Glen Raven, Inc

Today we visited textile company Glen Raven, Inc. Glen Raven is a family-owned and still currently a family run business, though as we learned today that is about to change for the first time in company history. Glen raven was established in 1880 by John Q. Gant, as a fabric company. At this time Glen Raven is separated into three different divisions: Custom Fabrics Worldwide, Technical Fabrics Worldwide, and Trivantage. At this time they sell their fabrics in a 120 different countries, while employing 2,700 people around the world. Glen Ravens mission is to “Enhance life for global consumers with the world’s most innovative fabric-based, market-driven solutions. Glen Raven has six key values which are Engaged Associates, Embracing Change, Profitable Growth, Delighted Customers, Honorable Stewardship, Confident Shareholders. Glen Ravens’ core message to its employees right now is to “Let Endless Possibilities Begin”. It is interesting that this is their message because of how in the 90’s Glen Raven had a lot of success producing professional sports jerseys but they had realized that that business was starting to go overseas where costs were cheaper. This resulted in Glen Raven embracing change and ending that business in pursuit of the Automotive industry and didn’t turn a profit for two years while trying to get into the industry, but it has since turned out to be a very profitable endeavor for them. They have also recently expanded into making fabric for the coal-mining industry to help pump clean air into the mines.
The Business structure of Glen Raven definitely seemed a lot more interesting than that of LabCorp. With the way that they embrace change and are pioneers in innovation that they will be able to survive for another hundred years if not more. It also interesting to note how after visiting both Glen Raven and LabCorp which are both large global companies that so much of what they do is logistics.

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