194 lOp iea TL iai tk n AB\ ADAMS-MILLIS C(o7tl 7^ Amco News VOLUME 51, NUMBER 4 AUGUST 1995 Company Reaches ’95 Profit Goals For the third time in the last four years, Adams- Millis has met or exceeded all of its annual profit goals. For fiscal year 1995, which ended June 30, prof its climbed 16 percent; re turn on investment rose four points; and unit vol ume increased eight per cent. “Overall, it was a very good year,” says Chief Ex ecutive Officer Rich Noll. “We are very pleased, es pecially in light of the very difficult year we had in fis cal 1994. In addition, we also laid the groundwork for future growth.” Noll says increased sales of Hanes and Hanes Her Way products made a ma jor contribution to profits. Branded sales for those two lines were 17 percent higher in 1995 than during the previous year. The improved sales re RICH NOLL suits were a factor of ex panded distribution to ex isting accounts and the in troduction of new products. “Both of these will pay sub- and beyond,” Noll says. For the first time in sev eral years, Adams-Millis in 1995 increased prices for Hanes and Hanes Her Way stantial dividends in 1996 socks four to six percent. depending on the product line. Noll says the highly competitive nature of the sock business would not allow price increases in previous years. “Our productivity per employee reached the high est level in company his tory in 1995. Increasing efficiency at the Barnwell plant was a key reason for this achievement. We pro duced a record total of 20.1 million dozens in 1995,” he says. There also was a signifi cant increase in the com pany’s level of customer service during 1995. On- time shipments rose from 92.7 percent to 93.2 percent. The amount of produc tion waste in 1995 was re duced from historical lev els of two percent down to a little more than one per cent. However, the percentage of irregulars jumped back to almost six per cent in 1995 after being around four percent in 1994. Box stock quality improved from 95 percent to 95.4 percent. The company’s safety record improved during the year and now stands near the corporate average for Sara Lee. “Our safety per formance is a credit to ev eryone in the company be cause each of us is respon sible for safety,” Noll says. “We owe it to each other to provide a safe working en vironment.” Over the last two years, the employee benefit pack age also has been im proved. The vacation ben efit was improved in 1995 to give an extra week of vacation to many longer- term employees. “One of our challenges Continued on page 4 \ From United Fund Ml Airy’s Hopkins Gets Extra-Mile Award At a time when many fundraising efforts were faltering. Mount Airy mounted a United Fund campaign in 1994 that re corded one of the best per formances in the state. The person behind the excellent results was Larry Hopkins, human resources manager for Adams-Millis in Mount Airy. In appreciation for his hard work, unselfish work and innovative ideas, T. J. Payne of the Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce in May presented Hopkins with its “Extra Mile Award.” The honor is be stowed by the Chamber on speeial occasions to recog nize individuals who go be yond the call of duty in making contributions to their community. Hopkins was quick to acknowledge that running the campaign was far from a one-person effort. “We had a great staff. The men and women who served as our division chairpersons deserve much of the credit for our success,” he said. Under Hopkins’ direc tion, the 1994 United Fund campaign in Mount Airy was a huge success. Working with a goal of $340,000, the volunteers led by Hopkins raised more than $400,000, or 17-plus percent higher than the goal. The record was third best among all North Carolina cities and was tops in Mount Airy’s division. “When we had the kick off for the campaign in September of last year, one of the challenges to the companies was to be more creative in their internal campaigns,” Hopkins said. “Mount Airy had won an All-America city award Continued on page 9 CELEBRITY VISIT — Entertainer Gary Mule Deer visited children at Welbom Middle School in High Point during the Crosby National Celebrity golf tourna ment in May. He spent time with a number of students during the visit, which is part of the Crosby Ambassadors Program. Welbom is Adams-Millis’ school partner. Publication of Amco News Resumes After more than a year of absence, the Amco News is being re vived. The newspaper will be edited by Bob Hoots, director of Human Re sources in High Point. It will be published four times each year. Human Resources managers at each Adams-Millis location will be joined by local reporters who identify story ideas and informa tion for the newspaper. “Many people have told us that they wanted us to resume the news paper,” Hoots said. “We plan to have our second issue in November and the third issue early next year.” The Amco News has been published for 51 years and shares infor mation throughout the company about events, decisions and activities that affect or involve employees.