The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 35

fthc (Charlotte Observer Thursday February 27 1992 SECTION Want quality? Manage for it Textile exec says needed changes can be wrenching new truck will be built in SC Roger Milliken runs one of the world's largest most successful and most secretive textile companies Milliken Co in Spartanburg The company which has 40 plants and major offices in the Carolinas won the coveted Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1989 The award is usually given to two or three companies among the thousands that apply Milliken also was the first winner of the Charlotte Chamber's Citizen of the Carolinas award in December 1990 Milliken 76 visits Charlotte this evening as part of the chamber's Partners in in the recognition of importance of quality Are you satisfied with the progress? A Nope Nowhere near it None of us are doing enough Our challenge is to get everybody in the company feeling ownership in the quality-improvement process stopping US companies from doing more? A There are three barriers: Top management middle management and bottom-line management Please see Changepage 6D Excellence quality-improvement program Milliken will talk in the Marriott City Center ballroom about the need for companies constantly to improve the quality of their products and services The speech is not open to the public In a telephone interview) Tuesday with staff writer Clifford Glickman Milliken discussed some of the themes that he will address tonight Are US companies paying enough attention to improving quality? A I feel that enormous progress has been made in the latter part of the 1980s Roger Milliken: of us are doing NASHVILLE Mack Trucks unveiled its second new model since 1965 on Wednesday in a move aimed at building a sexier image and grabbing a larger share of the over-the-road market The new truck initially will be built at the Winnsboro SC plant that produces the CH series truck the company said Later some production will be shifted to the Macungie Pa plant which makes an array of Mack vehicles The new CL series with special aerodynamics packaging and available 500-horsepower V-8 engine should catch the eyes of enough truckers to double share of the long conventional market from 4 to 8 by 1 995 executives said is a strong reliable truck a little ugly sometimes and people expect a glamorous truck from said Chairman Elios Pascual Mack executives unveiled the new CL series along with smaller Mid-Liner trucks during a sales meeting in Nashville The last time Mack introduced a new vehicle was in 1 987 share of the US heavy duty truck market slipped last year to 106 from 118 in 1990 Markets The 30-year bond which rose 932 point Tuesday gained 1 316 point more per $1000 in face amount Its yield fell to 784 from 794 late Tuesday Yields on five-year Treasury notes rose The average yield was 675 up from 628 at the last auction on Jan 23 and the highest since they averaged 692 on Oct 24 More market information2D Computer virus a time bomb The Michelangelo virus A computer virus named after the painter Michelangelo may strike on his birthday March 6 Programmer in Sweden or the Netherlands created virus hid it in of floppy disk Infected disk is used to start up or a computer If infected disk is in the computer the computer infects itself when started up Silver $4061 an ounce Gold $34960 an ounce Anyone using a floppy disk in the infected computer will walk away with an infected disk even if only a directory from the floppy is called up Retailer McCrory files for Chapter 11 Associated Press NEW YORK Another major retailer fell victim to the recession Wednesday when five-and-dime operator McCrory Corp filed for Chapter 1 1 bankruptcy court protection from creditors The move had been expected since McCrory which operates about 820 stores in 39 states failed to make a scheduled debt payment two weeks ago The stores operate as GC Murphy JJ Newberry HL Green and SH Kress outlets some of the oldest names among the chains of dime stores In its petition McCrory cited pressure from banks to repay some of its heavy debt early and a money crunch caused by the depression in the retail markets" Other big retailers that have filed for Chapter 11 this year include RH Macy Co Inc one of the best-known names in retailing and Zale Corp the largest jewelry chain McCrory listed assets of $672 million and liabilities of $543 million It said the outstanding debt totaled about $223 million more than 85 not due until 1 995 at the soonest The company said in a news release that it arranged for $100 million in financing to continue operating It said the company expected to emerge from bankruptcy court an even stronger and more valuable busi-Please see Retailerpage 6D ticks to March 6 By NEILL A BOROWSKI Knight-Ridder Newspapers An insidious virus recently swept over the New Jersey Institute of Technology campus in Newark sending students and staff scrambling for cures The Michelangelo virus has infected an estimated 2400 of the 3000 IBM-compatible personal computers on campus threatening to erase in a flash term papers research software and everything else in the storage disks programmed to attack on March 6 birthday of the Renaissance artist is no recovery when this thing said Ken Danielsen assistant director of academic computing services at NJ1T He intentionally set the date on a test computer ahead to March 6 and saw every program on the hard drive obliterated Experts know how many computers could have the virus time bomb embedded in their hard disks The infestation at NJIT illustrates how easily one infected disk ultimately can spread to a network of thousands of computers And most users even know their computers are infected Users can kill the virus by running special anti-viral software The anti-viral software is effective only if run before the virus explodes The Michelangelo virus detected last April is believed to have been maliciously designed by computer programmers in Sweden or the Netherlands A personal computer could get infected if it has been exposed to a floppy disk that was inserted in another computer The virus has even been detected in a software installed on up to 500 computers shipped in December by Leading Edge Products Inc in Westbor-ough Mass The Michelangelo virus like many Newly infected floppy can infect more computers On March 6 the virus will overwrite infected hard disk with random characters All programs and files will be destroyed SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer User must reprogram the computer Knight-Ridder Tribune strain that will leave the computer user with a dead machine that must be fully reprogrammed almost as if it just came off the assembly line The Michelangelo virus is so well-hidden little warning of its presence specialists said They said the only way for typical computer users to get rid of it is to employ a commercial virus-detecting software program to hunt and erase it That software can cost $100 to $200 other computer viruses is spread through infected floppy disks to hard disks the internal storage bank of computers Infected hard disks in turn infect additional floppy disks the portable disks that can be transported from machine to machine and the spread of the virus continues While some viruses do limited damage such as garbling some files or slowing down the computing time the Michelangelo virus is part of a Sloppy work boosting cost of bailout panel told NATION The Senate Banking Committee voted to confirm Alan Greenspan to a second four-year term as chairman of the central bank The vote was 20-1 with Sen Alfonse R-NY dissenting have been continually asking the Fed to lower said International Business Machines Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co will team up to make fiber optic components to speed communications between machines Saks Fifth Avenue said it will spend $250 million over the next five years to build a handful of new stores as well as spiff up and expand existing outlets Saks operates 48 stores in 22 states The flagship New York store opened in 1924 Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc pulled its $90 million ad account from McCaffrey McCall its agency since 1979 and hired Scali McCabe Sloves Inc Scali McCabe was forced to resign its Volvo advertising account in November 1990 amid a controversy over a rigged ad Hewlett-Packard Co said it will make an electronic box that will attach to television sets for interactive TV service device will sell in retail stores for under $700 and will allow viewers to order goods and respond to TV surveys Arthur Beisang resigned as chairman and CEO of Bioplasty Inc a breast implant manufacturer He was the second executive of a breast implant maker to step down this month Dow Corning Chairman John Ludington resigned Feb 10 West Coast Video Enterprises Inc the second-largest video chain behind Blockbuster Video filed for protection from creditors under federal bankruptcy law There are about 400 West Coast Video stores most of which are in Philadelphia Baltimore and Washington The New York Stock Exchange said it punished a former PaineWebber Inc branch office manager for failing to take adequate steps to protect clients from two PaineWebber employees who stole $13 million CAROLINAS Montgomery County and Pitt County were late additions to a list of counties that may submit bid for the proposed NC Global Air Cargo Complex That means 17 groups indicated interest WORLD Digital Equipment Corp won a $7 million contract to supply computers to Investicni Banka of Prague Japan will stick to its ban on rice imports spurning a request by the chairman of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade officials said The French government agreed to lift a ban on industrial nighttime work by women abiding by an International Labor Organization decision THE BOTTOM LINE Wal-Mart Stores Inc said profits in the quarter ended Jan 31 rose 25 Fourth-quarter income was $6024 million or 52 cents per share up from $4818 million or 42 cents per share a year earlier The company also said income for the year rose 25 to $16 billion or $140 per share from $12 billion or $114 per share a year earlier Bank of Stanly Albemarle reported fourth-quarter net income of $200000 or 9 cents a share a 27 increase from the same quarter a year ago For the year net income was $8004 1 4 or 4 1 cents a share a 23 gain Unlfl Inc a Greensboro maker of textured yarn plans to sell $200 million of its debt securities The subordinated notes have a 10-year maturity and will be convertible into Unifi common stock i I find it fairly difficult to understand how an agency which is primarily in the asset-disposition business after 2Vi years still does not know where all its assets are Richard Fogel assistant comptroller general of the GAO billion $2000 for every person in the United States Rep Joseph Kennedy D-Mass charged that in one RTC case known as now under investigation to $7 billion just disappeared out of and the agency has spent $25 million more since December trying to find where the $7 billion went Kennedy asked Fogel if the GAO was investigating whether fraud or theft was to blame for Western Storm lose $7 Fogel said what happened was that failing falsely listed assets on their books as being worth $7 billion and those assets were recorded at different values on RTC books Even so Fogel conceded the GAO explain the $7 billion discrepancy and is investigating the possibility of fraud or theft By ROBERT A RANKIN Observer Washington Bureau WASHINGTON Sloppy record-keeping in the savings and loan bailout is costing taxpayers millions and perhaps billions in wasted money the General Accounting Office said Wednesday Since 1989 the Resolution Trust Corp has taken control of properties worth $357 billion from 584 bankrupt savings and loans Yet 2lA years of operation the RTC still have a system to know where their assets are and how much worth and what said Richard Fogel assistant comptroller general of the GAO investigative arm find it fairly difficult to understand how an agency which is primarily in the asset-disposition business after 2'A years still does not know where all its assets he said The critique of RTC management was delivered Wednesday to a House Banking subcorn-mittee as the panel weighed the Bush request to give the RTC an additional $55 billion Congress already has given the agency $105 billion for the bailout The GAO previously has estimated the bailout may cost taxpayers as much as $500 BarclaysAmerican scales back leasing operation 40 jobs cut At planned community sales are on division even remains open for business Several calls to the office Wednesday went unanswered Barclays has dismantled the group of financial companies it established in Charlotte during the past decade In 1990 it sold its consumer finance and life insurance operations to Primerica Corp Early last year it decided to get out of the banking business in North Carolina and sold its offices to several banks The Charlotte branch was bought by Birmingham Ala-based SouthTrust Corp Recent Barclays annual reports touted successes of the leasing division which provided financing for leased equipment mostly for major corporations One report also pointed to its expanding consumer leasing program initiated with a plan to provide dealers with lease-financing for Sterling automobiles But Sterling a British-made car pulled out of the US market last year By JAMES GREIFF Staff Writer BarclaysAmerican Corp is mothballing another division in its dwindling Charlotte operation About 40 of 60 jobs in Us leasing subsidiary will be eliminated although the company will try to find employees work in largest remaining Charlotte operation BarclaysAmericanMortgage Existing leases will continue to be financed but no new leases will be underwritten said Marion Cotrone a spokeswoman for Barclays pic in New York Cotrone said the decision not to add new leasing business a determination based on the deployment of capital and how we want to run our With the reduction need a full complement of she said She said the change is effective immediately However it is unclear if the leasing wo of largest home builders have begun sales in ghland Creek a 1700-acre planned community off 1-85 north of the University City area The residential development on Ridge Road is being built in several of different character The community will include enities such as a golf course imming pool tennis courts ltipurpose playing field recre-sn center and jogging trails Signing the builders is a mile- Stalf graphic stone for the project first disclosed in March 1990 John Crosland Co and Pulte Home Corp are working in the first three villages Springhurst with prices ranging from $100000 to $130000 Brookside $130000 to Please see Homespage 6D We were wrong The Observer incorrectly reported the earnings for Aritech Corp in Hickory The company earned $909000 for the three months that ended Dec 31 i.