PLEA FOR HELP

TSG Finishing, partners take up labor shortage issue with officials

After trying creative ways to attract people, including incentives (to little avail so far), TSG Finishing CEO Brian Rosenstein and his cousin company President Michael Goldman decided it was time to take the issue to a larger audience that may be able to help drive better solutions. So, they invited local, state and federal officials to its Synthetics Plant – one of three it operates in the Hickory, N.C., area – for a plant tour and a discussion about the labor shortage.

On May 7, they covered the issue in depth with N.C. State Senator Dean Proctor (R-42), a representative of U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s Office (in person), a representative of U.S. Senator Thom Tillis’ Office (via phone) and several local leaders. And with the challenge affecting all in the region, they also brought in some of their customers and industry colleagues, including Blake Millinor, president of Valdese Weavers; Vuk Trivanovic, CEO of Shurtape Technologies; and Brandon Hucks, CFO of Century Furniture.

BREAKING NEW GROUND

New MSC PPE-NC Initiative to serve as prototyping, testing, commercialization center for medical textiles

If a groundbreaking ceremony for a 45,000-square foot facility at the Manufacturing Solutions Center (MSC) in Conover, N.C. on April 30 is any indication, the U.S. textile industry is emerging from COVID-19 in grand style, at least in this region of Western North Carolina foothills.

Catawba Valley Community College (CVCC) and the City of Conover hosted the event, attended by more than 100 people at the Norman B. Coley Amphitheater, to officially launch a solution for a problem that reared its head during the pandemic – the shortage of and need for development of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In addition to the two-story, state-of-the-art facility being built to house MSC’s incubator clients, the Manufacturing Solutions Center PPE-NC Initiative includes a renovation of CVCC’s current MSC facility on the property, the purchase of PPE testing equipment and two clean rooms.

Retired MSC Director St. Louis presented N.C.’s highest honor

Dan St. Louis, former longtime director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center,  was presented North Carolina’s highest honor, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award, during a groundbreaking ceremony for the new MSC PPE-NC Initiative in Conovor, N.C.

TS Designs’ latest 'Gathering' occurs at Opportunity Threads

Part 6 of TS Designs’ supply chain journey through the Carolinas took place at the Industrial Commons/Opportunity Threads in Morganton, N.C., where the cut-and-sew arm of its brand partner’s 10,000 Pounds of Cotton initiative was featured.

During the web event, TS Designs founder and President Eric Henry introduced attendees of the web event to Molly Hemstreet, founder and co-executive director of The Industrial Commons, founder and worker/owner of Opportunity Threads and co-founder of the Carolina Textile District; along with Walter Vicente, plant manager at The Industrial Commons.