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olume 48, Number 2
Summer 1992
Noll Outlines Vision For Company
When Richard Noll assumed
Jich Noll goes about his daily duties at Adams-Millis
Rpcnrd-Setting Effort
Shipments Top 1 Million Dozens In Week
- 1 tiir All/>r\ CQul thp rPCOTfl-NP.t 11T
Teamwork and cooperation
aid off handsomely with record
tipments during the week end-
ig June 27.
More than a million dozens
ere shipped from the distribu-
on center in Kernersville, the
x;ntz distribution center in
Vinston-Salem and Silver Knit
nd Drexel Knitting, according
0 Chuck Allen, Adams-Millis
lirector of distribution.
“This really shows what ev
eryone can do when we work
agether,” Allen said. “Working
agether is really what made it
lappen.
“There was teamwork on the
lart of a lot of people - distribu-
ion, traffic, manufacturing, in-
entory control and customer
ervice,” Allen added.
The record shipments for that
veek broke a one-week shipping
ecord that had been set only a
Tionth earlier when 787,000
iozens were shipped.
“Everyone in the company
leserves credit for this accom
plishment,” said Adams-Millis
Chairman and CEO Rich Noll.
“We should thank each other for
such a tremendous effort; thank
Sales and Marketing for selling
it; Operations for making it;
Customer Service and Distribu
tion for shipping it; Finance,
Administration and Systems for
booking it; and Human Resources
for supporting all of us.
“As 1 have said before, with
teamwork we can become the
dominant sock company in the
world,” Noll added. “This dem
onstrated that we are well on our
way.”
The latest record shipments
accounted for almost 100 tractor
-trailer loads of socks which went
to a wide variety of customers.
Allen said orders during the rec
ord week went to Canada and
South America as well as many
domestic locations.
“We had to get all the ship
ments out on lime,” he said.
“There was even one situation in
which we had to have an order to
a port to catch a ship.”
Allen attributed the success
of the record shipment to the
quality and productivity im-
provment (QPI) training that has
been conducted during the past
several months.
“I think this shows the value
of QPI training,” he said. “If
someone had said a year ago that
we would ship a million dozens
in a week, a lot of people would
have been skeptical. But this now
shows that we can meet those
large orders. We look forward to
those challenges as they come
along.”
Allen said the record-setting
operation flowed smoothly due
to a lot of planning by everyone
involved.
“Pooling the talents and ex
pertise of everyone made the op
eration a success,” he said.
“Thanks to everybody for all their
hard work.”
his duties earlier this year as
chairman and chief executive
officer of Adams-Millis he began
to developing a vision for the
company which sets it apart from
all other sock manufacturers.
That vision will be realized,
he said, by achieving established
goals and objectives. His goal is
to double sales in four years and
have Adams-Millis dominate the
sock industry.
“I know we can do that by
reaching our short-term objec
tives and working together as a
team,” he said. “Since I’ve been
here I have met a lot of people
and have seen a lot of teamwork.
“There’s a tremendous base
at Adams-Millis on which to build,
and the caliber of people is very
good,” Noll continued. “As we
continue to foster an environ
ment which enhances teamwork
and improvement, we’ll have no
problem meeting our goals.”
When he came to work here,
it was not his first look at the
company. For seven years he had
worked in the Washington, D.C.,
office of Strategic Planning As
sociates (SPA), as vice president.
Among his duties was serving as
(Continued On Page 5)
Preventive Maintenance
Keeps Company Running
Off Grades Down 3%
Production Quality
Improvement Grows
Production quality has con-
nued to improve at Adams-
lillis as off-grade units were
rought to 6 percent in June.
The goal had been set at 5.5
ercent for the end of the fiscal
Jar (June 30) and was nearly
:hieved, according to Mike
hard to improve this area of pro
duction,” Mabe said. “They have
done a fine job and they will
continue to do so as we improve it
further.”
At the beginning of the fiscal
year, off grade units were running
at 9 percent. Through Quality &
abe. Director of Quality Con- Production Improvement (QPi)
Wbody has worked very (Continued On Page «)
When most Adams-Millis
employees were on vacation re
cently during the Fourth of July
holidays, one department of the
company was hardatwork. It was
one of the busiest times of the
year for the Maintenance De
partment.
“When the plants are not
operating we are able to do pre
ventive maintenance on a lot of
equipment without having to
interrupt the production proc
ess,” explained Ernest Kearns,
who heads the department which
includes 18 employees. “That’s
why we work during the time when
everybody else is gone.”
From air conditioning, to
knitting machines, to electric
motors and concrete floors and
loading docks, maintenance is
called upon to repair problems
that occur.
But what Kearns and his staff
Jim Jordan, a certified welder, creates his own fireworks display
during July Fourth week as he cuts a piece of metal with a torch.
find even more important is find
ing potential problems even be
fore they occur.
“It’s much more cost effective
to prevent a problem than to have
to fix it after it shows up,” he said.
“That’s one of the things we do
here a lot.”
However, he noted that keep-
(Continued On Page 6)