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News Briefs
Sales development company expands into Charleston area
StrategicPartner, a sales force development company headquartered in Columbia, is expanding into the Charleston and Greenville areas.
StrategicPartner, a franchise of the Sandler Sales Institute, combines the Sandler Selling System with other proven techniques to provide chief executives, business owners and other professionals with a unique approach to client development and retention.
In the Charleston area, StrategicPartner acquired The Pathfinder Group, another Sandler Sales Institute franchise. As part of its reorganization, the company hired sales and business development executive Sonya Giffin as vice president to oversee its Mount Pleasant office.
Auto parts manufacturer to expand Summerville facility
German auto parts manufacturer Albert Weber Manufacturing Corp. announced last week that it will invest $11 million to expand its Summerville facility. The plant produces crankshafts for DaimlerChrysler Corp.
Albert Weber expects the investment will create 25 new jobs during its start-up phase and will work with the state’s Center for Accelerated Technology Training for recruitment and training of employees. Charleston is the company’s only U.S. site.
“A highly skilled workforce is necessary to achieve our goals, and we feel confident we will find that talent in the Charleston region,” says Daniel Weber, the company’s chief operating officer. “Crankshaft production at Albert Weber is highly automated. Process reliability and high efficiency with a unique part traceability system are at the core of this established manufacturing line.”
The announcement comes a month after Austin, Texas-based AngelouEconomics released a report indicating the tri-county region should pursue businesses in specific clusters to help grow economic development. One of the clusters included was automotive, which already has a significant presence in the area with such companies as Robert Bosch, American LaFrance, Summerville Preferred Partners, MTU Drive Shafts, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, and Cummins Inc.
“Following AngelouEconomics’ recent recommendation for targeting and nurturing the automotive cluster, it’s exciting to see such a dynamic, forward-thinking company choose to increase their business in our region,” says Ted Creech, chairman of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. “We welcome this expansion and the high quality jobs it will bring to the area.”
Company officials said they are committed to a production capacity of 110,000 crankshafts per year and will start series production in February 2006.
Commerce magazine translated to reach Chinese audience
Commercial News USA, the official export magazine of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is being translated into Chinese.
The magazine will be distributed to 10,000 Chinese business executives and policymakers, as well as at industry trade shows throughout China. The Chinese language version is also available online at www.export.gov/cnusa.
In 2003, Commercial News USA was credited with generating 872 successful transactions, resulting in more than $109 million in sales.
Local businesses honored for excellence in customer service
GuildQuality Inc., a member-based organization that measures quality and customer satisfaction in the home building and remodeling industries, honored several companies for excellence in customer satisfaction at the 17th annual PRISM awards, hosted by the Charleston Trident Home Builders Association.
Recipients of the 2005 PRISM awards in customer service:
• Exemplary Service Award: Buffington Homes LP; Classic Remodeling and Construction Inc.; Phillip W. Smith, General Contractor Inc.; Simonini Builders of South Carolina Inc.; and Structures Building Co..
• Best Customer Service among Custom Homebuilders: Structures Building Co..
• Best Customer Service among Local Volume Builders: Harbor Homes LLC.
• Best Customer Service among Remodeling Professionals: Classic Remodeling and Construction Inc.
• Best Customer Service among Young Companies: Debark Fine Homes Inc.
• Grand Award Winner for Excellence in Customer Service: Structures Building Company.
To qualify for the awards, entrants participated in an independent survey conducted by GuildQuality of their former customers to determine overall customer satisfaction rates. To ensure statistical validity, all customers surveyed were chosen at random from public permit records.
The companies that achieved the highest customer recommendation rates and the most positive feedback in each category were awarded PRISM awards.
Staffing industry reports gains in first quarter
The staffing industry hit a first-quarter high this year, according to data released by the American Staffing Association.
U.S. staffing firms employed an average of 2.6 million temporary and contract workers per day from January through March, up 11% compared to the same period last year.
This year’s first quarter marked the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth in staffing employment.
U.S. sales of temporary and contract staffing services totaled $15.8 billion in the first quarter, according to ASA’s survey, an increase of 11.5% over last year.
ASA represents the U.S. staffing industry. Member companies provide temporary help, contract labor, and permanent placement services through 15,000 offices across the nation and account for 85% of U.S. staffing industry revenues.
In Greenville, StrategicPartner is currently conducting classroom-style training sessions at Webster College once a week.
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