Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 50

INSIDE: Crowley net earnings are unchanged in 1991. Page 2E. Friday, March 27, 1992 cnr vnncioi SECTION Mutual funds, Page 3 NYSE, Page 4 Amex, Page 5 Call Business: 222-8765 Detroit 4frcc Dow Corning exec is new Herman Miller CEO Stocks close mixed, but Dow gains 8.28 Stock prices were mixed, has lived largely on the luster of its brand name. "Miller has to reinvent itself, in my opinion," he said. "It has had substantial inroads in its market by domestic suppliers.

The failing to gain momentum after the government issued new reports describing a ber of technical and managerial posts at Dow Corning, where he is now in charge of U.S. operations. He holds 25 patents awarded during his 32 years at Dow Corning. Jennings speculated that Miller may try to capitalize on Campbell's chemical engineering know-how by developing new materials for furniture and new target markets such as research laboratories. But John Berry, a spokesman for Miller, said the company already uses resins, one of Campbell's specialties, in office chairs, and has for years marketed furniture and equipment to By bernie Shellum Free Press Business Writer Herman Miller following a corporate trend, reached outside its ranks for a new chief executive Thursday, appointing J.

Kermit Campbell, a chemical engineer and manager for Dow Corning. He will replace Richard Ruch, who is retiring, on April 13. Ruch became the first CEO from outside the founding family when he took over the post 4V2 years ago after more than 30 years with the Zee-land-based office furniture maker. The choice of Campbell, 53, to run the day-to-day operations of the company reportedly piqued some of Miller's managers and puzzled at least one management expert. "I am as confused as anyone else," said professor Eugene Jennings, a Michigan State University professor emeritus of management who has tracked the trend of companies hiring outsiders as top executives.

Noting that he had talked with some managers at Miller, Jennings said, "I know they're piqued. These are people who have worked hard for Herman Miller." But he also said selection of an outsider is understandable, given Miller's sagging fortunes of recent years, a period when he said Miller planning to build the business, and he is very good at that. Campbell is "a good manager who knows how to focus. He can visualize the future. He's adept at planning," Jennings said.

Max DePree, Herman Miller's chairman and a member of the founding family, said that Campbell "brings a wealth of experiences in managing global business activities, research and development, and all phases of the commercialization process to Herman Miller." Campbell could not be reached for comment. I He holds a management degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has held a num sluggish economy. The Dow 3,267.67 J. Kermit Campbell will take over on April 13. Jones industrial average rose 8.28 points to 3,267.67.

The NYSE composite index rose 0.10 to 225.49. The average price per share rose 2 cents. whole idea of furniture today is systems and compatibles that work in and fit in. "That involves all kinds of modular construction. It's going to take a lot of business and strategic Losers outpaced gainers by 840 to 767.

NYSE volume was 176.69 million shares. details, Finite 4E I DOW JONES QUICK CALL For stock 5 updates call 1-900-246-4444 I Each call costs 93 cents per minute Touch-tone phones only. Rocky Flats Fine: Rockwell International Corp. agreed to pay $18.5 million in fines after pleading guilty to 10 counts of violating environmental laws while it operated the Rocky Flats A House Of Cards nuclear weapons plant in Colorado. The firm admitted it stored hazardous Rebates for U.S.

cars don't lift sales wastes without a permit at Rocky Flats, its waste- Storage containers leaked, and the hazardous wastes wound up in reservoirs that supplied drinking water Collector views business cards as window to history By Larry fish Knight-Ridder Newspapers to nearby cities. KILLER TOMATOES: If you're already gasping at the price of tomatoes, here's more bad news: The price may go higher. Tomato lovers nationwide are paying two to Jjf CJ?" three times more for tomatoes this month since rain wiped out HILADELPHIA In 1956, Bill Cosby was working in a shoe-repair store in Philadelphia. Walter Day hopes much of Mexico winter crop. In Detroit-area markets, tomatoes that usually go for 89 cents to $1.19 a pound are 1 I.

running $2.49 to a whopping $4 i I a pound! The price could continue to rise as supplies Actor Kevin Costner was a California marketing executive. jdwindle. No reliefs in sight until California tomatoes r. Five in about 10 days, says Sal Ciaramitaro, an stern Market produce wholesaler. Prosperous Preaching: There's big money in Religion.

Television evangelist Pat Robertson and his i 1 1 son Timothy are poised for a $90-miUion stock windfall when 11 1 I. 1 I their Family Channel cable operation goes public. The Robertsons have parlayed a $150,000 investment and assets of their nonprofit Christian Broadcasting Network into one of the most profitable cable television vry. Comedian Bill Cosby worked at a shoe-repair store. 7 Reuters Companies that are offering cash rebates to their employees to "Buy American" say they're being flooded with applications, but the Detroit carmakers have not yet seen any benefits.

"It's been super," said Carl Moskowitz, spokesman for Monsanto Chemical a unit of St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. "Some of the plants have been going great guns." Last January, the company said it would give employees $1,000 if they bought a North American-made vehicle. So far, more than 800 applications have landed on Moskowitz' desk, and the program still has four months to go. Monsanto is one of a dozen American companies that went to the aid of Detroit's ailing automakers early this year, offering its 12,000 workers cash payments if they bought American cars or trucks.

The "Buy American" sentiment reached a peak in January after the heads of the Big Three accompanied President George Bush to Japan to discuss ways to trim the $41 billion trade gap between the two countries. Computer software company Compuware Corp. recently teamed with Ford Motor Co. to offer its employees $2,000 if they purchased a new Ford car or truck. "I've heard nothing but positive reaction from people, and just around the parking lot here, I've seen a few new products right away," said spokesman Chris Nor-ris.

"It's a heck of a deal." Detroit auto executives said they were encouraged by the support from the "Buy American" programs, even though domestic 'at Robertson networks in the country. somebody got a card from the now-famous entertainer. Day, a 42-year-old Iowan with a passion for collecting, sees history and drama in the cards. Business cards, in particular those little corporate ID tags that usually wind up at the bottom of desk drawers. "They are kind of novel little windows into history," Day said, and he is dedicated to preserving them.

Day calculates that maybe 500 million different varieties of business cards have been produced in North America and that 90 percent have disai.peared. Rescuing at least some of them from that fate is the mission of the Business Card Archives, of which Day is the self-appointed curator, buyer and organizer. The impressively named collection, which he estimates consists of 5 million cards, resides in about 200 cardboard cartons in Day's' house in Fairfield, Iowa, a pleasant farm belt town otherwise noted for being home to Maharishi International University, center of Transcendental Meditation. Even among people who collect old catalogs, timetables or coasters, business-card collectors are regarded as an odd lot. "I went to a flea market and asked for business cards at 100 different booths, and they looked at me like I was a confused person," Day said.

There is a national collectors' club with about 350 members, but President Avery Pitzak acknowledged, "When you tell people, 'Hey, I collect business JEFF DAVISSpecial to the Free Press Walter Day's collection totals 5 million business cards. Day hopes to track cards of celebrities before they became famous. TO YOUR HEALTH: U.S. wine consumption slid 2 percent last year, but exploded at year's end after a Minutes" report linked frequent red wine Consumption to reduced risk of heart disease. For the four weeks ending Dec.

15, table wine sales rose percent to $138 million. Red wine sales alone jrose 45 percent for the month. And we kept quaffing grape right into 1992. For the 12 weeks ending iFeb. 9, Merlot sales rose 82 percent over the same period last year, while red zinfandel sales were up 60 percent.

'Ousted Execs Want Millions: John Gutfreund, (ousted as chairman of Salomon Inc. during the Manuel Noriega's business card is tasteful. they look at you like you don't have enough to do." Business cards appeared relatively recently, though calling cards their social counterpart have been used since the early 1600s. "Trade cards," often with color lithography, were given away by many businesses beginning about 1880, Pitzak said. The familiar business card of today, with a standard size of about 2 by 3'2 inches, proliferated during the 1930s.

Most are pretty dull. "They are very low-profit items for most printers, so most printers tend not to encourage any creativity," Pitzak said. His own cards, like those of many other club members, buck the trend. They're made of a translucent orange plastic with white script. Some collectors seek out cards of such unusual materials wood is another favorite while others go for distinctive shapes.

Day's specialty: "Business cards of famous people before firm's Treasury bond scandal, is demanding nearly $14 million in severance, bonuses and stock. Former vice chairman Thomas Strauss, meanwhile, wants more than $15 million. Salomon, which disputes the amounts, cut off compensation to the executives in September, a month after admitting violations of Treasury auction they emerged into their life's theme." Hence the quest for Bill Cosby, mender of soles. There are others, as well. "In 1978, Kevin Costner was a marketing executive in See Collector, Page 3E John Gutfreund rules.

IN MICHIGAN Foland's sheds image sales remain depressed. Sales of North American-made cars in the sales period of March 11-20 were down 6.9 percent. Long-distance rates rose a bit in '91 BY HIAWATHA BRAY Free Press Business Writer Talk eot a little less chean last as catalog showroom BY CECILIA DECK HONDA RECALL American Honda is recalling about 900,000 Accords from model years 1982 through 1985 because road salt could rust the fuel systems and cause gasoline leaks. The problem is more likely I among the 400,000 cars driven in areas where road salt is used extensively, Honda said, i UNION ELECTION: Hudson's said it has agreed to post a i notice and proceed with a third UAW representation election at its Fairlane store. The UAW would have to agree with the posting before an election is scheduled.

The union called the move "just another attempt by Hudson's to bulldoze its employees" since the National Labor Relations Board found 48 Free Press Business Writer Foland's Inc. is rethinking its retailing niche after a dispute with year, according to a California consumer group. creditors in January that closed five of the chain's six stores for nearly three weeks. Consumer Action of San Fran Now fully reopened and reorga labor law violations by the company in the last election. cisco has released a survey showing that long-distance telephone nizing under Chapter 1 1 bankrupt cy, Livonia-based Foland's is shedding its catalog showroom image and some of its less-profitable lines of merchandise.

SPECIAL DIVIDEND: First National Bank Corp. of Mt. Clemens has declared a special 5 percent stock dividend, to be distributed beginning May 6 to shareholders of record April 15. This is the fifth consecutive year in which the corporation has declared and distributed a special stock dividend. The new Foland's will emerge land's also is upgrading its china, crystal and flatware selection and has stopped printing catalogs.

"We're putting more resources into the showroom and less into the warehouse," Castlegrant said. At some locations, Foland's plans to convert warehouse space to expand the selling area. The catalog showroom business has fallen on hard times as consumers demand more service and ambience. Service Merchandise, the largest of the catalog chains, is getting a bigger piece of a shrinking pie, he said. Foland's filed for Chapter 11 protection in February after creditors petitioned to have the company liquidated under Chapter 7.

The proceeding was converted by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge, allowing the company to reorganize. Foland's had assets of $6.3 million and debts of $8.1 million, owed mostly to suppliers. Foland's operates stores in Clinton Township, Dearborn, Livonia, Rochester, Southfield and Warren. -Kl L- as a specialist in jewelry and gift registry items at savings of 20 to 40 percent off department store prices, said David Castlegrant, director of stores.

"We're zeroing in on the areas rates rose in 1 99 1 for the first time since the 1984 breakup of the monopoly. The survey found that the three major long distance providers Sprint and MCI charged more for calls from California to other states than they had in 1990. Those results echo the findings of an informal rate survey by the Free Press this week, which found slight price increases in the cost of 10-minute long distance calls be- tween Detroit and Chicago, New York or Los Angeles. For example, the cost of a 10-minute daytime call to Los Angeles See TELEPHONE, Page 3E a we can dominate," he said. STOCK OFFERING: Douglas Lomason Co.

in Farmington Hills filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer 1,015,294 shares of common stock. The number of shares reflects a 3- for-2 stock split to be distributed April 2 to shareholders of record on March 16. ANNUAL MEETING: Great Lakes Bancorp has i scheduled its annual meeting for 1 p.m. May 20 at i tne Sheraton Inn, 3200 Boardwalk, off State Street near 1-94 in Ann Arbor. ffljf; I -i Gone will be consumer elec-ronics, ready-to-assemble furniture, bidding, office equipment and photographic equipment.

hi its place, Foland's housewares department will grow and will sell from the shell rather than through a catalog order desk. Fo WILLIAM ARCHItDetrat Free Press David Castlegrant, Foland's director of stores, says they will focus on selling jewelry and gift registry items. i.