|
Growing the aeronautics cluster: We must be patient and measured
By Bob Bouyea
Editor's Notes
Editor’s note: Setcom Media Inc.’s president and CEO, Bill Settlemyer, who you typically find on this page, is on vacation. But be assured that he is thinking big thoughts and will return with his column for the Sept. 18 issue.
Call me odd, but as more time passes, I believe it is a good thing that we weren’t selected as the site for the EADS aircraft manufacturing plant.
As you no doubt remember, EADS was looking for a site to build a refueling tanker aircraft in hopes of replacing the Air Force’s aging fleet. The company is trying to wrestle this work away from the Boeing Co., which ran into trouble with Congress for some alleged backroom dealings.
EADS went on a nationwide search for just the right spot. It needed land, access to a deepwater port and an available work force. EADS spent months paring down the potential sites to just four, one of which was Charleston.
So why am I glad that we didn’t land the aircraft manufacturer? Because it would have taxed our infrastructure, weakened our labor pool and taken the focus away from developing the aeronautics cluster in a manner that is manageable.
Image an EADS future
Image it for a minute: The Vought-Global Aeronautica assembly facility in North Charleston is expecting to employ roughly 800 workers to build a portion of the fuselage for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Add finding another 1,100 employees for EADS to that. Now factor in all the other needs in the manufacturing sector. American LaFrance is looking to add another 240 workers in the near future, several hundred will be needed as DaimlerChrysler gears up production at its Sprinter van assembly plant and there are all the smaller shops that need one or two more employees to handle their increased demand.
Where do we “manufacture” all these workers when we already hear cries for help from this sector?
Trident Technical College is currently running full out to train workers for Vought-Global Aeronautica and several other companies, including DaimlerChrysler. In fact, most new manufacturing companies coming to the area require a worker-training program. But with their current staffing, TTC can only take on so much.
EADS would also have required a large piece of land on which to build. It was interested in land owned by the Charleston County Aviation Authority situated near the new Vought-Global Aeronautica assembly facility—land that could be used by others, such as suppliers to Vought.
As the Vought-Global Aeronautica facilities gear up for production, an increasing number of its suppliers are showing interest in settling in the Lowcountry. Steve Dykes, Charleston County’s economic development director, and Hayward Horton, senior project manager for the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, recently returned from the International Air Show in England and reported on the excitement and interest the international aeronautics community has about the progress of the Vought plant. One supplier has already visited and others are planning visits within the next month.
Mobile’s gain is our gain, too
And while EADS, in the end, selected Mobile, Ala., the U.S. Department of Defense has not issued a contract for the new planes and EADS has hit some turbulence as well. Its subsidiary, Airbus, is dealing with internal strife over allegations that executives were dumping stock due to structural issues with the giant A380 500-passenger aircraft.
Taking that land off the market on pure speculation that EADS would get a contract could have had an adverse effect on attracting these other businesses.
But we’re in South Carolina. “Look around,” you are probably saying, “all we have is land.”
Yes and no. Much of the undeveloped land you see was owned by paper companies, but they have been selling it to residential and mixed-use developers. According to Berkeley County Supervisor Jim Rozier, approximately 48% of the land in Berkeley County cannot be developed because it is protected by national forest and conservation easements.
And if you talk to developers, there is growing concern about the lack of available large industrial-zoned tracts in close proximity to the port.
David Ginn, CEO of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, said finding the appropriate site for a company may sound simple, but it can be quite complex because the criteria of each project is different, as are the criteria of land owners. Some owners simply don’t want to sell or they will sell only to certain types of businesses. Other landowners just want to lease.
While Ginn said the CRDA doesn’t want to encourage sprawl, sometimes the only location options available for larger manufacturers are farther out from the region’s center. An example of this is American LaFrance’s decision to build its new 420,000-square-foot corporate headquarters and manufacturing plant along Jedburg Road.
For American LaFrance the issues were interstate highway proximity and employee access. The location on Jedburg Road gives the company good access to Interstate 26 and roughly 43% of its work force lives in the Summerville area.
Time to build a cluster
However, proximity within a cluster may be more of in issue with other manufacturers such as Vought-Global Aeronautica’s suppliers.
Charles “Newt” Newton, vice president and general manager of Global Aeronautica, said there are a couple of reasons why a supplier and customer should be in close proximity. The size and shape of some of the components don’t lend themselves to shipping. The closer, the better.
Also, Vought-Global Aeronautica would want suppliers close by to reduce shipping time and to be able to get a component replaced or corrected swiftly if a problem occurs. Industry has embraced the “just in time” delivery system in order to reduce or eliminate inventory, but Newton said he’s not sure that is the best system. He says it needs to be “right in time.” The product doesn’t do him any good if it gets there on time but it isn’t right. So again, the closer, the better.
The future of the aeronautics cluster here is bright and we must be patient; it will take years to build. As Steve Dykes and Heyward Horton experienced in England, there is excitement about the work being done in the Lowcountry.
OK, so EADS chose Mobile. I say good luck to them. We will be stronger for it by taking the measured approach of wooing these suppliers and potential suppliers of Vought-Global Aeronautica and Boeing as the economic developers of the region and state are doing.
This gives us time. It gives us time to develop the training capabilities by enhancing what TTC has already started and to incorporate that training into the public schools. And this will help us grow a skilled work force that any company would covet.
By staying the course we will be ready the next time one of the big boys comes sniffing around. And we likely could be the ONLY choice for them.
Bob Bouyea is executive editor for the Business Journal. E-mail him at bbouyea@charlestonbusiness.com.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version