Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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CLINTON DIGEST QUALITY FIRST TEAMS REFLECT COMPANY‘S MISSION GENEVA SATISFIES BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS In keeping with the Clinton Mills mission of becoming the preferred supplier in all of its markets, the Bailey Plant Quality First team has re duced start marks in style 17359 by 28 percent. Bailey’s original Quality First Team was comprised of Mary Hughes, Rosa Martin, Sherri Heaton, Thomas Motes, Ricky Warner, and facilitator Mike Norris. “This initial project was a success and we all benefited from working as a team,” said Mike Norris, team facilitator. None of us knew where we were going when we began the project. Everyone’s efforts were appreciated.” To accomplish their goal of reducing start marks, team members studied the problem and recorded volumes of data. As a result of their statistical findings, the team identified at least twelve items which con tributed to the start marks. By focusing on these items and taking corrective action, associates reduced start marks by 28 %. The team’s recommendations included overhauling defective letoffs and main drives, replacing worn brakes, and adjusting warp tension. When Vice President of Manufacturing Ted Davenport asked the team’s opinion of the team approach to quality improvement, team member Ricky Warner stated that “any time you in volve someone with expertise, you benefit. I usually go to the operator first to seek advice, because the operator is the person who knows the machine best.” To continue its quest for continuous improvement, a new Quality First team has been formed. This team will study ways to improve section beams at the warper. Included on this team are facilitators Mike Norris, Ricky Warner and Mary Hughes from the initial team. New members include Earl Bryant from Slashing, James Williams, Warper and Winder Technician, Johnnie McGowan, Winder Operator and Karen Mars, Warper Operator. Geneva formed its first Quality First Action Team to improve the condition of loom rolls. The team was formed from employees of both weave rooms, the cloth room and shop. Unacceptable loom rolls cause both processing and quality problems. These un acceptable rolls require cloth inspectors to spend too much of their time observing the roll as it unwinds to ensure that selvages pass through the cloth guides properly. Unacceptable loom rolls result in extensive backup and reroll. The telescoping effect on the ends of unacceptable rolls contribute to oil, grease and dirt on roll ends. The Quality First Action Team determined what acceptable and unacceptable criteria should be for loom rolls. The cloth room team members, an internal customer, had major input on these measures. The team designed a measurement system which revealed that 50% of the loom rolls from Plant #2 and 35% of the loom rolls from Plant #1 were unacceptable. The team then identified the design of the roll tube as a possible cause of the problem. To overcome this problem, they consulted with an outside supplier on making a loom roll tube to their specifications. The supplier developed a tube prototype which was tested by the team. The team found the tube to be acceptable and now the tube designed by the QFAT is being used at a cost 28 % less than the tube bought from the previous supplier. Currently, unacceptable rolls have been reduced to 20% in both plants. Due to the increase in acceptable loom rolls from the improved roll tubes, cloth inspectors can now focus their attention on inspecting and grading the fabric. In addition to satisfying an internal customer, the Quality First effort satisfied customers by providing a finished roll with a straight wind free of selvage fly-outs, which have been a source of customer complaints in the past. CRANSTON SEES QUALITY FIRST DURING VISIT TO CLINTON Clinton employees demonstrated their ef forts in Quality First to representatives of Cranston Print Works as they toured Plant No. 2 and Bailey. Accompanied by Operations Vice Presi dent Josh Hamilton and Vice President of Manufacturing Ted Davenport, President Thad Williams guided Geoige Shuster, Bud Eastwood, Tony Palazo, and Jim Grant through Clinton’s operations. The visitors were interested in the proce dures used by Clinton to manufacture fabrics used in Cranston’s printcloth operations. Manufacturing associates were available to answer questions asked by the visitors and to point out those particular areas where Clinton has achieved especially high levels of quality. The Cranston visitors had an opportunity to follow the fabric from its initial bale opening process, through fiber and yarn preparation stages. They saw the Company’s state of the art shuttleless and air jet weaving operations, cloth inspection processes, and shipping department. L Karl Borgman Rose Pfennington BORGMAN AND PENNINGTON NAMED PROCESS ENGINEERS Karl Borgman and Rose Pennington have been named Process Engineers. The two will provide textile technology and industrial engineering services to Clinton Plants. Borgman, a graduate of Clemson Univer sity, joined Clinton as a Manufacturing Assis tant in 1987. He was promoted to his present position in April. While at Clemson University, Borgman worked as a Quality Control Technician at Avondale Mills and was a Dean’s list student. Pennington, a graduate of Piedmont Technical College, joined Clinton in 1981 and previously served as a frequency checker and industrial engineer in the Technical Services department. Prior to joining Clinton, she was associated with Milliken and Company and Union Carbide. VOLPE JOINS CLINTON SALES CO. We take this oppor tunity to welcome Gerald A. Volpe, Jr., who has joined the Clinton Mills Sales Company in New York. Jerry previously was Merchandise Manager of the Retail Fabrics Division of Greenwood Mills. He is a graduate of the University of Dayton, with an MBA in Marketing from New York University. Gerald A. Volpe, Jr. EFA EARNS NATIONAL AWARD FOR SAFETY BELT USE EFA recently won a national safety award from the National Highway Traffic Admin istration for its associates’ high level of safe ty belt use. More than 83% of EFA associates were judged to be in compliance with North Carolina’s “Buckle Up For Safety Standards” on arrival and departure from the plant park ing lot. The off-the-job highway safety pro gram is an extension of EFA’s in-plant safety programs. EFA and many companies throughout North Carolina and the United States par ticipated in the program. In the near future, the National Highway Traffic Administration will place a plaque honoring EFA associates in its Washington, D.C. office. EFA INSTALLS NEW INSPECTION AND PACKING SYSTEM A new automated system for inspecting and packaging finished fabric at EFA will improve quality and delivery times. The system was installed during vacation break by the EFA Maintenance Department and outside contractors. Thanks are extended to Paul Tyson and Paul Fallaw, of Clinton, whose efforts allowed the change to be ac complished with a minimum of problems. The improved system includes a new roll takeup device for each inspection table. After inspection, a conveyor system automatically carries rolls to a central wrapping station. An automatic system then carries the wrapped rolls to holding bins. Finally, the rolls are car ried from the bins to a station where the rolls are cartoned, strapped, and automatically stood on end. Each inspection table also has been outfit ted with a new main frame drive computer system which computes the roll yardage, prints bar coded roll tickets, and forwards the information to the Customer Service Depart ment for billing and shipping.