| Condensed highlights are only a glimpse of the many | | | | cargo fleet. These concepts for mass production are |
| incredible accomplishments from the life of this prolific | | | | still in use today. As a means to care for the health |
| entrepreneur. Many may ask, "What inspires and | | | | and benefits of the workers at the Richmond, |
| enables a man to achieve so much in a single | | | | California shipyard, the company pioneered the idea for |
| lifetime?" To this question he has demonstrated the | | | | a now well recognized HMO program. As a real |
| answer in actions as well as his own words. His | | | | estate magnate, he founded the Honolulu Suburban |
| business success was founded on a genuine | | | | community of Hawaii Kai, where a public High School |
| commitment to the workers. From humble beginnings | | | | still bears his name. He also developed a community in |
| and a romantic quest, he was lifted to astounding | | | | Panorama City near Los Angeles. The entrepreneur |
| success on the shoulders of the workers and the | | | | continued to test his boundaries, and in 1945 he |
| values that he supported. See if you can recognize | | | | established a new automobile company in Willow Run, |
| this man by his accomplishments before you get to | | | | Michigan. Production began in abandoned facility that |
| the last paragraph. Problems in work clothes . . . . From | | | | had been used to build aircraft during World War II. Ten |
| his humble beginnings as a cashier in a dry goods shop | | | | years later they moved production to plants in Brazil |
| in Utica, New York, this future entrepreneur moved | | | | and Argentina. These South American operations |
| many times in the pursuit of hardware business and | | | | were subsequently sold to a Ford-Renault combine. In |
| photography. At an early age he met and feel in love | | | | 1970 he sold the Willy's Motors line of Jeep utility |
| with a girl in New York society. He expressed a desire | | | | vehicles to American Motors Corporation, and Henry |
| to marry her, but the girl's father insisted that the young | | | | decided to leave the automobile business. As a result |
| man establish himself and become financially stable | | | | of the transaction, he acquired 22% interest in AMC. |
| enough to support his daughter properly. Thus began a | | | | Still concerned for the health and welfare of his |
| search that would take him to Vancouver, British | | | | employees, in 1948 he established a non-profit, private |
| Columbia, Canada, where in 1912 he established a road | | | | operating foundation focused on the major health care |
| paving business in Washington state and British | | | | issues facing the workers of the nation. The foundation |
| Columbia. By 1914 he won his first California paving | | | | became an independent voice and source of facts |
| contract and established headquarters in Oakland, | | | | and analysis for policymakers, media, the health care |
| California. Demonstrating his prowess as a true leader, | | | | community and the general public. It is also responsible |
| he created an innovative management structure that | | | | for numerous hospitals, medical centers and medical |
| stressed good pay for workers. As are result of | | | | schools. The Legacy of dreams against the stars . . . . |
| motivational compensation, the California road paving | | | | Henry spent much of his later life with his wife, his first |
| contract was completed under budget and ahead of | | | | love from New York society, perfecting the urban |
| schedule. This success paved the way for more | | | | landscape he designed in Honolulu. Together they |
| opportunities in government sponsored programs to | | | | founded the Hawaiian Village Hotel, which has become |
| build roads and infrastructure. The workers responded | | | | one of the most famous Hilton Resorts in the world. |
| to the supportive management style with creativity and | | | | Among other things, this resort contains one of the first |
| collaboration. At that time cement powder, four times | | | | commercially practical geodesic domes. The innovative |
| more fine than cosmetic face powder, was created | | | | management style and employee conscious |
| by a refining process at the quarry and packaged in | | | | commitments began in the small mining town of Eagle |
| bags. The bags of cement were then carried by truck | | | | Mountain, California. It was the cement plant that |
| to be mixed and poured at the site. The company | | | | created integrated mining and processing operations |
| engineers designed an improved process that allowed | | | | which first carried the name Kaiser Permanente. Under |
| them to refine and mix the cement at the building site, | | | | the caring leadership of Henry J Kaiser, with stress for |
| vastly improving the efficiency of the production. This | | | | good pay and health care to workers, the company |
| innovative process was used on one of the more | | | | expanded into construction, developing communities, |
| notable contracts won by the growing company, the | | | | the Hoover Dam, aluminum, shipyards, automobiles, and |
| Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam) on the Colorado River. | | | | eventually into the first health maintenance organization |
| The Hoover Dam is a monument to hard work and | | | | that still bears the name, Kaiser Permanente. |
| creative engineering. Surrounded by smarter people . . . | | | | __________________ Words of Wisdom |
| . The company continued to win more contracts, | | | | "Problems are only opportunities in work clothes." - |
| including the building of the Bonneville, Grand Coulee, | | | | Henry J Kaiser "I make progress by having people |
| and Shasta Dams. They built natural gas pipelines in | | | | around me who are smarter than I am and listening to |
| the Southwest, Mississippi River levees and the San | | | | them. And I assume that everyone is smarter about |
| Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge underwater | | | | something than I am." - Henry J Kaiser "I always have |
| foundations. The workers were inspired by the | | | | to dream up there against the stars. If I don't dream I'll |
| freedom and motivation to develop enhanced | | | | make it, I won't even get close." - Henry J Kaiser |
| production techniques, which became famous at the | | | | __________________ You may distribute this |
| shipyards in Richmond, California, Ryan Point | | | | article freely, print it, sell it, or include it as part of a |
| (Vancouver) and the Columbia River in Washington. | | | | package as long as it is intact, unchanged and |
| During World War II, the workers used these | | | | delivered in the original format with acknowledgement |
| production techniques to generate one cargo ship | | | | to Executive Blueprints Inc. |
| every 30 days, rapidly increasing the size of the naval | | | | |