Posted December 21, 2016

 

By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)

 

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – In accepting the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance’s (SCMA’s) Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award here this month, William "Bill" McCrary Jr. held up a photo of the legendary industrialist printed on the event’s program.

 

“People asked me earlier, ‘are you nervous?’ ” said McCrary, president and CEO of textile producer William Barnet & Son, LLC. “I said, ‘no, I’m not nervous.’ And then I sat down, opened this program and saw this picture of Mr. Milliken. If he's up there looking down on me tonight, I am a little nervous now.”

 

Milliken, the former Milliken & Co. chairman who died in 2010, may have had that effect on many during his career, given the iconic status he achieved while advancing American manufacturing and leading the company for 71 years. During his many decades at the helm, the company grew to become the world's largest privately owned textile and chemical companies.

 

“Mr. Milliken lived by the ideas and principles from which he never wavered,” said SCMA Chairman Dirk Pieper, president & CEO of Sage Automotive Interiors, Greenville, S.C. “He believed that American manufacturing leadership was the foundation of the nation's economic achievement. His personal example of uncompromising integrity, hard work and an incredible passion for excellence is the reason Mr. Milliken is perhaps the greatest defender of manufacturing this great state of South Carolina has ever known.”

 

McCrary and S.C. Speaker of the House Jay Lucas were the two most recent recipients of the Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award, which recognizes individuals in the public and private sectors who have worked to support the manufacturing industry in South Carolina. In 2012, the SCMA Board of Directors voted to rename the award to honor Milliken.

 

"The manufacturing industry has a significant and meaningful impact on the quality of life for all South Carolinians," said Lewis Gossett, president and CEO of the SCMA. “We're proud to recognize individuals with the Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award for their commitment and support to ensure that the manufacturing industry in South Carolina remains strong, prosperous and competitive for generations."

 

In a special tribute, the SCMA honored a past president of its predecessor organization, the South Carolina Textile Manufacturing Association, Roger Chastain. The former CEO of Mount Vernon Mills, who died last month, was a past recipient of the Defender Award.

 

During Chastain’s time as president of Mount Vernon Mills, the company grew to take a prominent role in the textile industry.

 

“His focus on promoting growth and development while balancing the concerns of his associates garnered Chastain a prominent place in the Upstate of South Carolina, particularly in the Greenville-based community,” Pieper said. “Chastain was a fearless and tireless advocate for manufacturing in South Carolina, working diligently to ensure this state maintained a pro-manufacturing business environment. He was passionate about manufacturing, fearless in his advocacy for manufacturing associates and dedicated to his industry and his community. Roger Chastain was a great man.”

 

Chastain’s son Jason and his son-in-law Judson Boehmer, president of the La France Division of Mount Vernon Mills, accepted a crystal award on his behalf.

 

McCrary among ‘heady’ company

 

McCrary has served in various capacities with William Barnet & Son, LLC, a synthetic fiber, yarn, and polymer firm, since joining the firm in 1970. He has served in leadership areas in various organizations, including chairman of the SCMA and chairman of the American Fiber Manufacturers Association (SCMA). Beginning in early 2017, he is in line to be elected chairman of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO).

 

He is also active in supporting projects in the Greenville, S.C., community, such as the McCrary Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit at the Greenville Health System and the Cancer Survivors Park.

 

“I'm up here tonight in heady company,” McCrary said from the podium. “Dirk convinced me to accept this award, and I stand before you a humble man. When he called to tell me I had been chosen to receive the Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award, I remember my exact words: ‘I've been with this company for 46 years, and I've done a few things along the way. But, frankly, I don't have the stature to receive such an award. There are many others who are more deserving.’ But Dirk is a good salesman.”

 

During his remarks, he commended the SCMA leadership and staff, who he called the “real” defenders of manufacturing in the state; and those industry leaders who stepped up to serve the alliance. He also took a moment to “preach to the choir” – and, perhaps, share some insights for those not in the manufacturing know.
 

“Here couple of quick statistics about manufacturing,” McCrary said. “For every manufacturing job, there are four other jobs created. There are 12 million total manufacturing jobs in the U.S., so do the math – that’s 50 million other jobs created. For every dollar created in manufacturing, there's another $1.81 added to the economy. That's the highest multiplier affecting any economic sector. So it’s no question manufacturing is the backbone of America.”

 

Milliken & Co. had impact on Lucas’s life

 

Speaker Lucas was elected to serve District 65 in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1998. In 2010, his colleagues elected him Speaker Pro Tempore, and he was elected Speaker of the South Carolina House in 2014.  Earlier this year, he received the Wilkins Award for Excellence in Legislative Leadership from the Riley Institute and the Jimmy Newsom Signature Award for his contributions to public education in Darlington County. Throughout his career in public service, he has earned several prestigious awards.

 

Appropriately, Lucas informed the audience that his first job was with Milliken & Co. in Hartsville, S.C., when he was 20 years old.

 

“It was an honor to have that job,” he said. “They told me that I was going to be supervisor in the picker room, and I thought that was just the greatest thing in the world – until I got out to the picker room. There were machines and a conveyor belt in the picker room. Unfortunately, the summer I came, the conveyor belt was broken. So I quickly learned that my job was to get products on a trolley and take them up to the third floor of the steam room. It was a challenging job from 10 p.m. until 8 a.m., and it was an eye-opening job for me.

 

“And at the end of the summer, they told me that I had done such a good job that they would like me to come back and be in the management training program next year. And I told them I would absolutely not consider that unless they figured out some way to fix that conveyor belt.”

 

That experience taught him several lessons, which he would put to good use in his career in the state legislature, he said.

 

“I can honestly say that was one of the tremendous experiences in my life,” Lucas said. “It taught me that I did not want to necessarily be in manufacturing, but it also taught me that I wanted to help with manufacturing. And I get so much joy in the legislature dealing with the SCMA staff. Working on projects with them has been truly something that I've come to cherish. Over my 18-year career in the House, I have continued to fight for manufacturing because I see what manufacturing can do for this state.”