Smyth McKissick
President & CEO, Alice Manufacturing Co., Easley, S.C.
Remarks to the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, in accepting the Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award
December 10, 2015
This is truly a special award, for two reasons. First and foremost, it comes from you. And secondly, and equally importantly, it’s made in honor of a man that I admire greatly, Mr. Roger Milliken.
I want to begin by congratulating Bobby Hitt and Richard Dillard. They are so very deserving of tonight’s awards. I’ve watched you two carefully for a long time and the contributions that you make to our state and to manufacturing have been incredible and will benefit me for years to come. To you both, I say congratulations and thank you.
I grew up in a textile family and I’m immensely proud of the predecessors in my family, especially my father. He had a great love for the U.S. textile industry and he fought tirelessly for the industry’s working men and women. He is the one who introduced me to this wonderful community of
SCMA Roger Milliken Defender of Manufacturing Award recipient
McKissick reflects on 'wonderful opportunities'
textile manufacturers. And when I look back on my experiences in this industry, there are three things I’d like to talk about tonight.
The first is life in the plants. My first job was in the summer of 1973. I was 16 years old. I was hired as a utility boy. We were on a crew at our Foster Plant. We were arranging automatic doffers on a Saco Lowell Spinnomatic spinning frame. It was a wonderful job. We worked 7 (a.m.) to 5 (p.m.) five days a week. I’ll never forget receiving my first paycheck. I think we were grossing about $1.16 an hour, something like that. And I came home with my first paycheck and there was the gross and there was the net. And I asked my dad, “What’s this net? What’s FICA, what’s Social Security, what’s all that?” He busted into a big grin and said, “welcome to the world of paying taxes.”
But that was a wonderful opportunity for me. In subsequent years, I worked in different plants in different departments. I spent a lot of time in our weaving room overhauling weaving machines. There was a time in my life where I thought the value of those experiences was learning about the technology and the sophisticated processes used in the manufacturing plants. But the older I grew and hopefully the more mature I became, I realized that the great lessons learned were learned from the people that I had the opportunity to work with. I worked with the finest people I’ve ever known. Proud people of faith who believed in running their job the right way who took pride in generating a good day’s work for a good day’s pay. The folks I saw are the backbone of our country. Those are the folks who pay the taxes that win the wars.
I wish every young person could have an opportunity to work around those colorful, fantastic folks that I got to work around. I wish our policymakers in Washington could get their hands dirty and be a part of a team that creates things, that produces great things for our market.
The second thing I’d like to talk about is the great leaders who have served our great industries. We’ve talked about Mr. Milliken, and deservedly so, but there are others I’d like to talk about as well. I’ll never forget the first South Carolina Textile Manufacturers Association meeting I attended in the early ’80s. I was in my 20s and was down there with my mother and father. First night, opening reception, we were at The Cloister, on those beautiful grounds, walking down the sidewalk. And those of you who knew my dad know he was a real communicator. If something was on his mind, he would say it, and he would say it very clearly. He turned around and squared his shoulders at me and said, “son, you are about to meet the finest you will ever meet in your life.” And, boy, was he right.
At that meeting, some of the families represented were the Close’s, the Chapmans, the Cates, the Cornelsons, the Dents, the Hamricks, the Kents, the Montgomery’s, the Rice’s, the Selfs, the Stevens, the Vance’s and, of course, Mr. Milliken – and I’m sure there are some that I’ve left out. Forgive me. But what I’ve always been impressed by in our industry leaders are their selfless service for the industry. They’ve always been about serving for the greater good – not just driven to turn profits in their company but rather to improve the landscape of manufacturing. They were the best and you folks are the best.
And finally I want to recognize an incredible team that I’ve been able to work around at Alice Manufacturing. A table full of associates is here right now. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to you folks. I have been surrounded by incredible talent my entire career. Those folks are the ones who deserve credit for the success of our company and those folks are the reason that I’m able to be here tonight.
Thanks you for this award. I appreciate all of you.