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Page 8
91-Year-Old Bibb Enters
New Era of Progressiveness
Oki Georgia Company, Founded in 1876, Proves that Growth
Is Not Confined to Youth As It Builds, Expands, Diversifies
Pay a visit to Bibb Manufac
turing Company’s modern home
office building in Macon, Ga.,
talk with key officials, witness the
hustle of employes at work, and
you’ll come away convinced that
the Bibb of today is a changing
Bibb.
There are computers at work
keeping tab on everything from
payrolls and inventories to sales
and marketing data. There is
talk about the five-year outlook
and forecast. There are regular
conferences between top and mid
dle management to improve com
munications. There is open dis
cussion of new plants and new op
erations. There is a public re
lations department. And there
^URE^
FIREBIRD
GASOLINE
• Car Service
• Tire Repair
• Car Wash
• Road Service
OPEN
7;30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Closed Sunday
CANNON
Service Station
Phone 786-2802
1120 Floyd Street
BUSINESS
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The Ban^fQnington
DEPENDABLE SERVICE SINCE 1901
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are new sales offices.
Bibb’s three - storied office
building in East Macon is carp
eted and draped throughout. Mu
sic is piped in to all offices.
Working areas have been enlar
ged and new departments added.
The third floor which houses the
executive offices and an expanded
Marketing Division is as active
as the New York Stock Exchange.
Under the aggressive leader
ship of Robert Train, President,
it all adds up to a different Bibb
or an old Bibb with a new look
and great plans for the future.
The company has Just const
ructed Plant Camellia, a new
sheet and pillowcase sewing plant
and adjoining warehouse some 20
miles North of Macon, giving the
company its first entry into this
phase of business.
Plans are ready for a finish
ing plant to be added to the fa
cility which will put Bibb into
the finishing phase—another new
venture.
In addition, a knitting and fin
ishing plant, all under the same
roof, is being built at Reynolds,
Ga., and a finishing plant for
blankets has recently been pl
aced in operation at Newnan,
Ga., site of the firm’s blanket
mills. Both of these operations
fit into the pattern for expanded
operations for the Georgia firm
that already boasts a well-di
versified textile product line.
Bibb has purchased a small
plant in Dalton, Ga., and is now
in the business of manufacturing
scatter rugs and bathroom sets.
It has also moved outside of
Georgia for manufacturing for the
first time and started up looms
producing sheets and pillowca
ses. The latter venture is at
Sand Springs, Okla., and Is pro
viding the company with needed
production.
Proof of Bibb’s movementfor-
ward since 1962 can be seen in
the financial statements. In 1962,
net sales were $85,269,000. In
1966, the figure was $121,377,-
000. Bibb shipped 120 million
pounds of textiles in 1962. In
1966, shipments totaled 164 mil
lion pounds. And the goal Is
still upward.
The company expects sales in
the $l5O million range by 1970,
and with expanded production and
new product lines, the goal should
easily be reached.
In line with sales, expenditures
for new plant and equipment to
taled over $lO million for each
of the past two years, amounting
to more than s2l million for
1965-66 combined. This compa
res with $7,211,000 for the 1962-
64 period.
Bibb President Train told sto
ckholders last December that the
forecast for the next five years
calls for the company to spend
in excess of SSO million for new
plant and equipment—an expendi
ture that will keep the company
in step with changing times and
expanding populations, he expl
ained.
Outlays since 1964 have allow
ed Bibb to construct a new plant
at Forsyth, Ga., to process man
made fiber yarns for the carpet
industry and add several hundred
Draper new shuttleless looms,
new spinning, carding and air
conditioning at Columbus; new
equipment and finishing for the
blanket mills at Newnan; and ot
her new machines and air con
ditioning in other mills.
The new Forsyth plant—some
thing entirely new in the textile
Industry, says Bibb—allows the
company to work as a middle
man between the fiber producers
and the carpet manufacturer, pr
oviding special styling to carpet
yarn before It reaches the car
pet manufacturer. The operat
ion Is proving most successful
and Bibb looks upon it as one of
its growth areas.
The new plant at Reynolds,
Ga., will more than double Bibb’s
participation in the knitting trade.
The finishing plant there will also
provide more flexibility in the
market place.
But perhaps the most talked
about new venture to date is the
sheet and pillowcase fabricating
plant at Percale, Ga., located 22
miles North of Macon off Highway
87. The plant with adjoining ware
house covers 225,000 square feet
of floor space. Coupled with the
new finishing plant, the project
will rapidly move Bibb much clo
ser to the consumer, since the
company will take its own cloth
from the looms and do its own
finishing, sewing, packaging and
warehousing.
Company management says
that the plan is to continue to
serve the chains and wholesalers
and that it harbors no present
plans to move to the Bibb label.
But the company will be gaining
valuable experience in case it is
ever forced to move in that di
rection.
Bibb expects to employ around
700 people at Percale. The 425-
acre tract purchased allows room
for expansion. The finishing
plant, which will have excess ca
pacity, is expected to be com
pleted before Christmas of 1968.
Located on the Ocmulgee River,
an adequate water supply is as
sured. The plant will have ex
tensive water treatment facilities
for treating the water before and
after use.
The scatter rug operation at
Dalton is another new manufac
turing venture that has been a na
tural area for Bibb to move into.
A small-sized operation, com
pared with some of the other Bibb
operations, it nevertheless gives
Bibb another product which is
sold to the same buyer that pur
chases sheets and pillowcases.
President Train adds, however,
that it is not Bibb’s philosophy
to try to become a major manu
facturer of chenille products.
"We plan to remain small in
this area, but are doing enough
to assure us a stable market for
our yam and fabric in the event
mergers shrink this market
more.”
He points out that, as a large
supplier to the chenille industry,
the company feels It needs this
protection. "But we’ll still have
yarns and fabrics for our cust
omers In this field,” he expl
ained.
To get a proper perspective on
the Bibb of 1967, it is necessary
to look back a number of years,
to the Thirties, when the com
pany was one of the most suc
cessful in its field. To say it
has been unsuccessful in the in
terim is not true, but there are
periods when Bibb might have
been accused of being content
with the status quo.
Bibb came through the Thirties
with pretty good earnings (it ne
ver skipped a dividend; in fact,
it has missed very few since
1887). But like the rest of the
Industry during the years of the
Great Depression, there was lit
tle encouragement for growth and
it did well to hang on.
Bibb entered the Fat Forties
with its coarse yarn mills and
went on to become one of the in
dustry’s leading producers of
tire cord.
The company diversified a bit
following World War II when it
went into the sheet and pillow
case business. But when the Ko
rean War came along, and the
tire cord business boomed again,
Bibb continued down the previou
sly established production path.
When the Korean conflict was
history, Bibb found itself a large
coarse cotton yarn producer, as a
lot of yarn that previously had
gone into tire cord found itself
in search of new markets. The
most lucrative, as it turned out,
was tufted carpeting which had
just begun its rapid growth cycle
in the North Georgia area around
Dalton.
This was the only market which
might consume vast quantities of
coarse yarn, for the wrapping
twine and seine twine markets
were on the downgrade. Carpet
warps and tufted yarn comprised
about 50 per cent of Bibb’s bu
siness following the Korean War
and it continued on such a scale
almost until 1960.
Upon surveying the market out
look, about 1958-59, Bibb offi
cials, with the advice of outside
consultants, determined in which
direction the company should mo
ve. They also made studies on
Bibb’s position in the then present
and potential markets.
These studies of all facets of
the business indicated Bibb sh
ould fortify and expand its mar
ket research, merchandising and
sales divisions, and that the com
pany’s markets should thence
forth be Identified and classified
from the standpoint of profita
bility and growth potential.
The first move was to classify
the hundreds of products into
product groups, then analyze each
market’s potential. The company
also made forecasts of profit
ability in these markets, and the
first year such forecasts came
within .4 of 1 per cent of accu
racy.
Bibb then broke down its sales
and marketing efforts into six
product groups—floor coverings,
yarn, cordage and twine, cloth
and fabrics, consumer products,
and rubber industry goods—and
put a marketing manager In ch
arge of each group. He alone
was responsible for price and
profit. This enabled the field
sales force to concentrate on
moving the goods. Today, in the
six market groups, Bibbproduces
more than 500 different items.
Following such reorganization,
Bibb was able to make market
surveys to determine how much
business was available in a par
ticular field or area; how much
the company was getting; and how
much it felt it should have and did
not have.
Bibb expanded its sales force
in several areas Including Chi
cago, Dalton, Ga., New York auu
Charlotte, N. C. Most recently
it has opened Dallas, Memphis
and St. Louis sales offices. It
now has 35 salesmen in the field
compared with some 20 before.
Sales conferences and training
sessions are held periodically at
the home offices to keep the men
In the field informed about all
Bibb activity.
Bibb has set up a formal train
ing program which takes sales
men "through the mill” over a
12-week period. The company is
cross - fertilizing — taking some
people out of finance into sales,
out of manufacturing into mar
keting and vice-versa in order
to provide key personnel with a
broad, firm base of company kn
owledgeability.
Bibb’s new merchandising tec
hniques and studies now enable
the company to know how much
it should spend on a project and
how long it should take to reach
a goal. There are test programs
underway which will show how
much Impact the company can
make in key market areas and how
much it will cost to do so.
No one will tell you, but Bibb's
next moves should be apparent.
The company is studying the to
wel, carpet and bedspread mar
kets and it obviously intends to
offer a "package” of home fur
nishings products as many other
major textile companies are do-
THE COVINGTON NEWS
ing, even though, as mentioned,
it has no plans to move to the
Bibb label. On the other hand,
it has the name and the pro
duction facilities should the com
pany ever plan to move in that
direction.
Bibb puts a sizable poundage of
yarn into the floor covering in
dustry, so it would be natural to
take on carpet production. In
yarn counts of which towels are
made, Bibb is a big producer,
so don’t overlook towels. Bibb
is one of the largest producers
of bedspread sheeting and yarns,
so It would be logical to gravi
tate to this end product. In
fact, it was announced only last
week that Bibb’s subsidiary, K
& W Manufacturing Company, is
acquiring Royal Mills, Inc., in
Dalton, Ga., a small bedspread
manufacturer.
Bibb’s yarn production range
practically covers the field —
surface yarns, tufted yams, syn
thetics, texturized, filament,
woolen spinning yarns, heat-set
and everything under the sun for
the rubber goods business.
There’s little question the
company is out to build its sales
volume as a modern—yet old
and respected—producer of tex
tile products. Proof is seen in
first six months (fiscal 1967)
sales and earnings of $59.3 mil
lion and $2.7 million, up 5.69
per cent and 24 per cent res
pectively, compared with the first
six months of the 1966 fiscal year.
Significant is the fact that such
increases occurred in a period
when sales and earnings of most
textile companies were down.
Looking at a 12-year history
of Bibb’s sales: Sales in 1955
were $72 million; in 1956—567
million. In 1958 sales continued
the seesaw pattern and dropped
back to $67 million. In 1959,
they climbed back near the 1955
volume. In 1960 sales took a
fairly respectable jump to SBO
million, but in 1961 they fell
within a million of the 1955 le
vel.
Then In 1962 Bibb’s efforts in
sales and marketing began to
show, and sales volume rose to
SBS million. The following year,
sales edged up to SBB million,
and in 1964 the figure was just
under SIOO million. The year
1965 saw a slight rise to $103,-
901,201 and in 1966 there was a
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great surge to $121,377,367.
Net Income for the two years
(1966 and 1967) was $5,147,970
and $5,491,332. If six months
figures of the 1967 fiscal year
are projected, sales and earn
ings should remain about equal
to the 1966 record.
During these 12 years, Bibb’s
capital Improvement - moderni
zation program looked something
like this, in a nutshell: In 1956,
modernization began at the Co
lumbus plants; in 1957, it step
ped up quality fabrics production
in a continuing program of mo
dernization of equipment; in 1958,
Bibb acquired the Forsyth, Ga.,
mill and converted it to the woo
len system; in 1959, Bibb mod
ernized its dyeing facilities; in
1960—diverted sales yarn pro
duction to fabric production; in
1961—reorganized its sales de
partment and created a market
research department; in 1964,
Bibb acquired the Arnold and
Arnco mills for blanket produc
tion in Newnan, Ga.
CONTINUED
NEXT WEEK
STRAND
THEATRE
COVINGTON. GEORGIA
Thursday-Friday-Saturday
February 1,2, 3
Elvis Presley
"CLAMBAKE"
Sunday-Monday-Tuesday
February 4,5, 6
Terry Moore-Jan Murray
"MAN CALLED DAGGER"
Wednesday, February 7
Raquel Welch
"THE BIGGEST BUNDLE
OF THEM ALL"
Matinee Sunday afternoon
BARTHOLOMAY ---
(From Page 7)
stamps purchased through this
program will receive, in addition
a certificate bearing the picture
and signature of a Braves’ play
er.
That’s not all. The youngster
taking advantage of this program
will also get a complimentary
ticket to a Braves game, Bar
tholomay said.
Treasury Department officials
mailed details about the program
to Georgia principals and PTA
presidents this week. Inquiries
about the program may be add
ressed to the U.S. Savings Bonds
Division, 800 Peachtree St., N.E.,
Room 507, Atlanta, Ga. 30308.
MOONLIT
DRIVE-IN
CONYERS. GEORGIA
Thurs., Fri., Feb. 1-2
Jack Lemmon-Virna Lisi
"HOW TO MURDER
YOUR WIFE"
Also
Peter O'Toole-Peter Sellers
"WHAT'S NEW PUSSY CAT"
Both In Color
Saturday, February 3
Peter O’Toole-Omar Sharif
"THE NIGHT OF THE
GENERALS'*
Technicolor
Also
Melina Mercouri-Romy
Schneider-Peter Finch
"10:30 P.M. SUMMER"
Technicolor
Sunday, February 4
Rod Taylor-Ernest Borgnine
John Mills
"CHUKA"
Color
Also
Melina Mercouri-Romy
Schneider-Peter Finch
"10:30 P.M. SUMMER"
Technicolor
Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday
CLOSED
Thursday-Friday
February 8 -9
All Star Cast
"SPEED LOVERS"
Also
"SWINGING SUMMER"
All Star Cast
Thursday, February 1, 1968
BRING WARMTH
Lumber lamination and tim
ber engineering have brought the
warmth of wood to sweeping clear
span structures, such as church
es, schools, industrial buildings
and sports domes.
One and two inch thick lumber
are bonded with powerful adhes
ives and built up to form arches,
beams and columns of any des
ired shape or size. Clear spans
in excess of 300 feet have been ac
hieved with glued laminated
Southern Pine arches.
THE
HUB
DRIVE-IN
THEATRE
PHONE 786-9484
THURS-FRI—FEB. 1 & 2
DOUBLE FEATURE
“TWO WEEKS IN SEPTEM
BER” (Color) with Brigitte
Bardot (and) "WITCH WITH
OUT A BROOM” (Color) with
Jeffrey Hunter.
SATURDAY - FEB. 3RD
DOUBLE FEATURE
"RED TOMAHAWK” (Color)
with Howard Kell and Joan
Caulfield and "JACK OF DI
AMONDS” with George Hamil
ton.
SUN-MON-FEB. 4 & sth
with Jane Fonda and Robert
Redford
NOTE: Closed on Tuesday
and Wednesday