QualPro Helps Unifi Achieve Operational Excellence
Unifi Returns to Profitability
Unifi Inc. President and CEO William L. Jasper talks about the company’s turnaround and future plans.
Janet Bealer Rodie, Managing Editor
Unifi Inc. opened for business as a
manufacturer of textured polyester yarn
in 1971, setting up headquarters in
Greensboro, N.C., and a manufactur-
ing plant in Yadkinville, N.C. Over time,
the company became one of the world’s
largest textured yarn makers as it ex-
panded its operations and fiber offerings;
established new markets and subsidiar-
ies abroad; and developed a portfolio of
branded, premium value-added (PVA)
products that offer a range of perfor-
mance and other benefits.
The turn of the millennium brought chal-
lenges, including the ever more global-
ized market and competition from textile
makers in low-cost countries. Such
challenges caused U.S. textile manufac-
turers to shed hundreds of thousands of
jobs, shutter domestic operations and
look abroad for less costly manufacturing
or sourcing opportunities. Unifi suffered
along with most other U.S. textile manu-
facturers, and saw its profits disappear
despite all efforts to stay competitive.
In 2007, its Board of Directors put in
place a new management team, headed
by current President and CEO William
L. Jasper, to bring a fresh perspective
to meeting the challenges; and Unifi’s
fortunes began to improve. For the fiscal
year end June 27, 2010, the company
recorded its first annual profit in 10 years,
and now appears to be set on a path to
continuing profitability.
TW: What was Unifi’s initial focus, and
how did it change over the years?
Jasper: Unifi was started by Allen Me-
bane, and it grew very quickly, primarily
as a manufacturer of polyester textured
yarns. Allen’s philosophy was that if you
make the best quality of yarn at the low-
est cost, you’ll always have a market, and
this approach proved to be very success-
ful for Unifi. Unifi continued this philoso-
phy from the early ‘70s through the late
‘90s. During the first 25 years, capital
was invested to continuously modernize
the equipment and grow capacity and
capabilities, including the purchase of a
nylon texturing and covering business,
but the philosophy always was to have
the most efficient equipment and make
the best-quality product.
In the late ‘90s, Asia began to grow as a
manufacturing venue for polyester yarns
as well as fabrics and finished products.
The U.S. textile market — most notably,
apparel — eroded significantly between
1998 and 2008.
are using [Knoxville, Tenn.-based] Qual-
pro’s multivariable testing (MVT) process
to implement statistical process control in
all areas; and we are using lean manu-
facturing principles focused on the supply
chain and streamlining operations.
TW: How has the MVT process helped
Unifi improve its operation?
Jasper: With MVT, you take every project
you initiate through a step-by-step pro-
cess and very aggressively and efficiently
complete them. Using statistically sound
principles and process control to mea-
sure improvement, you continue to mea-
sure whatever you are improving using a
control chart. We’ve completed more than
50 projects and have probably 50 going
on now. Unifi has made great progress in
the last two years from the projects we’ve
completed, and we expect further prog-
ress as we conclude additional projects.
It’s a very disciplined, rigorous process
that makes you focus on and complete
the most important projects before mov-
ing on to the next ones.
TW: Unifi’s line employees have played a
role in implementing improvements. What
has been the value of this involvement?
Jasper: Once you complete a project and
you’re monitoring improvement it’s the
men and women on the floor who make
sure we continue to do things right, and
they’re very involved in both the MVT
and the lean manufacturing programs.
They know a lot more about what’s going
on than anyone else, and if you involve
them, you will find things you wouldn’t
have otherwise. Also, if they’re part of de-
veloping the solution, it’s a lot more likely
to be successful because they’ve got a
stake in it, and they’ll make it succeed.
For instance, breaks at our polyester
texturing facility have been reduced sub-
stantially. We’ve been in tough times, and
they recognize that the more we improve
our processes, the more likely it is we’ll
stay in business. Our people on the line
have been absolutely fabulous — very
bright, very aggressive — and they’ve
helped us get a lot of these things done.
Reversing The Downward Spiral.
TW: Coming into 2007, Unifi had been
losing money year after year since 2000.
What measures were taken to turn the
company around?
Jasper: In September 2007, the Board
put in place a new executive manage-
ment team, and we refocused on being a
successful U.S. manufacturing company.
In some ways, the company was heading
away from U.S. manufacturing and more
towards manufacturing in China through
a joint venture we had established in the
region.
To turn the company around, we consoli-
dated and refocused the company on our
manufacturing capabilities. We now have
three plants — Yadkinville, Madison and
Reidsville — and about 1,950 employees
in the United States. At each of those
plants, we’ve made tremendous improve-
ments in efficiency and flexibility, realizing
several million dollars in savings. Cer-
tainly, our operations over the last three
years have become much more efficient
and flexible. To help us in that effort, we
Title. Double click me.
William L. Jasper
Textile World recently talked with Jasper
about Unifi’s history, turnaround and
future plans, and presents his comments
below: