POWERGRAMS

30 commanded. Smith earned 25 cents an hour in the Guard, allowing him to complete his classes, earn a bachelor's degree in education and a military commission in 1954, and immediately leave for Basic Officer Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Thirty- three years later, he was named the JSU Military Alumnus of the Year. Smith's boyhood dreams were realized when he became a paratrooper – eventually jumping nearly 200 times – and a sergeant. While serving in Germany during the Cold War, another door opened: education. The University of Maryland sought soldiers who could teach math in Europe, Smith volunteered and "fell in love with teaching." When he returned stateside, Smith le the Army aer then-State Superintendent of Education LeCroy offered him a vocational teaching post. Smith also joined the local National Guard unit, staying on for the next 30 years as he rose from 1st lieutenant to colonel, and the Clanton fort was named in his honor. Smith had to leave the Special Forces when he became brigadier general, a position that has mandatory retirement aer five years. Six months aer retiring, Gov. Guy Hunt asked him to be adjutant general. Other than his time as Alabama's top soldier, Smith continued teaching math at the high school, junior college and college levels. He spent 40 years in the military and 60 in education while maintaining the family farm with his wife of 61 years, Sue, who also was a career teacher and counselor. They and their three grown children all have houses on the Smith's 60-acre farm. "I kept remembering how much those teachers meant to me, what they did for me, and I wanted to pay it back," says Smith. "I tried." ADIENT BUILDS CAR SEATS Every day, from sea to shining sea, Americans drive to work and back home, take children to practices and get fidgety in traffic jams, seldom giving a second thought to the car part closest to their body. Every second, millions of people driving Nissan Pathfinders, Honda Pilots, Lincoln Navigators, Chevy Corvees and other popular vehicles rest their backsides on steel framework stamped, welded and assembled at the Adient plant in Clanton. That job is always on the mind of some 900 employees at the 360,000-square-foot facility. For nearly 20 years, Clanton workers have built seat frames and the tracks on which they move for nearly every major automaker. The success has prompted expansions on the 26-acre site, and the quality of the products led Adient to purchase the operations in 2016. In his 17 years at the plant, Production Superintendent Justin Wilson has watched it grow from the original 50,000 square feet to 240,000 in 2002 and to the current size in 2012. He helped build BMW X5 seats for one of the first plant customers and continues today supervising seat production for a dozen different automakers. Many of the employees work on the new Ford Expedition seating line but Adient is producing seats for 23 other cars and trucks. Wilson watches as a large coil of tightly wound thin steel rolls into 100-ton to 150-ton pressure stamping machines, which every second push out a piece cut into paerns specific to each vehicle. Workers transfer the pieces to other machines that further fold the steel into upper and lower rails. Some of the heavy work is done by robots behind clear, locked partitions. Robots weld, apply special rust-preventive coatings and paint, and move parts along conveyor lines. The detailed work is done by people using their hands and pneumatic screwdrivers, sanders and other specialized equipment. They merge inner and outer railings, add ball bearings and meld segments until each closely inspected frame is packaged for shipping. Fabric is added at other plants. The Clanton facility ships up to 30 million rails and more than 2 million seat frames each year. "We're dealing with very tight safety tolerances. In the automotive world, safety is a major concern," Wilson says. "And we have to ensure that the creature comforts are met, that the seats are quiet and smooth operating." Human Resources Manager Judy Benson has been at the plant since its first day, remaining through ownership changes from CRH, to Johnson Controls to Adient. She notes there are many other longtime employees, such as Operations Manager Jimmy Simpler, while Plant Manager Danny Aaron relocated to Alabama from Philadelphia last year. "Fiy-four percent of our employees live in Chilton County and 48 percent are female," says Benson, whose husband, Neil, works for Alabama Power at the GSC. "We have a very diverse workforce, which makes Adient a great place for anyone to work." THE ORIGINAL DAY THE MUSIC DIED Ken Gilliland taxis a crop duster along the Chilton County Airport runway, gunning the engine as he checks to ensure the cra has been properly serviced. He's gained an international reputation Car seat maker Adient is Clanton's largest employer.

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