Location
Uncle Bud's
725 Concord Rd.
Smyrna, GA
(770) 434-1881
Directions
From downtown: Take I-75 N to the I-285 W, US41/Cobb Pkwy Exit. Make a
right onto Cobb Pkwy and take the first left onto Spring Rd. Spring Rd becomes
Concord Rd. Uncle Bud's will be on the right a few blocks past South Cobb Dr. We
will be in the meeting room in the rear of the restaurant.
Time
Social: 6:00
Dinner: 6:30
Meeting: 7:00
Cost:
The meeting is free but
dinner will be on separate checks.
Dinner prices are from $7-$15.
Dinner:
The full
dinner menu will be available. Choices include catfish, chicken, shrimp, ribs
and more.
Reservations
If you plan
to attend, please make a reservation by calling
Jim Pearson at (404)
894-1753 (please leave a message with your name and the
number attending)
or send me an email to rsvp@sae-atlanta.org by 5pm on Friday,
March 19th.
Meeting Topic
Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford Motor Co. are reputable and competent companies usually making reliable state of the art products. Dick Baumgardner will tell you the story of the disaster that has caused over a billion-dollar loss for each company. What were the defects? What caused the accidents? Why did it take over 10 years to finally recall the tires? What were some of the missed opportunities by people in various departments and positions in each company that allowed this situation to snowball?
Dick has had extensive engineering experience at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., and has dealt with Ford in securing approval of tires. He has made corrections in his products, some at significant professional risk to prevent dangerous accidents. He witnessed the recall of the Firestone 500 in the mid-70’s as a member of technical management. That recall has many similarities to the latest one. Dick was aware of the defects in the tires and vehicle problem in this recall almost 6 years before the recall based upon accident examinations. Since that time he has investigated over 300 accidents involving these tires and inspected thousands of documents that show how this situation developed. It involved oversights, missed opportunities, and errors by engineers, managers, and personnel at many levels in Bridgestone/Firestone, Ford Motor Co. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Could this happen in your company? Might you be part of the process? Might you be part of the solution? This is an invitation to consider your roll in product safety and to review your ethics.
page last updated on 3/14/04