Summer 2017
Driving economy
S.C. ships thousands of cars to the world each week, and that’s just the beginning
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County Spotlight: Dorchester | Trending: Automotive in S.C. | S.C. Delivers
Table of
CONTENTS TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C. 18 Triumphant Return
New BMW chief happy to be back in South Carolina
22 Ridgeville Rising Volvo carves manufacturing site from Berkeley County woods
26 Mercedes-Benz Vans makes progress on campus expansion 28 All Aboard Automotive drives commerce at port’s Columbus Street Terminal in Charleston - a story in photos. Cover: Trains arrive at the Columbus Street Terminal from the Upstate each night. Port workers unload 700 to 1,000 vehicles each day. Left: New BMW models are parked at the port and wait to be loaded on a ship. (Photos/Ryan Wilcox)
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HERE COMES THE SUN
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Solar energy on the rise in South Carolina
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DEPARTMENTS 5 Viewpoint
10 Research SC
40 S.C. Delivers
7 Upfront
12 County Spotlight: Dorchester
48 1,000 Words
From the
Editor - Licia Jackson ljackson@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7546
EDITOR
Associate Editor - Steve McDaniel smcdaniel@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3123 Creative Director - Ryan Wilcox rwilcox@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3117
Dear Reader,
Senior Graphic Designer - Jane James jjames@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3118
We have something to celebrate this summer in South Carolina: After years of trying, our legislators have passed a bill to repair our highways. The bill goes into effect July 1, with repairs to be funded by a modest increase in the state’s gas tax along with several other fees. It’s expected to raise more than $600 million annually for repairs once fully implemented. “This is a victory for safety, economic development and job creation,” said Sonoco CEO Jack Sanders, who celebrated at the Statehouse with legislators and Michelin North America CEO Pete Selleck, along with other business leaders. Whenever our legislators put their best efforts toward an issue – agreeing to work together and compromise as needed – good things happen. “This was a team effort, no one person made this happen,” said House Majority Leader Gary Simrill, R-Rock Hill. “It took focus, persistence and courage to do what is right. We knew our infraLicia Jackson structure was lacking and something had to be done. Politically, Editor, this is not good, but if we do what’s right, the politics will take care SCBIZ Magazine of itself.” I, for one, am not going to complain once we see more of those orange barrels that signal construction on our roads. The focus of this issue of SCBIZ is the state’s automotive industry, and we have something really cool to share with you. Every day, BMW Manufacturing sends trainloads of new cars to the Port of Charleston’s Columbus Street Terminal, where they are driven onto ships. Two of our staff members were able to observe this operation closely. Their story in photos is inside. In this issue we are also updating you on construction at automotive plants in South Carolina, and on the status of the solar energy business. Our ResearchSC feature tells you about projects to make lighter, sustainable parts for cars, underway at Clemson University. Who knew that materials extracted from waste wood might be used to make energy-absorbing parts for bumpers and fenders? This project and another to make a 40% lighter yet recyclable car door are explained inside. Wishing you safe travels this summer,
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VIEWPOINT Hot rods and high school: Taking the work out of workforce development
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Scott Adams, the owner of Liquid Box in North Charleston, does a burnout with his Massey Assassin hot rod, which he built using a twin-turbo Chevrolet engine on a tractor frame. (Photo/Andy Owens)
Bolt a 1940 Plymouth body onto a modern Corvette frame and make it look like it came out of the factory that way? On it! Hand fabricate steel cab and bed parts seamlessly onto an International Harvester pickup truck and turn a 1920s era farm hauler into rolling sculpture? Done! Figure out a way to integrate steel whitewalls into wheels so they look like rubber whitewall tires? Bingo! I spent a day visiting a couple of hot rod shops in the state and found all this and more. In fact, there was so much innovation going on at such a high level of enthusiasm, I found myself staggering back to my car at the end of the day with a kind of automotive overdose that I wouldn’t have believed possible for a car nut like me. My first stop was Ryan’s Rod and Kustom in the little town of Ninety Six.
Chris Ryan freely admits he has a Cadillac problem. Obsession, more like. He spends up to a year on a single car, taking a late-40s or early-50s Cadillac body and mating it to a modern drivetrain using custom-made – well, everything. He says the saying “they don’t make them like they used to” is true. They make them better today. Back then, he says, they were great to look at, but didn’t
A 1974 MG Midget receives a new engine at the Carolina Rod Shop. (Photo/Grady Johnson)
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ull disclosure – I’m a car guy. So when our editor, Licia Jackson, reminded me I owed her a column for the automotive issue, I admit to feeling a smirk coming on. You mean I have to travel around the state and write about cars under the guise of work? How dreadful. It seems as if workforce development concerns echo within every meeting I attend nowadays. And frankly, that drum needs beating until we’ve made considerable progress toward solving the chronic income inequalities that exist across the state. However, we should occasionally pause the drum-pounding and hand-wringing to take stock of what we do well and consider ways we can incorporate those competencies into the solution. A German friend of mine spent a couple of years in South Carolina managing one of our automotive plants and said the most surprising thing about our local workforce was how good we are at positive problemsolving. Our workers’ genuine belief that there is nothing that can’t be done was a perfect match for the meticulous engineering and adherence to process that his country’s workers brought to the table. I’m not surprised by that observation because “can do” is our culture. To solve our workforce issues, we have to play to our strengths and creatively use existing resources. And one untapped resource that is a primordial soup of problem-solving and innovation is the hot rod shops scattered across the state. Stuff a 1988 Toyota “Blacktop” racing motor into a 1974 MG Midget? Check!
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VIEWPOINT Above, the crew at Ryan’s Rods preps a 1956 Continental body for paint. At right top, Chris Ryan, 15-yearold shop helper Bryson Belk and Lori Ryan work together at Ryan’s Rods in Ninety Six. Bottom right, the rare Horne intake on Lori Ryan’s 1949 Cadillac “The Golden Empress” was developed in the 1950s and sought after by racecar teams for its ability to produce massive horsepower. (Photos/Grady Johnson)
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drive well at all. So he takes a beautiful old body and makes a modern car. The results are the kind of jaw-dropping craftsmanship that has earned Ryan accolades and features in hot rod magazines and television shows all over the country. This inspired attention to detail has provided him and his staff of three with a five-year backlog of business. My next stop was the Carolina Rod Shop in Piedmont. In contrast to the relative serenity of my first stop, this place was jumping. The staff of 15, along with co-owners Craig Menke and Michael Medlin, had 21 projects underway under the watchful eye of office manager Jeanette Ramey. The shop handles work from simple repairs and conversions to complete customizations. Medlin summed it up best for me when he said what you have to realize about hot rod shops is that what they do every day has likely never been done before. My final stop wasn’t exactly a hot rod shop. But I knew I would find plenty of innovative problem solving. I’d met the owner
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of Liquid Box, Scott Adams, with his crazy tractor at one of our high school career fairs. I’m not sure if a twin supercharged Massey Fergusson is a hot rod or a death wish. But regardless, it’s symbolic of Adams’ creative problem solving. Case in point: he thought a sponsorship of the Charleston Stingrays hockey team would be good marketing but he didn’t have the kind of money it would take to make an impact. So what’d he do? He found a derelict 1957 Zamboni machine and tricked it out with bench seating, lights, a monster stereo system and a T-shirt Gatling gun. I figured that would make them want me, he said with a shrug. Whenever the Stingrays have a game or are doing a promotional appearance, guess who they call? Adams worries the current generation of parents is not spending enough quality time doing hands-on activities with their children, instead leaving them to play video games indoors. It could, he says, result in guys like him becoming a dying breed. And yet, the energy and enthusiasm on display
at all of my stops was beyond infectious. If our state’s education leaders could put that lightning in a bottle, it would accelerate participation in the training programs our manufacturers desperately need. Adams pointed out the irony of S.C. being a major logistics hub and the fact that there isn’t a training facility for new diesel mechanics in the state. He said he would bet that if he built a cool hot rod with a monster diesel motor in it and started showing up at high school events, there’d be plenty of kids who would want to tinker with it. The unifying theme behind all this? I guess the body shop expert at Carolina Rod Shop, Julian Cassell, said it best when he told me if you are lucky enough to have this job, you will always be busy but never feel like you are working. Wouldn’t that be a cool message for any high-schooler to hear? Grady Johnson President and Group Publisher, SC Biz News
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UPFRONT
regional news | data
Total solar eclipse commemorated with postage stamp
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ow you see it – now you don’t Just in time to remind us of the solar eclipse on Aug. 21, the U.S. Postal Service will be issuing a one of a kind stamp on June 20. The Total Eclipse of the Sun Forever stamp transforms an image of the solar eclipse into an image of the moon with the heat of a finger’s touch. The stamp will debut at the Art Museum of the University of Wyoming in Laramie, as part of a summer solstice celebration. At noon on June 20, a single beam of sunlight will shine on a silver dollar embedded in the floor of the museum’s Rotunda Gallery. The back of the stamp pane provides a map of the path of the total solar eclipse. Three of South Carolina’s major cities – Greenville, Columbia and Charleston – fall within the path of totality, meaning they will experience darkness in the
FAST FACTS |
middle of the afternoon. The stamp’s image-change magic – the first of its kind – is made possible by thermochromic ink. After revealing the underlying image with heat, it reverts back to the original image when it cools. The solar image is a photograph taken by astrophysicist Fred Espenak of a total solar eclipse seen from Jalu, Libya, on March 29, 2006. The image of the full moon was also taken by Espenak. The stamp was designed by art director Antonio Alcala’. The last time a total solar eclipse was seen on the U.S. mainland was 1979 – so you won’t want to miss this one!
Source: U.S. Postal Service’s Postal News
AUTOMOTIVE AT THE PORT OF CHARLESTON
Vehicles moving through the port in 2016
245,579 Finished vehicles exported
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267,629
Total finished vehicles moving through the port in 2016 Source: S.C. State Ports Authority, calendar year 2016
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22,050
Finished vehicles imported
See story on
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UPFRONT
New guide presents S.C.’s African American cultural sites
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isitors and native South Carolinians who want to learn more about our state’s African American culture have a new resource: the Green Book of South Carolina. Launched in April, the Green Book is the first mobile travel guide to this information, created by the S.C. African American Heritage Commission. With a mobile-friendly website, www. GreenBookofSC.com, and all social media platforms, the guide includes more than 300 listings of sites and attractions in all 46 of the state’s counties. Sites included are on the National Register or have a state historic marker. The first Green Book was published in 1936 by New York postman Victor Green. An African American travel guide to safe harbors and welcoming establishments across the U.S., it was printed until the 1960s. The contemporary Green Book has a new mission, sharing the story of African American heritage in South Carolina.
The Green Book of South Carolina is the first mobile friendly web-based travel guide to the state’s African American cultural sites. It is searchable by category. (Source: S.C. African American Heritage Commission)
The website is searchable by topic and includes descriptions, images, categories and
map points. It’s easy to use on phone, tablet, laptop or desktop.
Tebow magic boosts Fireflies, league
New Economic Development
Here are announcements made in South Carolina since April 1, 2017
Columbia Fireflies player Tim Tebow signs autographs on Opening Day. (Photo/Chuck Crumbo)
league contract. Tebow had expressed interest in baseball earlier in the summer. When it was announced Tebow would be heading to Columbia, ticket sales increased and merchandise flew off the shelves. In just 24 hours all the adult T-shirts featuring Tebow’s name and number (15) were gone. Tebow said he wants to be someone his teammates can look to, despite his lack of baseball experience. Sixteen players on the roster are between 20 and 22 years old, almost a decade younger than him.
Company Electrolux Booz Allen Hamilton Moore’s Food Resources Caristrap International Mid-States Packaging Inc. Stren-Flex Schneider Electric Alcami Corp. BAE Systems JSI Store Fixtures Inc. LuLaRoe NCGS Inc. Scout Boats Wagner Systems Inc. Shimano Inc. PhishLabs South Atlantic Canners Inc.
UPFRONT
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t’s been about six weeks since Tim Tebow donned a Columbia Fireflies jersey, strode to the plate and cranked a home run on the opening night of the season. In his first month with the team, Tebow was batting .232, but his highlights dominate the Fireflies website. The Heisman Trophy winner’s assignment to Columbia quickly became a rare opportunity for not only the Fireflies baseball team, but all the other teams in the South Atlantic League to set up a marketing strategy for the 2017 season. After the announcement, teams all over the league began selling ticket packages that would feature Columbia and Tebow. Fans across the league have been flocking to get a glimpse of the former college football star and NFL player. After the first month, Columbia led the league in attendance with just over 5,000 per game in the early part of the season. Tebow’s journey to Columbia began in September 2016 when the New York Mets offered the former quarterback a minor-
County Investment Jobs Anderson $200M N/A Berkeley $10M 90 Greenville $15M 182 Greenville $5.5M 100 Charleston $5.2M 30 Greenville $1M 25 Oconee N/A 56 Charleston $5M 30 Aiken $8.4M 120 Greenville $2.1M 97 Richland $35M 1,000 Charleston $10M 80 Dorchester $10.9M 370 Charleston $2.3M 30 Charleston N/A 30 Charleston N/A 45 Lee $13M 9
Source: S.C. Department of Commerce
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Research SC Clemson composites research focuses on making automotive parts lighter, stronger, sustainable By Licia Jackson, Editor
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A
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40% lighter yet recyclable car door and impact-resistant compostable bumpers are two automotive projects researchers are working on at Clemson University. In both cases the research teams are developing composite materials, giving a boost to the university’s proposal to open a composites research center. The center would be located at the Gene Hass Center for Manufacturing Innovation, a facility of Greenville Technical College, said Srikanth Pilla, assistant professor of automotive engineerPilla ing and the principal investigator on the two composites projects at Clemson described above. It would focus on research, innovation, development and education, including workforce training. “The center will be a bridge from fundamental science to commercialization,” Pilla said. “This center will be the platform to enable that in collaboration with industries.” But about that door: The team began working in January 2016 on the challenge of taking an existing driver’s side door from an Acura MDX and figuring out how to reconstruct it of lightweight materials. “The new door has to weigh 42.5% less than the current door with the same performance metrics,” Pilla said. “And we are bound not to exceed additional cost of $5 per pound of weight saved.”
The exterior of the car door being designed by researchers to reduce weight by 42.5%. (Rendering/Clemson University)
The door, which will be recyclable, is being fabricated from carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites, and the technology could also be used to create other parts of the vehicle. The impetus behind the automotive industry’s interest in the research is reducing weight to meet U.S. corporate average fuel economy standards. Fleets of vehicles are supposed to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The four-year project is being funded
by $5.81 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and private industry. Major participants in the research include the automotive engineering department at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), Clemson’s mechanical engineering department, the University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials and more than 10 private industry partners. “The targets are challenging,” Pilla said. “This is our flagship project.” Researchers
Industry could also bring its needs to the center for collaborative research, and a business could rent the resources of the center to do prototype fabrication trials and testing. With custom-designed equipment, the center would be run by professionals, with a full-time staff of engineers and technicians. This will allow faster delivery of results, Pilla said. Materials for automotive, aerospace, wind turbine and compressed natural gas industries will be the primary focus.
RESEARCH SC
projects, which are not suitable for other uses. If developed commercially, the composite parts could help European automakers meet recycling requirements, which could also be on the way in the U.S. These kinds of projects and others could find a home in Clemson’s proposed composites research center, Pilla said. “Oftentimes people take the science from the university into R&D and find issues,” he said. The center would be a bridge, taking the fundamental science through to commercial products.
A drawing shows the interior of the lightweight door design. (Rendering/Clemson University)
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are using the door to investigate ways to meet the weight targets, but the technology could be applied to other parts of the car’s structure. As for the compostable bumper, that is part of another research project in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pilla said. Material is being extracted from waste wood from forests to make energy-absorbing composites for use in bumpers and fenders. Some parts of the wood are being converted into liquid suspensions of tiny rod-like structures with diameter 20,000 times smaller than a human hair. Pilla is using these cellulosic nanomaterials to develop new composite materials that could be shaped into stronger automotive parts. Incredibly, these parts could absorb impact without damage. “They will absorb the energy and just stay intact,” Pilla said. “You won’t have to replace them because there will be no damage at all . . . These will resist three or four impacts.” This project is a perfect example of fundamental science translating into commercial products, Pilla said. He is working in partnership with the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis., with funding from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The biobased material comes from trees that are removed during forest restoration
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county spotlight
DORCHESTER
Dorchester County is part of the rapidly growing Lowcountry, but still retains much of its Old South charm, like this plantation home. (Photos/Dorchester County Economic Development)
FAST-GROWING DORCHESTER COUNTY WORKS TO ATTRACT HIGH-QUALITY JOBS
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By Steve McDaniel, Associate Editor
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D
orchester County encompasses much of what defines the South Carolina Lowcountry, from its southeastern corner squarely amid Charleston’s suburban sprawl to the rural northern expanses of pine forests and lowlands. The county sits at the inland gateway to the Lowcountry, a region that is swelling with new residents and businesses. According to U.S. Census data, the county grew in population from 136,500 in 2010 to an estimated 153,000 plus in 2016. Summerville is the business and population center of the county and has been a main recipient in that surge of people and development.
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Dorchester Cou by the numbers nty
Population............
......152,355 (estim ated) Average household income............ $70, 164 Median age.............. ............................... 36 with 40% of the po pulation between 25 -54 ECONOMIC DEVELO PMENT PHONE NUMBERS : Dorchester County Economic Develop ment..... (843) 8759109 Source: U.S. Cens us Bureau, 2010 ce nsus; ESRI forecasts for 2016
COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: DORCHESTER
Bosch is the largest employer in Dorchester County. More than 1,800 people work at the plant that manufactures fuel injectors and control systems for the automotive industry.
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“I think we have several things coming together. No. 1, I think is our leadership is interested in making Dorchester County a good place to live, work and play,” said Hank Taylor, chairman of the Dorchester Economic Development Corp. Bosch, a manufacturer of fuel injectors and control systems for the automotive industry, is the county’s largest employer, with more than 1,800 workers after a $175 million expansion added 150 jobs in 2016. IGH and IQor operate customer call centers and employ more than 1,700 workers combined. The county is also home to a large marine manufacturing cluster. SCANA Insights magazine recently gave it the title of “the boatbuilding capital of South Carolina,” because of the large concentration of marine manufacturers and suppliers in the county. According to the state Department of Employment and Workforce, those jobs pay an average of nearly $50,000 annually, 40% higher than the average of other jobs in the county. One of the largest marine industry employers in the county, Scout Boats, has just announced its second expansion since 1989. It will add 370 jobs as part of a $10.9 million investment that includes a new 120,000-square-foot facility to build the company’s new 53-foot yacht model. Kion North America has its headquarters in Summerville and recently announced a $5.7 million expansion that will add 50 jobs. Kion has been selected as a supplier for the new Volvo plant in Berkeley County and will provide a fleet of forklifts and other material-handling equipment for the Swedish automaker’s first North American production facility. Special Advertising Section
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COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: LAURENS
KEY ATTRACTIONS
Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site 300 State Park Road, Summerville, SC 29485 Drayton Hall Plantation 3380 Ashley River Road, Charleston, SC 29414 Francis Beidler Forest 336 Sanctuary Road, Harleyville, SC 29448
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens 3550 Ashley River Road, Charleston, SC 29414 Middleton Place Plantation and Gardens 4300 Ashley River Road, Charleston, SC 29414
Rail service and industrial sites are important parts of Dorchester County’s economic infrastructure that help recruit and retain industrial and manufacturing operations.
Mercedes-Benz Vans is expanding its production capability with a $500 million project in Charleston County. The Mercedes-Benz and Volvo projects are expected to attract many suppliers and skilled workers to the region. “From the economic development side, we’re looking to make sure we have the right properties to make sure people can bring jobs to Dorchester County,” Taylor said. This includes a speculative building in St. George that can be fitted for any company looking for a place to land or grow, Taylor said. Also, a company from India is going in as the first tenant at the Ridgeville Industrial
Campus, a $50 million project slated for completion in early 2018. “We see these things as creating the right kind of environment,” Taylor said. “Looking at the entire Charleston region, we see a tsunami of opportunity coming our way.” North Charleston, one of the state’s largest cities, with more than 100,000 residents, sits partly in the southern tip of Dorchester County and is a key partner in the county’s economy.
KEY EVENTS www.scbizmag.com
Flowertown Festival held in April, downtown Summerville
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World Grits Festival held in April, downtown St. George Indian Field camp meeting held annually in fall at Indian Field near St. George Spoleto Festival finale held in June, Middleton Place Plantation Special Advertising Section
The Winding Woods Industrial Park near St. George includes more than 600 acres of developable land for a variety of industrial and manufacturing needs. The proximity to Interstate 95 and the state ports in Charleston makes Dorchester County an ideal location for business customers.
COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: DORCHESTER
Abundant water access throughout Dorchester County enhances the quality of life for residents and visitors.
“The city of North Charleston is fortunate to have a strong partnership with the leadership of Dorchester County and its economic development team,” North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said. “Dorchester County is the fastest growing part of North Charleston, which accelerates the need to create high quality jobs and an aligned vision for robust economic development growth.” St. George, the county seat, is situated at
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Downtown Summerville is a charming, walkable area of shops, restaurants, entertainment and other attractions throughout the year.
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COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: DORCHESTER www.scbizmag.com
A front porch in Summerville invites visitors to stop and rest a while with a glass of sweet tea. The town, while experiencing rapid growth in many areas, has retained its small-town charm and relaxed pace.
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the intersection of I-95 and U.S. 78. Its location along the major north-south interstate for the East Coast and proximity to the Charleston ports led to the development of several nearby industrial sites. The largest is the Winding Wood Commerce Park, a site four miles east of I-95 along U.S. 78 that includes approximately 1,100 acres of developable land with infrastructure available for electricty, water and sewer and natural gas. Schoolchildren are served by two districts in the county. Dorchester District Two encompasses Summerville, Ladson and North Charleston. It includes 15 elementary schools, six middle schools, three high schools, one adult education and two alternative facilities. District Four includes St. George, Ridgeville, Harleyville and Dorchester with three elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and one alternative education facility. Large residential and mixed-use developments are in various stages of completion to meet a surging housing demand. The Ponds and Summers Corner have begun in recent years, while Nexton, a planned, mixed-use development projected to include more than 10,000 homes along with businesses, schools and medical facilities, along with other large-scale projects Cane Bay and Carnes
The historic Klauber Building in the Dorchester County seat of St. George was built around 1894. Today it houses the local office of the Tri-County Chamber of Commerce, a visitors center and museum and is open to the public.
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COUNTY SPOTLIGHT: DORCHESTER
Workforce training is crucial to recruiting and retaining skilled workers in Dorchester County. Above, two women learn machine skills at the Dorchester County Career and Technology Center.
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Crossroads are building near Summerville in Berkeley County. The wave of new and expanding businesses in and near Dorchester County is increasing demand for skilled workers. With that in mind, Dorchester District Two is opening a Advanced Manufacturing Center at Summerville High School to give students education and real-world experience in jobs related to manufacturing technology and a focus on mechatronics. A partnership with S.C. Youth Apprenticeship Program and Trident Technical College will allow students to earn dual credit while completing their last two years of high school. The Dorchester County Career and Technology Center has campuses in Dorchester and Summerville to train high school students in skills that include welding, machine tools, electrical, diesel mechanics and more. The county also works directly with state organizations such as ReadySC and SC Works to train and recruit skilled workers and the businesses that will need them. Summey sees a bright future for economic prospects of Dorchester County. “With plenty of available commercially zoned property in Dorchester County, we have a great opportunity to attract additional job creators to the area and build upon past successes,” he said. “I am excited for what the future holds.” Special Advertising Section
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TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
TRIUMPHANT
>>> RETURN
New BMW chief happy to be back in South Carolina By Matthew Clark, Editor, GSA Business Report
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t’s been an interesting road for Knudt Flor.
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Growing up on the North Sea island of Niebüll in Germany, the venerable Flor got his start at BMW
AG München in 1988 after graduation from the University of Braunschweig with a master’s degree in
mechanical engineering. Now, nearly 30 years later, prepared by jobs taking him from Germany to China to South Africa and back to Germany, Flor has assumed leadership of BMW’s largest production facility in Spartanburg.
TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
Employees at BMW Manufacturing Inc. in Spartanburg County, work on an X model vehicle. The X3, X4, X5 and X6 are exclusively made at the plant in the Upstate. (Photo/BMW Manufacturing Group)
Strong production in Spartanburg Flor assumes command during a time when manufacturing at the facility is hitting an all-time high. In 2016, BMW Manufac-
turing Co. exported $9.53 billion worth of goods out of South Carolina, which was only slightly lower than the $9.8 billion exported by BMW out of South Carolina in 2015. Its recent volume has made it the largest producing facility in the world for BMW. “As of today, this is the plant that produces the most models,” Flor said. “No one would have expected that 15 years ago.” Now, he is overseeing a $1 billion renovation and expansion to the facility that includes adding a new, state-of-the-art body shop that will encompass 1.2 million square feet, a 200,000-square-foot expansion of the X5/X6 Assembly Hall and the installation of special tooling and body shop robots in the facility’s new body shop. One main reason for the expansion is to accommodate the new X7 model that will be produced exclusively in Spartanburg alongside other sport-utility models like the X3, X4, X5 and X6.
And, even in times when U.S. sales of BMW models lagged, the plant in Spartanburg still had difficulty keeping up with international demand for the X models. “We have a comfortable problem in that we cannot produce enough cars,” Flor said. Through April, BMW Manufacturing Co. has produced over 121,000 vehicles — led by the X3 and X5, with more than 45,000 of each vehicle produced. Flor said the continued plan for the Spartanburg facility will be to maintain the demand dictating the supply mentality, meaning the company will produce what is required.
Tariffs and challenges Even with all the successes BMW Manufacturing Co. has experienced over the last several years, Flor said he is not ignorant to the fact the plant has challenges, especially as technology in the manufacturing space continues to evolve.
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It’s important to point out that this is not Flor’s first stint in Spartanburg. In 1996 he was named senior manager supplier and assembly quality management for BMW Manufacturing, a position he held until 2000, when he became vice president of painted body technology for the company and returned to Munich. “I can say I was very happy to be back in Spartanburg,” Flor said. “It is a homecoming.” News of his arrival was seen as positive across South Carolina. “It is terrific to have Knudt Flor return to South Carolina after being engaged in the BMW project, and tied to the company’s South Carolina operations since the very early days,” said Bobby Hitt, S.C. secretary of commerce, in an email.
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TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
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But Flor said the technology used to produce cars, like robots used in the body shop at Plant Spartanburg, is not a substitute for a well-educated workforce. He said the new trait sought after by companies like BMW is “digital knowledge.” He also discussed competition in the sport activity vehicle market. In January, according to the website motorintelligence.
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com, BMW had less than 1% of the U.S. market share in the light truck category. Flor said competition is good for business as it should force companies who are not on top to work smarter and harder. “We are expanding and we have a high technology product,” Flor said. “We need to have the best people and we want people to come here to be part of the family.
X5 M is a high-performance BMW model made in Spartanburg. (Photo/BMW Manufacturing Group)
“This company is about people.” Another challenge is rhetoric surrounding trade and tariffs from the Trump administration. BMW’s leaders found themselves in President Donald Trump’s crosshairs in January when he told German newspaper Bild Zeitung “if they want to build a factory in Mexico and sell cars in the U.S. without paying a 35% tax, then they can forget about it.” Flor countered by saying the company was not going to change its production strategy because “we like to deal with reality and fact.” Because the company has geared itself toward production flexibility and the ability to scale its production with consumer demand, BMW is positioned to handle potential issues involving shifts in global trade policy. “If you look into our network, we are not just a German company because we have a global network,” Flor said. No matter the rhetoric, Flor said the company focus remains on the people building the product. “As long as we have customers demanding our product, we have to get the best people,” Flor said.
TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
The future
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The biggest step aside from the $1 billion expansion will be the implementation of the new X7 product line into the Spartanburg plant’s lineup. Flor said the model will be different from the popular X5 model. With regard to the timeline of production beginning on the new model, Flor said the company didn’t make a habit of commenting about new product timelines, but “if you come back next year, we may have one to drive.” He added the increased competition in the market is actually a good thing that he looks forward to. “It will fuel products and processes and we will see what happens,” Flor said. “I feel good about the future. “We are ready to face the competition … trust me.” Those around the state have faith and confidence that Flor is the right person to lead BMW Manufacturing Co. into the future of automotive production. “I personally know that Knudt has the perfect measure of head and heart entwined in this plant and look forward to watching him move BMW even further into a brighter, more advanced future,” Hitt said.
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TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C. Volvo’s office building (from left), a storage area for half-finished vehicles, the paint shop and body shop make up much of the campus footprint. (Photos/Liz Segrist)
RIDGEVILLE RISING Volvo carves manufacturing site from Berkeley County woods
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By Liz Segrist, Staff Writer
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L
ess than two years after Volvo Cars’ North American CEO Lex Kerssemakers jumped into a bulldozer at the automaker’s groundbreaking event, much of the car manufacturing campus in Berkeley County is complete.
In an area of the county lined with tall pine trees, dotted with churches, homes and the occasional
restaurant, the company’s massive manufacturing campus seemed to appear out of nowhere in the woods.
“This is how we can show this market that we’re serious about it and turn things around. This used to be our largest market. We want it to be first or second market again.” Katarina Fjording
purchasing and manufacturing vice president for Volvo Car U.S. Operations
When operations ramp up, 2,000 people will work at the site to build the S60, which the company hopes will enamor the U.S. market again. “This is how we can show this market
that we’re serious about it and turn things around,” Fjording said. “This used to be our largest market. We want it to be first or second market again.” Fjording, who most recently led the launch of three Volvo plants in China, is charged with getting the U.S. operation off the ground. She said the complex project involves much more than the campus buildout. Work also includes equipment installation, establishment of a logistical footprint, vetting and securing of suppliers, hiring and training of thousands of production workers, IT setup for the site and the launch of a new vehicle model, as well as connecting with the local community. “It really is a huge undertaking to build a full industrial footprint from scratch,” she said. The Sweden-based, Chinese-owned automaker also wants to establish a purchasing and manufacturing organization at the Berkeley County site. That operation would support S60 manufacturing, as well as enable the production of a second vehicle at the site in the future. The company has not decided whether a second vehicle will be built in South Carolina, but Fjording said it is “a possibility, absolutely.”
TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
The body shop, paint shop and final assembly buildings’ exteriors are completed. The steel outline of an office building and a storage area for partially finished vehicles now stands ready. Construction crews still need to pour asphalt for the employee parking lots, a vehicle test track and a marshaling yard designed to store finished vehicles. Around 800 construction workers, managers and engineers are on site each day. Bulldozers and forklifts work noisily around the campus. Much more work remains, however, before the first-ever S60 sedan rolls off the line in 2018, said Katarina Fjording, purchasing and manufacturing vice president for Volvo Car U.S. Operations. The buildings — while standing and weather-tight — are not finished inside. Equipment and process installations have started in the paint shop. The body shop and final assembly buildings stand like giant, empty warehouses, awaiting machinery and a workforce. Robots sit in plastic wrap inside the body shop. Fjording said she hopes to test equipment late this summer and have the first vehicle body completed by the end of the year. Full vehicle production will begin in 2018.
The final assembly facility is the largest building on the site.
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TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
THE VOLVO CARS CAMPUS Work on the S60 will begin in the body shop. Cars will then head for the paint shop and will be completed in final assembly. A conveyor tunnel moves vehicles among buildings. Each car undergoes full inspections and a test track evaluation before it is deemed customer-ready.
MARSHALING YARD Finished vehicles will sit in the marshaling yard awaiting transportation. CSX will have on-site rail by 2019 to move vehicles to dealerships across the country. Trucks will take the cars headed for export to the Port of Charleston’s Columbus Street Terminal in downtown Charleston. A new interchange, exit 186, will be built to connect Interstate 26 directly to the Volvo site.
BODY SHOP Volvo workers and 300 robots will be responsible for building the body of the S60 sedan. After parts arrive by truck from suppliers, employees will work at stations around the 500,000-square-foot facility; each group will be responsible for welding a certain part of the car — the doors, parts of the floor and the sides. Those structures will then be welded together on the main line, which runs down the center of the building. The facility will produce about 15 car bodies per hour.
PAINT SHOP This 700,000-square-foot building has four floors where cars are cleaned, heat treated, sanded, sealed and painted. The facility must be kept completely free from particles floating in the air. A speck of dust could ruin a paint job. Workers wearing special overalls will go through a full-body air blaster to remove any contaminants before starting work. Volvo expects to paint up to 30 cars an hour.
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VOLVO CARS IN BERKELEY COUNTY
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1,600
2.3 MILLION
60,000
acres on the site in Berkeley County
square feet of buildings
cars to be produced initially
35,000
2,000
of the 60,000 will be exported via the Port of Charleston
jobs created initially
FINAL ASSEMBLY
To protect the cars while in production, vehicles will move from building to building on conveyor belts through covered tunnels.
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CONVEYOR TUNNELS
The 900,000-square-foot final assembly plant, the largest building on the Volvo campus, is where painted car skeletons are transformed into completed, customer-ready vehicles. The doors will be removed and go down one assembly line; the car body will go down another. Workers will add all remaining components before re-attaching the doors. Completed cars will come off the line and head outside for the test track. Cars will re-enter final assembly after the initial test drives for final inspections. Finished vehicles are then stored in the outdoor marshaling yard, ready for transport.
TEST TRACK
HIGH-BAY STORAGE
Volvo will use the test track to evaluate each vehicle. Some of the test track, which has not been built, will imitate roads with cobblestones or sewer lids. Another part will have a hill to check the brakes, and one section will be a flat stretch to evaluate speed and noise. Cars will then return to final assembly for final tweaks and inspections.
This tall, white structure sitting next to the paint shop stores car bodies before and after painting. The cars are moved by an automated storage retrieval system — a computer-controlled system that automatically places and retrieves cars from storage locations — when it is time for more work to be done on them.
VOLVO EXPANDS SUPPLIER BASE FOR S.C. SITE
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“Our philosophy is to build where you sell and to source where you work, and this plant is one of those examples,” said Fjording, who noted that the company will also maintain its global supply base for U.S. production. “Is it realistic to say that global business companies are going to localize everything? No. Because a global company means you’re going to have global sourcing. That means you’re going to source where it makes sense.” Photo/Provided
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olvo executive Katarina Fjording said about 40% of the S.C. plant’s suppliers are in North America, with about 25% located in the U.S. Thus far, the S60 will use parts from five S.C. automotive suppliers. Autoneum in Aiken will supply carpets and insulation; Lear Corp. in Duncan will supply seats; Plastic Omnium in Anderson will supply bumpers; Gestamp in Union will supply body metals; and Continental, which has operations in Sumter and Fort Mill, will supply tires.
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TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C. Mercedes-Benz Vans has started hiring for the 1,300 positions it expects to need once its North Charleston campus expansion is complete. (Photo/Provided)
Mercedes-Benz Vans makes progress on campus expansion www.scbizmag.com
By Liz Segrist, Staff Writer
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M
ercedes-Benz Vans is one step closer to building vans from start to finish in the United States. The German automaker’s $500 million investment will expand its decade-old reassembly operation in North Charleston to a full-scale manufacturing campus. Construction is well
underway on the company’s growing footprint. The exteriors of the paint shop, body shop and assembly extension are nearly completed on a tract of land near Mercedes’ existing operation in Ladson. Equipment installations will start in the next few months, company spokeswoman Alyssa Bean said in an email.
“Within the last two years, we have doubled our workforce to more than 200 team members. In total, we will create up to 1,300 jobs. This is a really exciting time for all of us.”
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“Construction is progressing well as building enclosure concludes and interior work begins on the future body shop, paint shop and assembly expansion,” Bean said. The German auto manufacturer broke ground on the project in July 2016. Plans include construction of a body shop, assembly line and production facility, paint building and administration space, covering 1.5 million square feet. Automation will play a big role in future van production to alleviate ergonomic challenges for workers. Robots will be tasked with lifting the bodies of the vans and taking them between buildings. A marshaling yard measuring 2.8 million square feet will house finished vehicles. The completed site will cover about 229 acres, or more than 170 football fields, the company said. The company’s investment will more than double Mercedes’ existing Lowcountry footprint and overhaul its supply chain. The company currently builds the vans at facilities in Europe before breaking them down, shipping them to the Port of Charleston and trucking the parts to the North Charleston plant for reassembly. This complex, expensive process helps the company avoid U.S. import tariffs, company officials have said. The company’s Metris vans will continue with that reassembly process for now, but the North Charleston expansion brings the entire manufacturing process of next-generation Sprinter vans to the United States, forestalling the need to assemble the vans twice. This makes van production for the North American market much more efficient, Mercedes-Benz Vans President and CEO Michael Balke has said. Company executives hope the expanded U.S. footprint will buoy North American sales. The company plans to hire 1,300 more workers as its Lowcountry footprint grows. The company has partnered with readySC to
Michael Balke
Mercedes-Benz Vans President and CEO
provide initial training for existing employees and new hires to ensure a smooth production ramp-up. Employees in Germany will come to the Lowcountry to train new workers, and local workers will travel to Mercedes facilities in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Duesseldorf, Germany, to gain firsthand experience, officials said. Hiring has been ongoing since March 2015 for engineers and for finance, human resources and information technology personnel. Recruiting and hiring have now also started for manufacturing positions. The automaker currently employs about 250 people in the Charleston region. “Within the last two years, we have doubled our workforce to more than 200 team members,” Balke said in a statement. “In total, we will create up to 1,300 jobs. This is a really exciting time for all of us.” Balke has said he expects the first van to roll off the new assembly line by 2020. No specific year or production rates have been disclosed. A permit application filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District, shows that the Mercedes marshaling yard will have capacity to store 2,700 finished vans, representing 10 days’ worth of production at projected volumes once the expansion is complete — roughly 270 vans a day if the full amount were produced.
BMW Manufacturing Co. is in the midst of a $1 billion upgrade to its facilities in Spartanburg. According to Steve Wilson, a BMW Manufacturing Co. spokesman: “We are continuing construction and installation of tooling around the plant site as we prepare for the future and add a fifth model to our vehicle line-up – the all-new BMW X7. Construction projects include a new state-of-the-art body shop totaling 1.2 million square feet and an expansion of the X5/ X6 Assembly hall by 200,000 square feet. Installation of special tooling and body shop robots are underway in our new body shop.”
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BMW Manufacturing Co. construction
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TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
A O B A L L A S ’ T R O P T A E C R E M M O C S E V I R D E V I T AUTOMO ff Writer
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, Sta By Liz Segrist
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L A N I M R E T COLUMBUS
D R A
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“IT’S BEEN CALLED THE BOOT CAMP OF THE PORT. IT IS THE MOST PHYSICALLY DEMANDING JOB.” — Adam Henderson, the manager of roll-on, roll-off cargo for the S.C. State Ports Authority
As the sun creeps up over Charleston Harbor, Port of Charleston employees race up 18-foot ladders and into the second deck of rail cars parked at the Columbus Street Terminal. Seconds later, a low rumbling begins from within the graffiti-covered rail cars that sit along East Bay Street in downtown Charleston. The sound grows louder as workers drive BMW after BMW down a
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ramp and onto the terminal, clearing off both the top and bottom decks. Drivers then peel away from the rail line in search of each vehicle’s designated parking spot on the terminal. The BMWs were loaded the night before at the BMW plant in Spartanburg County. A Norfolk Southern train traversed the state overnight, arriving in Charleston before sunrise.
A team of about 16 port workers unload 700 to 1,000 vehicles onto the terminal each day. Workers must move quickly to unload the train so it can head back to Greer, and they must work carefully to avoid damaging the vehicles. The cars then await the arrival of containerships headed for European or Asian markets.
“WE NEVER, EVER MISS A CAR.” — Adam Henderson, the manager of roll-on, roll-off cargo for the S.C. State Ports Authority
“NO ONE IS STANDING AROUND. THERE’S NOT SO MUCH CONVERSATION. IT’S ALL ABOUT ‘LET’S DO THIS.’ … THERE’S NOT MUCH STOPPAGE. IT’S ALL ABOUT PRODUCTION FLOW AND SAFETY.” — Roslyn Wright, a Longshoreman of 20 years
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“THE IDEA IS WHEN YOU TAKE THE CARS OFF THE VESSEL, YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO BACK ANYTHING UP. YOU JUST DRIVE THEM OFF AS THEY’RE PARKED.” — Stephen Milner, the Charleston vessel operations supervisor for Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics
When cargo ships arrive at the Columbus Street Terminal, dockworkers and Longshoremen take over the car loading operation. The Longshoremen drive the cars onto the ships; inside is a flurry of activity. Workers stand on the ship’s ramp, directing traffic with light wands. These wands flash green or red, indicating whether it is safe to drive vehicles up to the next deck. Around 75 Longshoremen drive the BMWs around each deck on the ship, going in circles as they climb the giant floating parking garage until they arrive at their designated parking spot. The work is a dizzying domino effect: Parking each vehicle, jumping out, securing the straps and climbing into a waiting car that brings them back down to the terminal level to do it all over again. Each driver loads about five cars per hour on average. Cars are loaded onto various containerships an average of three times a week at the port. The vehicles aboard the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Torino will make the 12-day journey to Bremerhaven, Germany. The ship typically carries about 5,500 cars for each trip.
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TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
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SOLAR ENERGY Hubner Manufacturing Corp. in Mount Pleasant has a 918-kilowatt solar PV system, installed on its roof by Hannah Solar Government Services. (Photo/Provided)
T
he solar energy business is booming, and not just in the Sun Belt. After years of lagging behind its neighbors in solar energy installations, South Carolina is joining the movement. How far behind is South Carolina? Look at North Carolina, which the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) ranks second nationally in cumulative installed amount of
solar electrical capacity, and Georgia, which the association ranks eighth. Even Massachusetts, known more for snowfall than sunshine, places seventh as of April 2017. South Carolina? Not even in the top ten. In fact, the state sits in 27th place, a slip of six spots from 2016. But if advocates of renewable energy have their way, that’s about to change. After all, South Carolina is well positioned
SOLAR INVESTMENTS IN S.C.
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These are some of the investments in solar energy development announced in South Carolina since 2014. Company Tradewind Energy ESA Renewables National Renewable Energy Corp. (NARENCO) NARENCO Adger Solar Cypress Creek Renewables Cypress Creek Renewables Cypress Creek Renewables Cypress Creek Renewables Southern Current LLC Cypress Creek Renewables Dominion Cypress Creek Renewables Cypress Creek Renewables Cypress Creek Renewables Cypress Creek Renewables
County Investment Orangeburg $85 million Aiken $11 million Orangeburg $89.1 million Allendale $85 million Clarendon $200 million Florence $15.5 million Lexington (2016) $30 million Darlington $10 million Lexington (2015) $20.4 million Orangeburg $10 million Calhoun $34 million Jasper $100 million Saluda $12 million Allendale $8 million Dillon $10 million Hampton $66.8 million Source: S.C. Department of Commerce
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geographically. On the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s solar insolation maps, the state is rated at 5.0-5.5 kilowatt hours per square meter per day, which places it on the higher end for solar energy potential. Moreover, solar equipment prices overall fell 67% from 2011 through 2016, according to SEIA data. Lately, state government policy has started to tilt in favor of solar development (see accompanying article). “Policy shapes what can happen in a state,” says Patty Pierce, executive director of the S.C. Clean Energy Business Alliance. “Developers are going to go where there are good incentives, and that has spurred renewable energy in North Carolina. South Carolina moves slower, but we do make progress, if in baby steps.” Pierce points to the increasing number of solar projects being announced by the S.C. Department of Commerce as a good indication. In 2015, North Carolina invested $1.6 billion in solar energy, including tax abatements, while South Carolina invested just $10 million. Now, says Pierce, “SCCEBA has identified about $1.5 billion in selfreported projects—about 90 throughout the state — that are sitting on the fence waiting to see what is happening in the legislature. There are huge opportunities all over South Carolina.” Given other factors, some developers are
CLEAN ENERGY IN S.C. $3.8 BILLION Total revenue of S.C.’s clean energy industry in 2016*
$1 BILLION Total revenue of S.C.’s clean energy industry in 2013
$447.9 MILLION
TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
By the numbers
Revenue of S.C.’s solar industry in 2016
$715.8 MILLION Revenue of S.C.’s wind industry in 2016 Source: S.C. Clean Energy Business Alliance, 2016 Clean Energy Census *In addition to solar and wind, S.C.’s clean energy industry includes alternative fuel vehicles, biomass/biofuels, building efficiency, energy storage, fuel cell, geothermal, hydropower/marine and smart grid.
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skipping ahead, in anticipation of continuing improvements in state policy and industry economics. Hubner Manufacturing Corp., which installed a 918-kilowatt, 2,700-panel solar PV system at its Mount Pleasant facility, is an example. Hannah Solar Government Services designed and installed the system, which could generate roughly 1.2 million kilowatt hours in its first year of operation, enough to power 113 homes. Hubner’s system is recognized as the largest roof-mounted system in South Carolina Electric & Gas’s Distributed Energy Resource program, according to Solar Industry magazine. Adger Solar is another. It’s sunnier in South Carolina than in North Carolina, yet North Carolina is second only to California in the amount of solar installed, says Bill Moore, principal of Adger Solar, a developer of utility-scale solar projects. “There is a good network of high-voltage power lines that cross the state (South Carolina). And it’s flat in many areas, and we like a flat piece of land for a variety of engineering reasons.” Adger is in the midst of constructing the 71.4-megawatt Solvay Energy Center, a solar farm on a 900-acre site in Jasper County. Larger by far than other South Carolina solar installations now in operation, it will start up later this year. The site will remain owned by Adger Solar and leased to Dominion. Solvay,
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SOLAR ENERGY
Nearly 4,400 photovoltaic panels that can generate 1 megawatt of power cover five acres at Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The solar farm, built on unusable land, is generating revenue for the airport. (Photo/ Chuck Crumbo)
an international chemicals and advanced materials company headquartered in Brussels, will purchase the facility’s associated renewable energy credits. Moore points out that solar’s versatility makes it adaptable to hilly terrain as well. “Solar is such a simple technology,” he says. “We are looking at larger-scale solar farms in parts of the Upstate that are different from the flat parts of the Lowcountry. These farms are modular. The panels come straight from the factory and racking systems are easily installed. No foundation. You pound posts into ground. “We can build one of these $100 million facilities in six months using 200 to 300 skilled workers. Our permanent employment requirement is two to four people full-time for a Jasper-sized project.” For Solvay, the solar farm is a way to
meet its environmental objective of reducing its carbon intensity, says Jérôme Malka, executive vice president of Solvay Energy Services, North America, and project manager for Solvay’s solar investment in Jasper County. Five of the company’s 50 North American locations are in South Carolina. Renewable energy is a modern way for companies to show environmental stewardship, says Elise Fox, solar energy program manager and chief engineer at the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken. “It’s an easy way to say this is how we’re giving back, controlling what electricity we use. Even five years ago people might have thought you were nuts if you said companies were going to want to buy 100% renewable energy credits as a statement to their customers. Today it’s a really good PR move.”
Malka is well aware of the pluses and the already-tangible benefits of building in South Carolina. “As Solvay began to build its renewable-energy portfolio in North America, we came across some good partners, Dominion and Adger,” Malka says. “The combination of our presence, the quality of the partners, and quality of the project itself plus the environmental benefits made for a good case for us. What seems clear is that South Carolina is a good place for business . . . There should be a reasonable level of demand for solar projects.” These projects extend beyond business to residential. Out-of-pocket solar installation prices have fallen nearly 25% since 2014, says Fox. In addition, a homeowner who installs a solar system benefits from utility company incentives and the net metering program, which enables homeowners to sell their excess solar-generated power back to the utility. State and federal tax credits alone could allow the homeowner to recoup up to 55% of the cost of a new solar system. “Solar is the fastest growing energy technology nationwide,” says Moore of Adger Solar. “Forty percent of new power plants built last year were solar—close to $20 million-worth of new solar installed nationwide. It’s been a little slower to come to South Carolina but the advantages are becoming more widely appreciated.”
SOLAR INCHES FORWARD IN THE STATEHOUSE
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s energy policy goes, so goes the market. Several pieces of legislation—Act 236 and bills S.44/H.3079 and S.261/H.3304—are revving up the renewable-energy industry in South Carolina, with solar energy a prime focus. Elise Fox, solar energy program manager and chief engineer at the Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, points to Act 236, also known as the Distributed Energy Resources Program Act, passed in 2014. In short order, both Duke and SCE&G, the largest public utility companies in the state, submitted distributed-energy resource proposals to the S.C. Public Service Commission. More than providing a regulatory structure for renewable energy, Act 236 includes incentives and safeguards for utility companies and energy users. Chief among these incentives,
says Fox, is that “IOUs (investor-owned utilities) need to have 2 percent of their power production by the sun” by 2021—with 1% being large utility scale of 1 to 10 megawatts and 1% smaller scale (less than 1 MW) for homes and businesses. Still in the works are S.44 and S.261, both of which would put South Carolina, already the land of abundant sunshine, in a more competitive position for attracting solar-energy investment. If passed, S.44 (H.3079) would make South Carolina the 39th state to enact a 10-year 80% property-tax abatement for commercial renewable energy improvements and DER property. S.261 (H.3304) would create voluntary Commercial-Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) programs in South Carolina along the lines of those already in place around the country. These programs help commercial property
owners make clean energy improvements. Advocates of advances in renewable-energy policy—among them the S.C. Clean Energy Business Alliance and the S.C. Solar Business Alliance—say that passage will boost capital investment, add jobs and attract new business to the state. A SCCEBA report cites some compelling numbers. For example, new investments in the solar-energy industry in 2015 grew to more than $30 billion nationwide. Since the passage of Act 236, South Carolina has become a contender for those dollars and assorted other economic benefits: The state is now among the top ten for increases in solar capacity and related jobs. To read the two bills under consideration this year, go to www.scstatehouse.gov and search by bill number. To read Act 236, search for bill 1189 in the 2013-14 year.
TRENDING: AUTOMOTIVE IN S.C.
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S.C. DELIVERS
Ports, Logistics & Distribution
Photo/Kim McManus
TERMINAL PROJECT FIXES DAMAGE FROM DECADES OF MOORINGS
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By Liz Segrist, Staff Writer
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T
he decades-old Wando Welch Terminal is in the midst of a major renovation to get ready for the era of big ships. The marine terminal sits between Long Point Road and the Wando
River in Mount Pleasant and was designed to handle 3,000- to 5,000-TEU ships — vessels capable of carrying 3,000 to 5,000 20-foot shipping containers. See TERMINAL, Page 42
S.C. DELIVERS
“The only way they can deploy big ships and get the service frequency they need is to share vessel sizes.” Jim Newsome
president and CEO, S.C. State Ports Authority
Construction crews repair and rebuild the Wando Welch Terminal’s surface. The project is more than halfway complete, an official says. (Photo/Kim McManus)
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TERMINAL, from page 40
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Ship sizes have grown significantly over the last three decades as companies strive to move more product around the world at faster rates. The Port of Charleston welcomed the 13,000-TEU Cosco Development in May, before it headed back to Asia. Jim Newsome, the president and CEO of the S.C. State Ports Authority, said changes
within the global shipping industry have also pushed the shift toward bigger ships. Shipping companies — who have traditionally been fierce competitors — have partnered to form mega alliances in the hopes of combating declining profits. “The only way they can deploy big ships and get the service frequency they need is to share vessel sizes,” Newsome said. These larger ships need taller cranes with longer arms, capable of moving containers
around the oversized vessels. The Wando terminal will eventually have eight 155-foot cranes. Two such cranes arrived at the Wando terminal last year from Chinese manufacturer ZPMC. Two more will arrive in the first quarter of 2018, and four other on-site cranes will have 40-foot sections added to them. The bigger ships and heavier cranes required the ports authority to invest in a $40 million terminal overhaul. The renovation project involves strengthening the terminal’s surface, sides and underbelly to handle the force of larger container ships knocking against it, as well as the weight of taller, heavier cranes moving along its surface. “Infrastructure has to change to accommodate shipping,” said Barbara Melvin, the port’s senior vice president of operations and terminals and the project lead. Work to repair and strengthen the terminal is more than halfway complete, Melvin said. Construction crews repair one of the three berths at a time, enabling dockworkers to work two ships simultaneously during the renovation project. “There’s no great way to remodel the terminal when you have to remain open,” said Melvin, who noted that the shipping lines, union dock workers, harbor pilots and port employees communicate daily about the construction. Strengthening the pilings — the steel and concrete beams that stabilize the underside of the wharf — is a huge part of the work. Thousands of piles that sit in the water underneath the wharf have been worn down or damaged over the years. Pilings tend to break over time, particularly as big-
S.C. DELIVERS
ger ships bang into the dock’s sides. Construction workers and divers reinforce the steel pilings by adding rebar and concrete encasements — known as “pile jackets” — to protect them from erosion. Some piles are lengthened so they can go deeper into the river bottom. The tops of the pilings are replaced so they can handle the wear and tear from the work that takes place on the wharf above. The rehab work should give the pilings another 25 years before more renovations or replacements are needed. More work is happening on the sides and surface of the terminal. The wharf deck is being strengthened with additional concrete. The crane rails — which enable cranes to move back and forth across the terminals as ships are loaded and unloaded — are being replaced to accommodate the bigger cranes. The rubber bumpers that act as a buffer between the container ships and the docks have been replaced with larger, tougher ones. The mooring bollards — the thick, metal poles that serve as cleats for large ships — are being swapped with stronger
Bigger ships and heavier cranes require a major renovation to strengthen the Wando Welch Terminal. (Photo/Kim McManus)
versions. Stronger storm pins, which secure cranes into the terminal’s surface, are being placed to prevent the cranes from rolling around
during a storm or hurricane. The Wando terminal will be able to handle 14,000-TEU ships when the project wraps next year, Melvin said.
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S.C. DELIVERS
Manufacturing
By Teresa Cutlip, Staff Writer
Pickens County workforce development catches manufacturers’ attention
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otorists along U.S. Highway 123 near Liberty may not be aware of the construction activity going on at the Pickens County Commerce Park. But just off the Cartee Road exit you will find a “bulldozer and construction crane bonanza,” according to Ray Farley, executive director of Alliance Pickens, who credits a workforce development initiative with the school district for playing a major role in attracting new manufacturers. Several projects are underway at the commerce park, most of which are scheduled for completion over the next few months. One of those projects is the construction of the North American headquarters for era-contact GmbH, a German manufacturer of railroad connection systems. Work on that building is expected to be finished in May. “I had been working with the consultant for several months,” Farley said of the company. “The ownership was in town and wanted to come over for 20 or 30 minutes for a visit.” “That half-hour visit turned into a 14hour work day for us because they were sold on us,” he said. “It was because of our workforce development, because of what our young people are doing.” The workforce development Farley refers to is the Scholars Technician Initiative. The Alliance Pickens website describes a Scholar Technician as a “student who excels in the classroom Monday through Friday, but also through extracurricular activities and through course of study, learns and develops technical skills required in today’s advanced manufacturing environment.” It is an initiative for reaching students early and training them in skills needed in the workforce, should they choose not to pursue higher education. It is the workforce development effort with the School District of Pickens County that Farley said was also a contributing fac-
The North American headquarters for era-contact GmbH, a German manufacturer of railroad systems, is being constructed in the Pickens County Commerce Park. (Photo/Teresa Cutlip)
tor in JR Automation Technologies’ choosing Pickens County. The manufacturer designs and builds custom automated equipment and provides services in the automotive, aerospace, medical device, pharmaceutical, food processing and construction industries. It announced in August 2016 it was investing $3.4 million and adding 56 jobs with construction of a 50,000-squarefoot facility at the commerce park. Danny Merck, superintendent of the School District of Pickens County, said, “We’re always focusing on college and career readiness, and have one of the best career centers around.” The Pickens County Career and Technology Center offers skills training in 20 different programs for students at the county’s four high schools – Daniel High School, Easley High School, Liberty High School and Pickens High School. Other construction projects at the commerce park include an expansion at Reliable Automatic Sprinkler, which is
“We’re always focusing on college and career readiness, and have one of the best career centers around.” Danny Merck
Superintendent, School District of Pickens County
adding 150,000 square feet of space to its 300,000-square-foot facility. The expansion includes a 500-car parking lot and a pad for another 100,000-square-foot building. Farley said these projects will be completed in phases with Phase I expected to be finished later this year. Additional work at the commerce park includes three site preparation projects, all of which are expected to be finished in June. No companies have committed yet to these sites, Farley said.
By Liz Segrist, Staff Writer
Manufacturing
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fter selling inventory through European distributors for the past decade, North Charleston-based Vapor Apparel has set up operations in the Netherlands. Vapor Apparel performs digital sublimation printing and print-on-demand services on performance apparel and accessories. Chris Bernat, Vapor Apparel’s chief revenue officer, said European customers and distributors wanted goods faster, creating the need for an overseas facility. The company’s new, 20,000-square-foot facility handles sales and warehouse operations in Goor, Netherlands, near the German border. “Our new operations will make it easier for our distributors to replenish stock, and we will operate our e-commerce and printon-demand services for B-to-C customers as well,” Bernat said in email. Bernat said the Netherlands offered
S.C. DELIVERS
North Charleston-based company expands to Netherlands
North Charlestonbased Vapor Apparel has opened a 20,000-squarefoot facility in the Netherlands. (Photo/Provided)
strong business partners and had the least complicated incorporation process for a European business launch. Vapor Apparel Europe BV will operate as a separate company from Vapor Apparel. Vapor Apparel maintains its headquar-
ters on the former Navy Base in North Charleston and a 50,000-square-foot facility in Union County for apparel manufacturing and warehousing. The company also has distributors in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
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S.C. DELIVERS
Manufacturing
Staff report
Clothing company takes over former Bose plant in Midlands
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uLaRoe, a California-based provider of women’s and men’s clothing, has announced plans to locate a distribution center in the former Bose Corp. plant near Blythewood in Richland County. The $35 million project is expected to create at least 1,000 new jobs over the next few years, according to a press release from the S.C. Department of Commerce. The 470,000-square-foot facility at 2000 Carolina Pines Drive will serve independent fashion retailers east of the Mississippi River by providing them with easier access to product and reduced shipping times, LuLaRoe CEO Mark Stidham said in a statement. “After evaluating our options, we selected South Carolina because of its central location and strong workforce to support our company’s growing needs,” Stidham said. Founded in 2013 by Stidham and his wife, DeAnne, LuLaRoe clothing is sold
Port
The former Bose plant in Richland County will house a new distribution center for LuLaRoe. (Photo/File)
by more than 80,000 independent fashion retailers in the United States. The release added that LuLaRoe expects to have its new distribution facility operational by June. Bose, a manufacturer of consumer electronics, announced in January 2015
that it was closing the plant to consolidate manufacturing operations and streamline its supply chain. The plant, which employed about 300, closed in September 2015. The facility is located on 104 acres, about two miles from an exit on I-77, and has access to a Norfolk Southern rail line.
Liz Segrist, Staff Writer
Port of Charleston welcomes first 13,000-TEU ship
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y the time you read this, the Port of Charleston will have handled its largest ship to date, the Cosco Development. The 13,000-TEU ship — able to handle more than 13,000 20-foot equivalent containers — made its last East Coast port call in Charleston Harbor on May 13 and 14 before heading back to Asia, according to the S.C. State Ports Authority. Before coming to Charleston, the ship stopped at the Port of Savannah, Ga. The ship measures 1,200 feet long — as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall — and 158 feet wide. The previous largest ships to call on the port were the APL Yangshan and the APL Barcelona, 10,700-TEU ships that first called on the port last fall, according to the
ports authority. Larger ships are trending in the shipping industry, spurring major infrastructure improvements, terminal renovations and equipment purchases. The Panama Canal expansion was needed to handle the bigger ships. Currently, 18 of the 24 container vessels calling on the Port of Charleston each week would not have fit through the Panama Canal without the expansion, the port said. The Bayonne Bridge between New York and New Jersey is also being raised, and Charleston Harbor is set to be deepened to 52 feet. The deepening project has been approved by regulators and received state funding; the project still awaits federal funding.
The Cosco Development is deployed on the weekly Ocean Alliance South Atlantic Express service connecting Charleston with Hong Kong, Yantian, Ningbo and Shanghai in China via the Panama Canal, according to the port. “The arrival of the Cosco Development at East Coast ports marks a new era,” ports CEO Jim Newsome said in a news release. “Seeing a 13,000-TEU vessel in our harbor is a tangible reflection that our vision and capital investments to be big-ship-ready are absolutely critical.” Newsome said Charleston Harbor can handle the large vessel loaded with cargo, and the port’s new, 155-foot-tall cranes can work the ship. To see a photo of the Cosco Development, please turn to page 48.
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1,000 WORDS
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Towering over the Cooper River near the Ravenel Bridge is the Cosco Development. At 1,200 feet long, it is the largest ship to call on the Port of Charleston. The ship stopped by May 13 and 14. Read more, page 46. (Photo/Ryan Wilcox)