Meet Milliken...
Tomorrow’s Cleaning Editor, Charlotte Taylor, uncovers the family, the team and the method behind the success of Milliken.
of Millikens until December 2010, when Roger Milliken Sr., who led the Milliken & Company for 71 years, passed away in Spartanburg, South Carolina at the age of 95.
“Innovation isn’t just a thing; it’s everything.” This was something I heard recently during my visit to Milliken’s head offices in the UK, where I watched an inspirational video on Milliken’s ethics and work method. The owner of the quote was Chris Desoiza, Vice President of Research & Development, as he spoke about the way in which Milliken stay ahead in their market.
Founded in 1865, by the Milliken family, the company grew from a modest family business into an international group. The company now boasts an impressive 39 manufacturing facilities across the US, UK, Belgium, France and China and joins together almost 7,000 members who work hard to create new customer experiences, build for the future and create products that do good for the world.
The company was run by the third generation
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He was so admired by his family and colleagues that the new Milliken logo, that was launched last year, is actually based on Mr Milliken’s handwriting. During his seven decades as the leader of Milliken he expanded the business from a handful of plants to the world’s largest privately owned textile and chemical manufacturer. Roger Milliken wanted his epitaph to read, simply, “builder” - a description incredibly fitting.
During our tour of both the Middleton and Wigan Milliken sites, Patrick Morel, Marketing Director of Milliken Mats, said of Roger Milliken: “The man was a great leader.” Already I was given a sense of what a huge family the Milliken team was and how important it was that the team worked hard to achieve the goals set out for them.
More about Milliken Milliken are probably best known for the production of fantastic floorcoverings – namely their matting range and their broadloom and tiled carpet. This is in fact only one branch of the three in which Milliken operate, and the only branch where the
finished products are made.
Milliken also has a chemical division, with over 100 scientists working on development projects and patents – including ink for pens. It also has a sector devoted to performance fibres and textiles and semi-products that are developed into something new and entirely different elsewhere – such as truck tyres and special workwear for space and army applications.
While I wasn’t able to see every sector in action during my visit, I was extremely impressed at the extent to Milliken’s range of products and developments.
Milliken Carpets It was at the Wigan site that I was able to see the production of carpets, from reels to complete products. The site itself consisted of office areas - that were currently being redesigned into something sophisticated, that really suited the Millken brand and style - and the large and spacious factory.
The office design was interesting to me - with its light and open-plan spaces, with splashes of brand design and colour - as during my visit I learnt the Milliken method of “purposeful play.” Not something you would associate with an average business environment, “purposeful play” is the way in which Milliken operate;
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