Business

Pitt County Goes Global with High-Tech Manufacturing Base

The Hammock Source controls 85 percent of the hammock market from its home base.

While no local economy is recession-proof‚ Greenville-Pitt County’s economy may come close‚ thanks to international influence and a healthy mix of traditional and cutting-edge manufacturing such as bioprocessing.

“There was a time when our client base was virtually all domestic. Now it’s almost a 50-50 split between international and domestic‚” says Wanda E. Yuhas‚ executive director of the Pitt County Development Commission. “We still have a lot of manufacturers‚ but we are seeing differences in the kinds of manufacturers.”

DSM Pharmaceuticals and DSM Dyneema collectively are one of the county’s largest employers‚ with about 1‚200 workers‚ and they exemplify the Greenville area’s embrace of high-technology and biotech manufacturing. What’s more‚ DSM is headquartered in The Netherlands‚ adding to the area’s global credentials. Pitt County’s Industry of the Year for 2007‚ DSM provides custom pharmaceutical manufacturing and packaging as well as clean-room production of Dyneema®‚ a lightweight‚ high-performance fiber used in health care‚ the military and other sectors.

At the other end of the scale‚ Greenville is the home of Pioneer Surgical Orthobiologics‚ housed in the Technology Enterprise Center‚ a small-business incubator that Yuhas says “allows for the possibility of taking intellectual property from concept to marketplace.” The incubator is where Pioneer Surgical conducts research and development while manufacturing in small batches its premier product – an injectable biopolymer for tissue regeneration.

Also in the Technology Enterprise Center are laboratories and classrooms for Pitt Community College‚ which trains students interested in the bioprocessing field. “We have some real strengths at the community-college level and the university level in terms of bioprocessing‚” Yuhas says. “We have everything from a certificate program to a two-year degree to a four-year degree and all the way up through graduate degrees.” She says Pitt County is combining those education resources with Wake County’s research and development strengths to recruit heavily in the bioprocessing arena.

Yet the traditional manufacturing sector – if it can be called that in today’s world of robotic and computerized operations – is strong in Pitt County‚ too‚ Yuhas adds.

She points to home-grown manufacturers Grady-White Boats‚ with about 400 employees‚ and high growth metrics in the analytical chemistry and clinical trials manufacturing sector‚ as examples of the county’s industrial strength.

NACCO Materials Handling Group is also a power house with 1‚200 employees.

Japan has recognized the beauty of setting up shop in Pitt County. ASMO Greenville‚ with about 530 employees‚ manufactures small electric motors for vehicles – the ones that move wiper blades‚ seats‚ windows and so forth‚ making 38 of the 41 such motors needed by Toyota‚ Yuhas explains. “That gave us a good‚ strong core of Japanese companies‚ which is a good growth sector for us‚” she says. NWB (Nippon Wiper Blades) USA and North Carolina ASAHI‚ also in the wiper business‚ thrive in Greenville‚ as well. Fuji Silysia is also Japenese‚ manufacturing micronized silica gel.

Yuhas says now is Pitt County’s time. “We’ve all met the guy who bought IBM stock for 50 cents a share‚ thinking he’s a genius or the luckiest person in the world‚” she says. “Pitt County is IBM at 50 cents a share. Invest now.”

Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by The Hammock Source

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