SC companies honored for manufacturing excellence> GSA Business

Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the SC Ports Authority, received the BlueCross BlueShield Manufacturing Lifetime Service award during the Manufacturing Excellence Award ceremony that marks the last day of the SC 2020 Conference and Expo 2020 Manufacturing. The ceremony was hosted by Grady Johnson, president of SC Biz News, and Matt Brewer, president of Choate Construction, co-host of the ceremony.

Newsome served as president and CEO of the Port Authority of SC since September 2009 and worked in private transportation before that.

He studied logistics at the University of Tennessee before beginning his career as a leader in shipping companies. In the last 11 years at the helm of the port system, Newsome has doubled the volume of containers, led crucial infrastructure projects and transformed SC Ports into one of the most successful ports in the country. He has received several leadership awards, including being nominated for the 2020 International Maritime Hall of Fame.

Other awards given during the virtual ceremony on October 30 included the Innovator of the Year awards for Easley’s Industrial Daedalus and Martin’s Archroma. Minileit Inc. of Greenville was named Emerging Manufacturer of the Year. The Outreach Award was presented to Sun Surveillance of Spartanburg.

The Smart Move SC awards went to Elite Quartz Manufacturing LLC of Latta, Adornus Cabinetry of Lancaster and The Shyft Group of North Charleston for their decisions to move to the state of Palmetto. Freightliner Custom Chassis from Gaffney, McCall Farms of Effingham and Urban Electric Co. of North Charleston received the Smart Move SC awards for expanding their facilities.

The Transformation and Operational Excellence awards were given to Anderson’s top quality tissue manufacturers, Charles River Laboratories International Inc. of Charleston and Proper Polymers of Anderson.

A group of special awards was created this year to recognize companies that have faced and overcome extraordinary circumstances to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences.

“We had a lot of companies that would almost have to fire all of their people, but instead, they articulated, made some decisions, made some PPE and, instead, not only kept their employees, but hired Spangler, President and CEO of SC Manufacturing Extension Partnership. “So there are some incredible stories across South Carolina.

Five organizations were recognized for the SCMEP Beyond the Call of Duty award. These are companies that “had an action bias and made a big impact, not just in South Carolina, but in the United States,” said Spangler. They were, Seneca’s BorgWarner, Columbia’s ZVerse and Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp. of West Columbia, Hemmingway Apparel Manufacturing Co. of Williamsburg County and Vikor Scientific of Charleston.

Eleven companies were selected for the SCMEP COVID-19 Response award. They were:

• Fire & Pine, Ridgeland
• Colitis, Columbia
• Carolina CoverTech, North Augusta
• Springs Creative Products, Rock Hill
• Venus Group, Fort Lawn
• Life Industries, North Charleston
• Parimer Scientific, Powdersville
• Composite features, Rock Hill
• Multi Plastics, Charleston
• Carolina Cotton Works, Gaffney
• Harris pillow, Beaufort.

The conference and exhibition were conducted online this year, together with the 23rd annual Manufacturing Excellence Award. The awards were co-sponsored by SC Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which also co-sponsored the conference with SC Biz News.