Document KGeR8zaxEmOZeZYBXk85bqn5o

cc for T. P. Norris W. C. Thurber J. E. Walsh KC-File-'-'' NF-File REPORT OF CALL J*cJf'Zfltrssesrps UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION P.O. Box 579 Niagara Falls, N.Y. distribution, f. H. la'ns50 O R. O. N'.3r:`en R. J. Kronkhyie G jD A. A. A.r*r>- D c. f. 0"*::n G R. L. C-crtn G R O. Hr'per G 14302 H. L. -:3V D. E. U:'sy D. E. Ci-:rW_ G G G D. i. Garcia G L. Dickson with G. Lt ii West H-dts. Rhodes ligate JulMj, 1973 Full Name Proko Company, Inc. 1910 Wall Street Address Dallas, TX 75215 Mfrs. of Tape Joint Compounds OBJECTIVE Define status of SG-210. . Interviewed Bob Wright - Technical Director 1 PLAINTIFFS ____________________ 1.. EXHIBIT . |l uc-567 I i OBSERVATIONS Proko picked up a truckload of SG-210 at King City on June 29, 1973 for a plant evaluation. Was being used at the time of our visit in a ready mix compound. No problems to date and Bob inferred that he will probably be using it in this one formulation in his other four plants. Requirements will average about 20,000 pounds/plant/month or about 1-1/2 carloads per month. Total asbestos consumption is about 100,000 pounds/plant/month. Described the limited availability of SG-210 and so he will not plan to make a complete substitution for Canadian asbestos. However he will need enough material for this one product in all his plants as the same market areas are often supplied by different plants on occasion. Bob informed us that OSHA (State of Texas), the EPA, and someone from the FDA has inspected them. No big problems as apparently they run a tight ship. ACTION Nothing immediate. NOTE Thier fifth plant, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is not on stream yet but will start up in the very near future. Typed 7/18/73 /cvb METALS DIVISION CUSTOMER CALL REPORT Proko CUSTOMER & LOCATION INDUSTRY Joint Cements ------------------------------- --------- CLASSIFICATION *ndS|a---------- SALESMAN. J. E. 'Walsh .REGION Southern ___ DATE OF CALL . 4-2-76 Cr Mn Spec. Si CaC2 W V Asb. PRODUCTS DISCUSSED: [] [] Q OCHEZICZIClI Other: _____ PERSONS INTERVIEWED: Bob Wright, Technical Director Kelly Booth, Purchasing Manager CALL OBJECTIVE: Call made with R, E. Byrne on multi-plant HPO carload user. RESULTS OF CALL: Reviewed with Kelley the plant inventories on HPO and came away with an April 15th release of a car to South Dakota. This should do for all five Proko plants in April, according to Kelly. May orders will probably go to Indiana and Texas, as the Waycross, Georgia plant servicing the Florida market still remains slow. Asked Kelly about T-135 in Indiana, and he said that they have been instructed to use it up and not reorder it. Proko has replaced both Ti02 and Cellulosic in their formulations due to the continuing increasing costs of these ingredients. We went out on T-135 with the Ti02 replacement, which I believe I heard mentioned here in the past to be Lithipon. The positive side of the ledger was marked by Bob Wright's comments that their business is booming and they are in the process of doubling the capacity of their South Dakota and Texas plants. Although they have formulated asbestos levels intheir products down from 5% to under 2%, this capacity increase should keep us equal or slightly ahead. Wright also claimed to be upset about the attached "Asbestos Fiber Supply and Demand" report he received from J-M. There was a cover letter, also, which I did not get a copy of that requested answers to such .questions as, "What effect do you think State, Federal, and Local agencies will have on asbestos usage in the next 2-3 years?" (see Page 2) FOLLOW-UP ACTION REQUIRED: COPIES TO: Gon'I. Sales Mgr. (2); Mklg. Services; Others RF.G: J RL: TPM: WCT: KC-FILC: NI n I C^Lnlf 1rI CUSTOMER CALL REPORT Proko Company Dallas, Texas 2- - Page 2 RESULTS OF CALL, continued: The report highlights the continuing and growing asbestos shortage, the need for more money for exploration, and the anticipated cost increases of 20% per year to develop material to meet projected demands. Emphasized to Bob that this was not the case with CALIDRIA, as we have an overabundant supply of ore and any hangup, if we had one, would be in the capacity of our plant to process the ore. Between the major joint cement pro ducers pushing asbestos-free, and the Canadian manufacturers projecting shortages and cost increases, we seem to be the only positive force in the asbestos market. REPORT OF CALL 0. E. Lenahan - Marietta, Ohio R. L Schult - New York for R. E. Byrne - Niagara Falls y; w 'Jii.J'l'f!Jtsnmma T. P. Norris - California W. C. Thurber - NY 38 UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION KC Files NF Filesi P.O. Box 579 Niagara Falls, N.Y. M302 By J. E. Walsh Date 10-1 -75 Fui1 Name Address Mirs. of Proko Dallas, Texas Joints Cements & Sprays 1n+erviewed Kelly Booth, Purchasing Agent Bob Wright, Technical Director Call made on SG-210 and T-135 user. Explained the strike situation to both men from the time of its inception to where we stand today. It went pretty well, and it looks like last month was the only time that they encountered excess costs when we couldn't ship an order, and they had to truck material from Dallas, to Georgia to keep the plant there going. Kelly said if we didn't get their September order out this Friday, Dallas would be out and they would have to truck material from South Dakota to keep going. All plants are at bare asbestos minimums and future flexibility of this type will not be possible. Asked Bob about when they would begin to consume greater T-135 quantities, and his reply was that it would probably be after the strike, as they felt if they ordered combination carloads now it would only reduce the amount of the more sorely needed 210. A pallet of HPO will be on the Dallas carload and Bob will test it and see if they can make a switch to it. An interesting sidelight came up when Bob advised that an OSHA inspector had been in at the Dallas plant and cited them for no medical exams. They took it to court and the final judgement is about to be made. Based on the judge's statements and questioning, Proko feels certain that the ruling will go in their favor, as both OSHA and their insurance company demonstrated by dust samplings that they were way below both the TLV and TWA. The favorable ruling in this case for Proko would mean that they would not be required to give their employees medical exams being as it has been demonstrated by testing that the fiber levels are well within the regulation requirements. cc for T. P. Norris VI. C. Thurber J. E. Walsh KC-File^ NF-File REPORT OF CALL [/ assefroa UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION P.O. Box 579 Niagara Falls, N.Y. DtSTRl&'-rnu,N cF.Hh. Larrison OQ R. O. R. y T.trn-hvis j /.. A''..* -r""" c =. Cvr-m r r.r-m rO.V-'-c: - ... 14302 ; ; a mLJ D n b.Vc:=a O D 1 Gi'Cia Ui r pva,u.^'1-- Dickson with u K west HcSb- Rhodes fe!;&te Jul^, 1973 Full Name Proko Company, Inc. 1910 Wall Street Address Dallas, TX 75215 Mfrs. of Tape Joint Compounds 1nteryiewed Bob Wright - Technical Director 03JECTIVE Define status of SG-210. . OBSERVATIONS Proko picked up a truckload of SG-210 at King City on June 29, 1973 for a plant evaluation. Was being used at the time of our visit in a ready mix compound. No problems to date and Bob inferred that he will probably be using it in this one formulation in his other four plants. Requirements will average about 20,000 pounds/plant/month or about 1-1/2 carloads per month. Total asbestos consumption is about 100,000 pounds/plant/month. Described the limited availability of SG-210 and so he will not plan to make a complete substitution for Canadian asbestos. However he will need enough material for this one product in all his plants as the same market areas are often supplied by different plants on occasion. Bob informed us that 0SHA (State of Texas), the EPA, and someone from the FDA has inspected them. No big problems as apparently they run a tight ship. ACTION Nothing immediate. NOTE Thier fifth plant, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is not on stream yet but will start up in the very near future. Typed 7/18/73 /cvb cc for T. P. Norris W. C. Thurber J. E. Walsh ^^KC-File NF-File REPORT OF CALL g/iOrta UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION P.0. Box 579 Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14302 Dr. H. B. Rhodes Da+e 5/15/75 Full Name Address Mfrs. of Proko Dallas, TX Tape Joint Compounds Interviewed Robert Wright, Technical Director OBJECTIVE 1. "Show of concern" regarding their problem with 50 lb. bags of SG-210 and also gritty bags. 2. Check on situation with T-135-0. OBSERVATIONS My phone call caught Mr. Wright as he was about to leave and I expected a short meeting. We finished our business in a couple of minutes and he spent the next hour and a half telling stories of his battles with the local OSHA inspector (a very young lady) and with people who have tried to sue Proko. If you can believe half of what hesays, he must be a real bear. They run a very clean shop and have given medicals for many years so he can stand up strongly with OSHA. The only comment worth reporting from this part of the meeting was the statement that J/M came in and ran a dust count for them at no charge! This is the only report of such a count that I know of. On the main subjects, there appears to have been two pallets of obviously wet material. There have been no recent problems with lumps and no further complaints ragarding grit. He had originally been concerned that the extra layer of bags had resulted in the lumping but everything now seems to be fine. The T-135-0 is being used in one or two new applications that are different from their previous interest. He did not want to elaborate further. He also commented that our restraint on price increases will lead to our getting an increasing share of their business. RECOMMENDED ACTION JEW Continue regular coverage. TvDed 5/21/75 He / METALS DIVISION'- "CALIDRIA" ASBESTOS CUSTOMER CALL REPORT 'INDUSTRY CUSTOMER & l nn&TinK Pnoko Valias, TexasCLASSlPlCATlONCMiLSlM__________________________ SALESMANJ-1' *lshREGION Southern DATE OF CALL .Z-Z7-S1 ASBESTOS WEALTH l REGULATORY DOCUMENTS PROVIDED: D WSDS D Health & OSHA Information Blue Bool. Dust Count Report O Other, specify below PERSONS INTERVIEWED: Ron Be.nne.tt Punchasing Agent CALL OBJECTIVE: Call made on HPO tnuckload customen. RESULTS OF CALL: Bennett succeded Kelly Booth who netlned two yeans ago. We had a drought with Pnoko afaten the joint cement business went down the dnaln, but last yean they came back and picked up a couple ofa tnuckloads ofa HPO at out. plant. They ane a division ofa RPM and the usage Is In a RPM developed alumi nized >100 fa coating that they began to produce hene last yean. It Is an Inneg- ulan production Item )[on. them and so.sit Is hand faon Ron to judge how much HPO they might need this yean as they only pnoduce pnoduct based on the ondens RPM gives them. Ron did say that they had closed theln West Coast plant the falnst ofa the yean and wouldn't be picking up theln nequlnements this yean at oun plan, and would pnobably dnaw LTL quantities out ofa V & P's local stock. FOLLOW-UP ACTION REQUIRED: COPIES TO: 3RL:TPN: JIM- :KC-FILE:NF-riLE RF RCRKANSKT FILE T~T METALS DIVISION CUSTOMER CALL REPORT INDUSTRY CUSTOMER & i nr.ATI ON Pnoko Company Valla*, TexasCLASSIFICATION Joint Compound* SAIFSMAN E- WaTshREGION_______________Southern_____ DATE OF CALI____?.T??-.77 Cr Mn Spec. Si CaC2 VV V Asb. SPRODUCTS DISCUSSED: Other: PERSONS INTERVIEWED: Muni Self - Pnesident Kelly Booth - Punchasing Agent CALL OBJECTIVE: Call made on fonmen HPO cu* tomen. RESULTS OF CALL: SeptembeA 1 this longest HPO account In the South went asbestos in.ee In thein hint compounds. The pnessunes dictating the move wene: 1) the panent company RPfi in Ohio ha* been atten them fa-1 too yean* to get a*be*to* out of thein line; 2] TVA insunance company nefused to nenew thein iniunajice covenage because they used asbestos; 3) the consumen pnoducls pnoposed teg-is lotion led them to believe that a call back would be veny costly and the pnoposal tea* in effect the final death toll fon asbeito* in joint cement*. In onden of impontance the reasons pnobabl.y went 2.1. Kelly said that they now sit with oven 100M lbs of HPO in Kaufman that he hopes he can sell loco.-: but hasn't been successful yet. The othen -thnee plants also have some inventony but not a* much as hene. He said he went to both Roach and Welco in town and they wanted to sell him some, of thein*. I suggested Bud Munphy as an outlet and Kelly will punsue it. At this point in time bet men feel the decision is innevocable and can see no cincumstances wheneby they would even nevent to pnoducting an asbestos containing pnoduct again. Hy hope is that thene is such a cincumstance also unseen at pnesent by the wniten that will alien thein decision. FOLLOW UP ACTION REQUIRED: COPIES TO: Mktg. Services; Others: REBt JRL: TPN: WCT: KC-FILC :NFtTI LE J. E. Lenahan