Columbia Regional Business Report - May 25, 2020

VOLUME 13 NUMBER 8 ■ COLUMBIABUSINESSREPORT.COM

Film award

S.C. producer wins documentary grant.

Page 2

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Programs preparing health care workers

Special delivery

Boeing helps face shields, goggles get to MUSC workers across S.C. Page 3

Giving record

Midlands Gives totals top $3 million despite pandemic.

Page 6

Port strategy

S.C. Ports Authority looking at ways to keep growing.

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INSIDE

Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 4 In Focus: Health and Wellness............................. 13 List: Urgent Care Centers.... 15 At Work............................... 19 Viewpoint............................23

S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control workers help organize a free mobile COVID-19 testing clinic. The agency has conducted 27,275 tests for COVID-19 as of May 17. Of those tests, 3,110 were positive and 24,165 were negative. DHEC has scheduled more than 50 testing clinics statewide through June 5. (Photo/Provided)

By Melinda Waldrop

S

mwaldrop@scbiznews.com

hirley Bannister received the call at 6 a.m.

Bannister, nursing department chair at Midlands Technical College, answered the phone to find a former student on the line and in a panic.

“Her plight was, ‘I have no mask,’ ” Bannister said. “ ‘I’m in the trenches, and I have no mask.’ We got together and found some things to give to her to help her through that weekend. But I’ve heard from one or two stu-

dents about how difficult it really is.”

Bannister is one of several area education professionals working to prepare soon-tobe nurses and health care workers in related fields amid the uncertainty of COVID-19.

With National Nurses Day observed earlier this month from May 6-12, the sobering numbers have continued to climb. As of May 18, 89,407 people in the U.S. had died of COVID-19, with the country reporting 1.48 million cases, according to provisional figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. South Carolina had reported 8,942 deaths and 391 cases as of May 18,

Back to work

Changes in place as BMW’s Spartanburg plant resumes production after shutdown.

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according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control data.

Richland County has reported 1,250 confirmed cases of the virus and another 8,929 estimated cases. Those are the highest numbers in the state, which has a total of 63,871 possible cases, according to DHEC. DHEC estimates the number of confirmed cases in S.C. to grow to 10,493 by May 31, a projection of almost 900 new cases a week.

Adrian Stauffer, director of nursing at ECPI University in Columbia and a nurse for See NURSES, Page 16

Upfront

BRIEFS | FACTS | STATEWIDE NEWS

A LA CARTE

Comparing unemployment benefits across state lines

W

hatever unemloyment rate you see for South Carolina right now is likely vastly out of date the moment you read it.

Suffice it to say, hundreds of thousands of people in the Palmetto State are out of work or facing reduced working hours because of the COVID-19 outbreak. As of the week ending May 9, the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce had received 486,149 initial unemployment claims and had paid out more than $1.09 billion in federal and state benefits.

South Carolina provides the eighth-lowest weekly amount of benefits nationally compared to all 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to a data analysis by File Unemployment, a repository of unemployment benefits data using public sources of information.

Congress anticipated soaring national unemployment with the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill and even put $600 extra in every state’s weekly benefits package to encourage workers to stay home if they were not part of a designated essential industry. This temporary measure was meant to bridge the gap in household budgets so people could maintain their health, feed their families, and so that businesses could call workers back without having to rebuild a workforce.

States with Lowest weekly benefits

States with highest weekly benefits

State

Max benefit

Weeks

State

Max benefit

Weeks

Mississippi

$235

26

Massachusetts

$1,220

26

Arizona

$240

20

Ohio

$802

26

Louisiana

$247

26

Washington

$790

26

Alabama

$275

26

Rhode Island

$730

26

Florida

$275

26

Connecticut

$724

26

Tennessee

$275

26

Minnesota

$717

20

Missouri

$320

13

Iowa

$697

26

South Carolina

$326

20

New Jersey

$696

26

Georgia

$365

12

Illinois

$649

26

Wisconsin

$370

26

Hawaii

$648 14 Source: File Unemployment

HEARD IN THE

REPORT

“A big thing we take pride in is being able to adapt and help our customers when they need it, and in this situation, helping to save lives, it’s been a big deal for us.”

— Steve Cornfoth, sales manager, Phoenix Specialty Manufacturing

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S.C. producer wins documentary grant S.C.-based film producer Sherard Duvall has won a research and development grant from the Southern Documentary Fund for his exploration of Gullah Geechee culture.

Saltwata Vibes: Sankofa Seeds from Geechee Roots follows siblings Sara Makeba Daise and Simeon Daise, children of former television personalities Ron and Natalie Daise, as they try to define their cultural identity. Ron and Natalie Daise hosted the 1990s-era Nickelodeon show Gullah Gullah Island.

The film, one of 20 selected documentary projects which will receive cash awards totaling $150,000, also explores how music can influence culture.

Duvall, founder of OTR Medica Group, is a Columbia native and an adjunct professor at Columbia College who has produced projects for VH1, The Discovery Channel, BET and ESPN. “This is the first of several feature length documentary projects that we have currently under development right now,” Duvall said in a news release. “We started this company with a laser vision on bringing untold stories to the world that reflected the African Diaspora, particularly in South Carolina. As a S.C. native, I personally wanted to use my resources to push stories like this into the national and international spotlight, which is why I am so grateful to SDF for giving us the first push to do just that.”

Saltwata is slated for a spring 2022 release.

The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo and Sea Island cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic coast.

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SC Biz News Briefs

moving business forward with people.

Boeing employees and contractors unload pallets of personal protective equipment from a Boeing Dreamlifter. Face shields and eye goggles were delivered to MUSC workers. (Photo/Boeing Co.)

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Clarke & Company Benefits builds informative relationships with our clients. Our experienced staff provides proactive, day-to-day employee benefit management that moves business forward.

Charleston Regional Business Journal

Boeing delivers safety equipment

M

arlon Kimpson believes when the coronavirus has passed, part of the story to be told will be about South Carolina’s resilience and citizens banding together.

A prime example of that, the Democratic state senator from Charleston said, is the delivery of 150,000 face shields and eye goggles from China to the Medical University of South Carolina in mid-May, facilitated by Boeing.

“Today’s delivery is just another example of how the people of South Carolina ... stepped up when faced with adversity,” Kimpson said on May 12.

Three Boeing Dreamlifters, which are 747-400 jumbo jets converted to large cargo freighters, transported the medical supplies. The supplies were held in the lower section of the planes while 787 component parts were flown in the main deck cargo hold.

The flights were operated by Atlas Air. “Boeing and MUSC have a longstanding partnership, and today’s delivery is yet another example of two great South Carolina institutions coming together in support of our local community,” said David Cole, president of MUSC. This was the first time three Dreamlifters were lined up in one location, Boeing President and CEO David Calhoun said in his first public appearance as CEO at the S.C. plant.

“Today’s delivery puts essential personal protective equipment in the hands of South Carolina’s frontline health care professionals and helps MUSC further support the community during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Calhoun said. “I am incredibly proud of our Boeing team members throughout the world for their work to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and thankful for our government and industry partners that have joined us in the pandemic response.”

Along with Kimpson, Cole and Calhoun, the Boeing delivery was attended by Gov. Henry McMaster; MUSC Health CEO Dr. Patrick Cawley; U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-Charleston; U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale; Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill; and Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.

This is the fourth transport mission that Boeing has undertaken because of COVID19 and the second in South Carolina.

The company delivered 1.5 million masks to Prisma Health late last month, with 100,000 donated to MUSC. BEST ADVICE Phyllis Martin, Tri-County Cradle Part of the

Restaurants start tough climb back

Bringing home the supply chain

Sen. Graham says legislation will madate Made in USA for medical supply.

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By Molly Hulsey

F

BorgWarner returns to life

Production line restarts after coronavirus measures and tornado in Seneca.

Page 16

COVID-19 testing

Safety and health assurance in the workplace takes center stage.

Page 6

Cargo expansion

With two large projects nearing completion, ports authority looks for growth.

Page 12

INSIDE Leading Off .......................... 2 SC Biz News Briefs ................ 3 C-Suite ................................ 4 In Focus: Manufacturing and Aerospace ......................... 13 List: Manufacturing Firms ... 16 Bonus List: Aviation and Aerospace Companies ......... 18 At Work .............................. 21 Viewpoint ...........................23

A masked worker is among the first to return to the production line May 4 at BMW Manufacturing after a temporary shutdown for the new coronavirus was hastened by supply chain disruptions. (Photo/Provided)

Manufacturing RESTART BMW, others, back to work after temporary shutdown

By Ross Norton

T

rnorton@scbiznews.com

he masked workers on BMW Manufacturing’s production line aren’t as close as they were before, physically. They’re back at work, but it’s not the same. It may never be again.

BMW’s Spartanburg County plant came back to life May 4 as the automaker led a statewide movement of plants taking their first steps toward full production after shuttering because of a direct threat from COVID-19.

BMW’s plant closed in response to the new coronavirus but the closure came earlier than expected when other plants across the country disrupted BMW’s supply chain.

The steps toward full production are being taking in phases, according to a BMW news release, after a deep cleaning and a re-thinking of how 1,100 people can work together in uni-

son without working together too closely.

During the non-production time, which started March 29, BMW implemented a variety of deep cleaning and safety measures, which included disinfecting equipment, sanitizing workstations, remodeling layouts to enhance social distancing and completing preventive maintenance on equipment, according to a news release.

“We return to Plant Spartanburg focused on taking care of each other and taking care of our customers,” Knudt Flor, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing, said in the news release.

The statement said the plant would “carefully ramp up production as we continue to monitor the supply chain and customer demand around the world” but did not speculate on how long it will take to reach full production.

The plant was making 1,500 cars a day before the shutdown. The plant has 300 direct See RESTART, Page 20

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or a few weeks, constricted revenue dimmed the lights at Powdersville’s Eggs Up Grill, but with fried-eggpatterned masks and a Paycheck Protection Program loan, the sunny breakfast joint snapped back with tenacity.

“I found out on April 3 that I was approved and then I got my money on April 9,” owner Debi Brannon said.

Sales dropped 90% to 95% when COVID-19 heralded a state of emergency across South Carolina, she said.

As the first dining restrictions began to peel back on May 4, staff pushed six patio tables eight feet apart and attracted potential diners with bubble guns, pastel window paint and masked servers under a beach tent.

At least three clusters of customers dug into omelets onsite at 10:30 that day, six of the day’s 32 dine-in customers plus 59 to-go orders.

“It’s of course, definitely lower than our sales volume before but it’s been our best since all this has happened,” Brannon said. A few weeks after jumping back into the game April 13, her store also has raised $17,000 in donations toward lunches for Anderson District 1 students and $3,000 toward sausage biscuits for front-line workers.

“I was able to bring my people back very quickly. I know some business owners and their friends have not had the same experience,” she said.

Of the 38 stores overseen by the Spartanburg-based franchise, most have opened or reopened across the state, aside from a few shuttered Columbia locations.

See RESTAURANTS, Page 8

In Focus Above the radar

Lockheed Martin has potential customers around the world for F-16.

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Reopening a calculated decision for businesses

By Patrick Hoff

Pivoting port

S.C. Ports Authority mapping new path to continue business growth.

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T

of what to do and how to do it well,” said Jeff Brower, regional director of operations for NorthPointe Hospitality Management, which operates Hotel Indigo in Mount Pleasant and the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Charleston.

Gov. Henry McMaster lifted an executive order earlier this month that had limited traffic on the road only to commuters going

phoff@scbiznews.com

hough business owners are eager to reopen after weeks of coronavirus-induced closures, they’re doing so with caution to ensure the safety of customers and employees.

“First in mind is, obviously, the protocols

Repaired to reopen

By Patrick Hoff

C

Online itinerary

Chicken out

Poultry producers keep watch on viral threats that jeopardize U.S. exports.

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INSIDE

Upfront ................................ 2 Best Advice .......................... 4 SC Biz News Briefs ................ 5 In Focus: Ports, Logistics and Distribution ................. 13 List: Motor Freight Lines..... 19 At Work .............................. 21 Hot Properties .....................27 Viewpoint ........................... 31

SPRING 2020

See IMPACT, Page 6

Is coronavirus a contractual ‘act of God?’

Upstate automotive manufacturer resumes production after one-two punch of coronavirus, tornado. Page 12

Software allows dockworkers to schedule shifts outside union hall.

Page 13

to and from work at essential businesses, as well as people visiting family, obtaining essential goods or services, attending religious services and recreating alone or with family outside.

Additionally, restaurants were allowed to begin outdoor dining starting May 4.

CRITICAL

CARGO

Photo/Boeing Co.

Boeing S.C. partnered with government and health officials to land three planes loaded with personal protective equipment in North Charleston from China for Medical University of S.C. health workers statewide.

Story, Photos Page 8-9

phoff@scbiznews.com

ontracts with force majeure clauses have typically standardized a company’s failure to perform in the event of uncertain circumstances, such as a fire, flood, war, accident or natural disaster.

But in facing today’s new normal, companies may have may have a new legal gray area to deal with, when contracts are interrupted by a pandemic.

“I think that there’s a lot of concern ... about basically having the buck stop with them financially, particularly if they’re unable to perform and their provision in their contracts ... that make them responsible for delay,” said Kyle Dillard, attorney and shareholder at Ogletree Deakins’ Greenville office.

Force majeure is a clause in a contract that removes liability from a company if they are unable to uphold their end of the deal because of unforeseen circumstances. Typically the clauses have certain events spelled out, such as fire, flood, government action and labor disputes, but most clauses also excuse a company See FORCE, Page 7

Driving forward

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S.C. unemployment claims approach half a million

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ore than 32,000 S.C. residents filed unemployment claims for the week ending May 9, bringing the total of claims in the last eight weeks to 486,149.

Initial claims filed from May 3 to May 9 totaled 32,513, a decrease of 14,234 from the previous week, according to S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce data.

The numbers marked the fourth consecutive week of a drop in state unemployment claims.

“This four-week trend correlates with the gradual transition from pronounced unemployment to a portion of the population reporting back to work as the governor reengages the state’s businesses,” Dan Ellzey, DEW executive director, said in a new release. “At the same time, our agency is continuing to process claims to make sure all eligible individuals receive payments, back-dated appropriately.

“As South Carolinians begin to return to work, we know most will be ready to get back to the long-term stability of employment, but we also under-

stand that some individuals may face challenges. We will support employers and employees through this process of reemployment, which is key to the state’s economic recovery.”

DEW said it has paid more than $1.09 billion in state and federal unemployment benefits from March 15 to May 12.

For the week ending May 9, Greenville County saw 3,494 claims filed, while Horry County saw 2,694. Charleston County had 2,671, Richland County 2,583, Spartanburg County 2,546 and Lexington County 1,442.

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University of South Carolina to resume classes this fall

T

Staff Report

he University of South Carolina will resume in-person instruction on its Columbia campus in mid-August.

The plan to resume instruction for the fall 2020 semester includes a phased-in return of some students, faculty and staff this summer. COVID-19 testing will be available for all students, faculty and staff, according to a news release from the university, while health protocols including

social distancing in classrooms and sports activities will be practiced.

Bob Caslen, USC president, said in a letter that the decision was made after weeks of planning by a group of public health, medical and academic experts.

Debbie Beck, executive director of USC’s Student Health Services, said collaboration with experts from the university’s Arnold School of Public Health and the School of Medicine will continue through the summer and beyond.

“We know the COVID-19 virus will be

with us for some time, but we are incredibly fortunate that our campus has a worldclass accredited student health infrastructure that will allow us to respond and adapt to new cases,” Beck said.

USC said there will be an increase in single-occupancy rooms in residence halls, modified dining options and on-campus space for quarantine and self-isolation if necessary.

The university also announced that it will begin distributing $10.7 million in federal financial assistance to more than

20,000 students affected by the pandemic.

The funds will be made available to all students receiving Pell Grants and those eligible for Title IV Federal Student Financial Aid. Each student will receive between $400 to $800 in one-time grants made available through the federal coronavirus relief bill enacted in late March.

Grant recipients must be enrolled for the spring 2020 semester and attest they incurred expenses directly related to the closure of the Columbia campus in response to COVID-19 concerns.

USC collecting plasma donations at new campus site

R

Staff Report

ecovered COVID-19 patients can donate plasma at a newly established site at the University of South Carolina’s Center for Health and Well-Being.

The Devine Street site, in collaboration with Piedmont-based nonprofit blood bank The Blood Connection, is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. It is the first stationary collection site for convalescent plasma, which contains antibodies

that may be useful in fighting the coronavirus, in the Midlands.

Plasma donors must have either had a positive COVID-19 test and been asymptomatic for at least 14 days or have had a positive antibody test.

Individuals can call 864-751-1168 to be screened.

Blood donations will also be accepted at the site.

To schedule a blood donation, text USC to 70547.

WHEN YOU’RE READY, WE’LL BE READY. Fly local. Fly with ease.

Photo/File

6

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May 25 - June 21, 2020

Midlands community sets donation record amid pandemic

By Melinda Waldrop

J

mwaldrop@scbiznews.com

oAnn Turnquist admitted to being a little worried.

As annual Midlands Gives charitable challenge approached last week, Turnquist, president and CEO of host nonprofit Central Carolina Community Foundation, didn’t know how the global coronavirus pandemic would affect people’s willingness to reach for their wallets.

“We were not sure at all what the outcome would be,” she said.

The result, as it turned out, was record-breaking.

The annual daylong event, held May 5, raised $3.32 million, a 64% increase from the then-record $2.03 million mark reached in 2019. Donations increased 57%, from 14,272 gifts to 410 registered charities last year to 24,777 gifts to 412 charities this year.

“What Midlands Gives demonstrated to me again this year is that our community is extremely resilient, and our community is supportive of nonprofit organizations,” Turnquist said. “Over the years, folks across our community have been introduced to the work being done, either through firsthand experiences or stories from others, and our community shows gratitude. It was manifested in the dollars and numbers of donations that were made on May 5.”

Turnquist credited a reduction in the minimum contribution from $20 to $10 for the success of the event, as well as a pandemic-necessitated change. COVID19 forced Midlands Gives from its traditional physical headquarters to a virtual event featuring Facebook live stories which she said allowed organizations to reach a larger audience with more complete messages.

Turnquist said nonprofits employed more than 90,000 people across South Carolina, accounting for 5.5% of the state’s workforce as of 2018.

“Folks contributing knew that these were small businesses who were reliant

Midlands Gives’ annual charitable giving challenge set a record by raising $3.32 million during the 2020 event, held on May 5. The amount marked a 64% increase from the 2019 mark of 2019, while donations increased 57% from last year, from 14,272 gifts to 24,777. The COVID-19 pandemic converted the event into an entirely online experience which included Facebook live stories from participating organizations. (Photo/Mary Grant)

upon the generosity of friends and strangers, and that as we reopen (S.C. businesses), it’s going to be critical to have all of the services provided that nonprofits provide, day in and day out,” Turnquist said.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s feeding the hungry or providing rent relief. Those nonprofits that are helping teach our children to read, or finding homes for stray animals, or bringing joy to our lives through art and music, are all critical.”

Turnquist also praised the Midlands business community for its support.

Area companies including Aflac, BlueCross BlueShield of S.C., Dominion Energy, Nephron Pharmaceutical Corp. and South State Bank offered prizes and

incentives, including financial matches.

One anonymous donor with the moniker The Cheerful Giver put up close to half a million dollars in matches, she said.

The Central Carolina Community Foundation announced last October that Midlands Gives would add a year-round online donation platform. Turnquist said the May 5 totals represent giving during the 18-hour event, in addition to a twoweek leadup period in which advance donations could be made.

Christian evangelical organization A Moment of Hope received the most money at $85,525, while Harvest Hope Food Bank received 593 donations.

Since its inaugural year in 2014, Mid-

lands Gives has raised $12,630,702, Turnquist said.

“The overall sense of, ‘How can I help?

How can I give back? continues,” she said. “Even though we’re apart, people had an opportunity to come together, and it was fabulous. It was an incredibly heart-lifting, heartwarming day. It gave us hope.”

CCCF distributes grants and scholarships and connects philanthropical leaders and resources in 11 Midlands counties. It awarded $500,000 in 2019 and has distributed $1.88.8 mllion since being founded in 1984.

Reach Melinda Waldrop at 803-726-7542.

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Army Corp presents potential coastal flooding solution

By Patrick Hoff

H

phoff@scbiznews.com

alfway through a study on how to protect the Charleston peninsula from coastal flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers is seeking public opinion on a potential solution.

The Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District began its $3 million coastal flooding study of the Charleston peninsula in October 2018 with funding from the federal government. The study is being done in partnership with the city of Charleston.

“One of the primary objectives of this study is to reduce the risk ... to human health and safety,” said project manager Wes Wilson. “Also to reduce the economic damages from a lot of coastal storm events.”

The peninsula is home to 40,000 residents, 12,000 structures and $14 billion in economic value. The study is meant to find a solution to reduce coastal flooding through at least 2076.

The tentative plan includes a 7.8mile wall around the perimeter of the Charleston peninsula at an elevation of 12 feet, with five permanent pump stations and five mobile pump stations. The wall would include gates for pedestrians, vehicles and railroad.

A wave reduction structure would also be built offshore near the tip of the peninsula.

The report did not outline specifics about any of the features. The tentative plan includes options for recreational amenities along the wall, such as a walkway, and the goal is to have the wall blend in with downtown Charleston’s aesthetic.

The estimated cost of the tentatively chosen plan is $1.75 billion, with 65% paid by the federal government and 35% — approximately $613.8 million — left to local governments.

Nancy Parrish, chief of planning for the Army Corps Charleston Dis-

Photo/File

trict, said this is “an awkward time” to be releasing a report for public review because of COVID-19, but the corps didn’t want to delay the project.

“I think it’s going to be a long time before we have a big packed room of people,” Parrish said. “We don’t want to put it off because the storm’s coming.”

The Army Corps will conclude the study in fall 2021, at which time it will present its findings to Congress in the hopes that it will appropriate funding for the project. Parrish said design work would not begin until Congress funds the project.

The corps is studying coastal flooding, such as storm surge, tides and sea level rise, and not other sources of flooding on the peninsula, such as drainage.

While coastal flooding falls under the purview of the federal government, drainage is explicitly a non-federal responsibility.

“This is just a piece of the puzzle,” Wilson said. “This is the coastal storm surge threat that the peninsula could take on.”

The draft report says, though, that mitigation for adverse impacts to storm-

water runoff will be included in the final report if appropriate.

Winslow Hastie, president and CEO of Historic Charleston Foundation, said he was a little surprised by the lack of detail in the draft report — he had expected at least some rough sketches of what the structures might look like — but he understands the Army Corps’ reluctance to provide specifics that might not pan out in the final draft.

Hastie also said he expects some Charleston residents will be resistant to the city investing so much money in a project that would benefit only the peninsula.

“Now hopefully they recognize the value ... that are located here on the peninsula and in the historic district,” he said.

“But, you know, it’s going to become a ‘What the hell? The city’s going to spend ... this just for the peninsula?’ That’s going to be a serious issue.”

In lieu of in-person presentations of the draft report, the Army Corps is hosting virtual office hours to allow the public to ask questions of the project team.

The office hours are scheduled for 4 to 6

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p.m. every Thursday in May. The corps has also extended the public comment period from the typical 30 days to 60 days, giving the public until June 19 to provide input.

Hastie said Historic Charleston Foundation intends to submit comments on the project toward the end of the comment period, in order to fully digest the report and hear from the public.

Historic Charleston Foundation also plans to stage some kind of virtual meeting to help the public unpack the report.

“It’s an extremely complex prospect, frankly, and project, ultimately,” he said.

“It’s complex and enormous and, frankly, a little bit scary.”

While not endorsing the project, Hastie said he hopes that Charlestonians seriously consider what the Army Corps of Engineers is presenting in its draft report.

Though the federal government likely wouldn’t appropriate money for the project until a disaster hits or a major infrastructure bill is passed, Hastie said a plan puts Charleston in a better position when the time comes.

“I think that the knee-jerk reaction on the part of the public is going to be ‘Over my dead body, we’re not going to separate ourselves from the water. We’re a water city, we’re a port town, that connection to the water is so important,’ which of course it is,” he said. “But people really need to think long and hard and try to project out not just 10 years or 15 years, but you know, 25, 30, 50, 75, and ... that’s a hard thing to do for anybody.”

He added that to be responsible citizens, Charlestonians need to engage in the Army Corps’ project and help find a coastal flooding solution that fits the Holy City.

“This is unique opportunity that we should not squander,” Hastie said.

Reach staff writer Patrick Hoff at 843-849-3144 or @PatHoffCRBJ on Twitter.

8

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May 25 - June 21, 2020

The S.C. Ports Authority has a $63.4 billion impact on South Carolina. Officials attribute much of its growth during the last 10 years to the state’s robust manufacturing economy, but realize future growth also depends on factors such as expanding its cargo base and focusing on bigger omnichannel retailers as consumers demand increasingly fast delivery speeds. (Photo/English Purcell for S.C. Ports Authority)

Port building growth strategy on diversification

By Patrick Hoff

A

phoff@scbiznews.com

s the S.C. Ports Authority nears completion of two years-long infrastructure projects — the deepening of Charleston Harbor and the new Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Terminal — port leadership is setting its sights on the future and envisioning how the port can continue to grow.

“We just have a firm belief that in any business ... companies prosper by growing,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the ports authority.

The ports authority has a $63.4 billion economic impact on South Carolina, including $7.83 billion in the Lowcountry.

Much of the port’s growth over the past 10 years is attributable to the growth of advanced manufacturing in the state, but Newsome said he knows that gravy train can’t carry the port for another decade.

“Our growth is largely going to be, you know, not so much through a BMW adding onto the facility in Greer or whatever, where we benefited in the last 10 years,” he said. “It’s going to be from expanding our cargo base and new business opportunities.”

The port is looking especially at retail to continue its growth, with a focus on bigger omnichannel retailers.

Retail has never been a focus for the port, but Newsome said with consum-

ers demanding increasingly fast delivery speeds, companies are seeing a shortage of distribution centers — a shortage the port hopes to fill.

“It’s a large market potential-wise ... and it’s changing,” Newsome said, adding that online retail does not suffer in the same way that brick-and-mortar stores do, which would make it a consistent business for the port.

“I think the signs of that are going to be fairly obvious as we work through this recession,” he said.

The port’s plans all come together in Ridgeville, where the port purchased a 950-acre industrial property in 2018.

One disadvantage that the S.C. Ports Authority faces, Newsome said, is a lack of land next to its terminals, a trade-off for the ports authority having access to the ocean.

Ridgeville, however, has plenty of land, with Interstate 26 access and rail service, making the Dorchester County property a good investment for the port, according to Newsome.

“So that’s really our laboratory, if you will, for this concept, and I think it’s going to be really successful,” Newsome said.

“I think it’s an area where there’s a good labor shed ... the land is plentiful, the infrastructure is really good, the county is really supportive.”

Newsome said the current economic environment isn’t much of a factor in

the port’s plans because of the long-term nature of the ports authority’s vision. He does expect, however, that the port will handle less volume in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, than it has this year.

“We are really looking beyond the short term. ... We’re looking at the long term,” he said. “I mean, we permitted a terminal in 2003. We’re going to open it in 2021. We bought Ridgeville in 2018, I hope to get something out there started on later this year. So ... business development is long-term.”

Ports COO Barbara Melvin said the ports authority’s investment in infrastructure, such as the Leatherman terminal, have put it in a strong position for the future.

“Those are always sound investments regardless of the economic times that you’re in,” Melvin said. “Those types of investments are really going to put us in the strongest position possible to continue to handle the growth that’s coming.”

Melvin and Newsome both said that port operations likely won’t change drastically — the port won’t become automated and the workforce is expected to remain strong — but gate hours might get longer and more cargo might be moved by rail to accommodate customer demands.

“I mean, we’re going to meet ever-more-demanding requirements from our customers,” Newsome said. “I don’t think our customers are going to

get any less demanding; I think they’ll be more demanding. ... Distribution centers are ultimately going to want to run a 24-hour operation. So I think we’re going to have to continue to up our game and performance.”

Melvin said the port may develop an inner harbor barge to give customers more choices for moving their cargo, similar to how the port developed its inland ports.

She said she also hopes the port can increase its utilization of intermodal cargo from 25% to 30% with the new intermodal facility being built in North Charleston.

“So that type of cargo movement around our ... terminals may look a little different, but ultimately the operations will be the same,” Melvin said.

Newsome added he’s confident that if the port can meet the demands of automotive manufacturers, it can service retailers, too.

“We have a great product,” he said. “All these supply chain managers want to do one thing: manage risk. And ... we offer that here. We offer a good product. We have invested in great infrastructure; we can handle multiple big ships at one time.

So if they do business here, they’re not going to get in trouble.”

Reach staff writer Patrick Hoff at 843-849-3144 or @PatHoffCRBJ on Twitter.

May 25 - June 21, 2020

www.columbiabusinessreport.com 9

Dominion Energy reports first-quarter net loss of $270 million

D

Staff Report

ominion Energy reported a first-quarter net loss of $270 million, or 34 cents a share, for the three months ending March 31.

That compared to a net loss of $680 million, or 86 cents per share, for the same period in 2019.

Dominion, which acquired SCANA Corp. after a $14.6 billion merger won

S.C. regulatory approval in December 2018, reported first-quarter operating earnings of $931 million, or $1.09 per share, compared with $873 million, or $1.10 per share, for the first three months of 2019.

The Richmond, Va.-based company estimated its 2020 first-quarter earnings were affected by nine cents per share because of a mild winter in its utility service territories.

Dominion said the difference

between GAAP and operating earnings for the first quarter of 2020 was primarily attributable to costs of the planned early retirement of certain coal and oil-fired generating units in Virginia to meet requirements of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, along with unrealized losses on nuclear decommissioning trust funds.

The difference between GAAP and operating earnings for the first quarter of 2019 was primarily attributable

to charges related to SCANA merger commitments and the early retirement of certain cold-reserve Virginia utility generating units, the company said in a news release.

Dominion expects second-quarter operating earnings in the range of 75 cents to 85 cents per share, compared to second-quarter 2019 operating earnings of 77 cents per share, and affirms its fullyear 2020 operating earnings guidance range of $4.25 to $4.60 per share.

Hemp processing company establishing Hampton County operations

Y

Staff Report

ield Scientific, a subsidiary of GEM Opportunity Zone Fund, is investing more than $30 million in new operations in Hampton County expected to create 107 jobs.

Founded in 2017, Yield Scientific is a hemp growing and processing operation specializing in clinical-grade product development for the health care industry.

The company offers cannabidiol products through its brand Victis CBD. The new facility, located at Southern Carolina Industrial Campus in Early Branch, will enhance the company’s product development and manufacturing capabilities, according to a news release.

Operations are expected to be online by the first quarter of 2021. For employment information, visit www.yieldsci. com.

“We are both proud and grateful that this innovative company has chosen Hampton County as the home for

Photo/File

their new operation,” Hampton County Council Chair Clay Bishop said.

“Each of the 107 jobs they are creating will affect the future of a family in our region, which is why economic development is so important to the quality of life

in a community.”

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits related to the project. Hampton County was also awarded a $50,000 Rural Infrastructure Fund

grant to assist with related costs.

In 2018, the S.C. Department of Agriculture launched an Industrial Hemp Pilot Program, approving permits to 20 farmers statewide, mostly in the Midlands and along the coast.

NOTICE OF BANKRUPTCY SALE On April 15, 2020, upon motion of the Debtor, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina entered an order establishing bidding procedures for the sale of substantially all assets in the Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Case of Watertech Holdings, Inc. (“Watertech”), Ch. 11 Case No. 20-00662-jw. Watertech filed a Motion for Order Authorizing the Sale of Assets of the Debtor Free and Clear of Liens, Claims, Encumbrances, and Other Interests pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 363 for a purchase price of $125,000. The proposed sale is a sale of substantially all of the Debtor’s assets including contracts, permits, intellectual property, goodwill and all related documents and rights.

A hearing on the Asset Sale will be held on June 26, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. at the U.S. Bankruptcy Hearing Room, 145 King Street, Room 225 Charleston, SC 29401. Any competing bids for Watertech’s assets must be submitted to Watertech’s counsel no later than June 16, 2020.

For inquiries, you may contact Watertech’s counsel, G. William McCarthy, Jr. & W. Harrison Penn, by phone at (803) 771-8836 or e-mail at bmccarthy@mccarthy-lawfirm.com & hpenn@mccarthy-lawfirm.com.

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10

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May 25 - June 21, 2020

Workers at BMW’s Spartanburg County plant returned to work on May 4. The plant closed March 29 in response to the coronavirus and to disruptions in its supply chain. The plant is resuming full production in phases after a deep cleaning which included disinfecting equipment, sanitizing work stations and remodeling layouts to adhere to social distancing guidelines. (Photo/Provided)

BMW, others, back to work after temporary shutdown

By Ross Norton

T

rnorton@scbiznews.com

he masked workers on BMW Manufacturing’s production line aren’t as close as they were before, physically. They’re back at work, but it’s not the same. It may never be again.

BMW’s Spartanburg County plant came back to life May 4 as the automaker led a statewide movement of plants taking their first steps toward full production after shuttering because of a direct threat from COVID-19. BMW’s plant closed in response to the new coronavirus but the closure came earlier than expected when other plants across the country disrupted BMW’s supply chain.

The steps toward full production are being taking in phases, according to a BMW news release, after a deep cleaning and a re-thinking of how 1,100 people can work together in unison without working together too closely.

During the non-production time, which started March 29, BMW implemented a variety of deep cleaning and safety measures, which included disinfecting equipment, sanitizing workstations, remodeling layouts to enhance social distancing and completing preventive maintenance on equipment, according to a news release.

“We return to Plant Spartanburg focused on taking care of each other and taking care of our customers,” Knudt Flor, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing, said in the news

release. The statement said the plant would “carefully ramp up production as we continue to monitor the supply chain and customer demand around the world” but did not speculate on how long it will take to reach full production.

The plant was making 1,500 cars a day before the shutdown. The plant has 300 direct suppliers in the United States, 40 of them in South Carolina, according to a BMW fact sheet updated in February.

New guidelines and procedures have been implemented at the Spartanburg plant to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including temperature self-checks, modified seating for cafeteria and office areas, staggered lunch schedules and expanded cleaning prac-

tices, the news release said. Face masks are required for anyone who cannot maintain a six-foot distance from other workers.

According to Sara Hazzard, president and CEO of the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance, similar measures are underway across the state.

“We have been tracking companies and we know of about 50 that have temporarily shut their production,” Hazzard said. “Of those companies it looks like the majority, almost all of them, should be back up and running in mid- to late May and just a couple, maybe a handful, in early June.”

Most of that 50 are manufacturing parts or components for the automotive industry, said Hazzard, who has traveled the state in recent weeks to see

May 25 - June 21, 2020

what those plants are doing to adjust to a new reality.

“It’s remarkable the lengths they’re going to, to provide a safe and healthy environment,” she said. “It’s not only traditional PPE like goggles and face masks, but the spacing out and physical distancing of the employees. There are arrows taped on the floor with one-way directions for walking through a facility, but it’s also small things like not sharing pens and telephones and other office equipment — spacing out chairs in the cafeteria and tables and desks.

It’s propping open doors so employees aren’t having to touch the door handles. They are thinking through to the very minutest of details, everything that they can do to provide the safest environment.”

Hazzard said BMW Manufacturing’s restart seemed to bolster morale among other manufacturers in the state.

“I think it’s an indication that things are picking back up and certainly instills confidence in the manufacturing community and hopefully in consumers as well,” Hazzard said. “We’re watching the state of Michigan and the government of Mexico because both have shut down (factories) and indications are both will open up automotive operations around May 17 or 18 — that is what they are looking at — and that’s critical for the automotive sector. Their reopening is going to be important for all of the North American supply chain.”

The Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce chief said the BMW plant and other manufacturers in Spartanburg County will help lead the entire state out of a recession brought on by the sudden shutdown of the economy.

“Spartanburg County is incredibly positioned to recover very quickly

www.columbiabusinessreport.com 11

BMW’s Spartanburg plant was making 1,500 cars a day before a March 29 shutdown in response to the coronavirus and supply chain disruptions. The plant , which began restarting production in phases on May 4, has 300 direct U.S. suppliers, 40 of them in South Carolina. (Photo/Provided)

from this” said Allen Smith, president and CEO of the chamber. “In fact, we probably will be one of the first counties out of the gate in terms of South Carolina. We keep hearing that manufacturing is going to lead us out of this and that’s who we are.”

Spartanburg County has led the state in new development for most of the past decade, Smith said. In the past five years, a quarter of new industrial development in the entire state has been made in the Upstate county.

“We are well positioned (for a comeback),” Smith said. “Last month we had

more requests for information from economic prospects, both domestic and international, than in the whole first quarter of last year. I think we are going to be one of the benefactors of some of the supply chain shortcomings exposed by this (pandemic) and by the movement to onshoring.”

Hazzard said the state’s AccelerateSC initiative will play a role in that aspect of recovery by finding ways for the state, and businesses within the state, to take advantage of new opportunities.

“The governor’s AccelerateSC effort

is a multifaceted approach with different focus areas and the response component, which I’m on, is focused on the path forward to reopening the businesses that have been closed, and determining the best way to reopen as quickly and as safely as possible,” she said. “And it’s an opportunity to look at not only short-term issues the state if facing, such as reopening our economy, but also some of the broader and longer-term issues we’re facing.”

Reach Ross Norton at 864-720-1222 or @ RossNorton13 on Twitter.

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The expert in your industry is you.

May 25 - June 21, 2020

f o K O BO EXPERTS

No. 8 | Volume 12, May 13, 2019

Book of Experts is an opportunity for businesses to demonstrate its specialized knowledge to our readers. Each business featured will be exclusive in their area of expertise.

The narrative format is a great way to share complex information that goes beyond the usual advertising display. Your “expert story” told in an article with photograph can help businesses and consumers make wise decisions.

Share the expertise of your company in the Business Report’s Book of Experts.

PUBLICATION DATE: July 27, 2020 | ADVERTISING DEADLINE: June 29, 2020 For advertising information, contact Lucia Smith at (803) 726-7547 or lsmith@scbiznews.com

In Focus

HEALTH AND WELLNESS LISTS: Urgent Care Centers, page 15

NEXT ISSUE’S FOCUS:

Architecture, Engineering and Construction

Some S.C. breweries began reopening as restrictions put into place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were relaxed in mid-May. The Devine Street location of tasting room and bottle shop Craft and Draft, which faced challenges ordering product from distributors while restaurants were closed, began allowing reservation-only outdoor seating on May 11, with patrons required to maintain social distancing and only permitted to stay for an hour. A survey conducted by the S.C. Brewers Guild revealed widespread concern among the state’s 92 breweries about the effect of being closed since a March 17 executive order. (Photo/Provided)

Pandemic could prompt permanent changes in craft beer industry

By Melinda Waldrop mwaldrop@scbiznews.com

A

s regulations begin to loosen to allow customers to again patronize restaurants, as well as have a pint at some breweries, the effect of two months of closed tap rooms on S.C’s craft beer industry is as yet undetermined, but its ramifications could extend to permanent changes in the way the state does business.

After a March 17 executive order from S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster banned sit-down dining and nixed bellying up to the bar, a series of edicts gradually eased those restrictions, culminating in a May 11 directive which allowed limited sit-down dining to resume, as outdoor dining had done a week earlier.

Estblishments must follow new guidelines, including social distancing and stringent cleaning policies. Some restaurants and breweries jumped at the

chance to reopen, while others say the numbers just don’t work yet.

“The months going forward are really going to tell the tale of what happens.

Business owners are going to be faced with decisions as the stack of bills continue to grow from necessary expenses and the amount of revenue not being once what it once was,” Brook Bristow, owner and managing attorney at Bristow Beverage Law and executive director of the S.C. Brewers Guild, said.

“Remember, bills are still due, as there wasn’t any relief provided there. PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) money currently has to be used by June, if it was received. Revenues will be down.

So, what happens then?”

Bristow has spent much of the past two months sifting through state law, with his law firm leading the charge to relax restrictions on alcohol sales during the pandemic. Previously prohibited practices such as curbside pickup of

beer and wine have been temporarily permitted as local businesses try to balance public safety concerns with economic interests.

“We’re still trying to advocate for some allowance for home delivery and direct shipping of products to balance commerce and the need for businesses to have alternative revenue streams with public health and trying to keep people at home,” Bristow said. “ The ability of the state’s 92 breweries and brew pubs to stay afloat was called into question by an S.C. Brewers Guild survey released in late March.

Eighty percent of respondents said they would have to shut their doors if bars and dining rooms remained closed for another 90 days. Fifteen percent said they could only survive for one to four weeks.

“I‘ve yet to hear from any clients about potential closings, which is great news,” Bristow said May 18.

“However, it isn’t something that I would definitely rule out. ... I have real concerns for what this looks like in a couple of months.”

Nationally, the craft beer industry is also reeling. In late March, 87% of respondents to a Brewers Association survey said they had closed their brewpubs or taprooms, and 95% expected April sales to show a resulting dip. The survey predicted a median percent sales change of 60%.

“It is a once-in-a-generation event, and there’s no question it’s going to have an impact on the way we do business in the future,” Bristow said “I think that is definitely going to be reflected in the laws going forward once those change and modernize, because they have to.

The way things have been, ‘just because we’ve always done it that way’ is not going to work anymore.”

See BEER, Page 14

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IN FOCUS: HEALTH AND WELLNESS

BEER, from Page 13

Immediate impact

The Brewers Association projections are right in line with what Andrew Strauss, co-owner and business development officer at Columbia Craft Brewing Co., expects once April sales numbers are tallied.

“For us, it’ll be every bit of probably 50% to 60% down in sales,” Strauss said.

Strauss, however, is remaining optimistic, grateful that his brewery has a robust off-premise distribution system in place with its familiar cans of flagship beers Columbia Craft Lager and Famously Hop IPA. He said Columbia Craft has been able to redistribute some of the beer planned for kegs for use in its taproom or sale to local restaurants into cans that can reach customers through the brewery’s mobile canning line, “but it’s not going to be perfect. I would guess that we will be dumping beer here in the next couple of months.”

As of May 12, Columbia Craft remained open for to-go sales only, as Strauss said employees were being trained in new guidelines. And while a remodeling of the outdoor patio and upstairs deck at the downtown location at Greene and Huger streets is on track for a summer completion, Strauss said there’s not enough outdoor space to allow for social distancing.

“In some ways, this now becomes a game of square footage,” Bristow said.

“If you’re large, you can be fairly nimble in terms of spacing. But if you have little space to work with, then it is going to be very hard to operate in a way that can bring in enough revenue. “ ... Alcohol-related businesses are not always restaurants, so the way that they do business can be different. So, there are certain considerations that need to be taken into consideration when reopening. Many of our clients are taking their time to do that — whether it is indoor or outdoor — which we think is wise. The alcohol industry is an experience economy, and if they don’t believe they can provide that at the high levels they are used to performing at, then it might not be the time to open.”

Strauss hopes for a June 1 opening date, but said that even when taps are flowing again, it will take a while for consumer consumption to ramp back up to pre-pandemic levels.

Charleston’s Tradesman Brewing Co. had already begun throttling back production in the months before COVID-19 struck as it changed distributors, co-owner Chris Winn said. But even though Winn said that means most of the beer produced at Tradesman will be fresh for up to three more months, the impact of an empty tasting room was substantial.

“For everyone in the industry, it’s like rolling down the freeway and slamming your transmission apart,” Winn said.

“Whatever was in the back of your Suba-

Columbia Craft Brewing Co. remained open for to-go sales only as of mid-May. While relaxed restrictions allowed some establishments to resume outdoor and limited indoor seating, co-owner Andrew Strauss said the brewery does not have enough space to maintain proper social distancing. (Photo/Melinda Waldrop)

ru is now hitting the windshield.”

Tradesman reopened both patio service and indoor dining this month, welcoming “lots of antsy people,” Winn said.

“We have a ton of space outside for folks to feel safe.”

The changes wrought by COVID-19 stretched beyond brewers to their customers in a craft beer industry which contributed a $796 million economic impact in South Carolina in 2018, according to the Brewers Association.

Kellan Monroe, co-owner of Columbia bottle shop and tasting room Craft and Draft, said ordering product from distributors became a crapshoot as draft sales (and therefore keg purchases) dried up while increased demand for packaged beer left Monroe hustling to keep shelves stocked.

Craft and Draft, like many breweries, took advantage of relaxed regulations to provide curbside pickup, as well as filling carry-out and online orders. The bottle shop, which has locations on Devine Street and in Irmo, decided not to open for sit-down service when outdoor dining was allowed May 4 but began a new outdoor seating policy May 11 that requires online reservations, allows customers an hour visit and features a half hour of cleaning after each table, with a maximum of eight people, departs.

“We decided to give it a week see what the big picture was going to look like,” co-owner Andrew Johnson said. “We try to be leaders. We try to be good examples in this industry, and it’s not always a good example or good leadership to be first.

You want to do it right.”

Craft and Draft features offerings from both Tradesman and Columbia Craft, each with the benefit of a mobile beer canning line that has helped ease the coronavirus sting. “You’re seeing more receptive retailers who are trying to support local breweries,” Winn said. “You’re getting maybe some shelf space or floor space in your grocery stores that you didn’t normally get.”

Strauss said Columbia Craft is planning a 16-ounce can release and also adding a third beer, a sour, to its packaged

offerings. “We’re going to try to get more beer on shelves, because that’s what selling,” Strauss said. “So there’s opportunity there. We’ve just got to be able to work with logistics and get it to the consumer another way.”

Strauss and Winn are both grateful for local customers who’ve popped in to pick up a growler, crowler or six-pack.

“My staff tells me stories every day of people coming by,” Strauss said. “We had a customer open up a $100 tab for first responders and doctors and nurses, so we’ve kept that going.”

But while appreciated, walk-in traffic is not the same as sharing a pint and laughs with regulars. “We’re lucky to get a chance to offer products and services that are generally associated with people in some form or celebration or gathering,” Winn said. “Beer drinking has typically always been a team sport, and right now, you feel like everyone’s sitting on a bench somewhere else.”

Long-term effect

How many of the changes prompted by the COVID-19 crisis become a permanent part of the beer-providing business model remains to be seen and is largely up to state legislators.

“There aren’t a lot of regulations when it comes to alcohol. It’s all mainly statutory,” Bristow said. “One thing we asked was, ‘OK, if we can’t suspend the statute, can we just suspend the enforcement of it?’ … For whatever reason, we weren’t allowing curbside, which a lot of states already do. Now that we’ve had it, and we’ve seen, oh, you know what, it didn’t seem to be that big of an issue and consumers liked it, I’m not sure you can put that genie back into the bottle.”

The S.C. General Assembly, which suspended its session on March 20 amid public health concerns, reconvened May 12, passing a resolution to allow state government to keep spending after the fiscal year ends. Lawmakers then ended the spring session with no firm plans to return before a two-week special session starting Sept. 15.

“Whenever they come back for a full

May 25 - June 21, 2020

session, I would expect there’s going to be a lot on their plate in terms of things to address,” Bristow said. “ … We’d certainly be looking for some kind of budget proviso that would give us some allowances to do these things, because I just don’t think — even with a limited reopening, the pain’s not going away.”

Bars and restaurants reopening won’t automatically provide a panacea, Bristow and brewers agree, especially if social distancing and limited capacity guidelines must still be followed.

“If you open up your taproom and you’re only going to allow 10 people in there, the numbers don’t work,” Strauss said. “A restaurant (owner) is going to lose less money by keeping his staff on unemployment than to open his business and only allow six or seven people inside.”

There’s also the matter of consumer confidence, Bristow said.

“Current polling suggests that somewhere between 75 and 85% of people would have concerns about going out right now to a bar or restaurant, a brewery,” he said. “It’s not to say it’s a slam dunk just because we reopened. There might be an initial push, but after that opening weekend, does that sustain itself? That’s a concern for a lot of businesses.”

Winn said small breweries’ size can be both an advantage and a detriment as beermakers try to navigate an uncertain future.

“Maybe to all the small breweries’ benefit, we are a pipeline-type of operation,” he said. “We all want to sell more volume, but it’s not like it’s just sitting there without thought, pushing as much product through the system because that’s how you utilize the assets. … We’re small enough to be nimble enough to hopefully be able to pivot.”

On the other hand, Winn said, “When every industry in the state is hemorrhaging, our industry as a whole is not large enough to merit the spotlight it needs.

We’ve got to figure out how to keep growing our industry to where it gets to that tipping point.”

While he’s not been approached by a brewery owner seeking sale or bankruptcy advice, Bristow said, “We’re still going to be ready to counsel people on that if and when that comes, because I’m just not convinced that everything’s going to be sunny and peachy when we’re done. I just don’t know that things will be normal again, or at least not for a long, long time.

“It’s business as usual, but it’s also not.”

Winn said the pandemic has provided one potential silver lining.

“It anything has come from this, it has added some volume to the rallying cry around supporting your local breweries and local restaurants and local bars,” he said. “Support your local businesses, because that’s the only way they’re going to be around when this thing lets up and people can go back to business.”

Reach Melinda Waldrop at 803-726-7542.

IN FOCUS: HEALTH AND WELLNESS

May 25 - June 21, 2020

Urgent Care Centers Doctors Care 2601 Rosewood Drive Columbia, SC 29205 803-782-4051 www.doctorscare.com Hours: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturday-Sunday Services: Urgent care, family care, virtual urgent care, occupational health services, on-site labs, on-site X-ray, on-site prescription dispensing, flu shots and treatment, routine and sports physicals, blood pressure and diabetes care No. of MDs: 110 No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): 110 No. of local employees: 1,000 No. of Midlands locations: 19 Lexington Medical Center Urgent Care 811 W. Main St. Lexington, SC 29072 803-358-6100 www.lexmed.com Hours: 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Sunday Services: On-site services include urgent care, outpatient surgery, lab services, X-ray, physical therapy, occupational therapy, cardiac rehab, MRI, CT, ultrasound, bone densitometry testing, and 3D mammography, physician practices on-site No. of MDs: 16 No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): 75

Ranked by no. of employees in the Midlands

No. of local employees: 116 No. of Midlands locations: 5

KershawHealth Urgent Care at Elgin 40 Pinnacle Parkway Elgin, SC 29045 803-424-8020 www.kershawhealth.org Hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday; 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Saturday-Sunday Services: Cold, flu or sore throat, sinus and ear infections, allergic reactions, rashes, sprains and strains, simple cuts and burns, diagnostic technologies on site, comprehensive lab, 16-slice CT scanning, open MRI and digital X-ray, ultrasound, digital mammography, bone densitometry testing No. of MDs: 3 No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): 3 No. of local employees: 39 No. of Midlands locations: 1 Colonial Urgent Care 327 Broad St. Sumter, SC 29150 803-773-5227 www.colonialhealthcare.com Hours: 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday; 7:30 a.m.5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday Services: No. of MDs: -

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No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): No. of local employees: No. of Midlands locations: 1

Faster Care 3440 Declaration Blvd.

Sumter, SC 29154 803-905-3278 www.fastercaresumter.com Hours: 8 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.5:30 p.m. Saturday Services: No. of MDs: No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): No. of local employees: No. of Midlands locations: 1 Lagniappe Medical Center 74 Polo Road Columbia, SC 29223 803-419-7780 www.lagniappemedicalclinic.com Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday Services: No. of MDs: No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): No. of local employees: No. of Midlands locations: 3

MedCare Urgent Care Center 10136 Two Notch Road Columbia, SC 29209 803-509-7570 www.medcareurgentcare.com Hours: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Sunday Services: No. of MDs: No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): No. of local employees: No. of Midlands locations: 3 MinuteClinic 900 Assembly St. Columbia, SC 29201 866-389-2727 www.minuteclinic.com Hours: 8:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.5:30 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sunday Services: No. of MDs: No. of lower-level providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.): No. of local employees: No. of Midlands locations: 7

SAVE THE DATE

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The 2019 Conference included: • 2,800+ registered attendees • 280+ Exhibitors • 16 courses taught by instructors from SCMEP • Manufacturing 4.0 Breakfast: The Rise of Technology • Aero/Auto Symposium and Industry Forecasts • Executive Women in Manufacturing and Apprenticeships in Advanced Manufacturing panel discussions For questions about exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Melissa Tomberg at (864) 720-1220 or mtomberg@scbiznews.com Visit www.scmanufacturingconference.com for the latest updates

16

IN FOCUS: HEALTH AND WELLNESS

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NURSES, from Page 1

15 years, has wrestled with her eight-year role as an educator while former students, including her daughter, battle the pandemic closer to the front lines.

“They’re faced with a lot of the realities that we’re seeing in the media,” Stauffer said. “For us (educators), it’s kind of like, do we go out into the field? Are we most useful being out there? But we have to remind ourselves that we have to be here for the students, because we’re being much more effective as instructors and helping prepare those students so that they can get out in the field.”

Stauffer, whose daughter works in a correctional facility in Arizona, and other health care educators had to shift their instructional model as the coronavirus closed campuses throughout the state.

Experience usually obtained through hands-on hospital work morphed into clickable classes in online and virtual coursework as national standards adjusted to allow a higher percentage of clinical simulation.

“We had to move all online for classroom experiences, and we had to resort to virtual simulations to enhance the clinical learning that we would ordinarily have,” said Jeannette Andrews, dean of the University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing. “The state board of nursing allows us to utilize simulation to replace up to 50% of clinical learning if we need to. Because it (the pandemic) happened in the second half of the semester, we had enough clinical hours of experiential learning to really feel comfortable.

“We feel our graduates are ready. We’re just sharpening the tool now to ensure their readiness for practice, and we will graduate them on time.”

The College of Nursing averages around 120 graduates in May and 100 to 120 in December, along with 200 to 300 who’ve returned to become nurse practitioners or nurse administrators or to obtain a doctorate, each year, Andrews said. She said it’s crucial to graduate this year’s cohort, as well as keep classes behind those graduates on track, to avoid a worsening shortage.

South Carolina is one of four states in the country facing a nursing shortage expected to exceed 10,000 positions by 2030, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

RegisteredNursing.org projected a shortage of 10,400 nurses in S.C. by 2030 as part of a need for registered nurses expected to grow by 12% from 2018 to 2028.

S.C. has more than 81,000 nurses, according to DHEC, which employees approximately 459 public health nurses at its health clinics.

“If we have delays in progressing students, or if during this time, some nurses who are on the front lines decide to exit the workforce … we don’t quite know what that’s going to look like, but we already know that there’s a shortage, and

we’re trying to make sure that we can continue to produce an adequate supply to meet our patient demands in South Carolina in the future,” Andrews said.

A driving force

So far, however, Andrews and other S.C. health care educators say that the pandemic is helping to drive growing enrollment numbers.

“We actually have a peak interest in nursing for really the first time in my history,” said Andrews, dean of USC’s nursing college since 2013. “Nurses have gotten such recognition and affirmation for their role, which often we’re invisible in the health system, or (people) don’t have quite the understanding of our role. This crisis has been very beneficial to show the world, really, how vital nurses are on the front line of giving care, during COVID and without COVID. “It really has highlighted to society the importance of nurses and the role of nurses, and I can tell you in talking with our students who’ve not entered the clinical arena — lower-division freshmen and sophomore students — they’re ready to go. They’ve heeded the call to nursing, and they want to be there. They want to be on the front lines.”

Stauffer has seen a similar mindset at ECPI. “All of my nurses had multiple offers before they were done. What’s been fantastic about it all is that they have been so raring to go,” she said. “You would think that they would have that fear, like, ‘Oh, I don’t know, I want to be a little hesitant,’ but they really haven’t. They have taken the call and are progressing forward because they want to get out in the field and be useful.”

One of those ECPI graduates is Taniquia Langley, who’s worked at Columbia’s Prisma Health Heart Hospital for three and a half years. With heart surgeries at a standstill as the coronavirus canceled most elective procedures, she has floated among other units, including the children’s hospital. She has seen doctors entering patients’ rooms less frequently and has noticed an increase in visible protective equipment, including N95 masks, when passing the ICU. “There’s definitely anxiety, but at the same time, we are nurses,” Langley said.

“We signed up to work in the hospital. So it’s kind of like you expect the unexpected. You really never know what you’re going to walk into when you go to work anyway. … I always go in with a smile and do the best that I can do and try to make everyone else’s day easier.”

The coronavirus crisis is also affecting other health care disciplines. Eddie Jackson, respiratory care program director at MTC, said he’s seen increased interest in that field.

“We have an intake process in which we have an information session for the incoming students as well as an interview,” Jackson said. “Several of the students who were interviewing stated that

the COVID crisis put more interest into the field for them, more excitement about being a participant and being able to help out.”

Like nurses, respiratory therapists are vital during a pandemic, especially an airborne one such as COVID-19. Professionals such as the ones Jackson helps train assist with aerosolized treatments and help manage patients on ventilators.

“We’re right at the tip of the sphere with nurses and physicians in caring for these particular patients,” Jackson said.

The technicians Millie Massey oversees as MTC’s radiologic technology program director are also front and center in the coronavirus fight, providing X-rays as well as CAT scans which help pinpoint the pneumonia that signals COVID-19.

Without access to hospital settings or MTC’s laboratory, Massey said students have gotten creative as they complete online classes, substituting cookie sheets for X-ray plates and cooking spoons for X-ray beams.

The pandemic has hit home for Massey in a way she hopes to be able to share with students. “Many of our graduates work at area hospitals, so one thing I do want to do is bring in a graduate that has worked during the event, and I want to bring in a specific graduate who tested positive for COVID and have her talk,” Massey said.

“I think that it will really nurture that (sense of) ‘Here’s what you can do and the difference you can make.’ ”

Brave new world

Health care instructors, while proud of the accomplishments of their students, can’t help but worry about the world they’re entering.

“Nurses always advocate for the patient, but they have to advocate for themselves,” Stauffer said. “If they see that they don’t have the proper protective equipment, they don’t just go, ‘OK, I’m just going to do what I’m told.’ They need to be protecting themselves, because if they’re not protecting themselves, they’re also exposing their family members and their friends and other patients. It’s OK to speak up, and you have to speak up. I pray that they make sure that their voice is heard and that we have taught them well enough to be an advocate for themselves.”

Bannister has also spoken with a nurse who has moved away from her family, including two small children, to live communally with other nurses during the pandemic in an effort to minimize the spread of the virus. Bannister is impressed by that sacrifice, as well as by stories of nurses providing contact between patients and their families through smart tablets or phones.

“We’ve had nursing graduates who recently called us back and said. ‘We went to New York to help there,’ ” Bannister said. “That was really exciting, to know that we had Midlands Tech students, or Midlands Tech nurses now, who actually volunteered to help with COVID in New

May 25 - June 21, 2020

York City.”

Stauffer’s daughter recently applied for an eight-week job in New York City “because she just feels that there’s a higher demand there,” Stauffer said. “ … If you’re in the health care field, no matter what position, what role, you have, you have the possibility of being exposed.

“But think of the experience that they’re also getting. This something that they’re going to share with their grandchildren, to say, ‘Oh my gosh, this pandemic was going on, and I flew across the United States to help other hospitals.’ That is priceless experience.”

Andrews is hopeful that, with more time to prepare than other states, South Carolina won’t see effects such as in New York, where COVID-19 had killed 28,168 people as of May 18, according to CDC data. In S.C., 6,481 hospital beds were being utilized as of May 18, a usage rate of 63%, according to DHEC. Of those, 412 were occupied by patients who had tested positive for or were suspected of having COVID-19.

Still, Andrews shares her colleagues’ concern about the changing landscape newly minted health care graduates and those coming behind them will face.

“Today’s nursing students are the front line nurses of tomorrow,” Andrews said.

“We have colleagues, and we have children and siblings and friends on the front line. It’s been a little bit of a moral distress, really, to know that we have people on the front lines and we’re not. But we’re advocating, we’re supporting, we are certainly preparing the next workforce to enter during this time.”

While graduations may be proceeding on schedule, the COVID-19 crisis has delayed the pinning ceremonies many nursing students have long looked forward to. During those events, graduates are presented with nursing pins, frequently by a family member or loved one, and often recite the Nightingale Pledge.

Bannister said MTC graduating nurses planned to participate in a Zoom pledge on Florence Nightingale’s birthday, which capped National Nurses Week on May 12. ECPI may schedule a virtual pinning, Stauffer said, while USC plans a pinning ceremony in August.

“Our faculty and staff have just been an incredible team during this process, and really have come together as I knew we all would to make sure we’re maintaining the health and well-being of our students, that we are providing them a really quality education, and we’re having to be very, very flexible and innovative,” Andrews said. “Whether you’re a nurse educator, you’re a nurse on the front line, you’re a nurse administrator, you’re a school nurse — no matter what type of role we’re in, I’m just so enthusiastic about the spirit of nursing and the contributions of nursing that we make to society, and I’m really proud to be a nurse.”

Reach Melinda Waldrop at 803-726-7542.

May 25 - June 21, 2020

IN FOCUS: HEALTH AND WELLNESS

www.columbiabusinessreport.com 17

Columbia restaurants moving cautiously as limited dine-in services allowed

By Melinda Waldrop

A

mwaldrop@scbiznews.com

s restrictions prohibiting dinein services at S.C. restaurants were eased May 11, reactions were mixed among Columbia establishments.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster lifted a ban on dine-in services, sparked by rising COVID-19 concerns, in place since March 17 as South Carolina began a gradual reopening of businesses shuttered for more than a month.

“As we gradually and methodically lift restrictions aimed at combating the coronavirus, it is incumbent upon South Carolinians to follow to the guidance and recommendations provided by our public health experts to keep themselves and their loved ones safe,” S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster said in a news release. “This virus still presents a serious threat to South Carolinians, but I have faith in the people of our state and their ability to act responsibly and in the best interest of the communities they live in.”

Also on May 11, McMaster announced that close-contact service providers such as hair and nail salons and massage therapists, along with commercial gyms and public pools, would be able to open in a limited capacity on May 18.

Guidelines were issued for dinein services, including only allowing 50% of posted occupancy and spacing tables six to eight feet apart. Additional cleaning and sanitizing guidelines, as well as additional health checks for employees, were also implemented.

Earlier this month, restaurants were allowed to resume outdoor dining services if they chose as McMaster lifted a ‘stay home or work’ order on May 4.

Motor Supply Co. Bistro opted then to continue with curbside-only offerings, and owner Eddie Wales said via text May 11 that the Congaree Vista mainstay would stick with that plan through the week of May 15.

Wales said restaurant staff would undergo safety training, and plans would be re-evaluated at the end of the week.

“We want to do it right,” Wales said on May 4. “We feel it might be a little too soon.”

Jeb Babcock, a partner in the ownership group of Cantina 76 and Za’s on Devine, said Za’s has been offering patio service since May 5 and the Devine Street location of Cantina 76 has been doing so since May 6.

The Main Street location of Cantina 76 doesn’t have enough space to make adhering to the distance guidelines feasible, he said.

Response to outdoor dining has

Photo/File

“It hasn’t been easy going from a full-service restaurant to takeout and then slowly going to back to full service when you know this thing — we’re not fully past it yet.”

Jeb Babcock Partner, Za’s on Devine ownership group

been good, Babcock said, and the company planned to “slowly integrate” indoor dining later in the week ending May 15 at around 25% seating capacity.

The restaurants have a large supply of masks, gloves and hand sanitizer, Babcock said, and extra staff in place to wipe down surfaces.

“It hasn’t been easy going from a full-service restaurant to takeout and then slowly going back into full service when you know this thing — we’re not fully past it yet,” he said. “You see a lot of the same faces that were coming to get to-go are now coming back.

“It’s a built-in patron base that’s been loyal and appreciative and understanding.”

Cantina 76 also has locations in the Upstate and the Lowcountry. Babcock said the Mount Pleasant restaurant is also offering patio service.

Tasting and bottle shop Craft and Draft, which has locations in downtown Columbia on Devine Street and in Irmo, decided not to open for sitdown service the week of May 4-8 but began a new outdoor seating policy May 11.

“We decided to give it a week see what the big picture was going to look like,” co-owner Andrew Johnson said.

“We try to be leaders. We try to be good examples in this industry, and it’s not always a good example or good leadership to be first. You want to do it right.”

Customers must fill out an online reservation form and will be allowed to stay for one hour, seated at tables spaced eight feet apart with a maximum of eight people per table. A server will bring beer to the table (the Irmo location also serves sandwiches), and once patrons leave, staff will clean for half an hour before the next group arrives.

“There’s going to be a lot of clock-watching, which is something else we’re going to have to get used to,” Johnson said. “One of the things we don’t really do around here is watch the clock.”

Johnson, who said feedback about the decision hold off on offering sitdown services was mostly positive, said the outdoor-only option will continue for a week or two, with limited indoor services to follow if customers feel comfortable.

“Since day one, we’ve introduced something new and interesting,” said

Johnson, who opened the Devine Street location with Monroe in 2014.

“Things can still be new and interesting and exciting. A lot of times bad times can produce innovations. It’s just another way of introducing something else. “ … The circumstances aren’t ideal, but we can still enjoy beer with our friends and do it safely and do it responsibly.”

The easing of restrictions followed two weeks of meetings of AccelerateSC, a group health care professionals, business representatives, local government officials, and education professionals created to develop a coordinated economic revitalization plan for the state after businesses shut down in March.

All boating restrictions in the state were also lifted May 11.

The moves came as the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control ramped up mobile COVID-19 testing sites in the state and increased on-staff contact tracers from 20 to 400.

“With our increased capacity for testing the people of our state, it is time to responsibly and gradually get these small businesses back up and running,” McMaster said.

“We have an opportunity to set an example for the rest of the world by reinvigorating our economy while staying safe, but we can only do that if South Carolinians continue to follow the advice and recommendations of our public health experts.”

Reach Melinda Waldrop at 803-726-7542.

18

www.columbiabusinessreport.com

May 25 - June 21, 2020

Liability issues a main focus of S.C. Chamber of Commerce recovery plan

By Melinda Waldrop

S

mwaldrop@scbiznews.com

teve Spinks has heard the questions from business owners much like himself.

As S.C. businesses begin to reopen under new guidelines put in place to deal with COVID-19 health concerns, uncertainty remains.

“The business owners I’m talking to are trying to overcome that hurdle of, what do I need to do to make sure that it’s safe for my employees and my customers and I don’t get in trouble?” said Spinks, CEO of The Spinx Co., a Greenville-based convenience store chain, and chair of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce. “They’re looking for that type of leadership and that type of guidance. They’re doing the best they can, but they’re a little unsure of what it is they need to do before they can open.”

In an effort to help provide some answers, the chamber has developed a four-pronged reopening and recovery plan for S.C. businesses. One of the focus areas is liability protection, which would provide “a safe harbor for good actors that are following the latest safety guidance,” according to the document.

“If a business is following guidelines and rules, they shouldn’t be concerned about being sued,” Ted Pitts, chamber president and CEO, said during a conference call with reporters. “This is no way, shape or form would protect bad actors if somebody’s not doing things to keep people safe. … Businesses have clearly said, ‘Allow for us to use common sense and to make decisions as to whether we can be open or not,’ and the thing we need to be able to do that is guidelines. So there are general guidelines for specific industries that we can follow, not mandates that force us to do things, because one size doesn’t fit all.”

“If a business is following guidelines and rules, they shouldn’t be concerned about being sued.”

Ted Pitts President and CEO, S.C. Chamber of Commerce

Earlier this month, the chamber released results of a survey that found two-thirds of 4,500 respondents worried about safely liability. Respondents, almost 70% of which were small businesses, also identified lack of demand as the top challenge faced in reopening, with covering payroll expenses a close second.

An executive order from S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster shuttered nonessential businesses in the state April 1. Some of those restrictions were removed three weeks later as accelerateSC, a task force made up of state business, health care, education and government leaders, formed to create a coordinated economic revitalization plan for the state. Restaurants began offering outdoor dining on May 4 and limited indoor dining, following social distancing and seating capacity guidelines, a week later.

Pitts said the chamber has had initial conversations with agencies such as the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control about formalizing a recognition process for businesses that exemplify best safety practices.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a grading system like the restaurants have where there’s actually a physical inspection and it’s done periodically, (and) requirements would be different depending on the type of establishment,” Pitts said. “But I do think there is a way you can help businesses show their customers hey, we’re doing every-

thing that we can.

“A lot of where we are right now is based on psyche. …. I think this will just help provide some sense of relief for customers and employees that my employer or this business is following the guidelines. They’re doing everything that they’ve been asked to do, and reasonably, I feel like I can go in there.”

The plan, which Pitts hopes will be considered by legislative action committees, also calls for bolstering workplace safety through increased access to rapid-results COVID-19 testing and personal protective equipment — ­ perhaps through a central PPE warehouse, Pitts said.

“If you’re a large manufacturer, you have relationships and contracts and you can get PPE,” Pitts said. “But if you’re a small business and have never needed it in your establishment, you may not be able to get PPE.” Economic relief pieces of the plan call for several measures, including extended economic development tax credits and the passage of tax reforms long advocated by the chamber. The plan also calls for assurance that layoffs stemming from COVID-19 in 2020 will not affect a business’s experience rating for unemployment insurance and urges increased acceptance of electronic notarization on forms requiring signatures “so commerce can continue,” Pitts said.

Finally, the plan addresses work-

force and education concerns such as increasing broadband access and e-learning capabilities in rural areas in addition to skills training for those who have lost jobs. Nearly half a million (486,149) S.C. residents have filed unemployment claims in the last eight weeks, according to S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce data.

“We’ve seen firsthand that some of South Carolina’s students have gone home and been able to, with some modifications, continue their education, while others who don’t have access to rural broadband or the technology have not been able to,” Pitts said. “It’s the haves and the have nots.

Every county has a rural part of the county that’s not serviced, so we’ve got implement measures to help rural broadband.”

After adjourning March 20 amid public health concerns, the General Assembly reconvened May 12, passing a resolution to allow state government to keep spending after the fiscal year ends. Lawmakers then ended the spring session with no firm plans to return before a two-week special session starting Sept. 15.

“This can’t wait till the fall,” Pitts said. “The General Assembly needs to be prepared to come back, even later this month, and tackle some of these tough issues like liability reform that really need to be addressed if they want our economy to start back up. It is not just going to flip a switch and start back up. You’re going to have to implement some of these proposals in order for companies and customers to feel safe that they can go out and return to the new normal.

“The most important thing is the General Assembly has to be willing to come back and roll their sleeves up and go to work.”

Reach Melinda Waldrop at 803-726-7542.

County seed program restocking, creating waiting list

A

Staff Report

fter receiving more than 1,400 requests. Richland County’s Seed Sanctuary is restocking its supply and adding new requests to a waiting list.

The program, administered through the county’s Soil and Water Conservation District and funded by an award from the Friends of National Association of Conservation Districts grant program, provides a selection of spring vegetable, herb and wildflower seeds.

The seeds, which include tomato, okra,

summer squash, basil, sunflower and black-eyed Susan, are mailed at no cost.

The Seed Sanctuary initiative was set to hold a public launch at the coun-

ty administration building this spring, but building access remains restricted because of COVID-19 health concerns.

Residents will receive a random selection of six free seed packets after completing a request from, available on the Richland County Soil and Water Conservation District’s homepage.

Program participants will be limited to one request per household.

Seed Sanctuary aims to promote home gardening, pollinator conservation, and environmental awareness, according to the county’s website.

Residents are encouraged to take pictures of themselves and their families planting the seeds and share them on social media using the hashtag #ReseedRichland or #RCSeedSanctuary.

For more information, call 803-5762084 or email RichlandSWCD@gmail. com.

Earlier this year, the NACD grant program presented four grants of up to $2,500 to conservation districts throughout the country after an application process which ended in January.

May 25 - June 21, 2020

www.columbiabusinessreport.com 19

Coronavirus creates questions for contracts

By Patrick Hoff

C

phoff@scbiznews.com

ontracts with force majeure clauses have typically standardized a company’s failure to perform in the event of uncertain circumstances, such as a fire, flood, war, accident or natural disaster.

But in facing today’s new normal, companies may have a new legal gray area to deal with when contracts are interrupted by a pandemic.

“I think that there’s a lot of concern ... about basically having the buck stop with them financially, particularly if they’re unable to perform and their provision in their contracts ... that make them responsible for delay,” said Kyle Dillard, attorney and shareholder at Ogletree Deakins’ Greenville office.

Force majeure is a clause in a contract that removes liability from a company if they are unable to uphold their end of the deal because of unforeseen circumstances. Typically the clauses have certain events spelled out, such as fire, flood, government action and labor disputes, but most clauses also excuse a company because of an “act of God.” Dillard said an “act of God” is typically interpreted as a natural disaster, which shuts down the entire economy, and he’s not sure if the coronavirus pandemic has reached that level because the medical community has said businesses can operate under certain guidelines.

“Certainly, a pandemic can reach the level of an act of God that would allow an entity ... to claim impossibility,” Dillard said. “But I think given the fact that public guidance isn’t suggesting that we’re at that level of threat, I think it would be very difficult for a commercial entity to avoid a contract on that basis at this time.”

He added that resolution will come down to what the contract says.

“In absence of language in their contract that somehow strengthens their ability to say that position, which is highly unlikely, it’s going to be difficult for them to find relief in that circumstance,” Dillard said.

Steven Meckler, the Charlotte-based managing partner for Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP, said some contracts, especially with companies that do business overseas, may include language about epidemics or pandemics in the force majeure clause.

Meckler said, though, that unless a pandemic is listed as an exception, he doesn’t expect courts to rule that the COVID-19 is an “act of God.” “I think a creative lawyer could argue that a pandemic is an act of God, but that really gets down to some really find hairs that you’re trying to split there, and it almost gets down to a religious interpretation of what an act of God is,” he said.

“So it’s going to be interesting.”

Meckler added, though, that courts typically interpret force majeure clauses very narrowly.

“When a company tries to use a force majeure clause in their contract, it’s going to get down to a very specific factual determination by the courts ... as to what the party’s intention was at the time they signed that,” he said.

“I think a lot of companies are going to have a hard time going into court saying, ‘Look, we anticipated an act of God would include a pandemic,’ given there hasn’t been one since 1918 in this severity, but you never know.”

Meckler said he’s been urging small businesses to meet with a lawyer to review business contracts they have with other companies and see what options they have.

“There’s going to be a lot of gray area in all of this until we get some cases that work their way through the system,” he

said.

Jennifer Thiem, partner at the Charleston office of K&L Gates, said it’s important for business owners to look over any commercial contracts they have to see what options they might have.

Though pandemics are not often covered in force majeure clauses, the contracts may have other options, such as provisions that specify to whom risk is allocated.

“There may be something to work with, even if it ... doesn’t specifically say pandemic or epidemic,” Thiem said. “So you want to see what the contract says.”

Business owners may also be able to look at common law doctrines, such as the doctrine of impossibility, which covers situations where fulfilling a contract becomes impossible because of an event that was unforeseen at the time the contract was made.

Thiem added that business owners should also look at their insurance policies to see what coverage they may have for business interruptions. Though every policy is different based on the carrier and the industry, business interruption insurance is usually triggered by an event.

The current question, Thiem said, is whether a stay-at-home order from the state government is enough. “The current battle has to do whether the government or the stay-at-home orders and the business closing down or having to alter their operations would sit within a business interruption if they didn’t have COVID on their premises,” she said.

Thiem said it’s impossible to make a blanket statement about how force majeure and insurance decisions will play out because every case will be different.

“It is certainly going to be a very fact-specific determination,” she said.

drawn up, companies “absolutely should” include pandemics in force majeure clauses.

“I mean, it takes a second to put an extra word or two in there, in a force majeure clause,” he said. “If it’s not in your current contract, you better make sure it’s in every one after because who knows what else is coming?”

For comparison, Meckler pointed to Sept. 11, 2001. When terrorists attacked the United States on 9/11, many small businesses didn’t include terrorism as an event that would trigger force majeure.

Now, nearly 20 years later, terrorism is almost always listed.

“Some had it in it beforehand because terrorism wasn’t new ... but I think a lot of people, particularly smaller companies, probably felt pretty comfortable and didn’t even think about adding that until that (9/11) happened,” Meckler said.

Thiem also pointed to how the SARS outbreak in 2003 changed the insurance industry. After the panic over severe acute respiratory syndrome, insurance companies began excluding coverage related to SARS. “It would be similar with business contracts,” she said. “You would expect the parties to say this’ll be one more thing to add to your list of things that you can anticipate in the future.”

Meckler said companies may also forgo legal disputes and seek business-to-business solutions to mediate any contractual disagreements because, in the end, they still need each other.

“Say you’re a supplier to Boeing. You don’t want to get into a tussle with Boeing,” he said.

“You want to try to work things out so y’all can get through this and continue a good business relationship.”

Changing terms with conditions

Reach staff writer Patrick Hoff at 843-849-3144 or @PatHoffCRBJ on Twitter.

Meckler said as new contracts are

DHEC identifies more than 1,800 contact tracers

T

Staff Report

he S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has identified more than 1,800 contact tracers to support the state’s efforts to respond to COVID-19.

Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist, said DHEC set a goal with partners at AccelerateSC, a task force made up of health care, education, business, and government officials created to develop a coordinated economic revitalization plan for the state, to identify 1,000 contact tracers by May 31.

DHEC increased its contact tracer staff members from 20 to 400 and retained another 1,400 through contracts with private staffing companies Apple One and C-Trace.

The agency said 667 members of the public have also expressed interest in becoming a contact tracer through DHEC’s contract tracing webpage.

Contact tracers identify individuals who have tested positive for the coronavirus based on test results obtained by health agencies, then contact those individuals to obtain information about people with whom they’ve recently had

contact and provide them with access to resources to follow health protocols.

DHEC commonly uses contact tracers to track and help limit the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis.

“With increased testing there will be an increase in the number of positive cases reported,” Bell said in a news release. “This means we will need to increase the extent of its contact tracing, and we are prepared to do so.”

This month, DHEC announced more than 50 additional COVID-19 mobile testing clinics in several S.C. counties, including Richland and Charleston, as

well as the launch of a webpage to share information about those clinics. On May 11, the agency began the first of three announced phases of COVID-19 testing in all S.C. nursing homes.

DHEC’s goal is to test 2% of the population, or 110,000 South Carolinians, per month. As of May 18, more than 60,000 tests have been conducted for the month, the agency said.

DHEC announced 126 new cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina and six additional deaths on May 18, bringing the state’s reported totals to 8,942 cases and 391 deaths.

20

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May 25 - June 21, 2020

People in the News ADVERTISING Tracie Dawson is now a full-time content strategist at Truematter.

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Allegiance Industries’ new site managers are Josh Gallagher and Thomas Kelly.

Gallagher supervises a facility maintenance team onsite in central South Carolina.

Kelly, a former U.S. Navy Seabee, leads a team in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina.

CONSTRUCTION SERVICES M. B. Kahn Construction has brought in David Beaty, PE, as vice president of project development.

He guides the firm’s new business develBeaty opment process. A graduate of Tennessee Technology University with a degree in civil engineering, he had been program manager for the Richland County transportation program.

LAW Alexis Lindsay has joined Pope Flynn’s governmental law practice. Her focus is providing local governments advice and counsel. Lindsay holds Lindsay a bachelor of arts in marketing from Clemson University. She received her JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law and an international master of business administration from the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.

New at Adams and Reese is LaJoia Broughton, who joined the firm’s government relations practice as a government affairs advisor. Before joining Adams and Reese, Broughton was the

Broughton

South Carolina State government affairs manager for JUUL Labs. Broughton received her MMC in integrated communications from the University of South Carolina. She also holds a bachelor of arts in communication studies from Furman University.

Two Adams and Reese attorneys made the list of South Carolina Super Lawyers and two appear on the publication’s Rising Stars list. The firm’s Super Lawyers are John F. Beach (business litigation) and William P. McElveen Jr. (real estate).

Rising Stars are Lyndey R. Z. Bryant (appellate) and William M. Umbach (mergers & acquisitions).

NOPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS The Public Library Association named Melanie Huggins, Richland Library executive director, as its 2021–2022 president. Her three-year term begins in June 2020. Huggins has Huggins been with Richland Library since 2009, overseeing a $59 million bond referendum to enhance 11 existing library facilities as well as the addition of two new library locations.

The Salvation Army of the Midlands has appointed Thomas L. Rhodes III as chairman of the advisory board.

He served as vicechair this past year.

Rhodes is president Rhodes of Rhodes Graduation Services and co-founder of Rhodes Branding, a branding and marketing agency focused on serving the education community.

REAL ESTATE Alia Bostaji, a brokerage associate with Colliers International | South Carolina, has earned the Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA), a proBostaji fessional credential from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute.

Submit items using our online submission portal: www.SodaCityBizWire.com.

Publication is subject to editorial discretion.

At Work

PEOPLE, PLACES AND HAPPENINGS ACROSS THE MIDLANDS

Phoenix, ZVerse equipped to aid COVID-19 fight

By Melinda Waldrop

I

mwaldrop@scbiznews.com

t’s business as usual these days at Phoenix Special Manufacturing in Bamberg — for the most part.

There is a greater urgency to the making of small, precision components necessary to build complex machines for industries including aerospace, agriculture and medicine, as well as an even greater sense of pride in doing so.

Phoenix has supplied original equipment manufacturers since 1907 and is playing a crucial present-day role in making parts for everything from ventilators to hand sanitizer bottle pumps.

“Phoenix is a metal stamper and we stamp parts for metal to our customCornforth ers’ specifications,” sales manager Steve Cornforth said. “We also offer machine work and secondary operations work to those parts as well. So when the calls started coming for ventilator parts, it really wasn’t any change for us at all. The parts were very similar to what we make every day.

“We did rearrange some schedules and expediate a lot of orders to get them through quicker, but it’s part of what we do on a daily basis.”

The genesis of the focus on ventilator parts came from a simple source.

“It was our customers’ idea. They needed parts,” Cornforth said. “It was very easy to implement. It’s just another thing at Phoenix.

“We have the ability to make different-sized parts at any given time, so it was just our customers had a demand and we tried to fill it. We’re a specialty shop, so we make what our customers want. We don’t make to a catalogue.

This is what we do every day.”

In Columbia, another company is also putting its expertise to work fighting COVID-19. Zverse, a 3D design and manufacturing company founded

by John Carrington in 2013, is using its proprietary computer assisted design platform to create a new generation of protective face shields called ZShield Flex.

With a neck mount designed to minimize neck pain and make breathing easier, the face shields are produced using an injection mold manufacturing process that allows for mass

production at faster speeds than traditional 3D printing. ZVerse is churning out about 115,000 of the reusable shields per day for customers including Prisma Health, the Veterans Health Administration, the S.C. Department of Corrections and Roper St. Francis Healthcare.

“I started getting calls from CFOs of hospitals, and they were frantic,” Carrington said. “Usually you can’t get to them. And they’re calling me. I posted a couple of things on Facebook and got inundated with emotional doctors, nurses, hospice workers. I’ve known some nurses, and they’re pretty tough.

When you see that they’re scared, it makes you scared.”

Along with easing the fears of health care professionals, Carrington has been able to alleviate a few worries of his own. Once concerned that he may have to lay off staff when the pandemic first hit, he has more than doubled his payroll from 20 to 45 and is planning a 30,000-square-foot expansion to meet demand that has seen Zverse receive purchase orders for more than 11 million face shields.

Carrington expects to have delivered 20 million face shields by July.

Phoenix’s products are shipped worldwide to customers Cornforth said usually don’t make contact unless something goes wrong, but “we did get a few comments thanking us for our effort, thanking us for getting them (parts) to them on time and actually ahead of time.”

And though the precision parts currently in high demand fit right into Phoenix’s wheelhouse, with a minimal amount of overtime required to produce them, there are a few signs at the facility that something slightly bigger than usual is going on.

“A big thing we take pride in is being able to adapt and help our customers when they need it, and in this situation, helping to save lives, it’s been a big deal for us,” Cornforth said. “We’ve made a lot of extra effort in letting our employees know that they’re working on ventilator parts.

“We’ve actually put signs on some of our machines saying that these parts are going into ventilators, so it is a great sense of pride for our employees to be able to work on something like that. “ ... As long as they need them, we’ll be glad to continue making them.”

GSA Business Report editor Ross Norton contributed to this story.

A sign at Phoenix Specialty Manufacturing in Bamberg informs employees that the small parts they are manufacturing will be used in ventilators helping to treat COVID-19 patients. The company has supplied original equipment manufacturers since 1907. (Photo/Provided)

ZVerse, a Columbia-based 3D design and manfuacturing company, is producing the ZShield Flex, a protective face guard with a neck mount. The company is making around 115,000 of the reusable shields per day using an injection mold manufacturing process faster than typical 3D printing. (Photo/Provided)

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May 25 - June 21, 2020

Goodbye handshake: How should we replace the ancient greeting?

By Nathan Bomey

H

USA TODAY

andshaking is a key part of Michelle Ngome’s networking game as a marketing professional.

Which is why Ngome, president of the African American Marketing Association and host of the “Networking with Michelle” podcast, is already missing it as social distancing rules discourage the age-old ritual.

“We didn’t realize how powerful the handshake is,” she said. “The handshake means connection, it means agreement, cooperation, ‘hi.’ It’s a common courtesy.” But “in the immediate future, the handshake is dead.”

And it might never come back. With the coronavirus pandemic making human touch a potentially lethal act since the virus can be transmitted with skin contact, handshaking has suddenly become socially unacceptable.

Health experts are urging us to stay at least six feet away from people outside of our households to minimize our chances of catching COVID-19, which had infected more than 4.3 million people and killed more than 294,000 worldwide as of Wednesday afternoon.

And some are saying that we should make permanent alterations to the way we physically interact with others to prevent future outbreaks, even after the coronavirus is gone. The handshake could give way to some alternative form of interaction, such as the elbow bump.

“I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a leader of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force, said recently.

“We’ve got to break that custom. Because as a matter of fact, that is really one of the major ways that you can transmit a respiratory illness.”

Fauci later clarified on the “Today” show that he was “somewhat serious.”

But if the handshake is truly gone for good, it will qualify as a remarkable turn of events for a practice that has been happening for “thousands of years,” according to National Geographic, which noted that ancient artifacts depict people handshaking.

There’s “no definitive” indication of how the handshake began, though one common theory is that it developed as a way for people to prove to others that they weren’t carrying a weapon, said Juliana Schroeder, a management professor at the University of California at Berkeley, who has studied handshakes.

“It’s very deeply ingrained in the social fabric,” Schroeder said. “It feels like something will be lost” if it goes away.

What we would lose

People who shake hands before beginning negotiations achieve “better joint

Michelle Ngome, president of the African American Marketing Association, said the traditional handshake that helped define and seal so many business relationships will not return in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. (Photo/Bashari Guidry)

outcomes,” while executives who shake hands before “antagonistic” talks are “less likely to lie about selfbenefiting information, increasing cooperation even to their own detriment,” according to research Schroeder published in 2018.

“What we find is that when you’re in that type of interaction and the other person offers a hand to you, you view that as a signal that the person is willing to cooperate with you,” she said.

Over the course of history, handshakes have marked the end of wars, the beginning of peace talks and the launch of major business deals.

Memorable handshakes include Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendering to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865; a three-way handshake between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 1979 to end a state of war between Egypt and Israel; and U.S. President Ronald Reagan meeting Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for talks in 1985.

Professor Dustin York, an expert on nonverbal and professional communication at Maryville University in St. Louis, predicted that the handshake may live on in certain areas that haven’t been hit hard by the coronavirus while it dies in other areas that have been.

He added that he expects younger people to be more likely to stop shaking hands, while older people are more likely to continue doing so.

York, who teaches his students in normal times how to shake hands professionally, said different attitudes toward handshaking will make some people unsure whether they should extend a hand.

“It’s going to be awkward,” he said.

“Some people are going to be very passionate about not shaking hands.”

Uncertainty over proper etiquette may prompt employers to put up signs deeming their workplaces as handshake-free zones, experts said.

Conferences might declare handshaking off-limits. Political leaders might declare that people shouldn’t shake hands at all.

But would that be enough to change the culture?

Communication experts said that if the handshake goes away, it will likely happen because people organically decide they are not comfortable doing so anymore – not because someone tells them to stop.

If the handshake is gone, it will have a far-reaching effect in the workplace.

In job interviews, for example, “people who shake hands well are more likely to get job offers,” said Greg Stewart, a University of Iowa professor of management and entrepreneurship, summarizing the results of a 2008 study he led.

“Our evidence would suggest that people who shake hands well are socially adept,” he said. “They know how to operate well in social situations. So, the handshake has traditionally been a cue of social awareness and knowing how to interact properly with people.”

In the near future, however, the reverse is true.

“Today the handshake is not going to help you get a job because it would convey you do not have a good understanding of social awareness,” Stewart said.

But Stewart said he’s not sure the handshake is history.

“There is something about physical touch that conveys warmness and intimacy with people, and a handshake is the least invasive form of physical touch, you might say,” he said. “Obviously over the centuries,

it’s been an enduring practice.”

In pursuit of a replacement

Could an alternative to the handshake permanently take its place? Experts are skeptical.

“People talk about elbow bumps and things like that,” York said. “At this point, they’re not similar. They don’t convey the same message and warmth and intimacy that would be conveyed by a handshake.”

That said, he suggested an alternative that’s common in parts of the Middle East: placing your right hand over your heart for a few seconds while making eye contact with the other person.

Ngome, the president of the African American Marketing Association, said she has begun to “slightly bow my head” instead of shaking hands.

“I’m leaning in to let you know, ‘Hey I do trust you but at this moment I’m not comfortable shaking your hand or touching,’” she said.

The problem with suggested alternatives is that they may encounter resistance among people who don’t want to change, Schroeder said.

“Alterations to rituals can produce more outrage if people feel like they’re trying to change the value system of the group,” she said.

Ngome, for one, still hopes the handshake makes a comeback.

“Maybe in the next six to nine months, early next year, maybe when a treatment is out and people are way more relaxed and comfortable,” she said. “But I do think as Americans we are going to get back to it.”

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.

Viewpoint

VIEWS, PERSPECTIVES AND READERS’ LETTERS

Guidelines to open up and get back to work Some states are experiencing decreases in COVID-19 cases and are anxious to reopen. The White House has issued guidelines for states to consider when reopening. Citing DHEC projections that South Carolina was beyond the estimated peak in COVID-19 cases, Gov. Henry McMaster issued a new executive PHILLIP A. order on April 20, KILGORE which allows certain “non-essential” businesses to reopen. Gov. McMaster also has formed a COVID-19 advisory team to consider and recommend economic revitalization plans assist in reopening South Carolina.

There is every reason to expect that momentum to reopen will increase as businesses look to return employees to the workplace, from remote locations, furlough (unpaid leave of absence) or layoff (termination of employment with recall potential).

Protecting the workplace

Employers which have remained open throughout the pandemic, albeit on a limited basis, are already familiar with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on protecting the workplace and assessing possible exposures.

The CDC continuously updates this guidance and has added additional guidance, including what to do in the event of a confirmed or suspected exposure (search its site for “cleaning and disinfecting your facility”) and factors to consider in returning critical employees to work after a suspected exposure (“safety practices for critical workers with potential exposures”). In addition, the CDC has provided general community mitigation guidance which provides very helpful information on how to protect those present in various communities, including workplaces.

Using these resources, employers can put together a plan, with reasonable measures, to allow a safe return of employees to the workplace, including: • Form a team to develop, implement and manage local protocols and logistics.

• Take an inventory of and order necessary sanitary supplies and protective equipment.

• Develop and implement a site disinfection protocol, an isolation

Photo/File

protocol to follow if an employee becomes symptomatic or reports a possible exposure, a process for receipt and disinfection of inbound materials, supplies and packages.

• Maintain social distancing by use of techniques such as staggered shifts, alternative workweeks (e.g.

Monday-Thursday and Friday-Sunday), and altering office layouts.

Employers also should consider implementing measures for screening employees returning to the physical workplace.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has now acknowledged that employers may implement temperature screening measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. EEOC also has confirmed that employers “may ask such employees if they are experiencing influenza-like symptoms, such as fever or chills and a cough or sore throat.” Moreover, EEOC has issued guidance that an “employer may choose to administer COVID-19 testing to employees before they enter the workplace to determine if they have the virus.”

Employers wishing to use these screening techniques should seek guidance from health officials, follow manufacturer’s directions and consult with legal counsel. As with any medical related inquiry, information gained from either of these screening techniques should be maintained strictly confidential.

Rehiring furloughed employees

Many concerns related to the initial hiring process likewise apply in the

return to work or rehire context. Returning all furloughed or laid off employees back to full duty generally does not present serious legal risk. It is unlikely, however, that many employers will be able to bring back all employees at the same time. Employers should exercise caution in selecting those who come back in the initial waves.

We all have learned that COVID-19 particularly affects vulnerable individuals and the instinct may be to protect them from possible workplace exposures. Telling older workers or those with immunodeficiency issues, for example, to wait before coming back on the payroll may seem prudent, but it also could lead to age or disability discrimination suits.

In choosing employees for return or rehire, employers should identify specific business needs and legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for the selections.

Some selection factors may include skill sets needed, record of productivity, job criticality, cross training and seniority, among others. It also will be important to select appropriate decision makers and train decision makers on appropriate selection criteria and Equal Employment Opportunity principles.

Managing the reluctant employee

In some sense, workplaces utilizing good sanitation methods and social distancing are safer than other settings, such as churches or grocery stores. There even have been press reports of a high proportion of COVID-19 cases arising from home exposures.

Nevertheless, some workers who remained in active status while working from remote locations may be reluctant to return to a traditional physical workplace at this time. If employees can remain productive by continuing to telework, employers should consider giving weight to such preferences for the moment.

Moreover, some employees may have complications from COVID-19 infections (e.g., pneumonia) or preexisting medical related conditions that may qualify as disabilities under the ADA, triggering the duty to provide a reasonable accommodation. In the context of a pandemic, some accommodations may meet an employee’s needs on a temporary basis without causing undue hardship on the employer.

The reality is that the return to work process may take a while, so having fewer employees in the workplace may be beneficial. Over time, employers will be able to gradually learn and implement existing and newly developed processes.

Phillip A. Kilgore has been in the practice of litigation and labor and employment law in the Greenville office of Ogletree Deakins since 1986.

He is the office managing shareholder.

We want to hear from you Write: Melinda Waldrop, Editor Columbia Regional Business Report, 1612 Marion St., Suite 301 Columbia, SC 29201 Email: mwaldrop@scbiznews.com

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2020 | SOUTH CAROLINA

MANUFACTURING CONFERENCE AND EXPO The Most Significant Manufacturing Event of the Year

Presented by:

SAVE THE DATE

October 28th - 30th, 2020 Greenville Convention Center Greenville, SC Join manufacturing suppliers and innovators across all industry verticals at South Carolina’s Most Significant Manufacturing Event of the Year.

The 2019 Conference included: • 2,800+ registered attendees • 280+ Exhibitors • 16 courses taught by instructors from SCMEP • Manufacturing 4.0 Breakfast: The Rise of Technology • Aero/Auto Symposium and Industry Forecasts • Executive Women in Manufacturing and Apprenticeships in Advanced Manufacturing panel discussions For questions about exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Melissa Tomberg at (864) 720-1220 or mtomberg@scbiznews.com

Visit www.scmanufacturingconference.com for the latest updates