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Husldns Brings Experience to CFO Post
Keith Huskins joined
Adams-Millis on December 1
as Vice President of Ad
ministration/Chief Finan
cial Officer. He lives in
Kernersville with his wife,
Janet, and their daughter,
Alexandra. “I am a native
North Carolinian and truly
enjoy living in this area of the
country,” Huskins says. “I
grew up in Spruce Pine, N.C.,
a small town in the Blue
Ridge mountains.”
Huskins graduated from
East Carolina University with
a B.S. in Accounting and
Business Administration. He
also holds an MBA from Ap
palachian State University, is
a Certified Public Accountant,
a Certified Management Ac
countant, and holds the
American Production and In
ventory Control Society’s
Certificate in Production and
Inventory Management.
After graduation from East
Carolina, Huskins worked in
the Greenville, N.C. area with
a local CPA firm while his
wife completed her degree.
“Once Janet received her de
gree and I completed the ex
perience requirement for my
CPA certification, I started
looking for a company where
I could gain some valuable
experience,” stated Huskins.
“I was fortunate to get an
opportunity to work for the
Bali Division of Sara Lee.
The position with Bali gave
me the chance to work in a
Manufacturing/Cost Ac
counting function and it also
brought us to the wonderful
Piedmont area.”
After Bali, Huskins
worked with AMP, Inc. in
Statement Reflects
Changing Company
(Continued from Page 1)
ment stores, and specialty
stores.” That meant that
our goal was focused on
building market share.
Over time we realized
that the focus on market
share could lead to deci
sions that were not in the
best interests of the com
pany. Building market
share at any cost is not
wise. For example, if you
sell more socks than any
body else but don’t make
any profits doing so, it
certainly isn’t in the best
long-term interests of the
company, its shareholders
and its employees.
In 1993, we acknowl
edged that our mission
statement must change as
our business needs change.
At the same time, we don’t
want to have a “mission of
the month.” The mission
statement illustrates the
changes the company must
make to continue to be
successful. We decided in
1993 to add references to
profits, sales and geo
graphic markets to the mis
sion statement. Market
share, while still important,
is no longer our only goal.
Last year we updated the
mission statement to reflect
a change in our focus from
making private label socks
to making branded socks.
It now reads: “Our mission
is to build sock brands in
the United States that
generate superior financial
returns.”
Brands allow us to con
nect with the consumer and
reap the returns. You can’t
do this with private labels
because you don’t own the
connection with the consumer.
Our focus on building brands
supports the mission of Sara
Lee Corporation.
Our mission statement
is divided into two parts.
The first sentence in the
statement helps us to stay-
focused. The supporting
statements cover the work
we focus on day in and day
out. They comprise our
working mission.
Increasing Brand Equity
Brand equity is the value
of the names our products
carry (Hanes, Hanes Her
Way, Just My Size, Cham
pion and Spalding). Brand
equity encompasses con
sumer awareness, con
sumer satisfaction with
quality, value (how much
more consumers are will
ing to pay for our socks
rather than another sock)
and loyalty to the brand
as shown through repeat
purchases.
Excelling at Customer
Service
This phrase about cus
tomer service refers to the
retailer. Our goal is to help
make the retailer success
ful. If we serve the retailer
better than anyone else, we
will win over time.
Improving Global
Competitiveness
We changed the focus of
this line in our statement
last year. Previously it re
various financial positions
for about five years. He left
AMP to join Kayser-Roth
Hosiery as the Director of
Financial Planning and
Analysis. While at Kayser-
Roth, Huskins also served as
the Corporate Controller, Vice
President of Finance for the
Sheer Hosiery Division and,
most recently. Vice President
of Finance for the total com
pany. “While at Kayser-Roth
I had an opportunity to learn
a great deal about the sheer
hosiery and sock business,”
said Huskins. “I think my
prior experience will help
me to make a more immedi
ate contribution to Adams-
Millis.”
Huskins’ responsibilities at
Adams-Millis include finan
cial and information systems.
One of his first priorities is to
:ontinue the focus on improv-
ng production reporting and
nventory management. “We
vant to improve our processes
ind systems for data capture
in all of our facilities, and
implement changes in the cost
accounting system to ensure
proper costing of transactions.
I think we have made excel
lent progress in containing the
inventory shrinkage problem
but we now need to imple
ment regimented processes that
will accurately capture data
throughout our organization.”
After several plant visits,
Huskins was impressed by
the efficient manufacturing
facilities and the cycle time
for producing athletic socks.
He said that the financial and
information systems areas
need “to make data cap
turing and reporting systems
February 1996
as efficient as the manufac
turing processes are. How
ever, after my short time with
Adams-Millis, I feel ex
tremely confident that the
many talented people here
will continue to make excel
lent progress in improving
production and inventory
reporting.”
In addition to improving
manufacturing reporting and
cost accounting systems,
Huskins would like to put
into place financial informa
tion systems that allow for
the tracking of profitability
by customer, brand and class
of trade.
“I look at my job as one
that serves the various func
tional areas of this entire
company. My goal is to
provide superior customer
service to both internal and
external customers, to help
Adams-Millis realize consis
tent increases in profitability
and return on investment.”
Mission Statement
Our mission is to build sock brands in the United
States that generate superior financial returns.
We will accomplish this mission by...
• Increasing our Bi^d Equity,
• Excelling at Customer Service,
• Improving our Global Competitiveness
(low-cost producer),
• Exceeding our shareholders’ expectations, and
• Equipping our employees to make change
happen.
We win continually measure our progress
for each of these Critical Success Factors.
ferred to our goal of being
the low-cost producer. This
change recognizes that we
are dealing in a global mar
ketplace, and we need to be
the lowest cost producer
among all of our competi
tors who serve our markets
— not just those who have
operations nearby.
Exceeding Our Share
holders’ Expectations
Our goals are to attain
the return on investment
established by Sara Lee
Corporation and to make
or exceed our annual oper
ating plan each year.
Equipping Our Employees
to Make Change Happen
Adams-Millis has excel
lent employees. Our goal
is to ensure that all of our
employees have the tools
and the training to excel
in their work.
How will we know if
we are accomplishing our
mission? We measure our
performance against the
yardsticks in our Annual
Operating Plan. This gives
us an objective look at
what we have accom
plished during the year.
The mission statement
may change subtly in the
future, but we will continue
with the same basic service
goals we have: take care
of the consumer, take care
of the retailer, be more
efficient and productive,
take care of the investor
and take care of ourselves.
Each person and each
department contribute to
our achievements. Every
thing that you do as an
individual employee has
a bearing on how well we
do as a company. And, how
well we do as a company
will affect the lives of many
current and future employ
ees and their families. We
have been making great
progress, and by continuing
to improve we will achieve
our mission.