Celebrating his quarter of a century with the Bata Organisation today, is Subsidiaries Manager J Zak, and Bata Record offers its felicitations upon this important anniversary.
Mr Zak came to East Tilbury in August, 1939, and took charge of the small hosiery section which was, at that time, being developed. Its production then was only 5,000 pairs a week. Today it is many times that number.
He joined the Bata organisation straight from a hosiery technical school and assisted in the equipping of one of the organisation’s big hosiery factories. At the end of the first year he was promoted to foreman.
In all he had eight years’ experience in Bata hosiery establishments before coming to take charge of the unit at East Tilbury.

Since he has been with British Bata he has seen the hosiery factory moved from Building 23 to the top floor of the rubber factory and then to the fine new building it occupies at the present time, while the number of machines has increased and with them the linking section and finishing section, while the washing and dyeing plant was only added with the move to the new building.
After seven years at East Tilbury, Mr Zak took over the responsibility for the whole of the subsidiary group - box-making, laces making, shoe polishes and dressings, printing, freight, cutting blocks, salvage and the spreading house.
Later Mr Zak took over responsibility for the Bata Farm. This was of particular interest to him as he comes of farming stock and lived on a farm during his formative years, working there during the school holidays.
Two years later, he was married and now has a son, Ian, aged six.