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INDUSTRY & BUSINESS
Audio tapes find niche in chemical firms Tapes complement video
systems to add new level
of communication to
a company's operations
Audio networks, like other nonwritten forms of communication, have taken firm hold in the chemical industry in the past few years and are fast finding new roles in business, technical, and production spheres. Olin, for example, is now offering taped technical news summaries for management. Monsanto has set up a news tape program for plant employees, and Enjay
Goal of Olin's program, as tape editor R. E. Maizell demonstrates, Is to catch executives going to and from work
has cassettes for its traveling salesmen.
Far from acting as simple alternatives to pages of print in memos and brochures, these new systems are creating their own outlets and thus are adding fresh levels of communication to a company's operation. Top executives keep current on confidential R&D progress, production staffs get immediate reaction to rumors, and professionals, in one experimental program, are slated for quick rundowns of the latest patents.
Audio tapes find uses that suit a cost structure intermediate between pen and paper and more expensive video systems, which can require an investment of $100,000 plus operating expenses (C&EN, June 30, 1969, page 14). Without the lengthy exposition of written messages or the visual clarity of presentations on a screen, audio tapes can still find many efficient, low
s' % o
cost applications that leave sponsors highly pleased.
Technical news. At Olin, in Stamford, Conn., vice president for research and development W. E. (Butch) Hanford and his associates have half a year of success to date in a monthly tape program to bring technical news to management listeners. He and tape editor R. E. Maizell, manager of technical information services at Olin's main research facility in New Haven, are also pushing ahead with other services (still experimental) such as a tape of ad lib patent summaries.
In his spacious office overlooking Connecticut greenery, Dr. Hanford discusses why Olin turned to tape. "We have been concerned for years with continuing education, bringing information to people, not people to information." When ACS's "Chemical Executives Audionews" weekly taped news service started last winter. Dr. Hanford saw a new opportunity to reach an audience. The new medium is especially tailored for listeners in transit to and from work.
Dr. Hanford's first crack at a taped message was Olin's annual R&D report in January. Indications are that the written versions typically were put at the bottom of the reading pile. The report for 1969 went out in a box with a tape loaded in a recorder, a written report, and a cover letter.
With a favorable response, Dr. Hanford then turned to a monthly news report of highlights in the research and development program. After some development, the tape was established as a 30-minute summary, with highlights on one side and a background feature on the other.
Operationally, the tape takes the considerable time and effort of four persons. Dr. Hanford's secretary in New Haven, Miriam Chernoff, spends 25 to 60 hours per month interviewing, transcribing, and writing to prepare a draft. The style that has emerged is informal and nontechnical with emphasis on people.
The tapes, now called "The Voice of Olin" by Dr. Hanford, are recorded by Dr. Maizell, beginning with "You are listening to Olin news." The tape is then duplicated and sent to an executive audience currently numbering slightly more than 50. In choosing
18 C&EN SEPT. 7, 1970
Olin's Butch Hanford Good response so far
topics, the three collaborators are aided by Dr. E. L. DeShong, director of administration at Olin.
Dr. Hanford says that the response to date has appeared favorable. One manager in Arkansas wrote that the service was a "boon for tired eyes."
The R&D chief figures each tape actually reaches four to five listeners. For this penetration, the cost of the recorders, which are $15 each, and tapes seems justified. Dr. Hanford notes, "If we can get half an hour of a man's time for $25, that's cheap."
For the future, Dr. Hanford sees many possibilities for intracompany audio communication. Besides the patent summary for professionals, he visualizes sending recordings of important meetings to managers too far away to attend the meetings, or of industrial case histories to universities. More detail on Olin's plans and the present tape operation will be presented at the Chicago ACS meeting.
News for employees. At Monsanto, an in-plant telephone system has been set up at five locations to give taped news to employees and obtain feedback. The plants are in St. Louis, Texas City and Chocolate Bayou in Texas, Anniston, Ala., and Echtemach in Luxembourg. In addition a sixth plant in Sauget, 111., operates an iri-plant system for news reporting only.
The operation in Alabama exemplifies the low cost of the taped system. South Central Bell Telephone provided equipment at an installation fee of $25, with a monthly rental of $25. The plant tapes a daily news message, which employees hear by dialing 313. After the run-through, the caller can go on record with questions or comments, which are monitored daily.
Monsanto lists several goals for its tape programs. These include "downward" communication to employees plus up-to-date sending of information such as meetings, social activities, safety factors, and visitor arrivals.
The feedback part of the service lets employees give their side and get answers. It lets managements correct misunderstandings, measure the pulse of employee attitudes, gage the success of programs, and discuss subjects of known interest to employees.
The personnel supervisor administers the tape program at Anniston, fixing the content, writing out the message, coordinating answers to feedback questions, and evaluating the system. The telecommunications operator tapes messages, takes feedback, and arranges for guest speakers.
Sales advantage. Perhaps the most concrete example of cost-effectiveness with tapes comes from Enjay. The company's chemical intermediates department in New York City has found an apparent sales advantage in supplying broad product information by tape to salesmen, district managers, and sales managers.
Department vice president William McK. Bishop explains that the first tape was sent out about three months ago on one of the most important department products. The message gave competitive conditions, end uses, and selling strategies. The purpose was to increase market share.
The market share of the product has indeed gone up as have sales, even in the current business slowdown. Mr. Bishop states that he is not prepared to give all the credit to the tape but says, "There is nothing else to hang it on." The tape thus seems to justify its higher cost compared to memorandums. The vice president comments that the tape may set a priority and command greater attention than a written message. This pays dividends, he adds, in a company with at least the average problem of paper proliferation.
Looking forward, Mr. Bishop sees more use of tapes for his traveling force (most of the tape audience of 44) . Use will be selective because of the weight of the cassettes, but so far "tape load" has not proved as burdensome as "paper load."
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