The 4th Pillar- Manufacturing

Manufacturing

(This report is being written and edited on a constant basis by Morrison Marketing. Morrison Marketing is a small marketing firm in Augusta, Georgia serving small business in the area. We design websites, create logos, give consulting advice and pretty much anything to do with growing or starting your business. I am a 23 Y/o Augusta Tech graduate and love my city, I will work very hard for you and your business, for money, but also out of love for this subject and my city. I have many blogs, reports, YouTube videos covering issues relevant to Augusta and her economy. If you have any concerns, information for me, would like to discuss business issues or would like me to work to grow your business, please email me at AugustaEconomy@gmail.com, thanks, lets grow this city and make something happen -Michael Morrison, Morrison Marketing "A proud to be Augusta, Georgia company)

(Club Car, my showcase of Augusta manufacturing, a combination of our Masters Tournament and our prowess at manufacturing)

Club Car- The golf industry plays directly off the Masters tournament and that makes a huge selling point in the brand licensing intense field of golf. Augusta has been good t them and they have done so also, being heavily involved in community service (I do not know of a specific charity they fulfill) but they are always sponsors for public Augusta events and the people that work here seem to enjoy the treatment they receive from working at the company.

(The Bridge-stone Tire Plant, Grantiville, South Carolina)

     The Bridge-stone tire plant is being constructed in Graniteville, South Carolina and is large enough to send serious ripples into the Augusta economy. This is the largest tire plant in the world and is set to expand even further. They make passengers now and will soon start making tires targeted at the mining industry, which is slowly hitting a wall with the Canadian and Australian economies experiencing capital problems in the past few months. These kinds of plants compete, in location, with cities like Charlotte, Savannah, Nashville, Bowling Green or Richmond. The Augusta region outshone these due to tax breaks and by being on the lowest side for cost, in both labor, utilities and in construction.

(On the right, The Starbucks factory under construction and on the left, the products they will be making, some instant powder coffee. This is kind of ironic for Starbucks, as I associate them with fresh and high quality coffee and not microwave coffee, but I imagine these little packets may have a hefty margin for the convenience and serving size factor)

     Starbucks is also coming to Augusta. They will manufacture the ready to drink coffee packets, a high profit margin item for Starbucks. This is a rare scenario of a company headquartered about as far from Augusta as possible and still be on the Continental American States. This shows that Augusta picks up on the radar of many companies that we may not be aware of, it is not always the heavy industry that will appear. 

     The plant costs about $172,000,000 and will employ 140 people when opening in 2014. This plant will represent the absolute modern edge in manufacturing technology and the automation that is promised should be a scenario similar to the first tenants on the Augusta Canal, making textiles, having machines that baffled the modern populace. I imagine walking into this Starbucks facility will invoke the same bewilderment and fascination. It is much easier to relate to manufacturing, in understanding it, due to it being a physical product. It instills pride to work in manufacturing and see your final product. The efficiency and value created from this place is an inspiration for the global competitors in manufacturing to upgrade and keep their facilities strong, as ones in Augusta, Georgia have many advantages that outshine the heavily competitive South-East and the declining manufacturing of the rest of the regions in America. This is an example of "participating in the world economy", as these products will be consumed & shipped worldwide. 

     The plant uses about 100 acres in the "Augusta Corporate Park", a bunch of cleared land and infrastructure (such as utilities connections and regulatory approval is much easier on such publicly prepared land). This is the first tenant of the park that has been in the possible plans of many large manufacturers. The reasons cited, by a Star Bucks representative are- workforce availability, transportation access, logistics and technology base, quality of life and support from local and state leaders.

(International Flavor and Fragrance has a small facility in Augusta. The products end up in other stages of the manufacturing process, in items like perfumes and in laundry detergents)

(Rock-wood Pigments is currently building a facility in Augusta, above is not the Augusta facility, but another Rock-wood facility that will resemble the one in Augusta. It will cost about $115,000,000 and will have between 80-100 employees when it starts off)

(US battery has a medium sized operation going on Tobacco Road. It makes deep cycle batteries)

     (Fiamm technologies, in Waynesboro, about 20 miles south of Augusta)

Fiamm Batteries- This is another local battery industry player. My beloved sister in love works here and she informs me that they inspect Sodium Nickel batteries that are 100% biodegradable and send them to many clients, but namely T-Mobile, some of which will be used as backup batteries for telecommunication towers. These batteries are made in Switzerland and showcase the supply chain that is Fiamm, am Italian company, that has sniffed out the specialities of Waynesboro, Switzerland and Italy. 

     (GIW industries in Thomson, a close by town. This pump is going to China, take that Chinese manufacturing, we can compete in building massive pumps! Murica!)

GIW industries- is another lesser known manufacturer in the CSRA that is showing great growth and ability to compete in the globalized market. The pumps are quite large and are used to transport "Slurry" a mix of solids and liquids that usually clogs up other pumps. The Canadian oil sands have heavy demand for this type of machinery and the facility has seen sales double since 2002. The size of these pumps are astounding, the largest can pump an Olympic pool of water in 2.8  seconds.  They plan on doubling in size to meet the increased demand. GIW industries has about 350 employees at the Grove-town facility, and 100 more around the world. The pumps have been used for copper, iron and other metal extraction and has been used to create islands in the Middle Easts luxury real estate market. The test facility for these pumps also exists in Grove-town, it is the largest of its kind in the world. 

(Augusta Machine and Welding is a field machine shop in Augusta, Georgia proper) 

Augusta Machine and Welding- This Welding shop services small, medium and large industry. There services include fabrication, machining, machine turning , milling and tool repair, welding (Stick, Dual Shield, Mig & Tig), rebuilds, tooling, crane services, and more. They can machine, weld, cut, bend, fabricate, duplicate, copy and create most anything made out of any metal. They offer design assistance, engineering, pattern making & machining of industrial, architectural and marine parts. They can work in any CAD format, either 2D or 3D, to produce working drawings for shop or CAM use. We can reverse engineer old parts and produce new ones which match exactly.

Morgan Thermal Ceramics- This facility makes insulation products that go into many numerous other products that require a flame retardant material for manufacturing. This is a cost cutting and growth product, as older facilities can be re-fitted and new facilities call for this material. This factory is one of the older ones in Augusta and has provided employment to many members in my family. The company itself is quite massive, with operations around the world and is listed on the London Stock exchange, again showing how connected Augusta is to the worlds economy. 

(United Brokerage Company- Another box company located on Laney-Walker BLVD)

United Brokerage Packaging- This is a full line packing material supplier encompassing the Eastern Seaboard. They have been in business for over 50 years serving the moving and storage industry as well as manufacturers varying from food products to light automotive. They specialize in corrugated packaging, tapes, poly protection films and bubble, all forms of plastic packaging, returnable bins as well as many forms of paper dunnage.

Interestingly, they have trained sales associates who evaluate your packaging needs and make recommendations to streamline your needs or to create an improved option for you and your customers. They look at your business, like consultants and figure out how their products can help, as opposed to you just picking what you want/need and ordering, with almost no interaction with a person. I give them high marks for having an awesome customer interaction process in a very bland B2B world. 

(DSM Chemicals, they make Nylon here)

DSM Chemicals- This facility makes Nylon and employs over 600 people. This material factory is highly dependent on the state of the economy, as it produces a material for other manufacturers. It will be the first of many in the manufacturing chain to feel the effects of a slowing economy, this is called an exposure to cyclical factors. This plant in particular was hard fought for by Augusta and was in the news for being a large target of an industrial energy tax that the city had passed for a budget shortfall. These tax hikes are absolutely detrimental to industry moving here and will cost this plant in particular over 100,000$ according to its president. The dumbass commissioners that rose the taxes used the excuse "Its either that or raise rates on property owners, which is not true, you can cut spending also, but that never crosses their mind, as it would reduce their goodies given out. A great reminder that politician are the greatest threat to business. 

On another note, shame belong to DSM tenfold, as they underreported the amount of pollutants that they contributed to the atmosphere from 2003-2006, they were fined $800,000. This is a just amount, I guess from amateurish eyes. It pisses me off to see these blatant disregard of pollution and I would rather that money be spent on making their plant more "Green", than going to another state agency. 

(Cytec has operation across the river in Beech Island. They make material for other manufacturers. This is not the facility, it is the closest picture I could get of what it might look like)

• US floor has a presence in North Augusta. They are hardhearted in the small own of Dalton, Georgia. 
• Eastern Machine and Manufacturing has a presence in Central Augusta. They make machines and service them that are involved in other manufacturing steps.
• Armour Metals makes metal roofing and siding customized to size and order. They are a very small manufacturers and represent the majority of small manufacturers, whom must add service and sometimes retail to stay competitive.
• Milsco Manufacturing has a presence in Thomson and makes seats for other manufacturers. Namely John Deere, Club Car and Caterpillar.