By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

Fostering a cluster, in the true sense of the AngelouEconomics report, means more than creating synergies between homeland security projects and initiatives. It also means fostering connections to support businesses.

Thomas Lindenmayer, vice president of Charleston Operations for Applied Marine Technologies Inc., refers to the concept of total industry integration as “Team Charleston.”

An example of that is what transpired after AMTI won a $30 million contract from General Dynamics last year.

“We’re still relatively new to the community, having opened a facility less than two years ago, but the one thing I purposefully set out to do when we garnered that contract was share the wealth with the businesses around us,” he said.

Of the $30 million, approximately $5.4 million was spent in machine shops, fabricating shops, warehouses and other businesses within 15 blocks of AMTI’s Hanahan facility, Lindenmayer said.

Another $2 million was paid to companies in other parts of the Lowcountry that supported the project.

“One of the big reasons we work locally is that the work is of a high quality and it’s easy to do site inspections, and it cuts out travel-related costs,” Lindenmayer said. “At the same time, it was simply the right thing to do.”

Acting on that philosophy has paid big dividends to the company, he said.

The original business plan for the facility’s first year projected it having five local employees and doing about $1.5 million in business. Instead it had 35 employees and did $22 million in contract work.

“Now six months into its second year of operation, the company has 70 full-time employees, employs 44 others through a local temp agency and has revenues in access of $60 million,” Lindenmayer said.

But it’s not only about sharing the wealth. AMTI’s Hanahan facility was designed to serve the needs of other area contractors as well. One example was building a $1.7 million, soundproof anechoic chamber to investigate radio response and vibration issues on Humvees and other vehicles being sent to the front lines.

“Even our competitors have asked to use it,” Lindenmayer said.

Another feature of his facility is a secure conference room that he believes may be the largest room of its type in the Lowcountry.

Although Lindenmayer is sold on the team concept as a way to foster the homeland security industry here, he still worries.

“There’s an inherent danger in being too satisfied,” he said. “If we don’t continue to go after all the work we can, from Homeland Security, the military and every agency, the work is going to go to somebody else somewhere else, and the connections we’ve made here are going to be for naught.”

Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.

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