30 | The Fisher Story
1958 Bill Fisher
announces a
seven-cent hourly
wage increase in a
talk to
Marshalltown
employees.
First internal
safety control
valve with
excess flow
protection and
electronic level
transmitter are
introduced.
Marshalltown
employees
machine castings
from 40 different
foundries and
work on a threeshift basis.
Conveyor system installed in Marshalltown plant.
Employees hear about
wage increase, 1958
Supermarket
stock program
introduced,
offering
shipment of
certain
products within 36 hours.
Supermarket Program
Equipment from the assembly department
is brought to shipping by the conveyor
T
he Supermarket Program
(1958) was designed to
provide customers with 36-hour
product delivery from stock.
Fisher-Marshalltown employees
including Jim Coulter, Hap Ray,
Ben Rector and Joe Gaskill
maintained a large inventory of
completed regulators, control
valves, pilots and level
controllers—assembled, tested
and ready for shipment.
Before computers, the
inventory list was updated and
mailed (by U.S. post) to sales
representatives’ offices every
Friday afternoon. On Monday
morning, each agent had a
current list of the equipment
available for shipment. Orders
sent by teletype, telegraph or
phone were clearly marked
“Supermarket.”
The first year in operation,
the Supermarket averaged
$2,000 per day in shipments and
never failed to deliver within 36
hours, as promised. In its second
year, an overhead conveyor
system (same type used in
Marshalltown assembly today)
was constructed to speed up
top-works handling, assembly
and transportation of heavier
stock items.