GSA Technology Council

The New Ideas for a New Carolina statewide business idea contest announced the winners of the 2008 competition yesterday at ThinkTEC.

The event’s Grand Prize of $5,000 seed money, a scholarship to FastTrac entrepreneurial training programs and access to a Dream Team of Mentors went to Dr. Ron Fulbright from Spartanburg. His idea is Scentinel, a rapid-deploy, all-weather, nanosensor system used to detect the presence of thousands of elements and chemical compounds in the environment such as levels of greenhouse gasses, atmospheric conditions, water conditions or toxic agents.

In addition to the Grand Prize Winner, four other award winners plus honorable mentions were named. Big news for us is that two of this year’s winners were FastTrac TechVenture graduates from the upstate! We’re especially proud of Ron Fulbright and Joe Milam! Go team!

Engineering

• Winner: Mount1 – Shaun Abraham and Anand Deekaram (Richland County); a robotic arm mount for flat screen televisions that can automatically adjust the position of the television using any universal remote control.


• Honorable Mention: Electromagnetic Enhancement of Crude Oil Recovery - Charles Stowers (Beaufort County); a method of electromagnetic stimulation used in heavy oil reservoirs, tar sand reservoirs, shale oil and secondary oil recovery to increase production rates.

Software/Information Technology

• Winner: BigLeapGPS – Joe Milam (Anderson County); a family protection company that utilizes the world’s smallest GPS device coupled with a 24/7 support network dedicated to locating and recovering lost, kidnapped, or injured family members, pets or assets anywhere in the world.


• Honorable Mention: oneZone Solutions – Jeff Beck (Charleston County); a home/business automation system that can control the temperature, lighting, security, irrigation and other home systems from any web-enabled device in the world.

Bio-Science

• Winner: Z Box - Jay Hughes (Charleston County); a compact CPAP medical device that creates a positive air pressure in the esophagus and sinus cavities for those suffering from mild to severe sleep apnea.


• Honorable Mention: Sleeve-On - Ron Norris (Richland County); a device for individuals with breast cancer who suffer from lymph edema and/or circulatory disorders to help them pull on their compression sleeve(s) using one hand.

Environmental Sustainability

• Honorable Mention: Palmetto Solar – Andrew Epting (Richland County); implementation of the creation, installation and maintenance of solar photovoltaic systems for manufacturing, warehousing and retail industries, government and institutions of higher education and the small business and residential sectors.

Wild Card category

• Winner: Azula – Julie McWherter (Spartanburg County); a pliable and fashionably-designed mat for women to sit on at the edge of the pool to protect their bathing suits from snagging.


• Honorable Mention: Charleston Fish and Chip – Andrew Smith (Charleston County); a facility where customers can either work on their golf game on a driving range and nine hole course or practice their cast in a stocked fishing hole.

Congratulations to all, and let this be a reminder to other budding entrepreneurs that 40% of this year’s winners graduated from the FastTrac entrepreneurial training BEFORE they entered!

Spartanburg, SC — Exopack announces that Gary McDaniel has been named Senior Vice President and General Manager, Plastics Business. In his new role, Gary will provide strategic leadership and overall P&L responsibility for Exopack’s Plastics Business.

Gary has 30 years of experience in the packaging industry, including serving as a past Chairman of the Flexible Packaging Association. His most recent position was with Altivity Packaging (formerly Smurfit Stone Container, Inc.), where he served as Vice President and General Manager of their Flexible Packaging Division. McDaniel also serves on the Board of Directors of Oberweis Mutual Fund.

Exopack Chairman and CEO Jack Knott expressed excitement over the hiring of McDaniel by saying, “Gary is a recognized leader within our industry. His wealth of flexible packaging experience will play a critical role in defining a path for the continued success of our Plastics Business and will support our efforts to sustain a value commitment to our stakeholders.”

Gary holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Miami University in Marketing and Economics and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago.

McDaniel will be located in Chicago, IL. He will report to Tom Vale, Exopack’s Chief Operating Officer.

via Exopack

Spartanburg, SC — Exopack, a manufacturer and developer of packaging solutions and industrial application film coatings, has sold its Newmarket, Ontario film business to Dynamic Solutions Unlimited, LLC.  The decision for this current sale comes after the recent acquisition of Exopack’s Whitby, Ontario film production facility by DuPont LiquiBox.  Newmarket has been supplying high quality single and multi-layer polyethylene films for more than fifty years.

via Exopack

Spartanburg, SC –  Iljin America, a South Korean manufacturer of industrial grade ball bearings has begun launching operation in Spartanburg county.  By September of 2009 the company expects to add about 120 jobs to the region.

In March the company bought a former textile building located near the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and since has been working on solidifying their $38 million investment in the region. At present some state incentives packages are still being negotiated and will likely be a topic of discussion for the Spartanburg County Council sometime next week.

Iljin has a workforce of over 2,000 employees at plants in South Korea, China, and Slovakia.  Last year the company reported over $1 billion in revenues.  Hiring for the new upstate plant is expected to begin over the next eight months. 

for more information visit Iljin

Columbia, Charleston, Clemson, Greenville, and Spartanburg SC — AT&T has announced plans to invest over $30 million dollars in South Carolina with the goal of upgrading their wireless and broadband Internet service.  By the end of June AT&t has said it plans to have the high speed third generation (3G) wireless networks up and running in Charleston, Clemson, Greenville, and Spartanburg. 

AT&T will also add to the companies already existing cell sites throughout the state.  With more than 330 such sites already in South Carolina, the new additions will further increase coverage area for both high speed broadband and wireless service.

This most recent investment in South Carolina will bring the companies three-year network investment in the state for wireless and wired services to $750 million.

via AT&T 

“Sixty Upstate plants were among the 134 plant sites recognized statewide by the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance for outstanding workplace safety in 2007.

Facilities with a low rate of accidents resulting in lost workdays, job transfers or restrictions were nominated for the safety recognition. Plants submitting an incident rate below the statewide average for their NAICS code received the award.

The awards were presented recently during the SCMA’s Plant Safety Conference in Columbia. Jim Knight, director of community and governmental affairs for the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, presented the awards.”

read more at Greenvilleonline.com

Spartanburg, SC — BMW today announced it will invest an additional $750 million in its Upstate South Carolina factory to add 1.5 million square feet and 500 new jobs on site to produce three models and to increase production capacity to 240,000 units by 2012.

The investment is the largest ever announced for the Spartanburg County factory, increasing investments of the BMW Group in its South Carolina operations to $4.2 billion.

The three-year construction project includes a new 1.2 million square foot Assembly facility north of the existing factory to accommodate the next generation BMW X3 Sports Activity Vehicle. In addition, the Paint Shop will expand by about 80 percent or 300,000 square feet. The existing Body Shops will be renovated.

The additional investment will prepare the factory to increase production from 160,000 units to 240,000 units. The expansion of the Spartanburg plant also means a bigger purchase and export volume in and from the NAFTA region, which will contribute considerably to the company’s natural hedging position.

After the expansion, the Spartanburg plant will manufacture the BMW X3, X5 Sports Activity Vehicle and X6 Sports Activity Coupe and their respective variants for world markets. “Centralizing our know-how for BMW X models in Spartanburg will enable us to work more efficiently, thus supporting our long-range corporate strategy. In addition, it was a logical step for the BMW Group as a global player to increase production capacity in its largest market,” said BMW Board Member Frank-Peter Arndt.

A highlight will be the production of a diesel X5 Sports Activity Vehicle for the United States market starting later this year.

“The boost in the production capacity at BMW Manufacturing will positively impact the logistics, supplier and distribution networks that support the manufacturing processes,” said Josef Kerscher, President of BMW Manufacturing. While the supplier network may grow, existing supplier companies will ramp up operations to provide automotive parts for the higher production levels, doubling parts container traffic and significantly increasing exports through the Port of Charleston.

When BMW Group announced in 1992 that it would build its first full manufacturing facility outside of Germany in South Carolina, the company pledged to invest $600 million, to employ 2,000 associates by the year 2000, and attract at least nine suppliers to the state.

By the year 2000, BMW had grown to more than 3,000 BMW associates and by 2004 that number grew to more than 4,600 associates. Within that same timeframe, in order to provide greater flexibility, BMW began to employ contract workers to primarily provide specialty and administrative services. As BMW entered 2008, the number of on-site workforce, including BMW associates and contract workers grew to more than 5,400 with a total payroll of more than $450 million annually. In addition, BMW has a contingency workforce of about 900 workers with an average annual payroll of more than $50 million.

Today BMW has invested $3.5 billion in its South Carolina operations, more than 5,400 people work on the site. Fifty-two suppliers are located in the Palmetto State, and 40 of those 52 suppliers have chosen to place new North American operations in the state to partner with BMW. And BMW’s North American supplier network has grown from 22 in 1992 to 194 companies today.

To meet growing customer demand, vehicle production at BMW Manufacturing has grown from 429 units in 1994, which was the first year of production to 157,530 units in 2007. In the same period the sales volume in the United States increased from 65,000 to 335,000 units in 2007.

via BMW News Releases

“If BMW Manufacturing Co. wasn’t enough, the Highway 101 corridor off I-85 at Exit 60 will soon receive another booster shot of investment dollars and commerce.

Liberty Property Trust, an international real estate investment company based in Philadelphia, is building the $55 million high-tech industrial park Caliber Ridge on what was once a 50-acre hay field, across the street from the German luxury automaker.

‘The logic was to take advantage of the growth happening between Greenville and Spartanburg,’ said F. Bogue Wallin, vice president of Liberty’s Carolinas Region, which stretches along I-85 from Raleigh, N.C., to Greenville. ‘The second thing was that BMW was here. And the third is to take advantage of the trend for international companies who already have facilities in another place and don’t want to construct a new building, to come in and set up shop.’”

read more at GoUpstate.com

Spartanburg, SC — Exopack announces that Tom Vale has been named Chief Operating Officer of Exopack. Tom will be responsible for working with Exopack’s business unit leaders to drive and attain operational excellence across the company.Prior to this assignment, Tom was Chief Executive Officer of DeLuxe Media Services, a $700 million dollar manufacturer and distributor of entertainment products for the Hollywood studios.

Tom is a graduate of Valparaiso University, holds an MBA from DePaul University and is a Certified Public Accountant

via Exopack

“Milliken & Co., the Spartanburg-based global textiles and chemicals giant, was ranked No. 92 on Fortune magazine’s 11th annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, the only South Carolina company ranked.

Fortune said one of the things that distinguishes the 142-year-old company is “its sterling safety record the incidence rate declined eightfold since 1981,” which Milliken attributes to ownership of the process by employees.

It’s the fourth time Milliken has made Fortune’s list.”

read more at Greenvilleonline.com