80 Shortly after the war ended, and Western States returned to the business of manufacturing products for the sugar industry, the crafts union at the plant became Local 176 with the United Auto Workers, and the first UAW contract went into effect on May 1, 1946. A postwar innovation arrived in 1947 in the form of the first automatic discharging flat-bottom centrifugal, based on an idea that occurred to Hertrich during a trip to Hawaii. The prototype, which foreshadowed the model G-8, operated at 1200 rpm with a 48” x 30” x 7” basket and a direct electric drive. It was first installed at Hawaii’s Waialua Plantation. CHAPTER 6