For nearly a generation, Alex and Anne Bernhardt have been leaders not only in the business community but also for their contributions within education, the arts, health care and other interests. During Tuesday night’s 92nd annual Caldwell Chamber of Commerce dinner at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir, the Bernhardts added L.A. Dysart Man and Woman of the Year to their list of achievements. Long associated with Bernhardt Furniture, the company founded by Alex’s grandfather in 1889, the couple has tended to keep their extensive involvement unknown to many people.

 

As Helping Hands Clinic Executive Director Lilly Bunch noted while introducing the award, “Their input has been across many disciplines … They are quiet, understated leaders who wish to fly under the radar.”

 

From their support of the Communities in Schools program to the restoration of Fort Defiance to Caldwell County Pathways, CIS Executive Director Debbie Eller compared the Bernhardts to a “finely woven tapestry.”

 

As the awards were announced, followed by a standing ovation, Alex Bernhardt quickly urged the attendees to sit down. He recalled Louis Dysart, the long-time bank president for whom the award is named, and how he had assisted the furniture company many years ago.

 

“We’ve got a lot of things in our future … We have to continue to be a part of it,” Alex Bernhardt said.

 

In a separate presentation, Mary Parke, the former executive director of the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce, was honored with a posthumous award. Current Caldwell County Economic Development Commission Board of Directors Chairman Bob Floyd recalled Parke’s involvement with many developments, including the Bridge to Bridge Incredible Challenge cycling event, the creation of the Chamber/EDC building and the Education Foundation.

 

“Mary brought an enthusiasm and an energy like nobody had ever seen … I was so proud to have known Mary and to have worked with her,” Floyd said.

 

Accepting the award on behalf of her mother was Linda Dorr, who tried to fight back tears as she approached the podium.

 

“My sister Judy and I thank you,” Dorr said. “Thank you for loving (Parke) and supporting her.”

 

The evening also featured keynote addresses from Brandon McCann, the Chamber’s former tourism director, and internationally known sculptor Thomas Sayre. In his remarks, Sayre showed how he brings his large-scale pieces to life and gave a preview for the project that is being developed in downtown Lenoir.

 

In looking back at the county’s history, Sayre acknowledged the influence of furniture and the wheel of a saw. At the same time, he pondered about what the new wheels of the county will be.

 

With a piece he is calling “Across the Grain,” Sayre said work soon will begin on the earth casting that will be placed on part of the former Blackwelder site. The project has been supported by the Caldwell Arts Council and its executive director Lee Carol Giduz. In addition, the City of Lenoir has endorsed the proposal.

 

“You folks are definitely going across the grain for this project,” Sayre said. “I find it astounding and inspiring.”

 

 

 

On the day of love, Lubrimetal Corporation received plenty of it. The family-owned Italian company founded more than 50 years ago was showered with affection on Valentine’s Day as it formally was welcomed to Caldwell County and, more specifically, Granite Falls. 

“We’re delighted you are coming to Caldwell County and my hometown of Granite Falls as well,” N.C. Rep. Edgar Starnes said. “We remind you that today is Valentine’s Day, and you give Valentines to your sweetheart. Today I’m here to say Granite Falls loves Lubrimetal. We want you to be our Valentine.” 

Tuesday’s welcoming ceremony came near four weeks after the company’s location to Granite Falls was announced. Lubrimetal is the world’s third largest manufacturer of lubricants for the wire drawing industry with facilities in Italy, India and Brazil. The company plans to develop a manufacturing facility for the production of wet and dry lubricants for the drawing of steel and no-ferrous wires at the Granite Falls location, its first in the United States. 

Giorgio Corso, executive vice president for Lubrimetal, said the company narrowed a search of 15 states down to four – Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and North Carolina – before settling here. 

“When we came here we had no doubt this is where we should establish our company.” Corso said. “We look forward to a long and prosperous future for Lubrimetal and the community we have joined.” 

The company plans to create 19 jobs and invest $1.9 million over the next three years in Granite Falls, though that number of jobs could grow to as many as 40. The project was made possible in part by a $38,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. Production could begin in late May or early June at the former Mid-Atlantic Steel Corp. site in Granite Falls. 

“This is a big day in a lot of ways as we welcome Lubrimetal to Granite Falls, Caldwell County and North Carolina,” Caldwell County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Deborah Murray said. “Not very far from here is a piece of property that has been silent for a while. It used to be lively with jobs. The Mid-Atlantic Steel Corp. site has been waiting for just the right new owner/occupant to visit and breathe life into it. I think it waited just long enough for the Lubrimetal folks to come and put U.S. roots in Caldwell County.” 

Salaries at the company will vary by job function, but the average annual wage for the new jobs will be $41,316, plus benefits. The average annual wage in Caldwell County is $29,796. 

The Corso family’s decision to locate its first U.S. facility in Granite Falls was a result of working with numerous agencies at the state and local levels. Those partnerships led to a new business coming to Caldwell County. 

“We did everything we could to make Lubrimetal feel at home in Granite Falls,” Town Manager Jerry Church said. “We thank you for choosing Granite Falls for your first manufacturing facility in the United States. We look forward to working with you.” 

Dale Carroll, deputy secretary for the N.C. Department of Commerce, spoke of the importance placed on jobs these days in the midst of the recession that has eliminated  so many. He noted a resurgence in the filed of manufacturing. “We are beginning to see a resurgence in manufacturing, something I’m glad to see,” Carroll said. “It’s great to see companies like Lubrimetal restore that manufacturing heritage in the state and community like yours.” 

Granite Falls Mayor Barry Hayes noted the excitement of an international company locating a manufacturing facility in the southern Caldwell County town. “The Town of Granite Falls is extremely pleased and proud to have Lubrimetal locate its first U.S. facility here,” he said. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to share our traditions.” 

Dr. Caryl Burns – representing the Caldwell County School System, Granite Falls Town Council and the Caldwell County Sales Tax Reinvestment Committee – and Dr. Ken Boham, president of Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, both spoke of the efforts their entities will make in producing the work force for Lubrimetal. “We’re going to provide you with something special,” Burns said. “That will be dedicated workers who are well-trained.” 

Boham added, “Your decision to locate in North Carolina, specifically Granite Falls, exuberates your brilliance. We know this will be an excellent relationship.” 

Corso will have plenty of flags to fly at the new facility once it opens. Starnes gave him a United States flag. Caldwell County Commission Chairman Ben Griffin presented him with a county flag, and Hayes handed over a Granite Falls town flag. Those went with a North Carolina state flag in a display case from Carroll presented on behalf of Gov. Bev Perdue. 

“Thank you very much for the warm welcome,” Corso said. “I’m very proud to be standing here today.” 

Murray closed the ceremony by saying, “They could have picked anywhere in the world to go. They did pick anywhere to go, and it was here.”

 

by Nathan Key  nathankey@newstopic.net

 

 

Gov. Bev Perdue announced Friday that Lubrimetal Corporation, a member of the Lubrimetal family of companies, will locate a new facility in Caldwell County.

The company plans to create 19 jobs and invest $1.9 million over the next three years in Granite Falls. The project was made possible in part by a $38,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund.

Confirming what the News-Topic had reported several months ago, Carolina Prime Pet formally announced that is will be locating its manufacturing operations in Lenoir. During a ceremony Tuesday at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center, local, county and state officials welcomed the maker of dog treats and the potential creation of 150 new jobs.

 

“This is a great day for Caldwell County, Western North Carolina and the state of North Carolina,” Caldwell County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Deborah Murray said.

 

Currently based in Murphy, the company will be relocating to the 277,000-square-foot former NACCO building off Morganton Boulevard in Lenoir. According to Van Brown, the principal owner of the business, the transition will take up to five months.

 

The jobs announcement, the largest since Vantage Foods in 2006, is a needed shot in the arm for a county that has languished through double-digit unemployment since the end of 2008. With a 13.1 percent jobless rate in November, the county currently has the fourth-highest unemployment figure in the state.

 

Brown detailed how he had been trying to find a new location for 18 months. He complimented the work of local officials in helping to finalize a deal that includes a $2,000 local incentive for every new job created (up to 148 jobs) and $4 million in financing via industrial revenue bonds through the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

 

In looking at the business, Brown said the company is trying to increase its share of the $7-billion-per year dog treat market. He added that Carolina Prime Pet is looking to capitalize on the fact that the products are made in America.

 

“We think that is going to be a big boon for us,” Brown said.

 

Gaining a tenant at the NACCO site has been a major focus of the EDC for several years, and Murray said its dormancy had been a telling sign.

“That empty, silent building was representative of an economy we’ve been trying to jump-start,” she said, adding that the hope is to be able to look back and see that Carolina Prime Pet was a catalyst in the county’s rebound.

 

With a planned investment of $4 million, Carolina Prime Pet is looking to increase its sales force and nationwide distribution. Brown said a push toward healthier pet treats fints perfectly with Carolina Prime Pet, particularly with its sweet potato offerings.

 

In terms of hiring, Murray said job-seekers should submit their information with the North Carolina Division of Employment Security (formerly the N.C. Employment Security Commission) or the JobLink at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute.

 

In addition, Murray said the next “Caldwell Is Hiring” event is scheduled for April 19.

 

by Paul Teague pteague@newstopic.net

Copyright 2012 News-Topic. All rights reserved.

by David Hodes, Business Xpansion Magazine 

Rampant unemployment has a new hero in data centers. The industry is gaining momentum as more businesses explore establishing data center functions. Data centers are growing exponentially based on the rise in e-commerce, media content storage and distribution, and the proliferation of cloud computing that requires putting more of a company’s assets on storage servers in secure data centers.  

But as with any developing technology, there have been adjustments along the way where promise meets reality and flexibility demands adaptability. “The IT team is on a flurry of a pace,” says Pete Sacco, president and CEO, PTS Data Center Solutions Inc., located in Franklin Lakes, N.J. “Whereas the facilities are on a much slower adaptation of what happens in the real world with the speed of support infrastructure.”

Now the trick is to deploy air conditioning in such a way to accommodate a variety of factors such as different sized servers and routers using different levels of power, Sacco says. “We have to evaluate designs which are no longer static but now are meeting fairly dynamic environments, and adapt traditional design techniques with some esoteric modern approaches,” he says. “I think we have to understand all of these technologies and how to apply them in a scalable modular difference.”  

Who’s On First?
As promising as they seem, data centers — usually huge warehouse-sized buildings needing large fiber optic pipelines, water and sewage handling at an enormous scale, and cheap electricity — may not be the saving grace to a region’s economic development that they appear to be. Take Caldwell County in North Carolina for example, where the outsourcing and loss of furniture and textile factories over the years has resulted in double digit unemployment that is going on three years now.  

The Caldwell County area is called the data corridor, says Deborah Murray, president and CEO, Caldwell County 20/20 in Hudson, and it started when Google’s data center opened for business in Lenoir in 2007. Apple’s $1 billion, 500,000-square-foot data center is nearby in Maiden. The newest data center is Facebook’s, announced in 2010 in Rutherford County. Facebook has completed the physical structure for Building 1, a 350,000-square-foot facility. Building 2, announced in the fall, will be identical in size, says Tom Johnson, executive vice president of AdvantageWest Economic Development Group, which markets 23 western counties in North Carolina. 

But Murray says it is time to take a reality check. “Data centers are not a trade off for furniture factories,” she says. “Furniture factories employ a lot more people on the same acreage. From the curb you would expect a lot more employees if they were equal. But they are not.”
What data centers do for Caldwell County, she says, is broaden its capacity to compete within the global economy. “Companies like Google like the quality of life, the electricity rates, the water rates here,” she says. “And the folks who value those things also value being on this ocean of data stream that Google makes possible. It’s a good incentive for others to come.” 

That dark cloud from loss of the legacy industry in North Carolina has a silver lining that today contributes to attracting data center businesses. Due to the manufacturing and textile history of the state, many counties that are pursuing data center initiatives were also pursuing textile manufacturing 50 or 60 years ago. “And in pursuing that industry,” Doug Hollidge, CEO, Five 9s Digital LLC in Charlotte, says, “the cities and counties had increased their power infrastructure, their water and sewer infrastructure and overall site offerings. And that just so happens you have a similar profile in data centers needing high power and high water and sewage.” 

North Carolina’s aggressive approach to attracting data centers with incentive policies also includes a team approach from developers. “By putting people that are dedicated to that type of operation,” Johnson says, “it makes a company feel very comfortable because they are dealing with people who know what they are talking about.” Johnson says the team in North Carolina understands that when companies select a location they have various requirements, and one of the first is electric capacity, reliability and rate information. “We do well in that area because we are served by Duke Energy, which has very competitive rates, the reliability is tremendous, and they have excellent capacity,” Johnson says.

Other factors businesses consider when siting data centers include looking for areas void of natural disasters, as well as proximity to a major city where they can get services. “You can be located in a rural community with lower pricing but yet be close to an urban area,” Johnson says.
While North Carolina keeps pitching, another southern state is looking for home runs. 

Planning The Plan
Mike Browder, CEO, Bristol Tennessee Essential Services, a utility company in Bristol works with the Northeast Tennessee Valley Regional Industrial Development Association (NETVARIDA) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), has been building out electricity services and fiber-optic data connectivity for seven years and is in the process of completing that build out to its entire service area. Businesses, homes and schools can now communicate over a robust fiber optic line — setting the stage for data center location and expansion that can happen quickly. “We are ready for data centers without making any changes now,” Browder says. 

The process of the build-out began when the company was looking first at e-commerce in 2003. “I don’t think we actually thought about data centers back then,” Browder says. “Our initial piece was to keep our people in the area and have jobs there that would be good jobs for them when they got out of school. Now that we got the system built, we started saying ‘OK who can we get to come to the area that fits the model of what we are looking at … and is this fit right for you?’,” he says. 

Data Centrist
Atlanta bills itself as a hub for the new economy, coupled with a low cost of doing business, a low cost of real estate, relatively lower costs for labor and favorable tax rates. The city also offers a sales tax exemption for companies for data centers that spend $15 million during any calendar year.
In addition to that exemption, a company can get an abatement on real and personal property over a period of time, which is very attractive for the capital intensive data center. “You see a lot of these data centers as they go up along the state highway 400 in that corridor where there is an extreme amount of bandwidth and fiber already in the ground,” says Larry Williams, vice president for technology industry development for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. “People find that very appealing.” Atlanta offers both greenfield and brownfield options for data center development. One example of a brownfield development is Quality Technology Services (QTS) who purchased a 2 million-square-foot building in an old Sears facility downtown. 

Power Options
 Data centers are huge energy hogs — up to tens of megawatts — so they are natural sources for exploring alternative energy. The centers create a huge carbon footprint with their demand for heavy cooling loads and massive uses of electricity. Most of all, a data center needs to stay cool, and Great River Energy in North Dakota has steam energy available from the Spiritwood Station combined heat and power plant in Spiritwood that they can offer as an alternative way to make electricity and cool a facility in the Spiritwood Energy Park, a 500-acre industrial park 10 miles east of Jamestown, N.D. Spiritwood will provide steam, which will be available 24/7 for purchase.  The heat energy in steam is 66 percent efficient in terms of raw fuel usage as compared to coal-based power, which is only 35 percent.

“They could if they wanted to utilize the steam and convert it to use for cooling,” says Lindsey Larson, marketing and business development specialist for the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. in Jamestown. “That is a very alternative option.” 

More To Come
Data centers are the darlings of economic developers, not only because they are usually good community partners and corporate citizens that can be counted on to generate solid tax revenue, but because they create a business climate for similar IT-based offerings. “You will see other big name companies come in and take a look or who are attracted to us that aren’t data centers but they value the same kinds of things,” Murray says. “Call centers and those types of things that need the online capacity and also appreciate the same kinds of economies that Google would look for. And that brings us jobs and opportunities.”

 

David Hodes is a business freelance writer for several business publications. He is based in Arlington, Va., and can be reached by e-mailing dhodes11@gmail.com.

Paul Broyhill, former CEO of Broyhill Furniture Industries, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14th annual Furniture Today Leadership Conference held in Naples, Fla., recently. 

Recognized by Ray Allegrezza, editor-in-chief of the trade magazine Furniture Today, Broyhill was dubbed a “game changer” in the furniture industry. In his comments about Broyhill at the conference and subsequently in an editorial for the magazine, Allegrezza noted that Broyhill was not afraid to deviate from the status quo, traveling offshore to study new designs and to purchase state-of-the-art equipment. He cited Broyhill as a “pioneer” in manufacturing techniques, marketing strategies and employee profit-sharing. 

Allegrezza praised Broyhill for his innovative techniques that resulted in a dramatic growth in the company founded by his father, J.E. Broyhill. “Under his watch,” remarked Allegrezza, “the company developed six million square feet of modern manufacturing facilities. Broyhill’s employment grew from 1,000 to 7,500. Sales soared, doubling, on average, every seven years and reaching $350 million when the company was sold.” 

According to Allegrezza’s article, some of the game changing plays that Broyhill made included: 

 

 

A longtime business from Hudson has moved its operation to Lenoir. Bumgarner Camping Center, a mainstay in downtown Hudson for 30 years, has relocated to the former Walters Chrysler site along U.S. 321 at its intersection with Clover Drive.

Owner Shannon Bumgarner said the move was one that made sense because of the added space and visibility that the business will have at the new location. “We’ve outgrown the old location,” Bumgarner said. “It was fine when we started out, but we’ve been in business 30 years and had some growth. We’ll have a lot more operational room now.”

The new location, which served as a car lot through the years, offers about 6 acres of land compared to about 2.5 at the previous site, and the buildings themselves provide 25,000 square feet of space, quite a bit more than the approximately 4,000 utilized at the Cedar Valley Road location in Hudson. The location on busy U.S. 321, the major traffic artery in Caldwell County, also should benefit the camping center.

“That visibility definitely should increase our business,” Bumgarner said. “We’ve had people tell us they didn’t even know we were here, but we’ve been in business 30 years. Everybody travels this road. I think people will know we’re here.” He added that the timing of the move to the new site also worked out. “We’ve always wanted to move, but we’ve just never been able to do it,” Bumgarner said. “The building was in foreclosure so we got a great deal.”

The business always has been family-owned and operated. It got its start when Bumgarner’s father Steve began selling campers out of his pickup truck when the family would spent time camping at Green Mountain Park. Eventually, the business opened in the Fairway Shopping Center before moving to its Cedar Valley site in 1987. Now, nearly 25 years later, the business is on the move again.

Bumgarner, who has worked at Bumgarner Camping Center since he was 12 years old, and his wife Angel purchased the business from his father in 2001. They continue to handle the day-to-day operations with three other employees, including Bumgarner’s brother Chad, who also has grown up working in the family business. “We’ve grown up working here,” Bumgarner said. “I’ve never worked anywhere else.”

Bumgarner said future growth for the business may lead to the addition of more employees at Bumgarner Camping Center. In addition to selling campers and travel trailers of various sizes and styles, Bumgarner Camping Center also offers parts and supplies for the products as well as full service on them. The business fills propane tanks and also installs hitches and brake controls for vehicles that will be pulling the campers and trailers.

With the move to the new location, Bumgarner said the business will be able to offer a larger parts department, and the additional space will allow work to take place on multiple campers simultaneously. One building on the back side of the lot has seven bays, while the back side of the main building opens into one large bay that runs the length of the facility. The previous location offered just one bay. “We’ll be able to offer more service and can handle major repairs,” he said. “The service we can offer now will probably be the greatest gain for us.”

Bumgarner Camping Center has been open at its new location for about two weeks now following several months of preparations for the move then getting everything ready for the opening. Parts, supplies and campers had to be relocated, and all the other headaches associated with such a move had to be handled to get ready. “It’s been pretty smooth,” Bumgarner said. “We were working six and seven days a week for several months while the move was taking place. We’re still ironing out some kinks, but everything seems to be going OK.”

The move was aided by the fact that the fall and winter months tend to be the slow period for the business. Come spring and summer, the pace should pick up quite a bit as Bumgarner said it always does.

Bumgarner Camping Center is located at 2206 Hickory Blvd. SW, Lenoir and can be reached by calling 828-728-5112 or on the web at www.bumgarnercamping.com.