See you Saturday?” I said to Matt on my way out. “I’ll be here,” Matt said.
On my way back downtown, I saw that the picketers in front of Poletown remained, but the news crews had departed. A day and a half later, the strike would be over, and among the reported U.A.W. concessions was the acceptance of a two-tier wage structure, one that could pay new workers as little as $12 to $15 an hour. That means that a young worker starting out could conceivably make as much taking an auto plant apart as he could working in one. It’d be dirty work, occasionally dangerous and done without union backing, much like auto work had been before the U.A.W.
“I want to be here to take this apart,” Duane, General Rigging’s electrical foreman, said to me this summer. He considered the Budd plant holy. “I used to work at Ford’s,” he said, applying the possessive, as working-class Detroiters do, “and I got laid off from Ford’s. What they did was, they built a new assembly line. One day, we went over for a tour of the new line, and they showed me a machine that was doing my job. This was in 1979. They turned the lights out, and the machine was still doing the job. So I said to myself, ‘Now I need to learn how to build machines.’ Which is why I’m here taking them apart. Because I know how to put them together. Now I’m 50 years old, and I wouldn’t give up being here for nothing.”
Paul Clemens is the author of “Made in Detroit: A South of 8 Mile Memoir.”
Monday, October 1, 2007
Mr. Budd's Bust is Safe!
Hi Paul,
During my last couple of weeks with the company at the Detroit plant, I think I had mentioned to you my concern over the bronze bust of E. G. Budd that was downstairs in the lobby. Do you know if anyone was wise enough to save it?
Don Ruedisueli
Hi Don,
Yes. I arranged to ship it to the Hagley Library and Museaum in Wilmington, Delaware, before I left. They will take good care of it.
During my last couple of weeks with the company at the Detroit plant, I think I had mentioned to you my concern over the bronze bust of E. G. Budd that was downstairs in the lobby. Do you know if anyone was wise enough to save it?
Don Ruedisueli
Hi Don,
Yes. I arranged to ship it to the Hagley Library and Museaum in Wilmington, Delaware, before I left. They will take good care of it.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Who Were the Detroit Plant Managers????
Hi Jerry,
The only one I know that you missed is Dick Bowers. But the real authority is Nanci Mellar who spent 20 years as the executive assistant for the plant managers in Detroit. Nanci can be reached at: nancijeanm@yahoo.com.
Regarding the spellings: Wahl, Eisenbach, Blaine, Balavich,
On 9/23/07, jerome roszka wrote:
Hello Paul, My name is Jerry Roszka, I was a Maintenance General Supervisor at the Detroit plant. I will have 35yrs next March. You have extensive knowledge of Budd's history, could you answer a question for me. who were the plant managers of Detroit. I can recall some but even the order is a little foggy- Bill Harper,Roy Schucker, Dick Schmidt, Bob Blain, Paul Waclawsky, Bob Kegeress, Mike Balovich, Erne Einesbach, Larry Whal... even my spell is off.can you help?
Jerome S. Roszka
The only one I know that you missed is Dick Bowers. But the real authority is Nanci Mellar who spent 20 years as the executive assistant for the plant managers in Detroit. Nanci can be reached at: nancijeanm@yahoo.com.
Regarding the spellings: Wahl, Eisenbach, Blaine, Balavich,
On 9/23/07, jerome roszka
Hello Paul, My name is Jerry Roszka, I was a Maintenance General Supervisor at the Detroit plant. I will have 35yrs next March. You have extensive knowledge of Budd's history, could you answer a question for me. who were the plant managers of Detroit. I can recall some but even the order is a little foggy- Bill Harper,Roy Schucker, Dick Schmidt, Bob Blain, Paul Waclawsky, Bob Kegeress, Mike Balovich, Erne Einesbach, Larry Whal... even my spell is off.can you help?
Jerome S. Roszka
"KEEP THE MEMORY ALIVE" says TIM HOGAN
Hello to all Budd people from an ex-Detroit Plant person; Tim Hogan. I spent 30 years in the Plant Engineering Department at the Detroit Plant and worked with some very wonderful people in the process. The fundamental Budd Company; (before the "influence" at the end that changed and eventually dismantled the company), was a very family like company. You were a Budd person and knew it. In fact, my father and grandfather worked in the Detroit Plant. I'm told that Mr. Budd encouraged family involvement.
I retired a few years ago when the opportunity was presented due to the deteriorating working conditions and my health. As it turned out, that was the best thing for me to do.
Right after retirement, the first of my three married daughters announced the first grandchild and three more came along since then so we have four with yet another one due in January. I have used a good deal of my available time to be with my grandchildren as much as possible. Since the married daughters all live within 10 miles or less I can see them often.
I miss the wonderful people I worked with and the daily challenge. Most of the time until near the end the challenge and response was appreciated.
It's too bad that "The Budd Company" as it existed at it's peak is not known in proportion to its' achievements and contribution to the automobile industry and rail industry as well.
I understand that The Detroit Plant will be torn down and replaced with a truck/rail cargo terminal facility. The "Liberty Building" will be torn down. That's really too bad. A piece of history gone.
I really hope that we ex Budd people keep in touch and keep the memory alive. This Blog site is one way to do that.
Perhaps we could form a group who would be willing to have regional reunions? Something like a retiree's association? Any ideas?
Thanks, Paul for setting this Blog Site up!!!
Tim Hogan (thogangoatx@comcast.net)
I retired a few years ago when the opportunity was presented due to the deteriorating working conditions and my health. As it turned out, that was the best thing for me to do.
Right after retirement, the first of my three married daughters announced the first grandchild and three more came along since then so we have four with yet another one due in January. I have used a good deal of my available time to be with my grandchildren as much as possible. Since the married daughters all live within 10 miles or less I can see them often.
I miss the wonderful people I worked with and the daily challenge. Most of the time until near the end the challenge and response was appreciated.
It's too bad that "The Budd Company" as it existed at it's peak is not known in proportion to its' achievements and contribution to the automobile industry and rail industry as well.
I understand that The Detroit Plant will be torn down and replaced with a truck/rail cargo terminal facility. The "Liberty Building" will be torn down. That's really too bad. A piece of history gone.
I really hope that we ex Budd people keep in touch and keep the memory alive. This Blog site is one way to do that.
Perhaps we could form a group who would be willing to have regional reunions? Something like a retiree's association? Any ideas?
Thanks, Paul for setting this Blog Site up!!!
Tim Hogan (thogangoatx@comcast.net)
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Eldon and Lynne Hatter's New E-mail Address
Could Eldon and Lynne Hatter be the only ones reading the Budd Blogger. They have a new e-mail address. It is: madhatter31@verizon.net
Send them an e-line.
Send them an e-line.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Budd Blogger Has A New Job
The Budd Blogger, aka Manager of Communications for The Budd Company for nearly 30 years, has a new job. He is doing something that anyone at Budd can relate to. Want to find out what it is? E-mail him with your comments on Budd and what you are doing now. He will be glad to tell you.
The Budd Blogger
The Budd Blogger
Lynne Miller-Hatter Wants to Know About You
Hello, Budd family. My name is Lynne Miller-Hatter. While I had several
years with Budd-Clinton before it's closure, I landed at Budd-Shelbyville
shortly before the plant opened, joining the Materials Dept. Never had I
worked so hard or had so much fun (kudos to Dick LaFeir who was my boss and
mentor for many of my years at Budd.) The Shelbyville Plant was truly one
of a kind; the culture was so much different than Budd-Clinton! We all
felt really part of the plant and wanted it to succeed, which it surely did!
However, nothing is forever, and I retired in 2001 as things began to
change, moving to Angola, Indiana a few years thereafter. I often wonder
where all my friends landed and hope they are all doing well. Perhaps I
will hear of some of them in Paul's blog. I drove past the Thyssen-Krupp
headquarters last week and really felt a pang of regret as Budd is no longer
on their neon sign. Very sad indeed. The best of luck to all of the Budd
family everywhere!
years with Budd-Clinton before it's closure, I landed at Budd-Shelbyville
shortly before the plant opened, joining the Materials Dept. Never had I
worked so hard or had so much fun (kudos to Dick LaFeir who was my boss and
mentor for many of my years at Budd.) The Shelbyville Plant was truly one
of a kind; the culture was so much different than Budd-Clinton! We all
felt really part of the plant and wanted it to succeed, which it surely did!
However, nothing is forever, and I retired in 2001 as things began to
change, moving to Angola, Indiana a few years thereafter. I often wonder
where all my friends landed and hope they are all doing well. Perhaps I
will hear of some of them in Paul's blog. I drove past the Thyssen-Krupp
headquarters last week and really felt a pang of regret as Budd is no longer
on their neon sign. Very sad indeed. The best of luck to all of the Budd
family everywhere!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
ELAINE PIERCE - Part of The Budd Tradition
PAUL, I THINK WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS A GREAT TRIBUTE TO BUDD AND TO IT'S PEOPLE!
MY FATHER, DAN LEDWIN, OWNER OF PULLMAN SALES & ENGINEERING & PULLMAN INDUSTRIES, HAD YEARS OF BUSINESS DEALINGS WITH BUDD, AND THOUGHT IT WAS THE FINEST AUTOMOTIVE COMPANY AROUND, BOTH IN QUALITY PRODUCTION, AND ETHICAL STANDARDS!
WHEN MY HUSBAND, TERRY PIERCE, BEGAN TO WORK FOR BUDD, MY FATHER WAS VERY PROUD THAT HE WAS WORKING FOR THIS COMPANY, AS HE FELT THERE WAS NO FINER COMPANY TO WORK FOR.
TERRY SPENT MANY YEARS WORKING FOR WHAT HE CONSIDERED THE BEST PEOPLE AND THE BEST COMPANY IN HIS LONG AND VALUED YEARS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY!
AS WE MANY TIMES SAY TO EACH OTHER--WE MAY ALL HAVE SEEN THE BEST OF WHAT THERE WAS IN THIS INDUSTRY. WE MAY NEVER SEE THESE GLORY YEARS AGAIN, SADLY.
HOPEFULLY, MARTINREA AND THEIR PEOPLE WILL APPRECIATE THE LONG AND RICH HERITAGE THAT IS BUDD, AND APPRECIATE THEIR ACQUISITION.
ELAINE PIERCE
Elaine,
The Budd Company was more than a company...it was a culture. Thanks for your comments.
The Budd Blogger
MY FATHER, DAN LEDWIN, OWNER OF PULLMAN SALES & ENGINEERING & PULLMAN INDUSTRIES, HAD YEARS OF BUSINESS DEALINGS WITH BUDD, AND THOUGHT IT WAS THE FINEST AUTOMOTIVE COMPANY AROUND, BOTH IN QUALITY PRODUCTION, AND ETHICAL STANDARDS!
WHEN MY HUSBAND, TERRY PIERCE, BEGAN TO WORK FOR BUDD, MY FATHER WAS VERY PROUD THAT HE WAS WORKING FOR THIS COMPANY, AS HE FELT THERE WAS NO FINER COMPANY TO WORK FOR.
TERRY SPENT MANY YEARS WORKING FOR WHAT HE CONSIDERED THE BEST PEOPLE AND THE BEST COMPANY IN HIS LONG AND VALUED YEARS IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY!
AS WE MANY TIMES SAY TO EACH OTHER--WE MAY ALL HAVE SEEN THE BEST OF WHAT THERE WAS IN THIS INDUSTRY. WE MAY NEVER SEE THESE GLORY YEARS AGAIN, SADLY.
HOPEFULLY, MARTINREA AND THEIR PEOPLE WILL APPRECIATE THE LONG AND RICH HERITAGE THAT IS BUDD, AND APPRECIATE THEIR ACQUISITION.
ELAINE PIERCE
Elaine,
The Budd Company was more than a company...it was a culture. Thanks for your comments.
The Budd Blogger
Bill Okamoto -- Life After Budd
Hi:
I have noticed that Paul Flancbaum has created a Budd Co. blog, so I will take advantage of it and tell you where I am. I am Bill Okamoto formerly of the Corporate Offices. I retired after over 42 years with the Company. I started at the Red Lion Plant, Railway Division in 1948 – I was transferred back and forth between the Red Lion Plant and the Philadelphia Plant. When the corporate offices moved from the Philadelphia Plant to Troy, MI I was transferred to the Philadelphia Plant and made part of the move to Troy. I retired in 1990 and enjoyed being part of The Budd Company during those years – I made many friends in every location of the Company. I had a son that also worked at the Philadelphia Plant, but had an unfortunate accidental death while he was in the Philadelphia area. My wife died in 1985 after we had relocated and built our home on 20 acres in Goodrich, MI. I still have 3 sons, a daughter-in-law and 3 grandchildren residing in Michigan.
After retirement, I moved to Fairfield Glade, TN where I met a wonderful woman who became my wife. We moved to Florida and built three large homes there, but unfortunately she passed away from Melanoma cancer. I then moved back to Fairfield Glade, TN but encountered several health problems – including a coma. I reasoned that if I were to be stricken with a coma again, I would be better off living near my family; therefore, I have purchased a Condo in Troy, MI. My only problem is that the real estate market in Tennessee is absolutely flat and I desire to sell my home here prior to moving back to Troy.
So that brings you up to date with a former Budd Company employee – and I wish to extend my greetings to the many friends and acquaintances that I had made through The Budd Company and Thyssen Krupp.
Bill Okamoto
I have noticed that Paul Flancbaum has created a Budd Co. blog, so I will take advantage of it and tell you where I am. I am Bill Okamoto formerly of the Corporate Offices. I retired after over 42 years with the Company. I started at the Red Lion Plant, Railway Division in 1948 – I was transferred back and forth between the Red Lion Plant and the Philadelphia Plant. When the corporate offices moved from the Philadelphia Plant to Troy, MI I was transferred to the Philadelphia Plant and made part of the move to Troy. I retired in 1990 and enjoyed being part of The Budd Company during those years – I made many friends in every location of the Company. I had a son that also worked at the Philadelphia Plant, but had an unfortunate accidental death while he was in the Philadelphia area. My wife died in 1985 after we had relocated and built our home on 20 acres in Goodrich, MI. I still have 3 sons, a daughter-in-law and 3 grandchildren residing in Michigan.
After retirement, I moved to Fairfield Glade, TN where I met a wonderful woman who became my wife. We moved to Florida and built three large homes there, but unfortunately she passed away from Melanoma cancer. I then moved back to Fairfield Glade, TN but encountered several health problems – including a coma. I reasoned that if I were to be stricken with a coma again, I would be better off living near my family; therefore, I have purchased a Condo in Troy, MI. My only problem is that the real estate market in Tennessee is absolutely flat and I desire to sell my home here prior to moving back to Troy.
So that brings you up to date with a former Budd Company employee – and I wish to extend my greetings to the many friends and acquaintances that I had made through The Budd Company and Thyssen Krupp.
Bill Okamoto
Life After Budd -- Hank Adamek
Hello: I thought I would see if I can get the Ball rolling from the Philly Gang. I'm Hank Adamek an X-Millwright from the Phoenix Building.I retired after 42 Years.
I'm presently living in Cape May,NJ
Love it here.
We have an E-mail Directory if Anyone is interested can contact Me at- hjca1941@yahoo.com
I'll be glad to add or send a copy of the Directory.
There is Life after Budd and its GREAT.
All My Best,
Hank
I'm presently living in Cape May,NJ
Love it here.
We have an E-mail Directory if Anyone is interested can contact Me at- hjca1941@yahoo.com
I'll be glad to add or send a copy of the Directory.
There is Life after Budd and its GREAT.
All My Best,
Hank
Monday, August 13, 2007
Life After Budd -- What are you doing now?
In all my years with The Budd Company, one thing was constant. Virtually every time someone left, retired, was fired or otherwise detached from The Budd Company, he or she always landed upright and ended up happier, stronger or better positioned in the workplace.
That's not to say Budd was not a great place to work. In fact, the opposite is true. But what it did give us all is a solid foundation from which to launch a post-Budd existence.
There are only about six people remaining at Budd (ThyssenKrupp Budd) and that number will be zero by year's end.
So most of us are post-Budd. What are you doing now? Tell us about your post-Budd experience.
The Budd Blogger
That's not to say Budd was not a great place to work. In fact, the opposite is true. But what it did give us all is a solid foundation from which to launch a post-Budd existence.
There are only about six people remaining at Budd (ThyssenKrupp Budd) and that number will be zero by year's end.
So most of us are post-Budd. What are you doing now? Tell us about your post-Budd experience.
The Budd Blogger
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Want to post a blog?? It's easy!
There are two types of people who are associated with The Budd Company. Those who either worked for the company (or are related to someone who did) and those who appreciate what this great American company did for the transportation industry in its 94-year history. I guess some people fall into both categories.
Whatever type you are, you are welcome to post on this blog. If you want to post, but don't want to join Google, then just send your blog to go2paulf@gmail.com
It will be copied into BuddCompany Blogger verbatim, giving you credit.
Thanks for participating.
The Budd Company Blogger
Whatever type you are, you are welcome to post on this blog. If you want to post, but don't want to join Google, then just send your blog to go2paulf@gmail.com
It will be copied into BuddCompany Blogger verbatim, giving you credit.
Thanks for participating.
The Budd Company Blogger
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Ideas for Budd Company Blogs
Hi,
As this is a new site, your ideas are welcome.
Please let us know what subjects you wish to discuss, how the site should look, any thoughts you might have. You can e-mail The Budd Blogger at go2paulf@gmail.com
The Budd Company created a culture rich with tradition and history.
Let's share it.
Thanks,
The Budd Blogger
As this is a new site, your ideas are welcome.
Please let us know what subjects you wish to discuss, how the site should look, any thoughts you might have. You can e-mail The Budd Blogger at go2paulf@gmail.com
The Budd Company created a culture rich with tradition and history.
Let's share it.
Thanks,
The Budd Blogger
Budd Company Blogs -- The Beginning
Welcome to Budd Company Blogs,
Today is August 2, 2007. It marks the beginning of Budd Company Blogs. This site was created for anyone with an association to The Budd Company, its history, products, services. If you are visiting, you can appreciate Budd's identity as a great American company whose contribution to the transportation industry will impact us forever.
Feel free to make any comments, observations, or remarks whatever your connection to Budd, but please use diligence and good judgment when posting.
Thank you for participating.
The Budd Company Blogger
Today is August 2, 2007. It marks the beginning of Budd Company Blogs. This site was created for anyone with an association to The Budd Company, its history, products, services. If you are visiting, you can appreciate Budd's identity as a great American company whose contribution to the transportation industry will impact us forever.
Feel free to make any comments, observations, or remarks whatever your connection to Budd, but please use diligence and good judgment when posting.
Thank you for participating.
The Budd Company Blogger
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)