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Winter 2012

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AIKEN COUNTyIndustry is putting the Aiken area on the map – again

W illiam Gregg was business-friendly before business was cool. Nearly two decades before the Civil War, the South Carolina jeweler began urging Southerners to build more

factories. The state’s political leaders would have none of it, prefer-ring to stick with their agrarian way of life.

Undeterred, Gregg used $300,000 to establish the Graniteville Co. in what is now Aiken County. It was one of the South’s first large-scale textile mills. In recognition of his vision and leadership, Gregg was among the first historical figures inducted into the S.C. Business Hall of Fame in 1985.

Downtown Aiken beckons visitors. (Photo/Economic Development Partnership)

AIKEN COUNTyIndustry is putting the Aiken area on the map – again

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Today business history is being made again at Graniteville, in Sage Mill Industrial Park, where Bridgestone is expanding a pas-senger tire plant’s capacity by 50 percent and building a second plant to manufacture giant radial tires for earthmovers. The $1.2 billion going into the projects is the largest single capital investment by a company in South Carolina’s history, and this time the state’s political leadership, now decidedly business-friendly, celebrated the announcement.

While Aiken County has the welcome mat out for new companies, it also has a keen appreciation for existing businesses.

“That’s a big plus for us, when companies that are here keep investing in the com-munity,” County Administrator Clay Killian said. “We recognize that’s where most of our investment comes from.” Established industries account for as much as 80 percent of economic expansion, he said.

In addition to Bridgestone’s expansion and new facility, other current develop-ments include:• A $40 million investment by Tog-

num America Inc. to expand its diesel engine plant at Sage Mill and add 20 new jobs over two years.

• A $3 million expansion at the Center for Hydrogen Research. The county created the center, adjacent to the Savannah River Site, to foster re-search into ways for industry to use hydrogen technology. Government, academic and private researchers have labs there.

Trains, horses and nukesAiken began in the 1830s as a depot for

a railroad line connecting Charleston and Hamburg, on the Savannah River. The new community was named for William Aiken Sr., president of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Co. The county was created a few decades later, carved out of parts of Barnwell, Edgefield, Lexington and Orange-burg counties.

Gregg’s Graniteville plant and other textile mills grew up in Horse Creek Valley. They provided employment for area resi-dents for more than 100 years, until foreign competition overwhelmed them. The last remnants of the former Graniteville Co. mills were closed only in 2006, after a deadly

We have a good thing going here in the Palmetto State. ere’s plenty of room to grow, unmatched recreational opportunities, a low cost of living, a willing and able workforce, an unbeatable business climate and South Carolina’s Power Team. e Power Team is composed of Aiken Electric Cooperative, 19 other South Carolina electric cooperatives, and Santee Cooper. Together, we are committed to building strategic partnerships with smart, forward-thinking businesses. And we back this commitment by delivering quality service and reliable electric power at some of the lowest rates in the nation.So when it’s time to expand, ask yourself, “Why do businesses and industries that already call the Palmetto State home decide to expand here?” e answer is: they have it made in the shade in South Carolina. To � nd out more, visit www.scprimesite.com.

South Carolina St yleExpanding Your Business.

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train wreck and chlorine gas spill.After the Civil War, wealthy Northern-

ers were lured to Aiken. They established a winter colony, building grand “cottages” and enjoying equestrian sports.

Another kind of war, the Cold War, shook things up in the 1950s. The federal government built a massive facility, known locally as “the bomb plant.” The Savannah River Site produced nuclear materials for weapons. Aiken County’s population soared to 81,038 in 1960, from 53,137 in 1950.

Today, the “railroad town” and textiles are history, but the polo ponies still gallop across the fields. The mission at the Savan-nah River Site has evolved, but it is still the area’s biggest employer, with about 8,300 workers. And a variety of other industries dot the landscape.

Major U.S. companies with a presence in Aiken County include Kimberly-Clark Corp., Carlisle Tire & Wheel, Emerson Electric, Campbell Soup Co. and Owens Corning. In-ternational businesses have parent companies in Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The groundworkIn 1984 Aiken County established a

development board, and in 1988 Aiken and Edgefield counties entered into their Eco-nomic Development Partnership.

“Our organization was the first regional economic development organization in the state,” Will Williams, EDP director, said. “We were experiencing regionalism before

it became in vogue.” Aiken County Council Chairman Ronnie

Young said, “It’s kind of unique, the Aiken-Edgefield partnership, because we are not really in competition with one another. There are just certain industries that fit bet-ter in Edgefield, and others fit here, and we support one another.”

Young, who has been a member of

Sage Mill Industrial Park, where Bridgestone is expanding, has grown to 2,000 acres. (Photo/Economic Development Partnership)

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County Council since 1990 and chairman since 1994, said, “At county government we try to prepare this county for industry by being very business-minded, supportive of their needs. All the companies that come here come because they want to come. They like it here. They like the amenities here, and it’s a good team effort between the county and new industry.”

County government and EDP officials offer a substantial list of amenities:• Sage Mill Industrial Park. The

county began developing the site in the mid-1990s. It has grown from 1,145 acres to about 2,000 acres. “We bought the land for an average of $900 an acre. Today it’s probably val-ued at $25,000 or $30,000 per acre,” Young said.

• Wastewater treatment plant. Built in the late 1970s, the facility has a capacity of about 20 million gallons a day. “With the loss of the textile in-dustry we’ve got, I suppose, a blessing and a curse at the same time,” Killian said. “We did lose a lot of flow into the plant, which changed the revenue stream, if you will, to that plant. On the flip side of that we gained a whole bunch of capacity, so we could tell anybody that wants to come to Aiken County, ‘You don’t have to worry about your sewer needs. We can take care of that.’” Only about half the ca-pacity of the plant is in use. “The best part about it is we can actually expand the plant to 26 million gallons a day for about a $1 million investment.”

• “Tremendous amounts of water, which a lot of places don’t have,”

Young said.• Landfill. A nine-county consortium

has a solid waste landfill with 80 to 100 years of capacity left. Methane gas is captured from the landfill and piped 17 miles to help power Kimberly-Clark’s mill at Beech Island.

• Electricity. Two electric companies supply the Sage Mill site. “So that competition also helps,” Young said.

• An appealing business climate. A manufacturers’ council, sponsored by EDP, brings plant managers together regularly, Young said. “It’s just a good thing to have that kind of relationship between all the companies.”

• Education and training. Aiken County has the state’s fifth-largest public school system, plus eight private schools and a campus of the University of South Carolina. “A good educational system, Aiken Technical College and the relationship we have with them for workforce development make us, I think, a very attractive spot,” Killian said.

Sold on AikenJohn Stewart, manager of the passenger

tire plant at Graniteville, came to Aiken County for the Bridgestone startup. The first tire was produced in August 1998.

He said the company’s experience has been so positive that when it was looking to expand passenger tire manufacturing, “they looked at Aiken County, they had a formula for success, and they decided to exploit that again.” And when Bridgestone was look-ing for a place to put its only plant for giant earthmover tires outside of Japan, it chose

Aiken County again.About $350 million of the $1.2 billion

investment will expand Stewart’s plant, ramping up passenger tire production from a capacity of 25,200 tires a day to roughly 37,750.

Aiken County’s business-friendly envi-ronment is attractive, and “the government, the local businesses, the schools, all are very cooperative in terms of helping you to find whether it’s the right place for you or not,” Stewart said. The EDP does a good job of “giving companies a good reason to be here,” he added.

“But also there’s a real good workforce here. You’ve got generally a very good work ethic among the people that live in this part of the country. You’ve got people that grew up in and around textile mills and other manufacturing plants, where there’s a high expectation to work hard. We embrace that, and that’s worked out well for us here. Those people have come to work for us, and their friends and relatives, and that’s helped us out as well,” Stewart said.

“The other thing is you’ve got a good school system generally in the local area, especially a good technical college, and even university-level support with USC Aiken and, a little farther away, the University of South Carolina and Clemson as well.”

For the 3.1 million-square-foot Kimber-ly-Clark mill at Beech Island, the winning formula involves employees and logistics. “Aiken County has been a very good loca-tion for our company, with a strong talent pool to draw from, a great place to live to attract talent and a good distribution posi-tion to ship product to customers,” John Pownall, the mill’s manager said.

“Our company has been in Aiken County since 1968. Since that time, the plant has seen regular investment and growth with significant investment in the site.”

There were 550 employees when the plant was dedicated in early 1969, and today there are 1,250 Kimberly-Clark and 600 contract employees, Pownall said. The Beech Island mill is the company’s largest facility in North America and currently the county’s second largest employer, behind SRS. It produces many K-C brands, includ-ing Kleenex tissues, Cottonelle bathroom

Langley Pond, in the old textile area, has become a popular rowing facility. (Photo/Economic Development Partnership)

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tissue and moist wipes, Scott towels and bathroom tissue, and Huggies diapers.

Riding, rowing, retiringThe amenities required by Aiken’s “horse

industry” can be a bit out of the ordinary. Killian recalls being welcomed to the area by a neighbor shortly after he became admin-istrator in 2001.The neighbor lived on a dirt road. “I knew what he was going to say: He wanted us to pave that road. He said, ‘As long as you’re our county administrator I want you to promise that you will never pave our road.’ … You’ll see that happen a lot in this county.”

Equestrian sporting events — including polo, horse shows, races and hunts — still abound in picturesque areas, attracting visitors from all over the world. There are about 40 polo fields. The horse culture has an economic impact of $75 million to $80 million a year and creates a cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Meanwhile, in the old textile area, Langley Pond has become a significant row-ing facility. Managed by the county’s parks and recreation department, the pond “is a

small lake, really,” Killian said. It was used as a training facility by several international teams during the Atlanta Olympic Games and is the home facility for the University of Georgia rowing team. In addition to the rowing course, the pond has a swimming area, and eventually there will be boathouses and other amenities. Trails and picnic shel-ters will be in the surrounding green space. “Again, it’s another one of those quality-of-life things that makes us kind of unique,” Killian said.

“Also, we’re a bit of a retirement des-tination,” Killian said. Retirees’ disposable income helps support amenities such as restaurants, recreation and golf, which make for a good quality of life for everyone.

“I think Aiken County has become a very attractive place for a lot of different kinds of facilities,” Killian said.

Looking aheadGary Stooksbury, the chairman of the

Economic Development Partnership, said, “Will Williams and the staff at EDP are doing a great job of positioning us for new jobs and projects as they come. There are

some in the pipeline that we are dealing with,” Stooksbury said, “but one of the chal-lenges that we are addressing right now is workforce development.”

“The Economic Development Partner-ship works with Aiken Technical College and the University of South Carolina at Aiken to make sure that we’re developing the workforce not only that Bridgestone-Firestone needs, but Kimberly-Clark and others in the area,” said Stooksbury, who has served on the EDP board for 17 years, including three years as chairman.

The CEO of Aiken Electric Cooperative, Stooksbury considers economic develop-ment “important not only for our busi-ness but also to improve the quality of life and the communities we serve. We take economic development very seriously. It is something that we have a passion for, to make sure that we continue to have jobs for our folks.”

He commended the county for creat-ing the Center for Hydrogen Research and developing infrastructure to serve future industries.

“We’re ready for ’em,” he said.