Atlanta, 3/12/02 Gene Cone, President and CEO of Johnston Industries in Columbus, Ga., addressed the membership of the Atlanta Textile Club (ATC) at lunch on Monday, March 11. Echoing statistics from the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI), Mr. Cone said, “The textile industry had lost over 160,000 jobs since 1997, 65,000 of these last year. And over 200 companies have closed since then, 100 of them last year”. But he was also positive about his company.”We cannot compete on cost or price. There is no magic bullet. We have to understand this business, take ownership of our company, work as hard as the immigrants who made this country great.” He outlined five strategies: make Johnston Industries a world-class, global player; focus on solving the customers problem; innovative, new, unique products; excellence in every person in the company; and partnership with customers, suppliers and other textile companies.After the lunch, Mr. Cone met individually with many of the 28 attendees at the lunch including journalists, trade show managers, sales executives, academics, suppliers and even those retired from the industry but lifelong members of the ATC.The April meeting of the ATC is a Golf Outing on April 8 and the May lunch on Monday, May 6 features Mr. Royce McInnis, VP of Sales for Alkahn Labels to tell us important trends in the technology and laws of labeling.About the ATCThe Atlanta Textile Club dates back to its beginnings in 1930 and continues today. The ATC is open to anyone involved in the global textile/apparel/sewngoods supply chain who lives in or near Atlanta. The ATC meets the first Monday of every month for lunch with guests speakers from key positions throughout the industry, and hosts several golf outings. Visit www.usawear.org/atc
