Hitting the Ground Running in South Carolina
When Samsung announced this June that it would invest $380 million to open a state-of-the-art home appliance facility in Newberry, South Carolina, one of the first questions people asked the company was how they chose the location. The company’s reasons for selecting a town 50 miles outside the state capital may not have been immediately obvious to everyone, but for Samsung the answer was easy: the facility needed a top-notch workforce, strong local partners and a robust infrastructure network capable of sourcing, supplying and delivering new products to market.
Newberry — and South Carolina more broadly — offered all this and more.
Fast-forward five months and I’m honored to be helping Samsung realize its vision as Newberry’s new plant manager. It’s a position that I started in August, following several years managing production for other global home appliance leaders. As someone who has long admired Samsung’s craftsmanship and commitment to quality innovation, I saw the opportunity to establish their first U.S. home appliance plant as the chance of a lifetime. And with thanks to our state and local partners, we’ve hit the ground running.
In the advanced manufacturing world, your people are your most valuable asset. So it’s been especially gratifying to see our Newberry team gel over the last few months. Building the talented and capable team we’ll need to meet market demand is hands down the best part of my job. Of the 954 jobs our plant will create by 2020, 350 employees have already accepted job offers, and we hope to have 500 new hires on board by New Year’s.
We couldn’t have done it without the guidance and support of state and local leaders like Governor Henry McMaster — who has tirelessly championed South Carolina manufacturing and the workers who power it forward — or the team over at ReadySC. A division of the South Carolina Technical College System, ReadySC is one of the oldest workforce recruiting and training programs in the country. It’s been a critical partner throughout the entire hiring process — helping us host seven job fairs, developing the online portal we use to communicate with prospective employees (ReadySC.org/Samsung) and advising us as we build a curriculum for training and onboarding new team members. In fact, to guarantee the success of our employee training program, the folks at ReadySC even visited our global headquarters in Korea to study with our subject matter experts and immerse themselves in the ins-and-outs of our manufacturing process.
The emphasis on training is critical, because with construction and renovations well underway, we’re on track to begin production in early 2018. The moment products start rolling off the line next year will mark the first milestone in our broader ambitions for Samsung in South Carolina. Ultimately, we see the state becoming our hub for manufacturing, research and development across our entire U.S. home appliance business.
Growing Samsung’s South Carolina footprint and building our local team have been top priorities for us. But we recognize that putting down roots is about more than just getting to work. To us, it means establishing a strong foundation in the community by investing in the people and causes we believe in. As a company that grew from the ashes of the Korean War, supporting American troops and veterans has long been an ingrained part of Samsung’s corporate culture. And I’ve been proud to see us expand on that legacy in South Carolina — especially in the Midlands region, which alone is home to 81,000 veterans and 16,000 active service members. Over Veterans Day weekend, we were honored to partner with the local American Legion to sponsor a luncheon celebrating local vets and their families; and it’s been incredibly rewarding for us to work with the area food bank, Harvest Hope, to provide 21,000 meals to hungry veterans across South Carolina.
Next year, Samsung will celebrate 40 years of investing in American jobs and innovation. From humble beginnings in 1978, the company has grown to have over 18,500 employees spanning 46 states. Samsung continues to build its U.S. presence not only because it’s one of the company’s most important markets, but because it believes in the uniquely American spirit of innovation. I see it every day in the people I work with in South Carolina, whose skill and tenacity are matched only by their hospitality and commitment to doing right. It’s the reason we’ve managed to get so much done in just five short months; and it’s why I’m so excited to help write this next chapter for the company in Newberry County.
