Business North Carolina articles from January 2005

Business North Carolina archives from January 2005

The shadow of your smile.
January 1, 2005... This time, we thought, it would be a no-brainer. Each year, as summer slips into fall, our editorial staff starts discussing who should be the magazine's Mover and Shaker of the Year. Since 1988, the January issue has carried a piece on the...

Trend.
January 1, 2005... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Latest Previous Previous % change month month year from last ...

Decks are stacked for boat builders.(Interview)
January 1, 2005... Boat builders and related manufacturers employ more than 20,000 in North Carolina. Consumers here spent about $446.8 million on boats and boating products in 2003, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. The state's industry...

Workhorse Aviation Manufacturing.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... TRENTON -- New Bern-based Workhorse Aviation Manufacturing will open a factory here that will employ 50 machinists within three years. The company makes replacement parts for aging military planes. Jobs will average $22 an hour.

Camp Lejeune.(military job layoffs)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... JACKSONVILLE -- About 125 civilian and military jobs will be eliminated at Camp Lejeune. The layoffs are part of cutbacks that could total 400 military and civilian personnel by year-end. Jobs are in transportation, supply and similar work.

Standard Commercial will merge with Danville, Va.-based Dimon, another tobacco broker.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... WILSON -- Standard Commercial will merge with Danville, Va.-based Dimon, another tobacco broker. They had combined 2003 revenue of $2 billion. Shareholder approval is expected by July. Dimon CEO Brian Harker says the new...

Duplin General Hospital.(University Health Systems of Eastern North Carolina)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... KENANSVILLE -- The 101-bed Duplin General Hospital this month will become a member of University Health Systems of Eastern North Carolina, based in Greenville at Pitt County Memorial Hospital and East Carolina University's Brody School of...

Carteret County Shore Protection Office.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... MOREHEAD CITY -- A $4 million congressional appropriation to the nonprofit Carteret County Shore Protection Office will enable the county to continue pumping sand onto the beach here. The money will pay for an estimated 213,000 dump-truck...

BioNetwork.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... GREENVILLE -- BioNetwork, which will help community colleges develop biotechnology curriculums, opened here. It is financed by an $8.7 million grant from Golden LEAF, which distributes half of North Carolina's $4.6 billion share of the national...

Working capital.(REGIONAL REPORT)
January 1, 2005... Source: Employment Security Commission, September. Figures are not seasonally adjusted. The index is the number of jobs as a percentage of the average in 2000. [GRAPHIC OMITTED]

226 new jobs are coming to Robeson.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Robeson County, buffeted by plant closings and job losses, will get a boost when a new factory and a factory expansion bring more than 200 new jobs. Oak Brook, Ill.-based Elkay Southern, which makes sinks, will hire 156 employees in a...

Qualex.(TRIANGLE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... DURHAM -- Qualex, part of Rochester, N.Y.-based Eastman Kodak, will close its call center by midyear, cutting 300 jobs. The company, which employs about 500 at its headquarters here, provides photofinishing and equipment to retailers.

Novo Nordisk.(TRIANGLE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... CLAYTON -- Danish insulin maker Novo Nordisk will spend $100 million to expand its plant here. The company will add 187 jobs and 181,000 square feet when the expansion is complete in August. It employs about 375 at the 150,000-square-foot...

Eli Lilly.(TRIANGLE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Indianapolis-based drug maker Eli Lilly will close its operations here by April, cutting 142 jobs. Most are scientists and lab technicians.

Good Technology.(TRIANGLE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Santa Clara, Calif.-based Good Technology, which makes software for wireless devices, was to open a call center here by the end of 2004 that would employ about 90. The company plans to have up to 200 employees by the...

Sun-Trust Banks.(TRIANGLE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... DURHAM -- Atlanta-based Sun-Trust Banks will cut 107 local jobs in its mortgage and loan-services operations in 2005.

Lockheed Martin.(TRIANGLE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... CARY -- Bethesda, Md.-based defense contractor Lockheed Martin will open a support center that will employ about 25 engineers and technicians. The company won a contract to provide network services to the U.S. Postal Service. The center will be...

Voyager Pharmaceutical.(TRIANGLE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... RALEIGH -- Voyager Pharmaceutical, which is developing a drug to treat Alzheimer's disease, will open a laboratory here next year and hire as many as 20 scientists and lab technicians. Voyager, which moved from Florida in 2002, employs about...

Ban doesn't cling to Static Control.(Static Control Components)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... A federal appeals court in Cincinnati lifted a ban that prevented Static Control Components from selling computer chips for toner cartridges in computer printers made by Lexington, Ky.-based printer maker Lexmark International. In 2002, Lexmark...

WakeMed.(health care system-employs)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Raleigh-based health-care system WakeMed will add 540 jobs by October. Most will involve patient care or support, including positions such as nurses, nursing assistants, radiology technicians and pharmacists. The average salary will be $51,000....

Renfro.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... MOUNT AIRY -- Renfro planned to cut 280 jobs at its plant here by Jan. 1, leaving 250 workers. The company makes socks under labels such as Fruit of the Loom and Starter.

MGM Transport.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... EDEN -- High Point-based MGM Transport, which assembles and delivers furniture for manufacturers, opened an assembly plant here. It began operations with about 200 workers, and the company plans to add about 100 jobs within five years.

Transportation Systems Solutions.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... HIGH POINT -- Transportation Systems Solutions, which makes panels for truck bodies, recreational vehicles and trailers, planned to open a second plant here by the end of 2004. It will employ 90 within three years at about $17 an hour.

Culp.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... GRAHAM -- High Point-based fabric maker Culp will close a plant in Pageland, S.C., and move 80 jobs here by May 1. The move is part of a restructuring that will eliminate 250 jobs companywide and save $16.5 million this year.

The American Furniture Manufacturers Association changed its name to the American Home Furnishings Alliance.(TRIAD)(The American Home Furnishings Alliance)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... HIGH POINT -- The American Furniture Manufacturers Association changed its name to the American Home Furnishings Alliance. The trade and lobbying organization, which represents about 200 manufacturers and 250 suppliers, eliminated a requirement...

Ploi & Co.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... LEXINGTON -- Furniture maker Ploi & Co. is moving its headquarters and manufacturing here from Chino, Calif., by spring. It will employ about 80.

Tanger Family Outlets.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... GREENSBORO -- Shopping-center developer Tanger Family Outlets plans to build centers near Pittsburgh, Charleston, S.C., and Wisconsin Dells, Wis. They are scheduled to open in 2006. Cost estimates haven't been released.

Incentives package boots up Dell deal.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... A region hit hard by job losses in its traditional industries of textiles, tobacco and furniture should get some relief this fall when Round Rock, Texas-based Dell opens a computer-assembly factory in Guilford or Forsyth county. The plant will...

Elon University.(TRIAD)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Elon University will open a law school--the state's sixth--in Greensboro in fall 2006. Elon's board of trustees agreed to establish the school after backers raised $10 million in private donations. The university will spend $6 million to...

Goodrich.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... CHARLOTTE -- Aerospace-equipment maker Goodrich won two contracts that together should be worth more than $2 billion. Goodrich will make the electric-braking system and the engine-control system for the new Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner airliner.

Bonitz Flooring Group.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... CONCORD -- Columbia, S.C.,-based contractor Bonitz Flooring Group is building a $3 million, 48,400-square-foot office-and-warehouse complex. It will employ 135, starting in March.

Getrag.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... MAIDEN -- German auto-parts maker GETRAG will invest $81 million over the next four years to add 302 jobs at its factory in Maiden, which employs 368. Pay will average $33,557 a year.

Southeastern Container.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... KINGS MOUNTAIN -- Southeastern Container, an Enka-based maker of plastic soft-drink bottles, will open a $26 million, 300,000-square-foot factory this month. It will employ as many as 100.

McGrann Paper.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... CHARLOTTE -- Distributor McGrann Paper planned to move its headquarters and warehouse here from Watertown, N.Y., by the end of 2004. It will employ 40--boosting companywide employment to 120--at an average annual salary of $49,000.

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... CHARLOTTE -- General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, part of Falls Church, Va.-based defense contractor General Dynamics, won a $23.4 million contract to make 130 sets of armor for U.S. Army personnel carriers. The armor allows the...

SPX sells units to bolster balance sheet.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Charlotte-based industrial conglomerate SPX plans to pay down debt and buy back equity with more than $1.8 billion from the sale of two units. It agreed to sell its Edwards Systems Technology business, which makes fire-detection and...

Wachovia.(CHARLOTTE)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Charlotte-based Wachovia, formerly First Union, agreed to pay $37 million to settle a federal securities complaint. Regulators said it improperly delayed reporting key stock purchases until after shareholders approved First Union's purchase of...

Vertique.(WESTERN)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... ARDEN -- Vertique, which makes equipment such as conveyors for warehouses, is spending about $15 million to expand its plant from about 50,000 square feet to about 120,000 square feet early this year. Employment will double to about 100.

Haynes International.(WESTERN)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... MOUNTAIN HOME -- Kokomo, Ind.-based Haynes International, which develops and makes alloys, bought Branford Wire & Manufacturing, one of the oldest companies here. It employs about 75, who will keep their jobs. Financial details weren't...

Blue Ridge Food Ventures.(WESTERN)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... ENKA -- Blue Ridge Food Ventures, a food-processing center, opened in a former BASF plant here. Progress Energy Foundation and others donated about $1.2 million for the center, where farmers and others are expected to process food for market.

The Warm Co.(WESTERN)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... HENDERSONVILLE -- Seattle-based The Warm Co., which makes cotton batting for quilts, added a second production line. It has 16 employees and will hire six more.

Commercial Development Associates Southeast.(WESTERN)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... WAYNESVILLE -- Florida-based Commercial Development Associates Southeast tentatively agreed to pay $2 million for an industrial site owned by nonprofit economic-development agency Haywood Advancement Foundation. Proceeds would revert to Haywood...

Developing park could boost tourism.(WESTERN)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... The North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund awarded a $2.9 million grant for a 7,092-acre wilderness park that could become a tourism magnet for Transylvania County and southwestern North Carolina. The money will be used to develop 4.5...

Harris sinks more than money in Saks project.(TAR HEEL TATTLER)
January 1, 2005... Most Charlotteans who live around Quail Hollow Country Club know their Saks from a hole in the ground. In a tale with twists befitting a store that once hoped to sell them $2,000 Louis Vuitton handbags, they thought they were getting the...

Alumni may mingle at homegoing game.(TAR HEEL TATTLER)
January 1, 2005... Paul Norman likes Elizabeth City and loves his alma mater, Elizabeth City State University. Otherwise, he wouldn't be president of its National Alumni Association. But if he has his way, the school will take the home out of its homecoming...

Firm returns from the grave a profit.(TAR HEEL TATTLER)
January 1, 2005... Imagine Perry Mason confronting a wife who has bumped off her husband for the insurance money. "He was worth more to you dead than alive, wasn't he?" Durham's Volumetrics Medical Imaging Inc. is like that. It was buried in February 2001, but...

Cracking Da Vinci's Code.(WHAT THEY'RE READING)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Jim Martin, vice president, Carolinas HealthCare System, governor 1985-93 Cracking Da Vinci's Code by James Garlow and Peter Jones It's a biblical and historical refutation of Dan Brown's claims. Anyone interested in the background of...

Shadow Divers.(WHAT THEY'RE READING)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... James Oblinger, chancellor, N.C. State University Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson It's the true story of a previously undiscovered German U-boat deep off the coast of New Jersey. It deals with rivalry among salvagers and sport divers....

My Life.(WHAT THEY'RE READING)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Gordon Myers, chairman, AdvantageWest My Life by Bill Clinton He has to be one of the most fascinating and pivotal political figures to lead our nation in modern history. Being from the South and of the same generation, I also...

Beseeching to the converted.(TATTLE TALES)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Beseeching to the converted: The Charlotte Bobcats, which dropped the pregame prayer that the Hornets always held, scheduled a "Conversion Night" in December when the Bugs were back in town. No, the team wasn't picking up the mantle: It was so...

Hardwood action.(TATTLE TALES)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Hardwood action: Some fans wanting to see the Bobcats panting on the court got a different kind of heavy breathing when they called for tickets. The number in one Charlotte phone book for the NBA's ticket office was for a sex-chat line.

Heaven can wait.(TATTLE TALES)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Heaven can wait: "I hope this won't keep me out of heaven," a Raeford shop owner and part-time evangelist told police who busted her for selling counterfeit Louis Vuitton purses, NFL and NBA jerseys and other bogus goods valued at $100,000. The...

Mean streets.(TATTLE TALES)(Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem metro )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Mean streets: The Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem metro area wants to be a transportation hub, but it's getting another kind of reputation along those lines: The D.C.-based Surface Transportation Policy Project ranked it No. 7 among the...

If you build it, they will go.(TATTLE TALES)(public bathrooms)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... If you build it, they will go: That's why Onslow County is giving Swansboro $35,000 to build public bathrooms. Seems the annual Mullet Festival is so popular one merchant ran up a $176 water bill letting people use his. Customers couldn't get...

Slight selection.(TATTLE TALES)(Site Selection picks)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Slight selection: The magazine Tar Heel politicos and economic developers love to cite has found a new darling. After three years as Site Selection's pick for the nation's best business climate, North Carolina tumbled to fifth. Riding high is...

Don't dis degree.(TATTLE TALES)(scholar police chief)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Don't dis degree: Officials in Oriental weren't concerned upon learning their new police chief earned his college degrees from an Internet site with a Nigerian mailing address and whose criminology professor is in Hong Kong. "We were hiring a...

Data bits.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
January 1, 2005... The highest ratios of people to registered nurses are in rural counties. People HIGHEST per RN Gates 490 Alexander 449 Caswell 439 Currituck 429 Hoke ...

Figuratively speaking.(rankings)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... * Rank of Sony, Mercedes and Coca-Cola as the world's top three brands: 1, 2, 3. Of Coca-Cola, Sony and McDonald's as the brands that people are the most familiar with: 1, 2, 3. Of Sony, Mercedes and Nokia as the brands people would be willing...

Former Burlington CFO thinks Red Hat fits him.(PEOPLE)(Charles Peters)
January 1, 2005... Charles Peters traded old-line for high-tech. But the transition from chief financial officer of Burlington Industries--now part of Greensboro-based International Textile Group--to CFO of Raleigh-based Red Hat Inc. isn't his biggest challenge....

This furniture maker pushes values-added.(PEOPLE)(Mitchell Gold)
January 1, 2005... Taylorsville-based The Mitchell Gold Co. isn't your ordinary furniture maker. While many companies in the industry have slashed employment, this one added about 100 jobs and increased revenue 15% in 2004 and will wrap up a 240,000-square-foot...

She seeks to slice price hospitals pay.(PEOPLE)(Susan DeVore)
January 1, 2005... As a student at South Mecklenburg High School in the 1970s, Susan DeVore worked weekends at Mercy Hospital typing its policy-and-procedures manual. It helped her understand how a hospital works, she says. She returned a decade later as its...

Tar heel stock watch.(MONEY MATTERS)(Illustration)
January 1, 2005... [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Top 10 large-cap stocks 3-month 1-year 52-week Company change (1) change range Cree 46.4% 104.2% $16.60-39.96 The Pantry ...

High schools need to get down to business.(CAPITAL)
January 1, 2005... Braggarts across North Carolina are trumpeting rising test scores as proof of how great the state's public schools are. It ain't bragging if you can do it, former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean opined. But is the state really doing it?...

Cities get a kick out of soccer tournaments.(SPORTS SECTION)
January 1, 2005... Does your city need to fill hotel rooms, pack restaurants and attract shoppers? Hold a soccer tournament. Nearly every major city across North Carolina plays host to one, and some are adding millions of dollars to their economies. The...

Bulls ayes: here's how our stock pickers hope to beef up their portfolios in '05.(FEATURE)
January 1, 2005... About 29% of Americans regularly get their news from the Internet, according to The Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. That's up from 23% in 2000. Count Bobby Edgerton among the other 71%. In fact, he still doesn't use a computer. One of...

Fruit of the loam: Shelton Vineyards is one reason North Carolina is growing a reputation for making fine wines.(PICTURE THIS)
January 1, 2005... In 1524, explorer Giovanni da Verrazano wrote in his log that the grapes he found growing along the Cape Fear River "without doubt would yield excellent wines." A Tar Heel wine industry flourished from Colonial times, and from 1840 until the...

For whom bell tolls: real-estate mogul Steve Bell still puts in 15-hour days for his company and investors because he thinks it's "neat.".(FEATURE)
January 1, 2005... In a conference room at his company's headquarters, a gray-haired man whose 59-year-old physique is beginning to assume the contours of a pear fishes in his pocket for a crumpled Burger King receipt. He points with pride to the senior-citizen...

Moonstruck; Patrick Ballantine didn't know what hit him. It was our Mover and Shaker of the Year: he smelled blood.(FEATURE)
January 1, 2005... Even a man who's pure in heart and says his prayers by night May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright It was an old gypsy who said that. Or maybe an old Cajun--James Carville--but definitely somebody...

Up on the law: lawyers elected these practitioners as the top of their class in a dozen business-related fields.(LEGAL ELITE)(Cover Story)
January 1, 2005... Who are the best business lawyers in the state? That's what BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA sets out to determine each year. And who better to tell us than Tar Heel lawyers themselves? The magazine mailed 16,866 ballots last spring--one to every lawyer...

Rising tide: real-estate sales are up along the coast.(SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION: REGIONAL FOCUS)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2005... Though the calendar says it's winter along the Carolina coast, the housing market is still hot. And it shows no signs of cooling off. From the Outer Banks to Wilmington and on down to Myrtle Beach, S.C., existing homes are being sold and new...

Bricks & mortar.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Winston-Salem melds present and past with tall buildings shadowing the chimneys of 1800s tobacco factories, all within sight of Old Salem, founded nearly 240 years ago. In its midst is BB & T Financial Center, built in 1987 and home of the...