2013 sc biz - issue 1

SC Biz News

389 Johnnie Dodds Blvd.Suite 200Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464

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Spring 2013

Bill McCall: A Passion for Power | Special Section: Cities Mean Business | S.C. Delivers

Snarledtraffic

S.C.’s infrastructure needs attention to keep

growth on track

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Cover and Contents Photos: Trucks and cars clog Interstate 26 in Charleston metro area. (Photo/Leslie Burden)

COVER STORY

FEaTuRE

DEpaRTmEnTS

SpECial SECTiOn: CiTiES mEan buSinESS

Farmers markets sow economic benefits

4 bill Settlemyer’s Viewpoint

5 upfront

10 business accelerator

12 Spotlight: lexington County

36 S.C. Delivers

48 1,000 words

COnTEnTSTable of

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a paSSiOn FOR pOwERAt Santee Cooper, Bill McCall built energy framework for business growth

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26 Roads and rails, ports and airports: Updating infrastructure is at top of wish list for S.C.’s business leaders.

34 Rail developments focus of Commerce

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publiSHERFrom the

Dear Reader,Welcome to the spring issue of SCBIZ. Since we serve the state’s business community

with our biweekly newspapers, the Charleston Regional Business Journal, the Columbia Regional

Business Report, GSA Business, and daily email news alerts from each of them, we use SCBIZ each quarter to take a more thoughtful and analytical look at some of the biggest stories impacting the state’s economic landscape.

For this issue, our staff photographer, Leslie Burden, risked life and limb to snap the cover photo from an overpass on I-26 near Charleston. If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to be a pedestrian on one of our state’s interstate highways at rush hour, you know how hairy this can be. So her risk-taking not only produced a cover photo, it also illustrates why infrastructure needs are on the minds of business leaders and why they are focused on communicating the urgency of decisive action this year to our state’s lawmakers.

We have built so much economic development momentum, it would be a shame to see it come screeching to a halt because we have failed to keep up with infrastructure needs. Let’s not forget that infrastructure isn’t only about getting our high-quality goods to market, it’s also about quality of life. That’s what has kept us com-petitive in the global economic development race. So let’s push the gas pedal on infrastructure improvements and win this sucker.

And speaking of infrastructure, check out our profile of Santee Cooper’s Bill McCall, who has retired after 41 years with the power company. I think it’s safe to say that South Carolina was pretty much the back woods when Bill started his career. Our remarkable climb to the global stage can be attributed in no small part to reli-able energy and dedicated South Carolinians like Bill McCall.

We continue to emphasize our mission of being South Carolina’s media engine for economic growth by bringing you special sections from some of the state’s most important economic development organizations. In this issue, we feature the Munici-pal Association of South Carolina with their section, Cities Mean Business.

Another important aspect of economic development is assisting individuals and compa-nies who are pushing the innovation envelope. Beginning this year, each issue of SCBIZ will feature a section called Business Accelerator that highlights the important work being done in this arena. I think you will agree that the Applied Research Center in Aiken County is doing its part to keep South Carolina in the race.

As always, there is a flood of great topics that need to be carefully poured into an issue, and our special projects editor, Licia Jackson, has to make hard decisions about what she leaves out. The great thing about that is it means South Carolina has a whole lot of good things going on. And I’m a huge fan of good things.

Enjoy,

Grady Johnson is the President and Group

Publisher of SC Biz News which publishes

SCBIZ magazine, Charleston Regional

Business Journal, Columbia Regional

Business Report and GSA Business.

®

CEO and Publisher | Grady Johnson [email protected]

Vice President of Sales | Steve Fields [email protected]

Accounting Department | Vickie Deadmon [email protected]

Managing Editor | Andy Owens [email protected]

Senior Copy Editor | Beverly Barfield [email protected]

Special Projects Editor | Licia Jackson [email protected]

Staff Writer | Chuck [email protected]

Staff Writer | James T. Hammond [email protected]

Staff Writer | Matt Tomsic [email protected]

Staff Writer | Lauren Ratcliffe [email protected]

Staff Photographer | Leslie [email protected]

Contributing Writers | Mary Jane Benston, Holly Fisher

Contributing Photographers | Jeff Blake, Andy Owens, Liz Segrist

Creative Director | Ryan [email protected]

Senior Graphic Designer | Jane Mattingly [email protected]

Graphic Designer | Jean [email protected]

Director of Business Development | Mark [email protected]

Account Executive | Bennett [email protected]

Event Manager | Kathy [email protected]

Audience Development & IT Manager | Kim [email protected]

The entire contents of this publication are copyright by SC Business Publications LLC with all rights reserved. Any reproduction or use of the content within this publication without permission is prohibited. SCBIZ and South Caro-lina’s Media Engine for Economic Growth are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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SC Business Publications LLC A portfolio company of Virginia Capital Partners LLCFrederick L. Russell Jr., Chairman

Corporate & CommercialPublishing Division

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ViewpointBill Settlemyer’s

What has the South Carolina legis-lature done for you lately? Here’s a list of their accomplishments:

OK, I’m done.“Business as usual” in the

General Assembly often seems more like no business at all. A good case in point is the lack of progress on restructuring our state’s rickety tax structure.

The easy way out, of course, is to set up a study group to produce a report. Such was the mission of the South Carolina Tax Realignment Commission. This group worked very hard to identify the many weak points in our state’s tax code. Their report was issued in December 2010. In case you’re counting, that’s two years ago.

Pick a tax, any tax, and the commission found something wrong with what we’ve been doing to raise revenue. One of my favorites is the gas tax. The report said we had the lowest tax in the Southeast and the third lowest in the country, and – surprise! – our level of funding per mile to maintain our roads is also among the lowest in the country.

As the commission noted, well main-tained roads are important both for mobility of residents and visitors and for economic development. But when you ask a legisla-tor about this, the answer you’re likely to get is, “We can’t raise the gas tax.” Well, yes you can. Go to your desk in the Statehouse. You’ll see a couple of buttons. One of them

is marked “yes.” When the bill to raise the tax comes up for a vote, hit that button.

Yes, I’m being a bit facetious, but when state legislators cling to the notion that “you can’t raise taxes” for any reason, at any time, no matter how badly the revenue is needed, they are just pushing our low-income state further towards Third World country status. As conservatives like to say, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” I agree. And it follows that there’s no charitable organization out

there just waiting for the chance to repair our bridges and repave our roads for free.

And what about our state sales tax? Our tax rate was the third highest nationally at the time the report was issued, but it’s a piece of legislative Swiss cheese, full of holes due to more than 80 different exemptions from the tax. The commission recommend-ed repealing or amending more than 60 of them. This is just one of the glaring flaws in the sales tax. You can find the commission’s report online if you want to read all the sordid details.

Then there are individual income taxes.

We are a “low income tax state,” says the commission, and we keep adding exemp-tions that progressively narrow the tax base. We are also rated as one of the lowest cor-porate income tax states. We’re doing a great job of shrinking our tax base and a lousy job of generating the revenue we need to invest in our state and our citizens.

But the biggest elephant in the room at this point is the labyrinth of laws affecting the property tax, of which Act 388 is the most notorious. Predictably, the commission was not allowed to even talk about Act 388, which has turned the property tax structure into a fiscal train wreck.

This law took away local power to tax residential real estate to fund public schools and dumped the responsibility onto the already overburdened and volatile state sales tax. That left local school districts with no-where to turn for additional school funding except commercial properties. As a result, our “business friendly” state has one of the most anti-business tax provisions you could imagine. Brilliant!

The South Carolina Tax Realignment Commission’s report was worth reading when it was issued two years ago. Unfortu-nately, thanks to inaction on the part of our state Legislature, it still is.

Bill Settlemyer

[email protected]

SCBIZ reaches thousands of South Carolina’s top decision-makers. Add your name to the list by ordering a print subscription to SCBIZ.Your subscription also includes SCBIZ

Daily. Delivered to your e-mail inbox each weekday morning, SCBIZ Daily is your link to statewide business news. One year for $43.50

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SubSCRipTiOn inFORmaTiOn

legislature tables taxing questions

“Business as usual” in the General Assembly

often seems more like no business at all.

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UPFRONTregional news | data

FAST FACTS | TDL by the numbers

Cover StoryPage 26

Google expanding in berkeley County

Google will spend another $600 million on a new data cen-ter facility in Berkeley County, company and government officials announced Jan. 18.

Google’s presence in South Carolina is another feather in

South Carolina’s cap, Gov. Nikki Haley said at the groundbreaking.

Local and state leaders gathered in an empty field between two data centers Google operates in Berkeley County for the announcement. The company announced the first data center in 2007 and the second facility in 2010. Google has already invested $600 million and created 150 jobs on its campus, and the January announcement brings its total investment to more than $1.2 billion.

Eric Wages, operations manager for the data center, said construction will begin as soon as possible. Once operational,

Google will begin hiring security personnel, network engineers, computer technicians plus other supporting staff, but Wages said he didn’t have figures for the number of jobs that could be

created by the expansion.Berkeley County and Mount Holly

Commerce Park offer Google the right mix of developable land, low-cost power and water systems, community support and other criteria the company analyzes as part of its decisions to ex-pand or open facilities, Wages said. The expansion marks a large step in improv-ing Google’s capacity and will support the company’s overall growth, he said.

Since 2008, Google has awarded more than $850,000 to S.C. nonprofits and schools, funded and implemented a free Wi-Fi network for the city of Goose Creek and mentored students at Stratford High School.

The transportation, distribution and logistics industry in South Carolina provides:

$1.6B wages annually

40,000 number of employees in

2,500 businesses

Photo/Leslie Burden

Source: www.tdlcouncilsc.org

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COMPANY COUNTY INVESTMENT JOBS

JTEKT Corp. Richland $130M 175

Transaxle Manufacturing of America Corp. York $7.5M N/A

Haddon House Food Products Inc. Chester $3.1M 100

Southeast Frozen Foods Calhoun $4.5M 10

Schaeffler Group USA Chesterfield $40M 190

Softex Paper Inc. York $2M 36

Royce Associates Cherokee $1M 25

NCO Financial Systems Inc. Charleston N/A 75

Sarla Performance Fibers Colleton $13.8M 100

Benefitfocus Berkeley N/A 300

amFOG Farms LLC Jasper $1M 7

Agru America Inc. Georgetown, Williamsburg $39.1M 126

Albermarle Corp. Orangeburg $65M 20

Millard Refrigerated Services Charleston $42M 87

Aero Precision Products Dorchester $2.5M 15

SPARC Berkeley $11M 310

Time Warner Cable Lexington $24M 644

Canfor Southern Pine Horry $3.6M 56

Kiswire Inc. Newberry $15M 30

Bericap North America Cherokee $29M 50

Swift Group of Industries Clarendon $3.5M 60

Google Berkeley $600M N/A

Lap Tech Industries York $4.5M 60

Michelin North America Anderson $200M 100

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NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTAnnouncements made since Nov. 20, 2012

Source: S.C. Department of Commerce

Sonoco to promote Sanders to CEO

Sonoco has announced it will promote M. Jack Sanders to become president and CEO of the Hartsville-based packaging com-pany, effective April 1. Harris E. DeLoach Jr. is retiring after more than 27 years with Sonoco.

Sanders, 59, is president and chief operating officer of Sonoco and has global leadership, sales and operat-ing responsibility for the company’s packaging busi-nesses. He was elected a Sonoco director, increasing the board to 13 members.

DeLoach, 68, is chairman and CEO and has served as CEO since July 2000. He has been a member of Sonoco’s board of direc-tors since 1998 and chairman of the board of directors since 2005. He will remain executive chairman after his retirement March 31.

95% of beekeepers in S.C. are hobbyists and sell

honey from homes, at farmers markets or in retail stores

Source: S.C. Department of AgricultureFor more information on beekeeping, see www.scstatebeekeepers.org or www.clemson.edu

The buzz about beekeeping

25,000 to 30,000

number of bee colonies managed by beekeepers in S.C.

$25 million cash value of fruit and vegetable crops that

bees help farmers produce

UPFRONT

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The financial meltdown caused by the Great Recession continues to hamper fledg-ling entrepreneurs searching for money to grow their businesses, according to a new study released by the New Carolina Entre-preneurship Task Force.

“Access to capital is cited as a primary concern of the top executives for these high-impact firms and is one of the top limita-tions of their companies,” the report said.

Recommendations to address capital funding gaps identified through a survey of high-growth S.C. firms and interviews with financial and business executives are out-lined in the report. Those suggestions range from enacting an angel investor tax credit to promoting the growth of equity funds.

The report also calls on state economic development agencies, universities and private sectors to develop and “support a more robust and formalized South Carolina business network.”

Although the debt and equity markets have constricted in the United States since the 2007-2008 recession, there are two groups of S.C. companies that have been hit particularly hard, the report said.

These firms are early-stage technology-based companies attempting to commercial-

ize products and services, and high-growth existing companies with sales between $3 million and $50 million that have problems securing capital to cover cash flow.

“Given the macroeconomic environ-ment, we anticipated a mismatch between the types of financing currently available in South Carolina and the financing needs of high-impact firms,” said Dirk Brown, direc-tor of the Faber Entrepreneurship Center at USC’s Darla Moore School of Business and

Recommendations The report offered four key recommendations designed to close the capital gaps that it identi-fied. Those include: • Enact angel investor tax credit legislation. The

legislation would provide credits to individual high net worth individuals — those with at least $1 million in financial assets — who made stock or convertible debt investments in new companies.

• Increase the annual funding cap on the SC Launch Industry Partnership Fund from its current $6 million level. The fund, managed by the SCRA, is widely recognized as a source of financing for high-impact ventures.

• Provide matching funds for selected Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grants in order to attract federal funding for the com-mercialization of technology in S.C. firms and attract out-of-state technology-based compa-nies to move here.

• Revise the state’s investment adviser registra-tion/examination requirements to promote the growth of the equity funds in the state.

co-author of the study. High-growth companies — those that

doubled revenues on average in the most recent four years — are creating most of the new jobs and wealth in South Carolina, the report said.

High-impact companies in the state tend to cash out when they reach a valuation of $25 million to $50 million rather than try-ing to scale up, according to the report.

— Staff report

Strategies needed to cover capital funding gaps

http://www.elliottdavis.com

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Check your car’s safety kitIf your job involves travel by car, it’s important to be ready for emergencies on the road.

Even on a short trip, you can find yourself stranded for several hours by inclement weather or mechanical breakdown, says Justin Tomczak, a spokesman for auto insurer State Farm.

To make sure you’re prepared, here are some items to keep in your car’s trunk:

• Jumper cables• Spare tire• Hazard triangles/road flares• Flashlight• First aid kit• Water• BlanketCheck these items a couple of times of year to make sure they are working properly –

something most people don’t do. Also, always travel with a fully charged cell phone and in bad weather, make sure the car’s fuel tank is at least half full.

Source: State Farm

Charleston Imaging Products, Inc.1315 Ashley River Road • Charleston, SC 29407www.charlestonimaging.comTotal number of local employees: 28Top local executive: Sean P. MummertProduct or service: Digital signage, MFPs, print management, network integration, data management, office furniture and service engineersYear founded locally: 2004Company bio: Charleston Imaging Products has locations in Charleston and Orangeburg. The company has made three acquisitions over the last 10 years beginning with Advanced Cartridge Technology. Next was JBN office equipment in 2008, for copier repair and other office equipment service. The most recent in 2012 was Automated Business Systems Inc., with concentra-tion in office furniture and equipment. What is the main driver of this year’s revenue growth? Innovation with digital signage solutions and networking multiple devices to work together.

Editor’s note: Incorrect photos were published with pro-files of two Roaring 20s winners in the winter 2012 issue of SCBIZ. Here are the correct photos with their profiles.TWENTIES

JMC Charleston2220-B Old School DriveNorth Charleston, SC 29405www.jmccharleston.comTotal number of local employees: 5Top local executive: Mitchell CrosbyProduct or service: Event production and design; desti-nation management servicesYear founded locally: 2004Company bio: JMC Charles-ton is a full service event production and design company offering destination management services, lo-cated in Charleston. Founded in 2004 by Mitchell Crosby, JMC in its first year produced the 1,000-person gala dinner for the Patriots Point Founda-tion atop the flight deck of the USS Yorktown during the Ravenel Bridge Fireworks celebration and the opening of the Lacoste Charleston store. JMC Charleston has designed events for national corporations such as IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Amica Insurance.

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ag.comupFROnTPercentage of Workers Who Work from Home

S.C. Metropolitan Areas, American Community Survey, 2005 and 2010(Civilian employed age 16 and older)

Metropolitan area

2005 2010

Estimate Percent Estimate Percent

Anderson 1,330 1.8 2,433 3.2

Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville 6,730 2.5 11,619 3.9

Charlotte-Gastonia (N.C.)-Rock Hill 26,188 3.6 40,876 5.1

Columbia 6,857 2.2 11,380 3.4

Florence 2,437 2.9 2,581 3.3

Greenville-Mauldin-Easley 6,312 2.4 8,510 3.1

Myrtle Beach-N. Myrtle Beach-Conway 3,490 3.2 3,232 2.8

Spartanburg 2,507 2.1 3,016 2.5

Sumter 392 1 811 2.1

Source: U.S. Census

MARKET FACTS

http://www.edpsc.org

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When progress is made in the area of hydrogen as a viable fuel source, Fred Humes knows Aiken may very well have played a role in the early research and development.

Opened in September 2006 as the Center for Hydrogen Research, the facility was renamed last year as the Applied Research Center to better capture the breadth of work being done in its laboratories.

“We had the concept at the time that if we were to bring together scientists and research-ers with the private sector, we would be able to develop a technology base in hydrogen, and we were able to do that,” said Humes, director of the Applied Research Center.

Hydrogen is the lightest and most com-mon of elements. It is found in nature, in water and in many compounds. When prop-erly harnessed, it can provide a safe, clean and unlimited supply of energy for all of the world’s basic energy needs, according to the ARC website. So researchers are honing in on looking for ways to produce and store hydrogen while manufacturers and engineers are developing the infrastructure needed for handling and transporting hydrogen.

When the center opened, its flag-ship tenant was Toyota. The automotive company worked on fuel cells and hydrogen research for four years at the ARC. Now Toyota is one of five automotive companies planning to roll out fuel cell vehicles in 2015, Humes said.

Gary Stooksbury, chair of the Economic Development Partnership, said it’s exciting to be able to say, “We were there” as they watch R&D done in Aiken come to life in vehicles and other developments.

The ARC, Stooksbury said, has “put Aiken on the map in the United States and around the world.”

From day one, the center has been a collaboration of private business and

government entities, including Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken County, the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield Counties, and the University of South Carolina Aiken.

The Savannah River National Labora-tory uses half the center for its researchers and scientists. The other half is reserved for private companies. One such private busi-ness is Greenway Energy, which consults on and participates in fuel cell research, development and education projects.

In August 2012, Aiken County and Savan-nah River Nuclear Solutions LLC announced a $3 million expansion plan to add 6,435 square feet of lab and support space to the ARC. The expansion called for six new labs to support the growing advanced materials research at the Savannah River National Laboratory, including work in the areas of nuclear energy, solar energy materials, ma-terials for wind and marine energy systems and carbon dioxide capture.

“We have the capability within our county and state to leverage the technol-ogy coming out of the (Savannah River) National Laboratory, and our incubator is that focal point where we bring the researchers and private sector togeth-

er,” Humes said. “That’s the whole model.” The work being done at ARC won’t be

finished overnight. This is high-tech R&D that can take years to yield tangible results. But, as Humes noted, the research will have long-lasting implications.

“What we’re seeing in (hydrogen) fork-lifts, stationary fuel cells and in automotive … that is technology that is lasting and will be around for a long time,” he said. “It will help our energy independence and national security for the country.”

About 80 people work in the 60,000-square-foot facility and the space is full. Humes said he has one 500-square-foot lab left. Sitting on 300 acres, the center has plenty of room to grow, so now it’s just a matter of determining what’s next and the best method for growth.

What is clear is that in a period of six years, Aiken put the state of South Carolina on the international stage in the area of hydrogen and fuel cell research.

“When we began, our name recognition in the industry was literally zero,” Humes said. “Now South Carolina is considered among the top five states for hydrogen R&D.”

business accelerator

Applied Research Center puts S.C. on the hydrogen map By Holly Fisher

About this article: Across South Carolina, entrepreneurs and fledgling businesses are quietly getting expert assistance from busi-ness accelerators, or incubators. From Bluffton to Walhalla, organizations have opened busi-ness accelerators to provide physical space, services and expertise to help home-grown startups. There are 20 incubators open in the state at present, by the Department of Com-merce’s count. Some organizations, such as South Carolina Research Authority and Clem-son University Research Foundation, operate more than one. Some focus on a particular segment of business, such as manufacturing or digital technology. In each issue of SCBIZ, we’ll feature one of these business accel-erators. We start with the Applied Research Center in Aiken County.

First known as the Center for Hydrogen Research, the Applied Research Center sits on 300 acres.

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Lexingtoncounty spotlight

Special Advertising Section

LEXINGTON COUNTYBusiness climate and teamwork fuel robust growth in Lexington County

W hen Lexington County native Lou Kennedy was deciding where to build a new pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, she soon found out there is no place like home

Kennedy, CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp., was all set to put the plant next to one of the company’s facilities in Orlando, Fla. Frustrated with the per-mitting process there, she started talking to leaders in Lexington County, where she found an ideal site and a business-friendly regulatory climate. Today, Neph-ron’s $313 million project is under construction in an industrial park in Lexington County near the intersection of I-77 and I-26, where high-paying jobs await an initial 300 employees who will be trained using the readySC program.

Lexington County is a rapidly growing neighbor of Columbia.

Lou Kennedy, CEO of Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp.

County Spotlight: lexington

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“I cannot underscore how expeditious and wonderful it was to work with the state and county authorities on the per-mitting process. I’ve never seen anything go smoother,” said Kennedy. Nephron is located in Saxe Gotha Industrial Park, which is a certified site where water, sewer and natural gas are readily available. Nephron also benefits from the easy access to rail, which will drastically reduce the cost of transporting materials to the plant.

Lexington County is enjoying a bum-per crop of economic development and sowing seeds for plenty more. From 2008 to 2012, Lexington County had more than $1.1 billion in aggregate announcements involving new and existing industry. Of the 26 announcements, 18 were expansions and eight reflected industries new to Lexington County. The success is a reflection of the commitment of Lexington County Council to economic development.

With the success of 18 expansions with-in the past four years, Lexington County’s Economic Development Department aims to encourage and advocate the development of existing industry, through its industri-Now Program. “The goal of this Business Retention and Expansion program is to call on existing businesses to thank them for their tax base and employment opportuni-ties for its citizens. industriNow is designed to address company needs, offer products and services available through utility pro-viders, the state or institutions of higher learning,” said Chuck Whipple, director of Economic Development. He also indicated that the county plans to make room for more companies by expanding Saxe Gotha, improving its industrial park in Batesburg-Leesville and developing a new technology park in Chapin. It should be noted that energy giant and Fortune 1000 company SCANA has its headquarters, which were developed in 2009, in Lexington County.

County Council Chairman Bill Ban-ning, Economic Development Committee Chairman Johnny Jeffcoat and Whipple are leading efforts to attract companies engaged in manufacturing, technology, health care, agribusiness, advanced materials, nuclear energy, distribution, aviation and aerospace.

County Administrator Joe Mergo said cooperation among governments and county departments is extremely impor-tant in dealing with businesses. “When the companies come in, it’s not such a laborious process for them to be able to understand all their plan reviews, all their document reviews, all their permitting and all of the ordinances. We do a great job of putting a team together that walks with potential developers and says, ‘This is your project team that’s going to manage your project for you and make it happen seamlessly.’”

Columbia Metropolitan Airport, located in Lexing-ton County, is an asset for economic development.

http://www.midlandstech.edu/careerguide

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Beyond the county’s business-friendly climate, government and business leaders name plenty of other amenities for prospec-tive companies and residents. Industries have been attracted by the county’s utilities, location, workforce, educational systems and job-training assistance. Quality-of-life assets include highly regarded public schools, attractive suburban neighborhoods

and Lake Murray.Peter Sutton, manager of Michelin’s

$1 billion-plus site in Lexington County, said, “The availability and the quality of the people that you can bring on to the workplace are of primordial importance.” Michelin employs more than 2,000 work-ers at the site, making tires for passenger cars, light trucks and earthmovers. The

company’s arrival in 1981 was a watershed event for the county. Michelin was the first big company landed by Lexington County, which had previously been known for its agrarian lifestyle and suburban neighbor-hoods, forcing most residents to commute to Columbia for employment.

When Michelin’s corporate development leaders in France were considering the latest round of investments in the Lexington site, Sutton said, “their biggest area of questions was about people. ‘Can you get the right amount of people? Can you get the right skills in the people that you hire to fuel this expansion?’” Factory jobs aren’t what they used to be, as manufacturing today is a high-tech environment that requires a high level of competence. “Machines don’t make tires, people make tires.”

Michelin works with the county’s two largest school districts and Midlands Tech-nical College to help build what Sutton calls the “supply chain for technical talent” that the company needs to keep growing. He said the quality of the public schools also has be-come “a strategic competitive advantage” in recruiting employees. Sutton said that when people search for jobs, they also check web-sites that rank schools. He said he thought that if someone were hesitating between two job locations, he or she would choose Lexington because of the school system.

The tire manufacturer has partnered with schools in a number of ways, for instance, contributing to a “STEM lab” that focuses on science, technology, engineer-ing and math at a local middle school. In

Above: A rendering shows Nephron Pharmaceuticals , a $313 million project..Left: Construction is progressing on the Nephron plant, shown in December 2012.

Michelin employs more than 2,000 workers at its Lexington County site.


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another school program, engineers from the Michelin plant conduct Lego robotics events for students.

Sutton, a French Canadian who has worked in numerous locations in North America and Europe, said the quality of the work environment and other amenities in Lexington outshine those enjoyed by work-ers in almost every plant he has seen, with the possible exception of a site at the foot of

the Italian Alps.While the employees of the largest plants

number in the thousands, the county’s largest employer by far is Lexington Medi-cal Center (LMC), which has about 6,100 employees. While it is a relatively young health care organization (Lexington County Hospital was established only in 1971), its growth has been remarkable. Mike Biediger, president and CEO, said LMC performs

more surgeries than any other hospital in the region and operates the largest nursing home in the Carolinas.

Its innovative satellite offices operate in six outlying communities, with services including urgent care, radiology, laboratory and physician services. LMC’s larger satellite offices also offer outpatient surgery, cardiac rehabilitation and physical therapy.

Lexington Medical Center is also

http://www.lexingtoncountyusa.com

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company in many ways, as they successfully recruit employees on the basis of the local schools, quality of life and the cost of living, along with what Bueno and other leaders refer to as Lexington County’s “jewel,” Lake Murray.

As for the business that was Lexington County’s mainstay for so long – agriculture – it’s still thriving. In 2009, products from local farms brought in nearly $147 mil-lion, with Lexington ranking No. 1 in cash receipts among South Carolina’s 46 coun-ties, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Lexington County’s population grew more than 21 percent between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, and it had reached 267,129 in 2011. “By 2020 we’re looking at a population over 300,000 people,” Mergo, the county administrator, said. County leaders hope to be ready for this continued rapid growth. “We’re doing everything we can to plan for it.”

Charlie Compton has been Lexington County’s planning director since 1974, after graduating from Clemson University. Early on he was impressed by some of the county’s accomplishments, one being the implemen-tation of a countywide fire and ambulance service. His reaction was “Wow, they’re do-ing something right here. Something good’s happening here.”

Compton, who said he’s “almost” a native of Lexington County, having lived there since he was 5 years old, appreciates the quality of life afforded by Lake Murray and other assets. However, it’s the diversity of

planning a new occupational health office, which will be located near SCANA’s head-quarters and the Saxe Gotha Industrial Park. This new health office will offer employee physicals and pre-employment drug tests, treat workers who are injured and consult with companies to promote worker safety. Biediger thinks the new center will be unique. “We can’t find anything like it in the country.”

Fueling the fire As large industries locate in the county

and more people arrive, a wide variety of businesses are benefiting. Glenn Martin, a communications company executive based in Gilbert, said that during his year as chair of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Com-merce and Visitors Center, he attended close to 80 ribbon-cuttings for a whole gamut of enterprises – everything from people leav-ing the corporate world to open their own businesses, to new restaurants coming to town, to lawyers opening offices to do real estate closings.

He believes a primary reason for the county’s robust growth is the local schools. He calls them “an economic catalyst,” echo-ing an often-heard opinion.

All of the expanding sectors feed on each other, Martin said, and big businesses like Amazon and Nephron “fuel the fire of growth” and provide a new source of customers for existing businesses. Mar-tin’s company, part of the Rock Hill-based Comporium, has been doing business in Lexington County for about 110 years. It is the former Pond Branch Telephone Co., and it provides telephone, cable television, Internet, security and wireless services.

Albert Bueno is president of another homegrown business, GIS (formerly a part of PMSC, a Columbia insurance software company), which offers corporations background screening, recruiting, hiring and onboarding solutions. With close to 525 employees at its Chapin headquarters, Bueno said, GIS has grown more than 500 percent over the last 10 years. He said Lex-ington County has been supportive of the

At top, the Lexington Country Club offers residents a place to relax and play golf.In bottom image, a rendering shows Lexington Medical Center’s occupational health office, which will be located near Saxe Gotha Industrial Park.

Flamingos welcome visitors to Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Lexington County.

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choices that really appeals to him. How the government has dealt with diversity is what has kept Compton in the job, as he said school-driven suburban growth is typical in any part of the country. For him, the excit-ing part of the process has been that county leaders “have been willing to do whatever it takes to deal with diversity. You don’t have to do the same thing all over the county. You can have different rules and a differ-ent approach depending on what’s needed where, and they’ve embraced that very successfully.”

Looking aheadCouncil Chairman Banning said the

county needs “more product,” as it is called in the economic development world. “We need more options for other companies to join our great county.” Referencing in-dustrial sites, he said that the county has to have the infrastructure in place, as incoming companies are ready to go. “They’re not going to wait on you to run water and sewer lines.”

In 2006, Lexington County Council decided to fund its first ever industrial park. Council realized that the land they had offered for a State Farmers Market site would make a great industrial park to attract new industry to the county. Realizing this, they approved a $13 million bond issue to acquire the site and install the public infrastructure. The result was attracting the massive Amazon, Nephron and SCE&G projects.

Two sites remain in the park today. Additionally, Lexington County Council decided that tax revenue from all county-owned industrial parks should be shared by all five school districts, instead of going only to the districts in which the parks are located. Leaders say that arrangement is unique to Lexington County, but as Jeffcoat says, sharing is only fair since all of the tax-payers participate in the capital expenditures for the parks.

According to Whipple, Lexington County leaders are now turning their atten-tion to workforce development, one of the drivers of economic development. Educa-tion at every level – primary, secondary and post-secondary – is crucial in the economic development process. It will be the role of

all of these institutions to aid in developing the 21st century workforce. “Businesses need employees who think critically, commu-nicate effectively and are accountable for their performance. Our goal, by partnering with these institutions, is to ensure that the residents of Lexington County are able to

satisfy those business requirements!” said Whipple.

A spirit of opportunity prevails here, an inner-connectivity that cultivates – every-one working together for a common cause – which makes this a great place to live, work and play.

Agriculture is still an important part of Lexington County’s economy. The harvest from Walter P. Rawl farm provides fresh produce across the state.

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Passion

ccess to power can make or break business deals and Bill McCall knows that better than most. During his 41-year tenure at Santee Cooper, the engineer-turned-executive oversaw

the construction of power plants that not only attract-ed major business ventures but fueled growth and led to prosperity in many parts of the state.

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McCall took the utility from 700 mega-watts of generating power to a capacity of more than 6,000 megawatts. “If you look at where we were at Santee Cooper to where we are now, it’s really mind boggling what we’ve been able to do,” he said. “It’s really a neat thing.”

McCall recently retired from his position as chief operating officer with Santee Coo-per, the state power giant.

Among the industries Santee Cooper was instrumental in recruiting was Alcoa, in the late 1970s. Part of luring the company was a guarantee that their power needs could be supplied.

Lonnie Carter, Santee Cooper’s CEO and a longtime colleague of McCall, said Alcoa asked McCall how quickly he could build a power unit. His response and confidence were enough to help solidify the deal.

“He said he could build it in 34 months,” Carter said. “(Bill) got a note put on his desk saying to build it in 30 months — and he did it.”

Building generating capacity was just one of the challenges McCall faced in his work. In the late 1980s, a destructive hurricane came calling.

When ‘the entire system went blank’

Winds racing at 160 miles an hour and a five-foot wall of water blasted the Charles-ton Harbor on Sept. 22, 1989, wiping out power lines, destroying trees and devastat-ing infrastructure.

The days that followed Hurricane Hugo’s landfall in South Carolina were to shape and define McCall’s career with Santee Cooper.

McCall said the aftermath of the hur-ricane was a milestone because of the energy he spent helping rebuild and restore part of the state’s electric grid.

“The entire system went blank,” he said. “We had to get out and examine and survey all of our damages and bring the system back. Nobody had lights.”

Working day and night for three straight days, McCall and his team surveyed damage and began to rebuild, virtually from scratch, three small systems in Moncks Corner, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach.

“We tied those systems together later,” he said. “It was an amazing thing; in two weeks we had everybody back (with power) who could receive power.”

Trees knocked out by the storm gave McCall a chance to innovate and save the state money. The disposal of wood was restricted by the State Department of Health and Environmental Control.

“I came up with a little scheme we devised using conveyers to burn the wood,” McCall said. “I was able to burn wood chips in the boilers and burn all of our wood chips out over a year; that was free fuel in place of coal.”

Carter said McCall’s calm approach in the aftermath of Hugo was typical of the way he led on any project. Carter, a coworker for 30 years, said rather than becoming overwhelmed, McCall created a plan and executed it.

Humble beginnings, family sacrifices

McCall joined the energy company the same month he married his wife: August 1971.

In those early years, McCall worked as an engineer with the company and rose through the ranks to become a manager of engineering and construction. He assumed that position in 1977 and quickly found himself faced with the formidable task of building the power unit for Alcoa.

McCall remembers building that plant, and the sacrifices it meant for his then-young family.

“I was trying to be a father to two chil-dren who were 1 and 3 years old,” he said. “By making such a commitment (to work), I gave up a lot of things.”

He credits the ability to make those sacri-fices to his wife, Claudette.

“I felt like the job was demanding so much,” he said. “The wife and I had an understanding that if she would see me through that part of the job, then I wouldn’t play golf. I would give her all the time I had outside of Santee Cooper.”

He called the sacrifices required for building the plant for Alcoa one of the most significant in his life.

“That probably ended up being one of the most challenging commitments I’ve ever been associated with from a personal and

Top left: Atlantic House Restaurant at Folly Beach before Hurricane Hugo. Top right: The aftermath at the same site after Hugo passed by. Bottom: Satellite image of Hurricane Hugo. (Photos/NOAA)

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professional standpoint,” McCall said.McCall recalls knowing his limited fam-

ily time wasn’t enough for his wife but said he feels the sacrifice was worth it.

“I was not the husband I should have been,” he said. “It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be.”

McCall was a workhorse and as he con-tinued to grow the fleet and earn promo-tions within Santee Cooper he expected the same work ethic from those around him, whether he supervised them, or the reverse.

“I worked with Bill, I worked for Bill,” Carter said. “Bill was the same. He always treated me with dignity and respect, even when I was greener.

“He was a great person to work for, a great person to work with and a great per-son to supervise.”

Facing challenges,expanding the fleet

After Alcoa officials announced they would be coming to the Lowcountry, Mc-Call set out to build the power generators they would need. After that, every time new power plants or systems would be

negotiated, McCall would be consulted as to the feasibility of a project.

“I always knew if I went to Bill and said ‘Can we do this?’ If he looked at me and said, ‘Yes’ I never worried about it again in my negotiations,” Carter said.

McCall is credited with the building of the modern fleet of power generators and plants. Carter said the construction of four Winyah stations and four Cross stations were under his supervision.

“Bill is directly responsible for building all those units,” Carter said. “That con-stitutes the modern generating fleet that Santee Cooper operates today. He did every bit of it on schedule and under budget.”

And, as with the Alcoa deal, many power plants were built on extremely tight dead-lines. Carter joked that he often sold the power plants before they were fully planned.

“We were always putting him behind the eight ball,” he said. “Bill never backed up

Earthmovers push mounds of coal at Santee Cooper’s Cross Generating Station overlooking Lake Moultrie. The coal, delivered by rail, powers the station’s steam turbines to produce electricity. (Photo/Andy Owens)

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Bill McCall led construction of the power plant needed by Alcoa, whose plant is shown here. (Photo/Leslie Burden)

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FEaTuRE

from a challenge because he knew how im-portant it was for the people we were trying to serve — for the state of South Carolina.”

Leaving a legacyMcCall grew up in rural Berkeley Coun-

ty and remembers watching the landscape of his county change.

He graduated from Macedonia High School and said many of his classmates had never even been into Charleston. When he told them he wanted to be an engineer, they didn’t know what that was.

When the opportunity came for him to stay close to home and work with Santee Cooper, McCall said he saw it as a chance to give back and change his community’s future.

“I’ve been able to be a part of seeing people receive electricity. (I’ve seen) people get better jobs, seen families be able to send children to college. I’ve seen the quality of life grow over time.”

McCall said he watched 90% of the com-pany’s power units be built during his time with the company.

Not only did the generating capacity in-crease exponentially, but the customer base grew rapidly. McCall said when he started, the company served 20,000 customers. To-day, more than 166,000 customers statewide receive their energy from Santee Cooper.

McCall said he hadn’t thought much about what type of legacy he would leave with his retirement. But Carter said his work ethic and demeanor with all he en-countered will likely last even longer than the memories of him will.

“Bill was always expecting your best,” Carter said. “If you were always giving it your best you always had his support — his unwavering support. Even if things went bad he was right there standing up for you.

“I have really enjoyed working with Bill McCall; I, personally, miss him.”

McCall hoped to be remembered for the relationships he built with the people who had come to be like a second family.

“I hope at the end of the day that I have given back to the people and to the company and to the people of South Carolina enough to show them thank you,” he said. “I’ve been very blessed to work as an engineer … and I’ve been able to work in the boardroom area.

“It’s been a lot of fun.”

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Cities MeanBusinessMarkets go metroFarmers venues add value

Incubating ideas Clemson University helps cities with startups

A puBlicAtion of the Mun ic i pAl Assoc iAtion of south cArolinA | issue 1 | 2013

You see a police car…

We see a police officer who works closely with fire departments and EMS, who knows every business owner downtown, who can name every city street and who buys 12 snow cones on Saturdays even though his T-ball team has never won a game.

www.CitiesMeanBusiness.org

http://www.citiesmeanbusiness.org

www.citiesmeanbusiness.org | Cities Mean Business 3A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina

feAtur

es

DepArtMents

contents

cover story

to Market,to MarketCities find farmers markets

enhance local economy

By Reba Hull Campbell

Cover: Mount Pleasant Farmers Market(Photo/Ryan Wilcox)

4 letter from the editor By Reba Hull Campbell

5 infrastructure Builds cities and Businesses By Mike Brenan

A publication of Municipal Association of South Carolina

1411 Gervais St., P.O. Box 12109Columbia, SC 29211

[email protected]

Miriam Hair

Executive Director, Municipal Association of SC

Reba Campbell

Deputy Executive Director, Municipal Association of SC

Editorial staffMary Brantner

Contributing writers

Amy Geier Edgar

Published by

www.scbiznews.com

Cities MeanBusiness

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6 incubating ideas Clemson works with cities

to support small tech

businesses By Amy Geier Edgar

10 shared vision Public and private

investment key to

successful downtowns


8 Driving into the future Pioneer projects power

vehicles with electricity

By Amy Geier Edgar

12 cities roll out Bike friendly initiatives Make parking convenient

and cyclists will come

By Mary Brantner

4 Cities Mean Business | www.citiesmeanbusiness.org A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina

thank you for reading this issue of Cities Mean Business magazine. This issue marks our fifth anniversary of publication in partnership with SCBIZ magazine. In

these five years, we have used this publication as a way to drive home the importance of the

relationship between South Carolina cities and towns and the businesses located in them.

Strong cities and towns are the backbone of our state’s economic success, and Cities

Mean Business celebrates the positive and forward thinking partnerships that make our

state stronger.

In this month’s issue, our guest columnist is Mike Brenan, chair of the South Carolina

Chamber of Commerce. He focuses on the importance of having adequate and safe infra-

structure for the transportation of goods and commerce in our state.

But transportation means more than just roads and bridges. Read about two transpor-

tation alternatives several cities have focused on to improve economic development and

the environment: improved parking availability for bicycles and increased use of electric

vehicles.

Three South Carolina cities have partnered with private business and Clemson Uni-

versity to launch new small business incubators. Read about how Bluffton, Rock Hill and

Hartsville are using Clemson’s research university expertise to help entrepreneurs be suc-

cessful in their hometowns.

Cities and towns around the state are seeing the economic value of supporting the start-

up of farmers markets in their communities. Not only do farmers markets give local vendors

the chance to sell their wares directly to the consumer, but the markets also enhance the local

tax base, keep dollars in the local economy and give vendors low-risk business opportunities.

Finally, get a glimpse of how three diverse downtowns have found their individual suc-

cess formulas for attracting and retaining businesses.

reba hull campbell

[email protected]

Editor

Letter from the

eDitor


working relAtionships

By Mike Brenan

Infrastructure Builds Cities and Businesses

our cities and towns are the lifeblood of thePalmetto State. As we live and work in these won-derful communities, we strive to make them as eco-nomically competitive as possible. The relationships between cities and businesses are key to fostering success, and more often than not, our goals are closely aligned. One shared goal is clear: Cities and busi-nesses depend on reliable infrastructure – of all types – to thrive.

The most obvious infrastructure is our road and bridge network. Our families, friends and employees depend on reliable and safe roads, and employers de-pend on them to move goods. South Carolina has not been keeping up with needed maintenance and im-provements though, and it is evident in every home-town across this state.

Consider this. South Carolina’s population has increased by more than one million over the last two decades, but our infrastructure has not seen a dedi-cated revenue increase since 1987. While we spend an average of $15,000 per mile on our roads, Georgia spends $35,000 per mile, and North Carolina spends more than $150,000. With other states focused on financing infrastructure to drive economic develop-ment, our policymakers must make infrastructure financing a top priority in 2013. This includes priori-tizing expansion of Interstates 26 and 85 through the key corridors as well as secondary road maintenance to drive economic growth and job creation.

Another type of important infrastructure is our workforce. Employers continue to cite the need for a skilled workforce as one of their top priorities. This infrastructure investment is paramount to increased per capita income and economic development. There is no doubt that cities with the highest levels of edu-cated citizens will have the advantage in attracting and creating jobs. The business community supports ini-tiatives that will transform – not just reform – the cur-rent education system to compete in an ever-changing global marketplace.

This begins with a shift in focus from the later years of education to early childhood. South Carolina must target at-risk children, starting with children living in poverty. At the foundation is reading. Busi-ness communities are stepping up to send employees into the classroom to read to children. This is just one small way we can partner with our local schools to improve the quality of life in our communities. There are many more.

Together, we are making South Carolina a better place to do business, but we cannot rest. We must continue to engage and advocate for proposals that set us apart from our competitors, beginning with ad-dressing our infrastructure needs. •

Mike Brenan is president of BB&T, South Caro-lina, and the 2012-13 chairman of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

Mike Brenan

Average amount spent per mile on roads

south carolina

georgia

north carolina

$25,000 $50,000 $75,000 $100,000 $125,000 $150,000$0

$15,000

$35,000

$150,000


As the owners of Greenbug Inc., an ecofriendly pest control company, Louise and Dan Hodges face many

of the same challenges as other small busi-ness owners. Yet there are a few differences. For one, this Beaufort couple has a team of Clemson University graduate students doing bug research for them.

How can a small business have the back-ing and resources of a major research institu-tion? The Hodges’ business is one of an in-augural group of companies in a technology business incubator program created through a public/private partnership among Clemson, the Town of Bluffton, Care Core National and Buckwalter Place, along with additional private sponsors.

Greenbug Inc. is one of nine businesses in Bluffton’s Don Ryan Center for Innova-tion, which opened its doors in May 2012, according to Director Jordan Berliner. The center’s program provides business space and resources to help entrepreneurs, inven-tors and small business owners be successful. The incubator program assists small business owners with intellectual property, technology

evaluation, product development services, seed financing, business mentorship, corpo-rate relationships and recruiting.

The center, a 501c3 organization, reports to a seven-member board appointed by the Bluffton Town Council that works in coop-eration with the Clemson University Institute for Economic and Community Development. It is designed for small and medium-sized cities, building local partnerships to diversify economic development, according to Karl Kelly, director of commercialization and technology incubation in Clemson’s econom-ic development division.

“We’re able to use our many resources across Clemson to help these companies develop,” said Kelly, adding that the program hopes to help establish 15 to 30 companies a year.

In addition to getting help with research, Louise Hodges said she’s received input on her business plan, and legal and financial advice from the program.

“If I, as a small business owner, had to pay for all these services, I couldn’t do it,” she said.

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka was a strong advocate for bringing the center to Bluffton.

“One of the town’s goals is to enhance economic development,” Sulka said. “With

clemson university works with cities to support small tech businesses

By Amy Geier Edgar

Greenbug for People is one of Greenbug Inc.’s products coming out of the Don Ryan Center in Bluffton.


an average age of 32 in the Town of Bluffton and an ever growing population in our high school, we need to look for ways to bring jobs to our area and train our workforce for the companies moving to our area. Having Clemson University’s presence in our town opens the doors to the world in terms of knowledge and expertise in the economic development arena. This, along with USC-Beaufort just minutes away from our town, makes us the perfect location for this innova-tion center.”

The center’s success already has been rec-ognized throughout the region and state, said Bluffton Town Manager Anthony Barrett. “Many of the innovators are close to launch-ing their businesses and products. As a com-munity, we are all better off and have been served well and will continue to be served by the center,” he said. “Not only is it an idea whose time has come; it is a working and liv-ing example of how true entrepreneurial spirit works in a public-private partnership.”

Sulka said she expects the innovation center will have a large impact on the town and region.

“My hopes are that these innovators will leave the center and open their businesses in Bluffton or the surrounding area,” Sulka said.

Barrett said the center demonstrates the town’s commitment and attitude toward eco-nomic development.

“The town views this initiative as more than an incubator; it is letting the entire world know we are serious about economic development,” Barrett said.

“The synergy and word-of-mouth chatter around the state and beyond about the Don Ryan Center has created a robust ‘economic state of mind,’ which is just as important as the ‘Bluffton state of mind,’” he said. “It is a harbinger of great things to come in develop-ing companies as well as creating opportuni-ties for true economic development here and in the region.”

The incubator is a three-year pilot pro-gram with five communities, Kelly said. Rock Hill currently is developing a program, and another will launch in Hartsville later this year.

Rock Hill plans to select businesses for its incubator in the coming months, said Ste-phen Turner, executive director for the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation, adding that a number of promising busi-nesses have expressed interest. Rock Hill, the RHEDC, Winthrop University, York Techni-cal College and private partners are involved in running the program.

The goal, Turner said, is to get a few small technology-based businesses to grow into larger businesses that eventually will create more jobs for people in the area.

Having Clemson as a resource is a tre-mendous plus for the program, said Rock Hill Mayor Doug Echols.

“I know the results in Bluffton have been positive, and I expect an equal amount of enthusiasm in our community,” Echols said. “This is a piece of our continuing effort to make Rock Hill a great place to do business.”

The Duke Energy Center for Innovation in Hartsville will be in a downtown store-front that the city will provide at no cost. The city will also hire a director to manage the day-to-day operations of the incubator, and has already assembled a diverse board of directors.

Mayor Mel Pennington says the incubator partnership is a huge win for Hartsville and the city’s efforts to bring jobs to the com-munity.

“Jobs, jobs, jobs – that’s the single most important thing in any community. We’re utilizing our diverse assets to create a unique environment that will attract the types of companies that most cities aren’t focused on.”

The ability to bring the incubator pro-gram to Hartsville comes from a grant from the Duke Energy Foundation.

“Fostering economic development in the communities we serve is a critically impor-tant mission for Duke Energy,” said Mindy Taylor, Duke’s community relations manager for eastern South Carolina. “I can’t think of a better place than Hartsville to bring this pro-gram, and we think it will pay dividends for the community for years to come.”

One unique asset Hartsville can draw on is the students at the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics who will be able to get involved in the incubator. “We have the brightest kids in the state right here in Harts-ville,” Pennington said. “This is exciting for the City of Hartsville, and we are thankful for the partnership with Duke Energy and the Governor’s School.” •

The Greenbug Injector System uses an existing irrigation system to distribute Greenbug for Outdoors so that any-where water is directed becomes safely pest free.


the cities of Greenville and Seneca are introducing electric vehicles locally in pioneering projects that are being

hailed by leaders as beneficial to the environ-ment and to economic development.

The City of Seneca received a $4.1 million grant from the Federal Transit Administra-tion to replace all of its diesel buses with elec-tric buses built by Greenville-based Proterra, the leading maker of zero-emission commer-cial transit solutions.

Officials hope to have the buses running in tests by the spring, according to Ed Halbig, director of Planning and Development for the City of Seneca.

The fare-free buses, which are operated by Clemson Area Transit, travel three routes in Seneca, taking passengers to work, school, shopping, dining and the hospital. They help cut back on traffic congestion and are widely used by the community, serving 24,891 pas-sengers over a 20-day period in November alone, Halbig said.

It takes about 10 minutes to recharge each bus when the battery is exhausted. Two recharging stations are planned – one at the downtown transit hub and one at the central-ly located Oconee Medical Center property, Halbig said.

Seneca was one of 46 innovative transit projects selected to help cut the nation’s dependence on oil and create a marketplace for 21st century green jobs. Projects were selected through the FTA’s Fiscal Year 2011 Sustainability Initiative.

As the nation’s first all-electric transit system, Seneca’s program is getting atten-tion from around the world. The hope is that larger cities can see how these electric buses can make their communities more efficient

and can scale them to size to meet their own needs, Halbig said.

“We’re excited to see if we can be part of the solution to get us off the imports of for-eign oil,” Halbig said.

The City of Greenville also is working to be part of the green solution.

In September, the Environmental Protec-tion Agency awarded Greenville a

Driving futureintothe

The electric WeCar in Greenville is a membership-based car sharing program for providing an eco-friendly way to get around.

By Amy Geier Edgar


Community Action Award for its Electric Vehicle Ecosystem Pilot Program. The pro-gram – through a partnership with the City and County of Greenville, General Electric, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Greenville Spartan-burg International Airport and Thurso Power System, among others – aims to provide lo-cal businesses and residents with access to electric vehicles and a network of charging stations.

The EV program introduces electric ve-hicles into the marketplace for short-term use at several companies and rentals at Enterprise and the airport. Enterprise also launched its membership-based car sharing program, WeCar, in downtown Greenville using EVs.

WeCar is a unique, membership-based car sharing program for people who are look-ing for an alternative method of transporta-tion and provides downtown office tenants, residents and hotel guests with the conve-nience of a cost effective, responsible and eco-friendly way to get around. Users pay only for the hours used and the rate includes all maintenance and insurance.

Along with the vehicles, the EV program includes approximately 45 charging stations throughout the county, with more than 20 of them in the downtown area (including city garages), according to Greenville Govern-mental Relations Manager Julie Horton.

The EV Ecosystem Program seeks to im-prove air quality and decrease the city’s gas dependence, carbon footprint and carbon dioxide emissions.

“This program continues the city’s long history of public-private partnerships. When

we talk about sustainability, it’s about more than just saving energy. It’s about making good business decisions in an era where every dollar must be stretched; it’s about leading in innova-

tion and job creation; it’s about cleaner air; it’s about a longer-term process to make Greenville greener and more livable for its citizens,” ac-cording to Mayor Knox White. •

Top: Electric buses will travel three routes in Seneca, taking passengers to work, school, shopping, dining and the hospital. Bottom: There are approximately 45 charging stations throughout Greenville County, including more than 20 in the downtown Greenville area (including city garages).

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great downtowns don’t just happen. They are the result of vision coupled with public and private investment

and collaboration.Three South Carolina business leaders in

cities of varying sizes say their hometowns have found the right formula and can serve as a lab for other cities and the businesses located in them.

Greenville’s renaissance began with a vision more than 30 years ago. The downtown Green-ville of today in no way resembles the city of

the 1970s. Downtown Greenville has emerged with a strong mix of residential, retail and of-fice, and a pedestrian-oriented Main Street.

Anne S. Ellefson, managing director of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, says, “We have been blessed in Greenville to have visionary leadership. A creative combination of public and private efforts has allowed us to create development beyond normal expectations.”

And Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd is putting its money where its mouth is. The law firm’s Greenville office opened on Main Street 125

years ago, later moving to several other loca-tions around the city. In January, the firm’s office moved back to Main Street.

“The decision to move back that way was a return to our roots,” Ellefson says. “The evolution of Main Street over the past 30 years has been awesome to watch. The area where our new One Building is located will be the link between the north end and the south end of Main Street, tying lots of devel-opment efforts together. We are excited to help make that happen.”

Public and private investment key to successful downtownsshared vision

Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd is returning to its roots with a new building on Greenville’s Main Street.


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“This is my hometown.

Lake City is where I

learned critical values

and work ethic I

needed to succeed in

my profession. And,

as such, it is a town I

want to see succeed.”

Darla MooreBusinesswoman

Greenville Mayor Knox White is a partner in Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, and this dual role allows him to live what he preaches. “The city has a tradition of working in part-nership with private businesses. Together we create an environment that is beautiful and full of life.”

It’s not just the big cities that are seeding their downtowns to be attractive to new invest-ment. In Manning, entrepreneur Jeffrey Black could have chosen to locate his international consulting business anywhere, but he saw the potential in his hometown Main Street. He owns 12 downtown buildings in Manning and runs his company from one of them.

Black says he chose to invest in down-town Manning because he believes a city’s downtown is the first impression people get of what a community’s values are. “Nobody wants to come to a place that looks tired and uncared for. They want to come to a place that is alive and vibrant – a town rich in his-tory, but with a vision for the future.”

Black points to the City of Manning’s participation in the Main Street SC program as a real asset to its downtown development. “This group’s support is instrumental in en-hancing downtown, one building at a time. This organization provides yearly façade grants, and building owners realize that a new coat of paint, good signage and planters can make a world of difference.”

In Lake City, businesswoman Darla Moore also felt the pull of her hometown when she decided to help revive its down-town.

“This is my hometown,” Moore says. “Lake City is where I learned critical values and work ethic I needed to succeed in my profession. And, as such, it is a town I want to see succeed. Our research tells us Lake City has the assets necessary to succeed, and

I believe, with a little help, we can use these assets to transform Lake City.”

“Our town leaders, led by Mayor Lovith Anderson, have committed their time and resources to be part of a huge public/private partnership effort to improve the economic viability of Lake City,” Moore says. “This collaborative is demonstrating to everyone involved the importance of working together to solve problems.”

Moore says downtown Lake City has been able to retain its early 1900s façade. And the town has enacted a historic preservation dis-trict ordinance to ensure the preservation of the downtown area. The town is also working to offer downtown property owners grants

and tax incentives to improve the façades of their buildings.

She believes that this Pee Dee town can become a destination many people will want to visit in order to reconnect with a small town atmosphere that has mostly disap-peared from our countryside.

“I envision a vibrant, active downtown full of restaurants, retail stores, apartments and hotels to accommodate all the people who will want to spend some time visiting museums, viewing the agribusiness history of Lake City, honoring the life of the distin-guished astronaut, Ronald E. McNair, and enjoying the beautiful gardens and rivers in the Lake City community,” Moore says. •


As gas prices remain high and efforts to be more ecologically friendly in-crease, bicycles offer an affordable,

nonpolluting, greenhouse gas-preventing form of transportation.

Cities across the country are capitalizing on the growing popularity of biking, and they are reaping the economic and quality of life benefits from building and supporting a bike-friendly community.

“Communities that have fostered that popularity by providing bicycle infrastruc-ture for transportation and recreation have seen considerable economic benefits by at-tracting businesses, tourism and active resi-dents,” according to Advocacy Advance – a partnership of the League of American Bicy-clists and the Alliance for Biking & Walking,

“Building such a (bike-friendly communi-ty) can translate into a more connected, physi-cally active, and environmentally sustainable community that enjoys increased property values, business growth, increased tourism, and more transportation choices,” according to the League of American Bicyclists.

“The nation’s 60 million annual recre-ational bicyclists spend $46.9 billion on meals, transportation, lodging, gifts and

entertainment,” reported the League. It also cites a study by the Outdoor Industry Foun-dation that estimates the spill-over effects of all bicycling-related activities could be as large as $133 billion, supporting 1.1 million jobs and generating $17.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.

In October, Rock Hill became the state’s newest Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly

Community, a designation awarded by the League of American Bicyclists. Rock Hill joins other South Carolina Bronze Level Communities: Charleston, Columbia, Green-ville and Spartanburg. Hilton Head Island is the only community in South Carolina to achieve the League’s silver level.

The League, through its Bicycle Friendly Community Program, recognizes cities for their commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastruc-ture and pro-bicycling policies.

A Bicycle Friendly Community must demonstrate achievements in each of the program’s five categories: engineering, edu-cation, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning. “Any city – regard-less of size or geography – can take cost-effective steps to increase bicycling in their community,” said League President Andy Clarke.

“Receiving this designation from the League of American Bicyclists is not only a tremendous honor, but it is also a testament to Rock Hill’s commitment to providing the highest quality of life for all citizens,” said Rock Hill Mayor Doug Echols.

Bike corrals are part of the City of Charleston’s overall effort to meet increasing demand for bicycle parking in the downtown area.

Cities r ll ut bike-friendly initiatives

By Mary Brantner


Part of creating a bicycle-friendly com-munity is providing safe, convenient and secure bike parking. Without some accom-modation, cyclists are forced to either lock the bikes to a parking meter or compete with trees, pedestrians and newspaper racks for sidewalk space.

In response, communities across the country are turning to bike corrals. Typically installed in a single-car parking space, corrals provide on-street parking for up to 12 bicy-cles. By locating these corrals on city streets, officials ensure the bicycle parking spaces are out of the way of pedestrians, visible to mo-torists and, most importantly, easily spotted by cyclists.

Basically, bike corrals are just longer side-walk bicycle racks – a fixed structure with upside-down U-shapes. However, some cities are unleashing their creativity and showing off their community’s unique character. With the help of a local college’s art class, Eugene, Oregon, has made the corrals a part of its public arts plan. The corrals showcase the city’s history and culture.

The corrals offer a number of benefits. They give bikes a designated place to park at popular locations and acknowledge the

cyclists’ importance to the community. Busi-ness owners like the additional traffic and unobstructed view of their businesses that the corrals provide. By freeing up sidewalk space, pedestrians enjoy a safer place to walk.

In September, Charleston installed the state’s first bike corral on King Street. Mayor Joe Riley explained, “Bike corrals … serve as a signal to everyone that bicycling is an important part of our community. Promoting bicycling downtown and in other parts of the city helps address the problems associated with congested areas.”

Charleston plans to install three addi-tional corrals in the downtown area. They

are part of the city’s overall effort to meet increasing demand for bicycle parking in the downtown area. The corrals provide an inno-vative solution to the challenges of Charles-ton’s historic streets where sidewalk space is already claimed by pedestrians and other streetscape elements.

In October 2012, Columbia installed four bike corrals in three of its hospitality districts – Five Points, the Vista and City Center. Groups representing the hospitality districts have supported the city’s efforts, which in-cluded agreeing to a 50 percent cost share for the corrals.

“While Five Points, the Vista and City Center each have their unique features, the corrals provide a great sense of connectivity, helping to form a stronger, more viable city,” commented Mayor Steve Benjamin.

The bike corral initiative is one of sev-eral initiatives the City of Columbia and its Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee are working on to enhance Columbia’s bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure. •

Learn more about the Bicycle Friendly Communities Program at www.bikeleague.org/communities.

Above: The bike corral initiative is one of several initia-tives the City of Columbia and its Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee are working on to enhance Colum-bia’s bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure.Right: With the help of a local college’s art class, Eugene, Oregon, has made the bike corrals a part of its public arts plan. (Photo/City of Eugene)

“Receiving this designation from the League of American Bicyclists is not only a tremendous honor,

but it is also a testament to Rock Hill’s commitment to

providing the highest quality of life for all citizens.”

Mayor Doug echolsRock Hill

to MArket,

to MArket

A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina14 Cities Mean Business | www.citiesmeanbusiness.org

farmers markets are popping up all over the state supporting the move-ment to buy local. But farmers mar-

kets are more than part of a trend for the sale of local products.

In days gone by, farmers markets were found almost solely along rural roads where local farmers would sell their products from the back of a truck.

Today, the idea of a farmers market is much more market-driven, and local gov-ernments are seeing the economic value of supporting the startup of markets in their communities.

Not only do farmers markets give local vendors the chance to sell their wares di-rectly to the consumer, but the markets also enhance the local tax base, keep dollars in the local economy and give vendors low-risk business opportunities.

The SC Department of Agriculture data shows more than 120 local farmers market around the state, many of which are operated in partnership with local governments.

The City of Camden partners with the Kershaw County Farmers Market, an inde-pendent 501c3 organization, to operate the Saturday market from April through Decem-ber. The city secured a state grant in 2007 to fund half the cost of prime downtown land for a farmers market site, a one-acre grass lot in the heart of downtown. The city funded the remaining land cost. The city cuts the grass and makes improvements to the prop-erty as requested by the farmers market or-ganization, such as a handicapped-accessible ramp, bike racks and electrical connections.

It’s a great partnership, says Mayor Tony Scully. “While the city made an investment in the physical space, the Kershaw County Farmers Market does all the work. They have a manager who is an excellent organizer. Be-cause the market is in the heart of downtown, all the downtown businesses benefit – from the restaurants to the antique stores to the general merchandisers.”

The Town of Mount Pleasant sees similar success from its market that is held in

partnership with a local middle school lo-cated in the heart of the town. The town part-nered with the school to build a pavilion area and install the other necessary infrastructure on the school campus. When not in use by the market, the pavilions provide covered, outdoor classroom space.

Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails says the town’s investment in the physical space and staffing for the market pays off in many ways for the whole community. “Beyond pro-viding a much-needed community gathering space, the market has also shown success in helping local vendors get their products in-troduced to a larger market.”

Lance Nilsen, owner of Dale’s Lowcountry Cuisine, is a vendor at the Mount Pleasant market in addition to markets in Summer-ville, Pawleys Island, North Myrtle Beach, Florence and Daniel Island. He says “We use the farmers market to talk with people about our products. We let them sample and let them know where they can purchase our products when not at the markets.” •


Columbia’s Soda City Market moved

to Main Street last fall and draws

hundreds of shoppers and visitors

every Saturday morning. Vendors

sell fresh produce, meat, seafood and

flowers as well as hot food, baked

items and food to go. Local artisans

also sell their wares.

HoMetown SnAPSHot

Photo/James T. Hammond

You see a street…

We see a lifeline that is a hometown with planned traffic flow, fire stations, thousands of visitors each year, city parks and community centers for children of all ages. Our streets take us to our jobs, our churches, our fun places and even to grandma’s house.

www.CitiesMeanBusiness.org

http://www.citiesmeanbusiness.org

For information about statewide advertising, call Steve Fields at 843.849.3110.

CONNECTING BUSINESSin South Carolina

SC Biz News is the premier publisher of business news in the state of South Carolina. We publish the Charleston Regional Business Journal, Columbia Regional Business Report, GSA Business and SCBIZ magazine.

Connect your business to our statewide audience.

http://www.scbiznews.com

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S.C. leaders tackle transportation infrastructure, funding

Photo/Leslie Burden

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By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

South Carolina needs to improve its transportation infrastructure if it hopes to attract new businesses and encourage expansion.

That’s the opinion of key business leaders as they press the South Carolina Legislature to find the money to widen inter-states, fix bridges, and revamp interchanges to improve the flow

of commerce.“If we don’t get the infrastructure piece, none of this other stuff is

going to happen,” said Otis Rawl, president and CEO of the S.C. Cham-ber of Commerce. “Businesses will start looking in other places.”

The price tag to fix the infrastructure is hefty.

S.C. leaders tackle transportation infrastructure, funding

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A group of business leaders, including Rawl, have suggested to the Legislature that $6 billion worth of transportation infra-structure projects needs to be completed over the next 10 years.

Meanwhile, the S.C. Department of Transportation says South Carolina is fac-ing a funding shortfall of $29 billion over the next 20 years to cover the cost of fixing roads and bridges, and investing in mass transit and rail transportation.

A report by SCDOT pegged the state’s transportation needs through 2033 at $48.3 billion. But anticipated funding – which in-cludes state and federal tax appropriations – is estimated to total $19 billion. That means an annual funding shortfall of roughly $1.5

billion for the next 20 years.Given the state’s limited wallet, the SC-

DOT is putting together a 25-year statewide multimodal plan to move freight by ground, rail and air.

The plan, to be released in January 2014, also involves the S.C. Department of Com-merce and S.C. State Ports Authority.

The plan will prioritize future trans-portation infrastructure requirements and serve as a tool to spur job creation, business expansion and education. It also will analyze infrastructure requirements, as well as rail, freight and transit components.

Advocates say the need for a plan and improvements to transportation infrastruc-ture is urgent, citing a $5.3 billion overhaul

project that will increase the capacity of the Panama Canal by 2015.

When completed, the ultra-large cargo ships will flow from the west through the canal to call on the Port of Charleston.

Handling bigger cargo ships, which can carry about 40% more containers than the largest cargo vessels that routinely dock at Charleston now, means more trucks hauling more goods to and from the manufacturing and distribution centers in the Midlands and Upstate via an already stressed interstate highway system.

The transportation plan will serve as a roadmap to the South Carolina of the future and shape the state’s economy, supporters say.

S.C. transportation needs through 2033

Roughly $1.5B annual funding shortfall

$19B Anticipated funding* $48.3B estimated need

* includes state and federal tax appropriations

Source: SCDOT

Cargo is loaded onto a FedEx plane early in the morning at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. (Photo/Liz Segrist)

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“What we want to be able to do is devel-op an efficient and seamless transportation system,” said Doug Frate, deputy director for intermodal and freight programs at the SCDOT. “We have to be able to be in a posi-tion to effectively meet the critical trans-portation demands and further economic development efforts.”

The plan is expected to incorporate a number of the state’s advantages, which would include:

• The state is just a two-day drive from more than 200 million Ameri-cans, and home to five interstate highways offering east-west and north-south access to the rest of the nation.

• Two world class railroads – CSX and Norfolk Southern – serve the state via 2,400 miles of track.

• Nearly any location in the state is within an hour’s drive from primary airports at Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Charlotte, which offer cargo services.

• South Carolina is one of the leading areas in the world that offers afford-able and reliable energy.

“When you listen to these manufactur-ers, the one thing they like about South Carolina is the infrastructure,” said Doug Woodward, an economist at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business. “If we hadn’t made investments in our port and our highways, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

As part of SCDOT’s effort to draw up a transportation plan, it has held meetings around the state to understand statewide freight needs, find ways to reduce bottle-necks, and improve efficiency on the inter-state highways and other corridors.

In conjunction with the meetings, Scott Mason, who holds the Fluor Endowed Chair in Supply Chain and Logistics in Clemson University’s industrial engineering depart-ment, has interviewed key stakeholders to get their thoughts on the state’s transporta-tion needs.

“I hear a lot about the strengths, what our state does well,” Mason said.

However, many of the executives are concerned about how the state plans to pay

for future transportation needs.“A lot agree that infrastructure is woe-

fully underfunded and our Department of Transportation is right in that just getting to what they call ‘good’ requires billions of dollars,” Mason said.

Traffic congestion threatens many of the haulers’ profit margins, Mason added.

Some trucking company executives said they have anywhere from a 15-minute to one-hour window to make deliveries and keep their customers’ production lines hum-ming.

“One person I talked to said they’re held liable for any losses that a company faces because of a late delivery,” Mason said. “If you can imagine showing up 20 minutes late and getting a bill for 20 minutes of machine downtime, that could be very exorbitant.”

Transportation, money and jobs

One element of the state’s economy de-pendent on the transportation system is the TDL industry – transportation, distribution and logistics.

The industry involves some 2,500 companies that employ more than 40,000 workers, with a payroll of more than $1.6 billion.

The sector’s growth has taken off in re-cent years as TDL companies added 11,000 jobs and invested $1 billion in expansion projects and new construction.

Meanwhile state exports to 198 coun-tries jumped 21% in 2011 and were up 4% through the first half of 2012.

S.C. exports, which were valued at about $25 billion in 2011, support nearly three out of every 10 manufacturing jobs in the state, according to the International Trade Association.

The annual economic impact of the port alone totals $45 billion and supports 300,000 jobs. More than 700 companies across the state do business with the port and use the state’s highways.

The state transportation plan will take into account what projects would offer the best return on investment, said Frate of SCDOT, adding that there is a direct corre-lation between transportation infrastructure and economic growth.

With limited resources, the agency wants to write a plan that gets the best return.

“We have very limited resources for in-frastructure in the state of South Carolina,” Frate said.

Many, though, wonder if the state’s political leaders are willing to make trans-portation infrastructure a top priority for funding support.

Before the Legislature opened for busi-ness this year, the S.C. Business Roundtable sent a letter to the top budget writers asking them to support the group’s request that the state invest $6 billion over the next 10 years on transportation infrastructure projects.

The Business Roundtable represents 14 business organizations including the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, S.C. Forestry As-sociation, S.C. Manufacturers Alliance, S.C. Trucking Association, and the S.C. Farm Bureau.

“If no new revenue is dedicated to infrastructure this legislative session, it will take more than 50 years to complete major projects that are necessary for the economic success of South Carolina today,” the group said in letters to state Rep. Brian White, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and state Sen. Hugh

Truck traffic is heavy on I-26 through Columbia, as well as other parts of the state. Delays on the road can cost haulers big time. (Photo/Jeff Blake)

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Leatherman, chairman of the Senate’s Fi-nance Committee.

“The private sector can do a lot to move the state forward, but businesses cannot make the decision to expand interstates, replace bridges or build new roads. Invest-ing in infrastructure is inherently a core function of government.”

The Business Roundtable suggested that $2.5 billion be spent for expansion of exist-ing highways, $2 billion for replacement of deteriorating bridges, and $1.5 billion for resurfacing projects in all of the state’s 46 counties.

The group singled out I-26, a 221-mile ribbon of concrete and asphalt linking Up-state manufacturers to the Port of Charles-ton, as a critical commercial and economic development artery.

“We believe it deserves special and im-

mediate improvement in order to serve our vital tourism, port, manufacturing, just-in-time shipping and everyday travel require-ments,” the Business Roundtable said.

I-26’s route, which traverses 10 counties with a combined population of 1.6 million, has been labeled the “lifeblood of business in South Carolina.”

But the route is notorious for traffic jams and accidents. For example:

• In Charleston County, according to S.C. Department of Transportation, about 150,000 vehicles a day travel some sections of I-26.

• In Richland County, more than 140,000 vehicles can be counted daily on sections of the highway.

• In Orangeburg County — midway between Columbia and Charleston — the daily vehicle count on I-26 is

about 50,000 cars and trucks.About 13,000 to 14,000 of those vehicles

traveling through Orangeburg County are trucks, many of them hauling goods to and from the port.

Statistics compiled by the Federal High-way Administration show that daily traffic volume on heavily traveled sections of I-26 — from Columbia to Charleston — increased 500% to 700% between 1969 and 2003.

“All you have to do is have an accident and you shut down commerce for a day or half a day,” Rawl said. “You can’t afford that.”

The SCDOT estimates that 30% of all roadway travel in South Carolina is on the interstates, and 14% of the state’s 851 miles of superhighways experience “recurring congestion.”

Highway congestion cost the state $2.6

50,000 vehicles a day travel I-26

in Orangeburg County

140,000 vehicles a day travel I-26in Richland County

150,000

vehicles a day travel I-26

in Charleston CountyMap: Jean Piot

http://www.columbiaairport.com

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billion in lost economic activity between 2005 and 2011, the SCDOT said.

Finding the moneyHow to pay for the work, though, will be

a challenge.Increasing the state gasoline tax is often

suggested by business leaders as a remedy.South Carolina collects 16.75 cents for

every gallon of gasoline purchased in the state – the fourth-lowest tax in the country.

But the gas tax has been fixed since 1987, when South Carolina had one million fewer people and a much smaller manufacturing and distribution base.

At the time, the Legislature didn’t opt to index the tax for inflation, so the amount of tax collected per gallon has stayed the same.

The amount of gas tax revenues lately has tapered off because cars are getting bet-ter mileage; thus less gasoline is consumed.

For the upcoming 2013-14 fiscal year, gas tax revenues are expected to total $460.7 million – less than a third of the transporta-tion agency’s $1.5 billion budget.

The largest share of the SCDOT budget – $900.2 million – is expected to come from federal reimbursements and grants.

In a meeting with the state Senate Fi-nance Committee, SCDOT director Robert St. Onge Jr. noted that the state gas tax must be leveraged as match money to receive federal funding.

However, revenues from the state gas tax have been relatively flat since 2001 and have not kept pace with inflation. Overall, there has been a 49% reduction in buying power since the last fuel tax adjustment in 1987, St. Onge said.

While raising the gas tax might remedy some of the transportation funding prob-lems, few think legislators will support an increase.

“I don’t know if the General Assembly has the will to raise the gas tax,” said State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Chapin. “If that’s not going to happen, where will the infu-sion come from?”

Even if the Legislature passed a hike in the gas tax, Gov. Nikki Haley said she would oppose it.

“Why would we raise the gas tax to improve infrastructure when all the gas tax dollars we currently collect don’t go to improving our infrastructure?” Haley asked in her State of the State speech.

Instead, Haley said more could be done to make sure gas tax proceeds go into roads and bridges.

The SCDOT reported that it received 74%, or about $418.9 million,of the $563.9 million collected in taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel during the 2011-12 fiscal year for operations.

Of the $145 million in gas tax collections for the year that did not go to DOT, the largest chunk – $68.7 million went to coun-ty transportation funds. That was followed by $26 million to the State Infrastructure Bank, and $17.7 million to the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s fund for the cleanup of underground fuel storage tanks.

Just under $900,000 went to the Depart-ment of Agriculture, which inspects pumps and tests fuel quality.

In her proposed budget for the upcom-ing fiscal year, Haley recommended the cost of supporting both the Department of Natural Resources’ Water Resources Fund and the Agriculture Department’s petroleum inspection program be covered by the General Fund. Those changes would make an estimated additional $4.3 million

The South Carolina TDL Council aims to make sure that the state maintains its competitiveness when it comes to infrastructure.

TDL stands for transportation, distribution and logistics. The council was formally launched in November 2011, an outgrowth of New Carolina, S.C.’s Council on Competitiveness. The TDL Council brings together public and private sector leaders to help the state compete for jobs, investment and industry leadership.

A major project is providing private sector input for development of a statewide strategic plan sponsored by the S.C. Department of Transportation, S.C. Department of Commerce and S.C. Ports Authority.

Deepal Eliatamby of Columbia is chairman of the TDL Council, which is made up of 30 governing members. Of those, DOT, Commerce and the Ports Authority have one representative each. The other 27 represent the private sector: sea, air, rail and roads. The membership is balanced by geographic area and by industry sector.

The TDL Council web site is www.tdlcouncilsc.com.The 2013 South Carolina TDL Summit is planned for March 14 at Seawell’s, 1125

Rosewood Drive, Columbia. For registration information, check the goals and activi-ties page of the TDL Council’s web site.

Source: www.newcarolina.org and www.tdlcouncilsc.com

TDL Council looks out for state’s roads, rails, ports and airports

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16.75 centsthe amount of money S.C. collects for every gallon of

gasoline purchased in the state

available each year for theTransportation Department, she said.

Haley’s proposed spending for the next fiscal year also includes $90 million for road and bridge improvements.

“Our goal is to make sure our infrastruc-ture needs are ahead of what the needs are for the companies we are trying to attract,” Haley said at a Statehouse news conference.

One way to finance transportation needs without increasing taxes would be to bank the money that the Board of Economic Advisers projects will be collected above what is needed to meet state budget obliga-tions, according to legislation introduced by Ballentine.

However, Woodward thinks the excess revenues should go into a rainy day fund.

“I’ve always advocated that,” Woodward said. “Don’t spend this money just because it’s above forecast, because you’re going to go below forecast someday and wish you had that money.”

The state needs to take a hard look at how it’s spending money, said state Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia.

“Before we can come to the taxpayers and say we need more money, we need to make sure the money we have is being spent as efficiently as possible,” Lourie said.

A bill sponsored by state Sens. Harvey

Peeler, R-Cherokee, and Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, aims to restructure the state’s transportation agencies to better coordinate highway construction and cut down on borrowing.

The measure would eliminate the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) and fold its func-tions into the S.C. Transportation Depart-ment. It also would prevent the SCDOT from borrowing above its bonding capacity.

Peeler and Sheheen said projects funded by the State Infrastructure Bank often are awarded based on politics rather than merit.

“The SIB has been force-feeding asphalt to the coast, while the Upstate and many rural areas starve,” Peeler said. “It just doesn’t make sense to have one state agency building expensive new roads when we can’t even keep up with our current maintenance needs.”

Regardless of political sentiments, the state needs to come up with a financial remedy for its infrastructure woes.

“We can talk about that and give it all the lip service we want, but until we start making that a funding priority, that’s going to be one of the things that’s holding back growth,” Ballentine said.

Added Woodward: “We’ve got to find a way to make these improvements. China is doing it.”

S.C. GAS TAX by the numbers

$563.9Mthe amount of money S.C.

collected through the gas tax for fiscal year 2011-12.

74%the percentage of the gas tax

that the SCDOT received

4th lowestwhere S.C.’’s gas tax rate ranks nationlly

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By Matt Tomsic, Staff Writer

The state of South Carolina has much work ahead to develop its rail infra-structure.

The S.C. Department of Com-merce and city of North Charleston

are beginning to develop a once-contro-versial rail yard on the former Navy base; meanwhile rail infrastructure needs are being folded into a transportation study and other projects, like the inland port in Greer, are under way.

Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt said his department is focused on North Charleston for now.

“I think we feel like we’ve got quite enough work here to keep us busy for a while,” Hitt said. “It’s important not only that we find the right way to solve this conflict, but it’s important we take the nec-essary time, and we go through the process to make sure it’s implemented in the right way.”

In December, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and Hitt announced a com-promise to competing plans to develop a rail yard at the former Navy base.

During a news conference, Summey said the city and state smiled, laughed and cursed each other during negotiations that would eventually turn into the settlement.

“It’s been a marriage, but sometimes in marriage we have disagreements,” Summey said, joking his wife was there, and their marriage works because she tells him no.

“I’m working on that, Mr. Mayor,” Hitt said, adding that tactic isn’t working out for him so far.

Summey, Hitt, Gov. Nikki Haley and others praised the settlement, which calls for a rail yard on Clemson University-owned land and access to the yard through an exist-ing line to the north. The settlement also calls for land swaps between the city and state and a payment of $8 million from the state to the city during the next four years. The state also agreed to take responsibility for $6.5 million in city bond debt that was connected with redevelopment efforts.

The city, S.C. Public Railways, S.C. De-partment of Transportation and S.C. State Ports Authority will also pay for a transpor-tation study that will examine the impacts of rail and port traffic on the city. The deal will be finalized after a consent order is entered in state court that adopts the settlement’s terms. The order will end cases involving Public Railways, the Commerce Depart-

ment, the ports authority, the city of North Charleston and others.

“This is leadership at its finest,” said Haley, who traveled to North Charleston for the news conference after the City Council vote. “If you want to work for the people, then get them results.”

The rail yard will also take some trucks off Interstate 26, said state Sen. Hugh

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City property going to state

Clemson-owned property

State property coming to city

Source: City of North Charleston

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Leatherman.“It’s, I think, the beginning of something

far greater than we can even imagine,” Leatherman said.

Ports authority board chairman Bill Stern also praised the agreement.

“The construction of a dual-rail-served intermodal container transfer facility at the former Charleston Naval Base will enhance rail competitiveness for the Charleston region,” Stern said. “We are pleased that this will resolve the city’s claims against the ports authority, ending the pending litiga-tion.”

Summey said the city had spent about $750,000 on legal costs, and that figure had been about to increase as the parties prepared for upcoming trials.

The settlement ends years of public spar-ring and legal fights that stem from a 2002 memorandum of understanding between North Charleston and the S.C. State Ports Authority that called for rail access to port property only through the southern end of the new Navy base terminal.

Hitt said stakeholders still have much data to collect and studies to perform before the rail yard opens in North Charleston, and eventually the groups will make recommen-dations about quiet zones, traffic congestion and other issues that could be impacted by the new rail yard.

“We expect this to be a fairly robust process,” Hitt said.

Meanwhile, a transportation, distribu-tion and logistics study will also provide recommendations for the state’s rail needs given the new rail yard in North Charleston and the inland port in Greer. The S.C. State Ports Authority announced plans for the inland port last year and hopes to finish that rail yard by September.

The yard will link the Port of Charleston and the Upstate with an overnight train service, and ports CEO Jim Newsome has said Upstate customers like BMW, Adidas and others could use the facility.

The ongoing study will look at ways to integrate rail into the state’s transportation plan, Hitt said.

“This will give us another piece,” he said. “We need to be able to bring rail into this equation.”

http://www.scgssm.org

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S.C. WOOD PELLET INDUSTRY IN GROWTH MODE

By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

The wood pellet industry in South Carolina is picking

up steam with one plant ramping up production and

another about to be built.

When both facilities are operating, South Carolina will

have the capacity to produce about 700,000 tons of

pellets annually.

See WOOD PELLETS, page 40

http://www.sielift.com

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Tucked among rolling farmland and two-lane blacktops near Gilbert in rural Lexington County, Avtec Inc. makes high-tech products that company president Michael Branning

labels “mission critical.”At Avtec, workers design and build

communications consoles and software used to make Internet protocol products for voice-over network systems. Its custom-ers include police departments, 9-1-1 call centers, railroads and airlines.

“People are amazed that there would be a company at this level of technical focus operating here, kind of incognito,” said Michael Ridge, a 24-year employee of Avtec and director of product marketing.

Avtec consoles are the key component in customers’ command-and-control centers and must work properly, Branning said. “There are lives and businesses at stake.”

Avtec has evolved from a manufacturer of proprietary console systems to a company that provides software-based communica-tion solutions with an emphasis on open standards, Branning said.

“We are the tool that ties together all the dispatchers’ voice resources into a really high capability, user interface that allows them to manage a complex mission,” he said.

A key to that capability is the software Avtec designs so that the dispatchers can handle multiple radio transmissions and phone conversations.

“You’ve got data packets moving around a network with little snippets of voice,” said Kevin Williams, vice president of product development. “You make multiple mixes of the voices and pass them out to the right people at the right time.”

Sometimes the snippets travel across large areas and multiple states. The chal-lenge is to put the snippets — each lasting about 20 milliseconds — back together with-out having a gap in audio, Williams said.

To illustrate the critical nature of Avtec’s

work, Williams offered an example of a police call.

“You’re involved in the conversation and someone yells ‘don’t shoot’ and you miss the ‘don’t.’ You’ve heard the wrong thing. We can’t let that happen,” he said.

Branning’s father, Troy Branning, now retired, founded Avtec in 1979 as an engineering consulting business for railroad customers.

The company’s first console was a multi-user, computer-based, radio telephone console system Troy Branning designed for the Atkinson Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.

After submitting the design — called the Advanced Concept Communications Ex-change Signaling System — Troy Branning bid on and won the contract for the project, Michael Branning said.

In short order, Avtec became a manufac-turer of the equipment for the U.S. railroad market.

In 1989, Avtec began pushing into other markets, offering the ACCESS system to public safety agencies, utilities, airlines and the military. Some of Avtec’s early custom-ers included Delta Air Lines, California Highway Patrol, Toronto Ambulance and Virginia Power.

In 2008, Avtec introduced a pure VoIP console system called Scout. More than 2,000

Scout consoles are installed worldwide.“Scout is a Windows software-based

product running on standard PCs that’s very configurable and meets the needs of all the diverse marketplaces we serve,” Branning said.

Avtec’s products are in such high de-mand that the company is growing out of its 20,000-square-foot facility on Augusta Highway and is building a $6.1 million manufacturing facility and corporate head-quarters at an industrial park in the town of Lexington.

The growth has been driven by the recent introductions of next-generation, open-standards radio systems, and develop-ment of a third-party sales channel, Bran-ning said. Public and private customers also are equipping secondary command centers for disaster recovery, he said.

Avtec expects revenues to reach $25 million this year, up 28% from $19.5 million in 2011, Michael Branning said. Since 2007, Avtec has averaged 24% annual growth.

Branning thinks the way the company values its customers and employees is key to Avtec’s success.

“My dad always said take care of the customers, take care of the employees, and profit and growth will follow,” Branning said.

Avtec’s focus on customers, employees key to success

Manufacturing By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

At Avtec Inc. in Lexington County, design engineer Clyde Schlabach works on software.

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at least double over the next four to five years, and some forecasts project 25% to 30% in annual growth globally over the next decade.

Wood pellet exports in the South rose 13% in the second quarter of 2012 over the amount reported for the first quarter despite temporary slowdowns at facilities in Florida and Georgia, because of fires at a U.S. port and at a pellet consumer in the United King-dom, the wood fiber publication said.

Lowcountry Biomass has invested $16 million into expanding its existing wood pellet plant in the Jasper County com-munity of Ridgeland.

The expanded facility, which will have the capacity to produce 200,000 tons of pellets annually, will begin around-the-clock operations in the first quarter of 2013.

Meanwhile, Atlanta-based Enova Energy Group plans to build a network of three pellet plants in Georgia and South Carolina. The first project will be constructed in the Edgefield County town of Trenton, off S.C. Highway 121. Work will begin sometime during the first quarter of 2013.

The Enova plant will produce wood pel-

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There’s potential for growth in the man-ufacturing of wood pellets as some countries in Europe are searching for ways to trim carbon emissions in fueling base-load power generation.

Also, countries like Germany plan to shut down commercial reactor units in the wake of safety issues raised by the nuclear accidents at Fukushima, Japan.

To meet the rising demand, wood pellet manufacturing has expanded in the South, helping make the United States the largest exporter in the world.

With continued investments throughout the Southern United States, export volumes are forecast to reach 5.7 million tons in 2015, up from 1.5 million tons expected this year, according to the North American Wood Fiber Review, a publication of Wood Resources International.

It’s estimated that pellet production will

WOOD PELLETS, from page 36 The No. 1 manufacturing industry

in South Carolina is forestry,

providing more than 90,000 jobs.

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lets to be used as a renewable fuel for export to the European Union under long-term contracts with public and private utilities.

Each of Enova’s new facilities will pro-duce 500,000 tons of wood pellets annually by 2014.

The pellets from the Edgefield plant will move by rail to the Port of Savannah to be shipped overseas.

The major source of feedstock for pellets is saw mill residue. The wood fiber material is dried and then pressed through a die, producing pellets 6 to 8 millimeters long or about the length of the first section of a person’s finger.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, S.C. mills in 2011 produced 9 million tons of wood residue that was either burned as waste or dumped in landfills.

In South Carolina, where forestry is the state’s No. 1 manufacturing industry, providing more than 90,000 jobs, logging residue is the single largest source of under-utilized biomass, said Tim Adams of the S.C. Forestry Commission.

However, the material “is generally not suitable for pellets because of the amount of

dirt mixed in with it,” Adams said. “Logging residues are better suited for use in biomass-fired boilers where the fuel doesn’t have to be pelletized.”

Pellet manufacturers generally prefer pulpwood like that used by the pulp and paper industry or by oriented strand board manufacturers, Adams said. Pulpwood can

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be chipped into a cleaner form of biomass, he said.

With about two-thirds of South Caro-lina, 13.1 million acres, covered by forest, it would appear that the state has plenty of resources available for wood pellets.

“We actually have more wood here in South Carolina than we’ve ever recorded, and our records go back to the 1920s,” Adams said. “However, our wood supply is not evenly distributed across the state or by age.”

Wood suitable for making fuel pellets is in the forests of the Piedmont, Adams said. But pellet manufacturers prefer to have their plants and operations close to a major seaport to hold down transportation costs.

One of the commission’s roles is to help prospective biomass companies make better decisions on where to locate based on the resource, Adams said.

Finding the right supply of biomass in a location that can be moved economically to an available port facility is a real challenge, Adams said.

Columbia Regional Business Report Editor

James T. Hammond contributed to this story.

Estimated export volume of wood pellets in the U.S.

1.5 million tons in 2013

5.7 million tons in 2015

Source: North American Wood Fiber Review

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S.C. plant ranks No. 2 in BMW world operations

Exporting By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

BMW’s second-largest production plant is not in Germany. The largest exporter of cars built in the United States happens to be headquartered in Germany.

Confused?Well, don’t be. It just happens that BMW’s manufactur-

ing facility in the Upstate now ranks as the Munich-based carmaker’s No. 2 production plant in the world.

The plant ships 70% of its production through the Port of Charleston to 130 world markets.

The National Association of Foreign Trade Zones has recognized BMW as its Exporter of the Year. In addition, NAFTZ has recognized BMW as the recipient of its Export Achievement Award for being the member that showed the most improve-ment in value. In 2011, BMW exports were

valued at more than $7 billion.The sprawling, 4 million-square-foot

plant off Interstate 85 near Greer in Spar-tanburg County produced 301,519 vehicles in 2012, said Josef Kerscher, president of

BMW Manufacturing. In 2011, the plant produced 276,056 cars.

“Our plant is the second-largest manu-facturing facility,” said Kerscher, who lectured on the BMW experience in the

The Upstate BMW plant ships 70% of its production through the Port of Charleston. (Photo/Leslie Burden)

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Palmetto State at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business.

“It’s not what we expected,” Kerscher said, noting that when the plant started pro-duction in 1994 it was regarded as a “small unit” in the worldwide BMW operation.

Since then BMW has produced more than 2 million cars in South Carolina, each bearing the company’s iconic blue-and-white roundel or logo.

It also has developed a network of 170 suppliers in North America — 40 of them in South Carolina.

BMW, though, is not slowing down in the Southeast. Kerscher noted that the company is in the midst of a $900 million expansion that will increase the plant’s an-nual production capacity to 350,000 units.

When the project is completed, BMW expects to increase the Upstate plant’s payroll by 300 workers. It presently employs 7,000 people. The expansion also will boost the carmaker’s investment in South Carolina to nearly $6 billion since it first announced plans to build the plant back in 1992.

The expansion will allow BMW to add a fourth model, the X4, to its line of sports

activity vehicles produced at the Upstate plant, Kerscher said.

All of BMW’s sports activity vehicles — classified as SUVs or light trucks — are built in South Carolina. The key to BMW’s success has been exports, Kerscher said.

“We’ve always been focused on export-ing because Germany is not a big market,” Kerscher said. “So we’ve always had to learn how to be competitive in the world market.”

Germany and China are the top two des-tinations for S.C.-made products, Kerscher said, adding that BMW has the flexibility to respond to demand anywhere on the globe. Although the European economy is strug-gling, Kerscher said BMW is holding its own in the premium car market.

“The Asian market is growing. The U.S. market is growing,” Kerscher said. “So overall we are growing, and we believe we can overcome the situation.”

Being in South Carolina has kept BMW competitive, Kerscher said. He praised the cooperation and help of state and local governments, and labeled the Upstate as a “business-friendly community.” He also lauded the quality and work ethic of the company’s employees.

“This is a business environment that we really like and helps us to be competitive in the U.S. marketplace, to be competitive in the world market,” Kerscher said. “If you’re not competitive in our business, you will be out of business very soon.”

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Road trips help build on S.C.’s ties with foreign investors

International Business By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

Trips to places like Japan and England help build on South Carolina’s ties to foreign companies and attract invest-ment in the Palmetto State.

“This is a relationship business,” said S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt. “People want to locate their companies where they believe they can be successful.”

A mid-September visit to Tokyo to attend the SEUS-Japan conference was undertaken to build on those relation-ships, Hitt said. A couple of months earlier, S.C. officials traveled to the Farnborough International Air Show in England to court aerospace firms.

Going to SEUS, an annual conference involving seven Southeastern states and Japan, and to Farnborough cost S.C. about $134,000 to cover costs of transporting, lodging and feeding staff. Gov. Nikki Haley led both of the missions.

“Generally speaking we’re doing what any good sales organization does,” Hitt said. “We go where the customers are and build relationships in order to sell what we sell, which is the state of South Carolina as a manufacturing and business destination.”

During the week in Japan, the S.C. del-egation participated in 23 meetings — 16 of which involved Haley, he said.

At the air show, Haley and Commerce officials attended about 50 meetings with various firms.

South Carolina has attended the air show since 2005 and the trip has been crucial in building the state’s budding aerospace busi-ness, Hitt said.

Initial contact was made with Boeing Co. at the air show and that led to the invest-ment of the 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in North Charleston.

Going to trade events overseas helps

attract direct foreign investment, Hitt said, noting that 75% of new companies that made economic development announce-ments in South Carolina were from Europe or Asia.

Japan is the second-largest investor in South Carolina, behind Germany. George Patrick, Commerce deputy secretary, said 147 Japanese companies have operations in South Carolina, representing a $7 billion investment and 12,500 jobs.

Although Japan is an important partner, S.C.’s Commerce Department does not have an office in Japan. The budget crunch and the retirement of the state’s representative in Japan led to the closing of the office in 2008 and combining it with the agency’s Shanghai office.

The agency does maintain a “presence” in Japan with a staffer representing South Carolina.

On their trip to Farnborough air show in England, Gov. Nikki Haley and Department of Commerce officials attended 50 meetings with various companies. (Photo/Courtesy of Farnborough International Air Show)

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Meetings with Japanese companies were “very positive,” and some of the firms S.C. officials met with set up sessions with other companies “that they thought we should meet with that would be a good fit,” Hitt said.

Companies need proof that investing in South Carolina will pay off, Hitt said.

“That’s why we have to spend follow-up time with them,” he said. “They want to look at a business plan.”

Foreign companies need to know what their costs — from shipping to utilities — will be and how long it will take to realize a return on investment, Hitt said.

Learning the culture and customs of a foreign country is important in the process of making a deal. For example, in Japan it’s usually necessary to sip tea for a half hour and exchange pleasantries before anything substantial is mentioned at a meeting, Patrick said.

Also, Patrick said he always turns down a fork and knife and uses chopsticks when dining in Japan. As far as business etiquette, there’s even a ceremony involved in the exchange of business cards.

U.S. visitors are advised to invest in good quality cards and — if possible — have their card translated into Japanese. In Japan, busi-ness cards are presented and received with two hands and a slight bow.

Americans tend to be more casual in ex-changing business cards, Hitt said. “We kind of toss them on the table sometimes.”

Another key in doing business in Japan is being prompt for a meeting, Hitt said. It’s a

sign of respect, Hitt said. “These are cultures that have some sig-

nificant differences, and so you’re trying to work on comfort levels,” Hitt said. “It’s im-portant that we go and pay the appropriate respect to them and how they do business.

“You don’t always walk out of there with a deal in your pocket, but hopefully you walk out of there putting yourself back on the playing field.”

S.C. officials have been attending the Farnborough air show since 2005, and it has helped build aerospace business, Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt says. (Photo/Courtesy of Farnborough International Air Show)

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Construction rolls on at S.C. tire plant

Manufacturing By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

Eight months after construction began, Continental Tire the Americas’ first plant in South Carolina is about 30% complete and on schedule.

Most of the superstructure is in place, and the installation of some equip-ment will soon begin at the $500 million, 1 million-square-foot facility rising from a 330-acre grassy field off U.S. 521, south of downtown Sumter.

The tallest structure, a four-story mixing plant, will be the first to be equipped with machinery.

Significant progress also has been made in the tire building, stock preparation, cur-ing, final finish and warehouse.

Although the corporate public relations department has issued a news release that said the project “continues to remain ahead of schedule,” plant manager Craig Baartman declined to quantify the amount of time.

“I wouldn’t say we are ahead of schedule. I would say we are on plan,” Baartman said.

The initial investment covers the first two phases of the plant, with construction to be wrapped up by the end of the year.

Continental’s plant is one of four tire projects under construction in South Caro-lina.

Michelin North America, headquartered in Greenville, is investing $750 million and building an off-the-road tire plant in Ander-son County and expanding its existing OTR facility in Lexington County.

The expansion project at the Lexington County facility is the second in a year. In 2011, Michelin announced it was spending $200 million and creating about 270 jobs at the Lexington OTR, which builds the com-pany’s Earthmover brand of tires.

Bridgestone Americas, based in Nash-ville, Tenn., has committed $1.2 billion to build a new off-the-road plant at its Aiken County facility and expand the company’s existing car and light truck facility.

Germany-based Continental, which has its division for the Americas headquartered in Fort Mill, plans to have 1,600 people on

the job in Sumter by 2021 when the plant reaches full capacity, producing 8 million tires a year.

Right now, there’s a skeleton crew reporting for work. The first employee, a civil engineer, was hired in April 2012. Baartman’s professional staff numbers 50 positions and another 18 multi-craft techni-cian employees brought on board toward the end of 2012.

The technicians will spend about 12 weeks training for their jobs in Sumter at Continental tire plants in Mount Vernon, Ill., Germany, Portugal, France or Mexico.

While Continental plans to draw the vast majority of its workforce from the local area, six members of the plant’s profes-sional staff are from Brazil, Germany, South Africa, France and Mexico.

Baartman, a native of South Africa, where he worked for Continental, said the company brought in experienced personnel to tap their expertise in helping with the plant startup. The company plans to have 10 expatriates on board by the end of 2013.

“For the initial management team, we’ve had to bring in foreign, experienced people to get the show on the road,” Baartman said. “We believe there’s an advantage to have

skill and training on hand.”As far as the construction project, the

daily workforce averages 350 to 400, said Tom Tompkins, Sumter plant engineering manager.

In the next couple of months, the con-struction workforce should peak at about 600 as mechanical and electrical subcontrac-tors move in to begin prepping the plant for the installation of manufacturing equip-ment, Tompkins said.

The general contractor, Walbridge/Mashburn Joint Venture, and about a dozen subcontractors control hiring for the con-struction jobs, Continental officials said.

As work progresses, Baartman said engi-neers at Sumter are gleaning ideas from les-sons learned in the construction of another plant in Russia.

The Continental facility in Kaluga, Rus-sia — about 90 miles southwest of Moscow — shares the same blueprint and is about five months ahead the Sumter project, Baartman said.

Continental plans to begin production in 2014 and produce 800,000 units, and by 2015 production should climb to 2 million tires annually. Other milestones are:

Construction of Continental’s tire plant at Sumter is proceeding on schedule. (Photo/Continental)

See TIRES, page 47

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Former BMW exec aims to grow exports of vitamins, food supplements

ExportingBy James T. Hammond, Staff Writer

Cherod Webber says he always had a “burning desire” to own a business, but he spent 17 years as an executive for BMW Manufacturing learning about managing manufacturing and

other business skills before he was able to devote himself to being a full-time entrepreneur.Since May, when he left BMW, he has devoted all his time and energy to growing Innovative Global Supply LLC, a Columbia-based distributor and ex-porter of vitamins, food supplements

and fortified food products that targets emerging markets in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. IGS is the latest resident company at the USC/Columbia Technology Incubator, and Webber said he found the support network of the business incubator, the city and its business leaders to be the ideal environment to nurture his young company. In turn, the incubator’s board chairman, Don Tomlin, said IGS is exactly the sort of startup that the USC/Co-lumbia Technology Incubator needs to build the region’s entrepreneurial culture.

“Soon, we’ll have 100 entrepreneurs in this building, all engaged in building companies,” Tomlin said. “There’s a cadre of brains in this building, each company helps another. That really accelerates growth.” Tomlin said Webber’s company will provide

learning opportunities for candidates for the master’s in business administration from the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business.

“It’s a win-win for everyone,” Tomlin said.

For Webber, moving into the incubator provides welcome support for his long-held dream of business ownership. He traces the genesis of his current business plan to his two years working at a BMW facility in Munich, Germany. Noting that Munich, a city of 1.8 million people, includes about 40% who are from other countries, he said he quickly found an interest among those expatriates in vitamins and other food supplements from his home country.

“Everyone seemed to want American-made vitamins,” Webber said. “I was bring-ing back suitcase loads from my trips back home. After I moved back to the United States, people in Munich were still asking us to send them products.”

In 2008, he formed his company, and in 2009, his first export of his products went out to Bulgaria. Webber’s newest line of products includes fortified foods of the type often used to feed people in disaster or famine situations. “There is a tremen-dous market overseas, where there is rapid population growth,” Webber said. “These products are now being sold in retail set-tings in emerging markets.”

Webber predicts “tremendous growth” in his exports in the next year, based upon contacts with his export partners in other countries. He currently obtains his prod-ucts from third-party manufacturers in

this country. The goods may carry his IGS brand, or private brands of the companies he sells to in the emerging markets.

But his business plan calls for IGS to begin making some of its own products in Columbia within 18 to 24 months. Webber expects that, once started, the manufactur-ing facility would employ 40-50 people within 12 months.Webber’s experience at BMW has positioned him well to start a manufacturing operation, he said.

“I’ve worked in manufacturing for 17 years,” Webber said. “I supervised making paint, and making blended food products is not that different in terms of processes.”

Webber’s company currently has less than $1 million a year in revenue, but he expects his sales to grow tenfold in three to four years.“I’ve been running this business from a home office,” he said. “The incubator will give us more structure, help us to scale up and provide business mentors. We’ll be able to share ideas with other companies. And we expect to outgrow the incubator in about three years.”

Webber already has received advice and help from the U.S. Department of Com-merce, S.C. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Export-Import Bank. He recently was named to the bank’s advisory commit-tee, which advises on policies and programs.

In 2012, Webber accompanied a group from the Columbia World Affairs Coun-cil to the African nation of Ghana, where he explored the market potential for his products. “What Columbia offers us, we can’t find anywhere else,” Webber said. “We believe this is the best place for IGS.”

• In 2016, Continental expects to make 3 million tires in Sumter County.

• By 2017, employment should reach 800 people.

• By 2021, when phase one and phase two are complete, employment should hit 1,600, and annual output should reach 8 million tires.

Further expansion beyond 2021 will depend upon the progress of the initial op-erations, the economy and demand for tires, Baartman said.

“What is going to be happening in 10-20 years’ time is anyone’s guess,” Baartman said.

“I think the bottom line for us is that we got through 2012 successfully,” he said.

“Every aspect of our plan is on time, we’ve recruited the people and the resources that are required.

“Our plan for 2013 is to do the same, but it will be another level of intensity involved in order for us to be able to produce tires in 2014.”

Columbia Regional Business Report editor

James T. Hammond contributed to this report.

Cherod Webber

TIRES, from page 46

The rushing waters of Finlay Park’s fountain are a breathtaking sight as evening settles over downtown Columbia. There’s just something about a skyline on a clear night. (Photo/Leslie Burden)

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