/ /}?/ Amco News February, 1981 Vol. 37, No. 1 1 - •, • -S'*’ * " vte' Plant iS, Franklinton Re-Engineering of Plant #8 Near Completion When Adams-Millis Cor poration purchased the Franklinton, N.C. plant of Durham Hosiery Company last year, it acquired part of a firm that at one time was known as the largest pro ducer of hosiery in the world. Founded in 1898, Durham Hosiery was known also as one of the oldest hosiery firms in this coun try. Final renovation is being completed at the Franklin ton plant to make it a sister facility to Plant #7 in High Point. Walter Voncannon, Vice President of the Ladies’ Hosiery Division, is direc ting this transition at the new plant with the assistance of Richard Nor wood, Plant Manager there. A sewing and finishing facility. Plant #8 will seam, package and ship greige goods shipped to Franklin ton from other Adams-Millis plants. Goods finished there will include pantyhose, knee- highs, foot socks and thigh- high stockings. Adams-Millis’ purchase of the Franklinton plant in ef fect saved the jobs of some 80 employees as Durham Hosiery had planned to close its operations there. Mr. Voncannon said when the plant is at top production, some 125 persons will be employed. George Cralle, President of Durham Hosiery, recalled some of the colorful history of that firm, stating that at the peak of its production, boxcar loads of hosiery pro ducts would be shipped from Durham. “Large banners stating ‘Another carload of durable Durham hosiery!’ would be strung on the box cars,’’ he said. Early records of the company indicate it also owned its own cotton mills and produced the yarn for its 17 plants. At one time, the company operated plants in Carboro, Mebane and also in High Point. When renovation is com pleted, Plant #8 will be one of the most modem and automated hosiery plants in the country, Mr. Voncannon said. A total of 1,400 feet of conveyor systems are under installation, which will move goods automatically from one stage of production to another. Also, a carousel- type conveyor will act as a continuous supply line to the Folding and Box Stock areas. New storage racks, which are 12!/2-feet high, feed directly to the flow through racks to facilitate order picking. All the equip ment is expected to be fully operational by May of this year. Among the many Adams Millis personnel who assist ed in the transition at Plant #8 were Jerry Reeve and Ray Willis of the Engineering Department. Franklinton Has Interesting History Plant #8 in Franklinton is located on U.S. Highway 1, one of the main highway arteries on the Eastern Sea board. Franklinton is a 25- minute drive north of Raleigh, the state capitol, and is in Franklin County which was formed in 1779. “Franklinton Depot’was first established in 1839, with the (Con’t. on page 3) Richard Norwood Jr. Rick Norwood Manager at Plant #8 Richard (Rick) H. Nor wood, Jr. is Plant Manager of Adams-Millis Corpora tion’s most recently ac quired plant, #8 in Franklin ton. He is a native of Townsville which is several miles north of Franklinton, and is a graduate of Atlantic Christian College in Wilson with a degree in Business Administration. He most recently was with Huyck Farmer in Wake Forest as Personnel Manager; and prior to that held the same position with Americal Cor poration in Henderson for seven years. Rick and his wife, Joan, have two sons, Richard, III, (Hank) and Alan. One of Rick’s hobbies is running, and he usually tries to run three to five miles every day. (Con’t. on page 7) Robert Grant James Williams James Halvorsen James Millis, Jr. Ronald Stroup Retirement, Promotions In Sales and Marketing Announcement that Robert P. Grant, Senior Vice President and Director of Sales and Marketing of Adams-Millis Hosiery Com pany, will retire June 1 of this yetir has been made by Robert M. Bundy, Jr., Presi dent. At the same time, Mr. Bundy announced that James A. Williams has been named to succeed Mr. Grant, who will remain ac tive in his position to assist with the transfer of duties until his actual retirement date. Jim’s previous posi tion had been Vice President and Account Executive for Supermarket and Special Accounts. He will report to Mr. Bundy in his new posi tion. Other promotions in Sales and Marketing announced by Mr. Bundy include James P. Halvorsen to Vice President and Sales Manager, from the position of Account Executive, and James H. Millis, Jr., who has been promoted from Director of Marketing and Product Development to Vice President of Market and Product Development. Both will report to Jim Williams. Also, Ronald W. Stroup has been promoted to Vice President and Ac count Executive for Super market and Special Ac counts and will report to Jim Halvorsen. Mr. Bundy expressed ap preciation to Bob for his work with Adams-Millis during his sixteen years with the company and wish ed him well in his retire ment. Bob’s work included the sales and merchandising of specified key accounts such as Sears, the largest na tional retail and mail order house in the world. Mr. Bun dy noted that during Bob’s career with Adams-Millis, the hosiery company has received the Sears’ Symbol of Excellence Award for fif teen consecutive years.

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view