Charleston hot spot for manufacturers

The Charleston region is hot, even in the dead of winter.

So says an economic development trade magazine that for the past five years has ranked “America’s 50 Hottest Cities” for manufacturers considering an expansion or relocation.

In its latest issue, Expansion Management ranked the Charleston-North Charleston metropolitan area as the 12th best spot in the country for widget makers in 2003.

The region ranked ahead of all other South Carolina cities that made the top 50, including the industrial-intensive Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson region, home to BMW, among other big manufacturing operations.

The monthly publication said it based its findings on feedback from more than 75 leading consultants who help manufacturers pick sites for expansions or relocations. They ranked the nation’s 331 metro areas by examining a host of factors, including the business environment, workforce quality, operating costs, incentives, employee training programs and local government cooperation.
While the results are hardly scientific, a favorable rating can go a long way in the high-stakes industrial recruiting game, especially in lean economic times.

“It projects a positive, pro-business image to the world about Charleston,” said David T. Ginn, president and chief executive of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance.

Bill Schaperkotter, managing director of Fluor’s Global Location Strategy Group, the Greenville-based site selection unit of the giant engineering firm, said cities that are ranked near the top of the list could benefit from the publicity down the road.

“The higher you are, the more appealing you are to a wider range of manufacturers,” he said.

Expansion Management said the main purpose of its annual survey is to find “the cities that are doing the best job of presenting themselves as prime locations for growing manufacturing companies” and delivering on their promises.
Schaperkotter is not surprised that Charleston would win high marks from corporate site selectors.

For example, the region has a strong labor pool that is bolstered by its four-year colleges and a flexible technical school system that was created specifically to train workers for local businesses, he said. Also government incentives stack up nicely.

“It’s a good mix,” Schaperkotter said.

In addition, the “recurring” costs that manufacturers watch closely, such as wages, property taxes and utilities, are competitive with other areas, he said. Yet another big plus is the local transportation network, including the port system, easy interstate access and rail.

“Then, of course, there are the softer issues of livability and so forth,” Schaperkotter said. “It’s a very attractive setting … yet the cost of living in the area is reasonable.”

Timothy S. Mallard, a private business consultant and former project manager for the South Carolina Department of Commerce, said livability issues do play a key role in relocations or expansions.

“Most folks from the Northeast just shake their head and smile when we tell them the property tax on an average house in the area,” Mallard said.
John Adams, director of technical services and manufacturing for surgical-lighting equipment maker Berchtold Corp., isn’t surprised with how Charleston is perceived. He said he has been impressed with how Trident Technical College works with manufacturers.

“They offer quite a few after-hour training classes where we can train our employees,” Adams said. “That’s quite attractive.”

The development alliance has had its share of successes recently.
Area Development, a national magazine geared at industry hunters, cited Charleston in an article in its current issue about 10 U.S. cities that “are defying the economic odds,” saying the quality of life in the region has helped fuel local job growth. Another business expansion publication, Plants Sites & Parks, is expected to include Charleston on a Top 10 corporate location list in March.

“That stuff doesn’t just happen,” said Ginn, the alliance’s CEO. “You have to tell your story.”

In addition to meeting regularly with business journalists from across the nation, the group also plays host to site-selection consultants from all over the country.

Site experts have become an important source of business, accounting for about 15 percent of the bona fide business leads that the alliance explores, he said. They also wield tremendous influence in relocation decisions, he said.