Ecusta: Slipping Into History (60 year old NC manufacturing mainstay shuts doors - my title)

Hendersonville Times-News ^ | August 18, 2002 | Harrison Metzger

[Willie Green]

"It’s an old, old facility and … the financial performance over the last nine years just hasn’t merited additional investment," he said.

Ya know, if you really stop to think about it, there's something extraordinarily bass-ackwards about this statement.

If the plant's financial performance had been better in previous years, there likely wouldn't have been any need to invest in equipment upgrades.

Most capital investment justifications that I'm familiar with look at potential for improved future financial performance. Not simply allocated willy-nilly based on past performance.

[bluedevil]

I was born in Transylvania County, North Carolina. My birth caused my father to quit college and move the family back home to Kannapolis (the quientessiential mill town).

Cannon Mills ran the town. They provided the housing and still own most of the downtown property and residential property through Atlantic American Properties.

Cannon has gone through Fieldcrest-Cannon, Fieldcrest, and now Pillowtex. It is currently in bankruptcy.

North Carolina has long beeen a right to work state. Unions have made little inroads. After years of lost elections, UNITE was finally able to organize Charlie Cannon's old mill. The mill was quickly driven into bankruptcy.

Iron Jack, I'm a little senior myself. 53 this week and a veteran of the MFJ.

Cordially bluedevil

[Willie Green]

The first line of my response is a quote from the article. Reference the part about "a bitter, 10-month labor dispute."
All I can do is make the dinner. I can't chew your food for you.

Thank-you for providing the reference. That is all I had asked for.

[Thumper1960]

Stinking unions step in to featherbed and pillage the risk and labor of others. Management, which has heretofore maintained at least a muturally beneficial relationship with its workers, is now the enemy. "Labor difficulties" arise, usually in the form of collective extortion. And a once-thriving facility is reduced to a shambles while the demons of socialism dance in the light of a dying fire.

Precisely why there will NEVER be a union where I work! It'll be a cold day in Hell when those scumbags organize here.

[Ditter]

We spent one night in Brevard NC on a cross country trip. What a lovely little town it was. I don't remember seeing a town square but when we drove into town, Main St. was blocked off for a town square dance. I hope the town survives this.

[IronJack]

Thanks for the background, devil. Actually, I'm not all that senior, a mere stripling in fact. But Willie seems to think I've gone Alzheimer's.

[Gritty]

When the plants were closing and moving south, a lot of people cheered because they saw it as the demise of the unions.

The unions certainly developed a bad rep, a lot of it well deserved. But there have been an awfully lot of crummy, greedy, poorly run companies, too! They deserved to go under.

- now many of those people are realizing it is the demise of American manufacturing

So true.

We cannot be a nation of consumers - we must have something to sell.

We have already become a nation of consumers. Have you checked the appalling trade imbalances lately? Most of what we export is money!

... now we are left with aging or closed manufacturing plants

The industry I worked within went from the largest, finest in the world to the most archaic and primitive in the industrial world in the space of a few decades. Some of that had to do with unions, but more of it had to do with lack of capitalization because horrendous environmental regulations required immediate capital monies to be spent for mandated pollution controls which couldn't work because the technology wasn't ample. This required even greater amounts of money thrown down a rathole!

The manufacturing equipment and technology were what suffered most quickly as costs skyrocketed and competitive advantages rapidly decayed to burgeoning foreign technology and their lower wages. Soon the American productivity and competitive edge was lost to foreigners, forever. Now what remains are falling down buildings and huge empty lots. Oh, did I mention many of the workers are in marginal jobs or on welfare? Unemployment Insurance has long since run out.

I suppose the "upside" is, those "dirty" industries are now polluting other shores - and employing their workers at living wages. And after all, our local water is supposedly cleaner! The unemployed can now eat the fish they catch.

... and a whole boatload of illegals that will work for less because they do not have to take care of the basics for themselves.

Yet another problem, but unrelated to this story.

... other parts of the world are moving forward and America is either staying stagnant or moving backwards... improving their infrastructure, transportation, manufacturing.

Let's hear another "Amen", shall we Sister? However, we are "protecting" our Precious Environment against these awful, predatory human encroachments!

Now how can an American worker compete with someone in India. It is just not possible.

I think it is. But, Americans are increasingly burdened with unproductive anvils around their necks such as massive government regulations, trial lawyers and ridiculous liability problems, and environmental fascism. That always hurts productivity!

Now I know some will defend this as 'free trade'

'Free trade' is not "free" if we are the only ones abiding by the rules...

... but can anyone deny that America is aging and sagging because we are not making the strides we should.

Certainly not me!

The cities are rotting, the taxes are outrageous, and we taxpayers are burdened with the upkeep of millions of illegal immigrants. That is a recipe for disaster.

Dittos!

[Freedom4US]

Mom used to buy Fieldcrest towels, I think they were. Wore like iron, very good. Don't see them in the stores anymore, but I still have a few from the 60's and 70's. Good stuff.

Oh Well -- I'm just sticking around now to watch the end of the party, should be interesting.

[Billy_bob_bob]

I can tell you what happens to someone who comes up with a new idea in modern day America. First, you go talk to venture capital people. If they are interested then you get to talk to "experts" who do "due diligance" on your idea. Then, once they have your idea fully captured and documented, they decide if they like you or not. If they do, you get to join the new company as a senoir manager. If they don't like you, then you get to enjoy your new role as "plaintiff". Five years later you end up settling for some crappy settlement while the people who robbed you become centimillionaires and billionaires.

Our system is broken beyond repair, and more and more people are figuring it out for themselves. Has anyone else noticed the dearth of "breakthrough" ideas coming out lately? Could it be that the engineers and inventors out there finally figured out that the name of the game is "you can't win"?

A special pox and curse on those who have twisted our legal system into the mess that it is today. I hope the Christian Hell becomes a reality for them, eternal punishment in Hellfire would be a modest repayment for all the damage they have done.

[Red Jones]

I agree with you 100% billy_bob_bob. Another factor contributing is that the managerial people, the bankers, the financiers simply don't have enough integrity to get the system to work well.

[willyone]

We are watching the death of America. It ain't pretty.