THE FRUITS OF HIS LABOR: The true story of Professor Edmond Jefferson Oliver, Principal of Fairfield Industrial High School, its staff, its students, community, state of Alabama, the Nation and the World!!! By John B. Davis, Class of 1951 Fruit results from planted seeds, when seeds grow, they bear fruit, Galations 5:22, 23 We were taught that the fruit that you have to reach for is the sweetest!! The fruits of his labor are many: the world is blessed with Fairfield Industrial High School (F.I.H.S.) graduates eschewing their accomplishments through serving others!! As one of our graduates, Lois Macon, eloquently proclaimed, There was a place called FAIRFIELD INDUSTRIAL HIGH SCHOOL and a man named EDMOND JEFFERSON OLIVER and his vision was to educate the coloreds living in a colored community, children of colored parents who worked at colored jobs to send their colored children to a colored school. The visionary, Professor Oliver with head bloody, but unbowed still forged ahead. Each drop of blood in the sand, like living water produced living fruit, sprouting all around is evidence of his passion. He calls to the visionaries and awaits that army to understand that each child of mother F.I.H.S. also has a purpose; that each is, and that is will be is when he or she is! We, the graduates of Fairfield Industrial High School, are the fruits of his labor and some of our stories are unfolded in this book. Like a plant, Professor Olivers roots are showing. He grew good people in our small town with honesty, sincerity and dignity! Drop this book on the floor and where ever it opens, it will be excellent reading! This true story is dedicated to our BLACK Community (I choose to capitalize the word (BLACK), because of all the hell we caught and are still catching in this country)!

Manufacturing in the United States is currently undergoing a major transition, yet large numbers of manufacturers simply do not recognize what it is all about. Many still operate under out dated manufacturing practices and do not see that the enemy is not the competition, but rather their own system of production. Batch, or mass manufacturing is still the preferred system of production for most U.S.-based industry. But to survive, let alone become globally competitive, companies will have to put aside their old mass manufacturing paradigms and completely change their entire production system. WFM will give you step-by-step directions to making rapid, lasting changes. Davis has created 4 new drivers of WFM and has linked them so you know what order to do them in and when it is time to move to the next driver. He covers nearly every aspect of the lean revolution and provides essential tools and techniques you will need to implement WFM. He also addresses the critical management issues that will arise in any plant that is striving to be world class. Drawing from more than 30 years of manufacturing experience, John Davis gives you tools and techniques for eliminating anything that cannot be clearly established as value added. WFM is not a theory. It is a proven process, and one the author has successfully implemented. He shares with you from his own experiences in guiding manufacturers through this process. Davis fully details the journey of a factory that moved from mass to waste-free manufacturing in a matter of 24 months. This factory was nationally recognized by wall street analysts as an effective manufacturing model. You get to sit in on their meetings and learn from their triumphs and failures. So hold on to your hat, because you are about to learn how to do what most in the field of world class manufacturing tell you isn't possible: to rapidly deploy WFM and change the system of production. Filled with checklists, an ongoing case study and, most important, strategies that will work, Fast Track to Waste-Free Manufacturing: Straight Talk from a Plant Manager will provide you with the principles and methodology for WFM and a road map for its implementation. All you need is the will, the focus, and a sense of urgency about the future of U.S. manufacturing. If you are a plant manager, foreman, supervisor, or executive who wants to quickly transform your factory into a world class manufacturer, Mr. Davis' WFM methodology is "must reading." A 296 minute abridged version of this book is also available on four compact discs or audio cassettes from Productivity Press.