ANDREWS – Peddi Lane is far off the beaten path for manufacturing in South Carolina. It’s outside the small community of Andrews in rural Williamsburg County, just over the Georgetown County line.
And yet S.C. Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and an entourage found the way there Thursday to Peddinghaus Corp., a plant that employs 47 people and uses innovative machine tool technology to produce structural steel and plate fabrication.
Instead of huge operations such as BMW and Boeing, this was where she chose to accept an invitation to observe South Carolina Manufacturing Month.
Peddinghaus invited her because it is celebrating its 25th anniversary in South Carolina.
“It's a huge milestone,” Evette said after touring the plant, speaking to employees and enjoying a catered lunch. “Twenty-five years warrants some really big accolades from the state.
“I was so happy to be invited to Peddinghaus to see what they're doing and to really talk about the investment that companies make in our rural communities and the impact that has on the people that live in those communities. You know, so often there are a lot of naysayers that say companies won't want to come, and if they do, how will they get a workforce?
“Well, you see here, after 25 years, they have an amazing workforce. These are great paying jobs, starting in the mid- to high-$20 (per hour) range. Now most of these people are earning in the $30-plus-an-hour range with four weeks of vacation.
“I mean, this is a great company. I just want to use this as an inspiration.”
Evette called the plant and its people “a hidden gem.”
Peddinghaus originated in Germany and eventually bought a plant in Bradley, Illinois, 60 miles south of Chicago. Bob Meltzer, the chief operating officer of the Andrews plant, worked for 20 years in Bradley.
“In Illinois, we got landlocked,” he said. “We decided that we needed to come to the Southeast. We wanted to get near a major port, which we have here in Charleston and Savannah. We needed to be near airports, which we have in Charleston and Myrtle Beach. We needed to be near some infrastructure, like (U.S.) 521 and Interstate 95.”
Meltzer said North Charleston and Florence were considered for sites.
“And we looked right here,” he said. “Unemployment was over 25% in Williamsburg County when we came here in 1997. The incentives far outweighed the other two places. The rest is history, as they say.”
Unemployment was high because textile mills were closing. Wages at the mills were far below what Peddinghaus offered.
“We really helped to spearhead a higher pay scale here in the Williamsburg County area,” Meltzer said.
Good wages lead to low turnover rates. Five Peddinghaus employees were recognized Thursday for 25 years of service. But the plant has young workers, too. They're all graduates from Williamsburg Technical College or Horry-Georgetown Technical College, Meltzer said.
“Those schools have saved the day for us,” he said. “There’s no other way for me to put it.”
One of the plant’s newer clients is Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Yes, SpaceX, the Elon Musk company. Peddinghaus is manufacturing parts.
Evette was impressed during her tour when someone pointed to the words “Space Exploration Tech” on wooden crates that were ready to be shipped to Florida. One of her friends is Jeanette Nunez, the Florida lieutenant governor. Nunez is proud of the SpaceX launches in her state and the fact that SpaceX is building a Starship launchpad on Florida’s Space Coast.
“I’ll point out to her that some of that wouldn't be happening if we didn't have great companies right here in South Carolina,” Evette said.
“This is great. Trust me, I'll talk about it all over the state.”
