Barry Falin, vice president of Global Manufacuring, Voridian Division, Eastman Chemical Company, announced plans Thursday to constuct a new $100-million-dollar facility that will employ an additional 50 workers. LARRY HARDY/T&D

Eastman announces $100M expansion; investment in Calhoun County adding at least 50 'high-wage' jobs

By GENE ZALESKI, T&D Staff Writer

COLUMBIA - Eastman Chemical Co. Thursday announced plans to invest more than $100 million in a new manufacturing facility at its Voridian Columbia Operations Division at Sandy Run in Calhoun County.

The new facility is expected to add at least 50 new "highly skilled, high-wage" jobs to the company's operation and is projected to result in 800 to 1,000 contractor jobs during the construction phase.

The building will be used to manufacture polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polymer used to produce food and beverage packaging such as the familiar 20-ounce soft drink and water bottles. Jobs are projected to pay from $18 to $25 an hour.

Construction of the 350,000-metric-ton integrated facility, which will be located on Eastman Chemical's 2,300-acre site, is scheduled to begin in January 2005. The facility will on-line by the fourth quarter of 2006.

The $100 million investment will include infrastructure support and intermediate raw material conversion retrofits at the Voridian plant.

Standing on a podium in front of a table showcasing bottling products acquired from Voridian's raw materials, Calhoun County Chairman David Summers glowed with pride and excitement at the news.

"This is what it is really all about bringing jobs to South Carolina and Calhoun County," Summers said. "Calhoun County and Voridian have been strong neighbors for about 40 ... years and they continue to work with us. I told Barry (Vordian vice president of global manufacturing) that he could not have given me a better 43rd wedding anniversary present than the announcement today."

The planned facility will utilize the company's new IntegRex technology. IntegRex is touted by company officials as an "innovative, breakthrough technology, encompassing manufacturing process integration from paraxylene to PET."

"The competitive advantage of this new technology provides our PET business the ability to strengthen our already strong leadership position in the polyesters-for-packaging industry," said Barry Falin, the Vordian vice president of global manufacturing. "It effectively reduces and streamlines the steps in the manufacture of PET, enabling faster, more cost-effective production."

Joining company and Calhoun County elected and development officials Thursday were the state Department of Commerce and the Central South Carolina Alliance.

Falin cited cooperation received from the SCDOC, CSCA and Calhoun County officials as the primary reason for locating the company's newest manufacturing facility at Sandy Run.

Calhoun County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Pat Black said the county is busy in attracting new and maintaining old industries.

He cited the July ribbon-cutting ceremony for Calpine Corp.'s Columbia Energy Center. The $365 million, 630-megawatt co-generation facility represents the largest investment ever made in Calhoun County.

The facility, adjacent to Voridian, will provide thermal power, or steam, to the chemical plant allowing it to retire its 3-decade-old coal burners. The transition has been touted as reducing plant emissions.

"We in Calhoun County want to finish up with one project and start immediately on another," Black said. "We want to constantly grow, constantly prosper and contribute to the Midlands and Calhoun County area in South Carolina. They are sinking their roots deeper in Calhoun County."

Calhoun Rep. Harry Ott said Voridian's expansion demonstrates the county's progressive atmosphere.

"This is the second major announcement we have had in the past year," Ott said. "This will go a long way in allowing county council to have the resources to provide the quality of life for our citizens that they deserve."

The announcement comes on the heels of an Eastman restructuring that saw the company cut about 150 jobs or 20 to 25 percent of its employment at the Voridian plant in April.

The chemical company finished 2003 with a loss of $270 million, or $3.50 a share, on revenues of $5.8 billion.

"One of the themes within our business for the last couple of years has been earning the right to grow," Falin said. "This is a real tough, global competitive commodity business. Some of the fundamentals are around operational excellence, managing our cost well, streamlining and as part of that we did a restructuring to become more efficient in the way we run income and assets."

The addition of the new facility will bring the Voridian work force to 550, which is still down from where the company was four years ago.

"Compared to 2000, we are down," said Mike Newman, site manager. "But we are still making the same amount of material."

Praises sung statewide

Gov. Mark Sanford credited the state's pro-business climate as key to Voridian's success.

"By reducing our income tax rate and making other needed reforms, we can give Commerce and local economic developers even more tools to bring in companies like Voridian, which is adding to its work force and making a sizable investment in Calhoun County.

This administration," Sanford said, "is going to continue its push for changes so we can have more announcements like this one across the state."

Secretary of Commerce Bob Faith said the announcement is in line with what the state is aiming to do with its South Carolina Competitiveness Initiative, a public-private coalition working to develop plans for distressed areas and determine how to measure progress.

"First of all, this project will give an enormous boost to our chemical industry, one of our focus areas when we talk about building clusters," Faith said. "Second, Voridian is a company that is dedicated to providing its customers with added value in the form of product innovation, experience and responsiveness."

Central SC Alliance President and CEO Mike Briggs said Voridian is on the verge of "reinventing themselves" for the future.

"We have heard ... about companies that are offshoring, companies that are outsourcing, companies that are closing no longer able to be competitive," Briggs said. "This is a world-class company that has agreed to invest a huge sum of money in this region. This bodes very well for our future as a region; it bodes well ... for our children's future."

Central SC Alliance Chairman George Bullwinkel Jr. credited the positive atmosphere of business in Calhoun County.

"What an exciting day this is," Bullwinkel said. "Make no mistake, this is a very significant and high-impact, advanced-manufacturing announcement we have here. It is a big win, win for Calhoun County and the 10-county region we all represent."

"There are a lot of reasons why companies locate where they do," Bullwinkel continued. "Voridian Columbia Operations' continuing growth in Calhoun County is a direct result of confidence they have in our work force and the spirit of collaboration that exists here in the region and state."

About Eastman

In 1962, the Eastman Kodak Co. purchased approximately 2,300 acres and since then the company has grown to employ approximately 550. It is considered the largest single-site producer of PET packaging in the world.

In 1967, EKC began the production of KODEL polyester staple fiber and in the early 1970s, Eastman Chemical announced that it would expand business to include the construction of chemical plants to produce terephthalic acid, dimenthyl terephthalate and polyester polymer.

In 1981, construction began to provide a facility to produce PET bottle polymer resins.

Kodel polyester fiber production was discontinued in the late 1980s and the capacity was diverted into the polymer resins business.

In 1994, Eastman Chemical became separate from Eastman Kodak and in 2001 the company began the spin-off of Voridian.

Headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., Eastman manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide. The company has approximately 12,000 employees and had 2003 sales of $5.8 billion.

Voridian is one of eight manufacturing sites in six countries.