Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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As Reviewed by Cornelson Page3 President's Annual Message 1985 was a good year for Clinton Mills. To start the year with good news, we were able to maintain a relatively normal operating schedule, compared to our competitors, as our superior quality carded printcloths con tinued to be in good demand in the first and second quarters. Due to a brief decline in the buying interest for the all cotton fabrics and a few of the poly/cotton blend styles, the Clinton No. 1 and Clinton No. 2 Plants were required to curtail production for a few weeks in early summer and the Lydia Plant reduced the weaving of selected blend con structions for a short period of time in the spring. However, following the July holiday closing, the Clinton and Lydia Plants re turned.to a six-day operating schedule for the remainder of the year, as buying in creased in anticipation of a strong 1986 printcloth season. The Geneva No. 1 and Geneva No. 2 Plants maintained continuous operations throughout the year as the con verter buying interest in the high quality, wide, carded blend fabrics for home fur nishings continued to grow with each pas sing year. The Bailey Plant was the focus in 1985 of the continuing machinery modernization program of Clinton Mills. Throughout the first six months, 160 wide Sulzer projectile weaving machines were brought into pro duction on a variety of broadcloth, poplin and batiste constructions. With the latest opening, carding, winding and weaving machines the Bailey Plant is now able to manufacture both carded and combed blend fabrics for apparel and home furnishing end uses. We anticipate that as the fourth and fifth weekend shifts are added, that the weekly pounds of fabric produced at the Bailey Plant will more than double during 1986. Employees are now being given the opportunity to select the shift of their prefer ence in order to move this plant to con tinuous manufacturing operations. On May 4, 1986, we are looking forward to celebrat ing a heritage of 90 years, “since 1896,” of successful textile manufacturing operations in Clinton with an open house visitation program at the Bailey Plant for Clinton Mills employees, their families and interested citizens of Laurens County. As a result of the increase in sales of the carded blend fabrics, the Marketing Staff recommended in August that the Clinton No.l Plant shift to the production of the polyester/carded cotton blend styles. This transition to the blend constructions should be completed by April 1986 and will result in more efficient manufacturing for the Clin ton No. 1 Plant. You will be pleased to know that the over all pounds of production for the Bailey, Clin ton No. 1, Clinton No. 2, Lydia, Geneva No. 1 and Geneva No. 2 Plants reached a record amount for one year in 1985. Each em ployee and member of the manufacturing and administrative staffs can take great pride in this accomplishment. As many of you know, in order to stay abreast of new developments in shuttleless weaving, we are continuing our evaluation of air jet and flexi ble rapier weaving machines. Great progress is being made in weaving technology and the experimental operation of these machines will help us to determine which method of filling insertion will most efficiently produce the highest quality of printcloth in the fu ture. We also congratulate each employee for his or her contribution to the outstanding Safety Program in 1985! Throughout the six weaving plants the worker’s compensation costs dropped from $174,186.49 in 1984 to $106,087.68 in 1985. We were particu larly pleased to see the low level of accident and injury costs at the Bailey, Clinton No. 1, Clinton No. 2 and Lydia Plants in 1985. Everyone wins when we work more safely, and injury costs go down. The U.S. Textile Industry is now ranked second in industrial safety with only the chemical industry rank ed ahead of us. Let us all do our part to make the textile safety record No. 1. Another outstanding event occurring dur ing 1985 was that the Clinton employees, along with the company, contributed $28,300.90 to the Greater Clinton United Way drive. This record amount of contribu tions was a big factor in helping the Clinton United Way to go over its goal of $120,000. This is another major achievement that will strengthen the health and recreational acti vities in our community and make our city a better place to live for all of our citizens. The biggest disappointment that Clinton Mills and other companies in the textile in dustry experienced last year was the indus try's inability to secure passageoftheTextile and Apparel Trade Enforcement Act. With out sufficient strength in Congress to over ride the previously announced opposition to this legislation by President Reagan, it was our hope that the more than 3 million per sonal letters mailed to the White House by textile employees, our families and friends urging the president to sign the legislation, might win his favor. Unfortunately, such was not the case, so a renewed effort will be made on Aug. 6,1986, to obtain the support of two-thirds of the U.S. House of Represen tatives in order ot override the president’s veto. With the help of each of you and the approximately 2 million other employees in the U.S. Textile and Apparel Industry, we will continue to fight for relief from excessive imports! As 1986 is a year of general elec tions throughout the United States, you may be sure that our industry will continue to keep pressure on the administration and Congress to pass the vital Textile and Apparel Trade Enforcement Act. Looking ahead to 1986, we are optimistic that this could be one of the best years for consumer purchases of printcloths in apparel and home furnishings in the past decade. There are encouraging signs that the “Crafted with Pride in the U.S.A.” pub lic relations campaign for our industry is getting the attention of consumers, and mer chants are again discovering that there is a place for American textile and apparel sup pliers in their order books. The ability of U.S. manufacturers to react rapidly to fashion changes, combined with the ability to deliv er goods on a shorter lead time is becoming increasingly important to inventory conscious retailers. The national business outlook for the new year points to improved, through moderate growth compared to 1985. Relatively small increases in inflation and interest rates and an easing of national unemployment are anticipated. On average, according to the “Nation’s Business” magazine survey of economists, a real growth rate of 3.9 percent in the Gross National Product is forecast for 1986, compared to 2.5 percent inflation adjusted growth in the G.N.P. in 1985. In order that Clinton Mills will be in a better position to take advantage of the anti cipated growth in our nation’s economy and to offer fabrics for export markets, as the value of the dollar decl ines, some employees George Cornelson may be aware of the increased emphasis that the marketing and manufacturing staffs are placing on the development of new woven fabric constructions for specific end uses. Some examples of these experimental weav ing programs that have developed into signi ficant commercial fabrics would be the “cot ton-rich” blends at the Bailey Plant, the twill constructions at the Geneva No. 2 Plant, and the various double woven fabrics at the Clinton No. 2 Plant and Lydia Plants. With versatile spinning and weaving equipment and the demonstrated initiative of alert Clin ton Mills employees to explore the manufac turing of new types of woven constructions, we anticipate offering a greater variety of superior quality fabrics to our present cus tomers and to new customers in the days ahead. We have also recently entered into a joint venture with a new company by the name of Prismatics Inc. for the purpose of offering printed and solid color dyed goods to our present and prospective customers who de sire to purchase these fashionable finished fabrics. This new business, which will pur chase our greige goods for use in the creation of a wide range of home furnishing fabrics, will provide a broader market for the growing woven goods production of Clinton Mills’ six spinning and weaving plants located in Clin ton, S.C., and Geneva, Ala. The determina tion of each employee in 1986 to produce more even roving in the carding department, or the most uniform yarn in the spinning department, or the highest quality of fabric in the weaving or cloth inspection depart ments will be an essential factor in demon strating to our customers that “We Care” about the products that we produce. We can all be proud at Clinton Mills of our 90-year heritage in the American Textile Industry. May each one of us resolve to make 1986 the best year ever for this outstanding textile company as we celebrate with pride our heritage of excellence and confidently look forward to our continued growth in the years ahpaH HAPPY NEW YEAR! George H. Cornelson President Herbert Suber Ralph Blackwell Lydia Promotes Two Herbert Suber has been promoted from Lydia Spinning maintenance technician to third shift assistant departmental superin tendent. Suber, a graduate of Bell Street High School, attended Piedmont Technical Col lege. He joined Clinton Mills in 1967 as a service operator. He has worked as a doffer before being promoted to the maintenance technician position. He, his wife, Sara, and two daughters, Stephanie and Sabrina, live on Highway 72. Ralph Blackwell has been promoted from Lydia Weaving loom technician to Cloth Room assistant departmental superinten dent. Blackwell joined Clinton Mills Lydia Plant in 1967 as a loom technician. He is a member of Lydia Pentecostal Holi ness Church where he serves as secretary- treasurer and Sunday School teacher. Blackwell is a member of the Clinton Na tional Guard Unit where he holds the rank of staff sergeant. He and his family live on Teakwood Drive, Clinton.