CEOB: Did you have to change any suppliers?
AK: We are not cutting back on our import purchases. The business which we are developing in our new factory in South Carolina is aimed to steal business away from our competitors. We are using most of the same component parts suppliers and have only made a few changes at this point.
CEOB: Where did you choose to locate your factory/facilities and why?
AK: We thought that the Southeast represented the most efficient area for shipping. We studied Georgia, North and South Carolina and Florida. The programs of South Carolina and Georgia are virtually the same. We chose South Carolina because of a very aggressive push by the government and particularly Governor Haley and her staff.
The benefits include a wonderful training program called Ready SC, in which the local government will screen workers and then train them for us at their expense and we still have the option to hire or not hire after the training is complete. There are multiple tax breaks which come into effect after our stated employment levels and factory development costs are realized.
When I was touring South Carolina and found the city and building I thought would work for us, it had no access to natural gas which we need for our painting operation, so we were going to walk away. Four hours later, I was having dinner and received a phone call from Gov. Haley. She asked me that if the state and county agreed to extend the gas line four miles to our factory, would we have a deal? I told her yes and here we are.