After meeting Sonoco, a global packaging giant, you’ll never look at another food container or package the same way.
Progress Energy, Talley Metals, JBE Enterprises, and Coker College are also in Hartsville.

Sonoco History: Our economy is solidly anchored around $4.1 billion, 17,500 employee Sonoco Products Company (NYSE:SON), whose roots go all the way back to the early years of Hartsville and JL “Major” Coker, whose entrepreneurial vision brought an economic boom that made Darlington County one of the more prominent communities in the south between Atlanta and Richmond in the mid 1800s. Coker brought the railroad here, his general store was one of the largest in the southeast, 5 mail routes came in per day, and his offspring founded Coker Seed Farms, whose influence is throughout present day modern agriculture.

Sonoco had its beginnings in 1890, when Major Coker and his son, James, Jr., founded the Carolina Fiber Company in Hartsville to manufacture pulp and paper from Southern pine trees. The Cokers decided to use the pulp to make paper cones for the textile industry. On May 10, 1899, Major Coker and Walter F. Smith, an experienced cone maker from New Bedford, Massachusetts, formed the Southern Novelty Company, with Coker as the first president (these paper cones were known as "novelties," hence the company name). In 1923 the company changed its name to Sonoco Products Company, deriving the name from the first two letters of each word in the original name. That year Sonoco also entered into a joint venture with a company in Manchester, England to manufacture textile carriers Textile Paper Tube Company, Ltd., which eventually grew to include five plants in England, one in Ireland, and subsidiaries in Holland, Germany, South Africa, and India. This began the globalization of a company which began here in Hartsville.

Traditions and Technologies:

The economic health of the community you are considering is vital to your career decision. Unlike many medium to small sized towns, instead of being concerned about long-term fitness and stability and/or lack of important diversity, you will delight in the unique and compelling variety and strength of our economy. Project your career opportunity with confidence into the coming decades and come grow with Hartsville and Darlington County.

The McLeod Family is grooming its 5th generation farm as one of the State’s largest and most historic – peaches are “king”
here which blossom pink and are guided to a huge bounty after a work ethic few can match. ‘No short cuts in farming.

Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing & Technology - 3D Virtual reality, tool and model prototypes made with no tools for
medical, manufacturing, and science by computers, and a future technology incubator for a county that means business!

Economic Development Director:

Robert Long
Director
Darlington County Economic Development Partnership

Robert’s Map Review & planned Industrial Parks
Running time: 4:53 minutes
Apple/iPad

Map of Our Location           Interstate 20 Map           Interstate 95 Map

The Darlington County EDA Office in SIMT, and Industrial Parks, are located along the border of Darlington and Florence
counties and close to the intersection of I-20 and I-95, two major US roadways – I-20 actually begins here.

In Map of Our Location see if you can find SR 15 bisecting Darlington County from Columbia then Northeast –
before the Interstate system it was the main road to New York, and has charm all along it.

Robert visits SIMT and Stingray Boats:

Jack Roach, 2009 Facilities Director at SIMT

Robert Introduces & Tours SIMT
Running time: 11:39 minutes
Apple/iPad
 

A true marvel in manufacturing technology, SIMT is set to impress virtually any kind of company on a growing 100+ acre campus that will include dedicated “centers of excellence” in different industries, such as Plastics or Chemicals. Robert’s office is here and he shares SIMT with us. SIMT Photo Album

Al Fink, President of 100-employee Stingray Boats, is a Hartsville native who became a legend of sorts as a youngster when he started rebuilding cars in the 7th grade. Grown with pride, Stingray – named after Al’s favorite car, the Corvette, has always turned a profit, it has no debt, and all the revenue it generates is from outside Hartsville – 1/3 from outside the US. Everything here is owned by Stingray, including a huge maintenance shed adjacent to the manufacturing facilities. 2008 revenue exceeded $37 million.

Volvo engines set in a General Electric-made engine block are made in Tennessee and tested in Quality Control which is next to Receiving. 18’ to 25’ boats are made here and shipped out of Brunswick, GA to Scandinavia, France, Italy and other European locales.  Al founded Stingray with 6 employees:

“A key to having a good business is keeping things simple and carrying on with the least amount of aggravation. I believe in the 40 hour work week and giving our employees the time they need to spend with their families. Stingray got big enough to be comfortable for me to make a good living and keep our employees happy.”

Stingray Tour given by VP of Sales Marketing Bruce Hawkins

Stingray Photo Album

Selected Professionals and their Organizations which Impact Hartsville:

Roger Schrum Vice-President Sonoco Products Company $4.1 Billion Packaging Giant 2,400 Hartsville Employees Sonoco Tour

Jerry Kirshner HR Manager Talley Metals, Inc Specialty Alloys 195 Employees Visit Talley Metals

Jerry Ellison Founder/CEO JBE Enterprises Tier 1 Honda Assembler 70 employees/$21.4 Million A Family Enterprise

Steve Terry Vice-President Coker College Education/170 Employees $40 million payroll Coker’s Influence

Sonoco’s influence is extremely broad in our area, and they support The University of South Carolina (Moore School of Business), Clemson University, Queens College of Business and Coker College, the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics. Sonoco provides four-year scholarships to 10 children of its U.S. employees, two one-year scholarships to Clemson University’s Packaging Science Department; and all participating institutions of the S.C. Independent Colleges and University Foundation and the United Negro College Fund, as well as the local high school’s academic booster clubs (Hartsville High and Mayo Magnet) receive funding. Sonoco also encourages employees to support their colleges and universities by matching their financial gifts.

• In Darlington County, Sonoco employs 1,600 full-time employees, 67 percent live in the county, with 746 retirees from its Darlington County operations, 80 percent of whom live in the county. Total salary and benefits paid to employees and retirees in Darlington County comes to $95 million.

• Sonoco’s economic impact on Darlington County, where the company’s total direct operating costs come to $689.1 million annually. That includes $3.5 million paid in taxes in Darlington County, $285 million in value of products manufactured in Hartsville, $378.5 million spent on suppliers and services in the county, $21 million in annual utility bills (including water, sewer and energy), and $1.1 million in 2008 contributions to Pee Dee community organizations — much of it toward education.

Talley Metals Technology, Inc. is part of Talley Industries, Inc., a huge global conglomerate. Talley began in 1960 as a tiny aerospace engineering firm in the desert north of Mesa, Arizona. The company was founded by German-born engineer Franz G. Talley and an experienced group of his associates who were also engineers. Today the company has annual revenues in excess of $250 million with “metals” making up 27% of the conglomerate’s overall income.

Our local plant is “medium-sized” at 400,000 SF under roof and one of the many owned by the company.  This particular plant accepts stainless steel “billets” which are steel rods from melt shops, and forges these into stainless steel bars, wires, and rebar for aerospace, auto, medical, industrial, energy, rifle barrels, you name it. Stainless steel is less corrosive so its applications are also for bridge and naval construction (ships and submarines).

JBE Enterprises: Jerry Ellison and wife Loretta relocated from Washington, DC to Hartsville in 1972 to continue growing his company, which at the time was a manufacturer of staples, ancillary staple products and paper clips – they wanted to live in a “nurturing community for children,” because at the time they had three, aged 6, 3, and 1 – and they picked Hartsville. After selling that business in 1982, he started JBE, which has grown to be a 70 employee assembler and tier one supplier of automotive supplies (turbo engines for client Cummings Diesel) and ATVs (headlights, taillights, fuel pumps, etc., for client Honda. In 2008, JBE, headquartered in Hartsville with more than 200,000SF under roof, had record revenue of $21.4 million.

In 1997, Coker College opened the 40,000 square-foot, $6.5 million Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Performing Arts Center, a state-of-the-art educational and cultural facility that houses the Department of Dance, Music and Theater and the communication program. In addition to college productions, the Center hosts a variety of professional cultural events for the community at large. Coker College successfully completed the $22.6 million Gateway to the New Century Campaign in summer 2005, raising more than $23 million to enrich the college’s programs and activities and greatly increase the quality of the living and learning environment on campus. A cornerstone of the campaign is the Charles W. and Joan S. Coker Library-Information Technology Center, which opened in January 2008 and offers students unparalleled access to collections and the latest information technology. The Campaign has also enabled Coker to undertake campus-wide construction and landscaping improvements, as well as to its prized Kalmia Gardens.

• Barron’s consistently names Coker one of the nation's 300 Best Buys in College Education.
• U.S. News & World Report ranks Coker one of "America's Best Colleges" for 2010. The magazine has named Coker a "Best College" for 14 consecutive years. (2010 Top Tier (#15) Best Baccalaureate Colleges in the South).
• With a $40 million payroll, Coker has 56 full-time faculty, most who choose to live in Hartsville, and 85% hold the highest degree in their field. In addition to these professors, Coker utilizes more than 70 adjunct and part-time faculty.
• Its sports, Arts, students in town, and programs for Hartsville represent part of its vast contribution to our community.

Murray Brockman, PhD President Governor’s School A doubling campus

Terry “Mac” Josey VP and GM Darlington Raceway $54 million in 1 weekend

Kemp McLeod Owner McLeod Farms A Peachy Bounty

In 2009, for the fourth year in a row, the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) has been named one of the Top 20 "public elite" high schools in the nation by Newsweek magazine.  In late 2008, construction of a 70,000-square-foot expansion of the residential high school was started to further serve the juniors and seniors from around the state. The additions will allow the school to go from 128 students in-residence and a capacity of 1,500 for enrichment programs to 300 students in-residence and more than 3,000 for enrichment programs.

In March 25, 2009 a study by the Washington Economics Group, Inc. found that Darlington Raceway generates an annual economic benefit of $54 million for the Pee Dee region and state of South Carolina, including the creation of 874 jobs in the region.

McLeod Farm is a fourth generation, family-run farm operation since 1916 and today is blossoming like the 100,000 peach trees in their orchards. In addition to their peach and row crop operation, the McLeods grow strawberries, red potatoes, cabbage, sweet corn, squash, onions, bell pepper, okra, tomatoes, peas, pumpkins, turnips, egg plants and other produce that is sold in their roadside market. The McLeods have one of the largest peach orchards in the Southeast, growing 25 varieties on 650 acres in the sandy loam soil of the Pee Dee. Each year they host three festivals: the Strawberry Festival in May, Peach Festival in July and Pumpkin Festival in October.

Business Statistics for Hartsville and Darlington County:

PPM is a 2,500 employee maintenance contractor and Anderson Brass makes brass valves and has 75 employees

Sample of Employers in Darlington County

A Glorious Agricultural Past:

Spencer McLeod hopes to follow in father Kemp’s footsteps to be the 5th McLeod to lead the family’s historic farm

David R. Coker, son of Major James Lide Coker, used the latest techniques in breeding crops at the Coker Farm. By 1963, approximately 65% of the cotton acreage in the Southeast, 80% of the oat acreage, 75% of the flue-cured tobacco acreage, and 40% of the hybrid corn acreage and an increasing percentage of the soybean acreage could be directly traced back to seed developed by the Coker scientists. There’s more to our agricultural fields that meet the eye – there’s a glorious history with a lineage to the Coker who is forever linked with the community we love!

The Byerly Foundation:

The Railroad Ave Park between Coker College and the Governor’s School and another completed park on right behind the Fairfield Inn. YMCA is on bottom right and just received funds to purchase buses from the Byerly Foundation

“A Catalyst for the Hartsville Community:” The Byerly Foundation is a $24 million private organization in Hartsville that aims to improve the quality of life for its residents and attract businesses, tourism and families to the area. The foundation was founded following the sale of The Byerly Hospital in 1995 to the parent company of our hospital and provides grants to support the mission of “making Hartsville an even greater community in which to live.”

• This foundation touches our lives in more ways than we can count! Byerly Park and Lawton Park, Hartsville Museum, Black Creek Arts Council, funds to build Hartsville High’s football Stadium, Coker College, a Free Medical Clinic, Hartsville’s Chamber of Commerce, Children's Center on Carolina Avenue in Hartsville, Habitat for Humanity, the Hartsville Police Youth Academy, Hartsville Heritage Foundation, Trees for Tomorrow, the Darlington County Coordinating Council, the Hartsville Coker Concert Association, and a three-year grant of $1.5 million to the “Team Foxes” Learning Academy at the Hartsville Middle School, are examples of how it gives to us year after year.

Don’t underestimate great, safe parks and annual beautification projects spearheaded by the Byerly Foundation –
these attract new companies, healthcare professionals, retirees, and students to our college and Governor’s School

Resources:

Sonoco Brochure (excerpts PDF)
Stingray Brochure (excerpts PDF)
JBE Brochure (excerpts PDF)
Talley Metals Overview (Powerpoint)
Hartsville Economic Profile (PDF)

Byerly Foundation: www.byerlyfoundation.org

Unless otherwise noted, virtually every photo and video was taken specifically for this Online Job Tour. Unlike many hospital websites and recruitment materials, in this presentation there are no "stock" photos or images that aren't authentic. We believe this, along with real testimonials, is the absolute best way to show you what your career and life will be like with us! You and your family deserve nothing less for such an important decision! Thank you for considering a career with us!