Manufacturing Is in High Gear in Coastal Georgia
Published Aug 21, 2008
Elan Technology Inc. relocated to Midway, Ga., after considering 20 other sites.
When corporate giant BASF Corp. decided to sell its carpet-yarn factory in Screven County more than a decade ago, the community feared the loss of 250 jobs.
Yet, in a move that illustrates the resolve of the Coastal Georgia business community, local investors bought the plant. Today, what is now privately held Sylvania Yarn Systems Inc. boasts some 300 employees and contracts with several of the nation’s leading commercial carpet manufacturers.
Don Aaron, Sylvania Yarn president, was a BASF employee in 1995, one of the investors in the buyout and still an owner today. He says the motivating factor for the purchase was investors’ faith that the employees would continue to get the job done. “Our people have such a strong work ethic here,” he says. “Some of our employees have been with us 30 years or more, and many of them have perfect attendance records.”
Manufacturing accounts for about 22,000 jobs in the Coastal Region or about 10 percent of total employment. Manufacturing enterprises run the gamut. In addition to Sylvania Yarn, King America Finishing in Dover in Screven County has a 40-year tradition in the textiles business. When the fabric-processing operation outgrew its 400,000-square-foot facility, the company acquired a 240,000-square-foot building nearby in September 2005.
Other manufacturing successes in the area include:
* Briggs & Stratton in Statesboro. With 950 workers, it’s the third-largest employer in Bulloch County.
* International Greetings USA, which opened a new facility in Midway in 1996. Two Massachusetts operations were consolidated and moved to Liberty County, where about 225 employees make gift wrap and other stationery products.
* Elan Technology Inc., which also arrived in Midway in 1996. The company relocated from New Jersey after considering 20 East Coast sites.
Elan’s glass and ceramic components are used as hermetic seals and spacers for industries such as microelectronics, aerospace and defense, health care, lighting and telecommunications.
Terry McCormick, Elan executive vice president, says the Georgia Quick Start program, a state workforce training incentive, impressed the company. “Basically, they came to New Jersey and documented all of our processes. They took photographs and created training manuals and programs for the new employees,” he says.
Proximity to the Port of Savannah and other nearby ports also swayed Elan, which exports about 45 percent of its product to Europe and Asia.
Port facilities were also a draw for a Portuguese company that was set to begin construction in summer 2008 on a $100 million facility to manufacture power transformers for investor-owned utilities.
Efacec (ef-ah-sec) will eventually employ 650 people at its only U.S. plant, to be located in Effingham County.
Jorge O. Guerra, Efacec director of U.S. business and operations, says shipping by barge, and even by chartered vessels, is a cost-efficient option for moving the giant transformers. “The port is also very important for the incoming of all the raw materials that we need,” he adds.
Support from state and local development organizations helped persuade Efacec to build near Rincon. “This kind of openness and willingness to help us was a very important factor,” Guerra says. “We consider them more like a partner rather than across the table.”
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by Todd Bennett
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