Board Vision
Having been a part of AdvanceSC since its inception, I am pleased to
represent the board of directors and continue sharing the great results
and impact that our organization’s funds are making across the Upstate of
South Carolina. Each member of our board feels honored to contribute
time and energy into making wise choices with the funds Duke Energy
entrusts to our stewardship. Though our quarterly decisions determine
who receives awards from AdvanceSC, our organization could not make
a difference in our state without the vision and dedication of the many
agencies, institutions and companies who apply for the available funding.
It is organizations represented by those featured in this year’s report
who make a positive economic impact on the entire state through their
collaboration with others in their local communities and across the Upstate
region. In light of the current national economic and political climate, the
AdvanceSC board remains keenly aware of the importance of collaboration
among local leaders, and we are grateful for each organization’s continued
commitment to our area’s growth and development. Whether you are
helping to warm a family through public assistance, train a student in
a difficult skill, create more jobs through economic development or
improve your company’s manufacturing capabilities, we are privileged to
support each project that has received funding in 2008 and look forward
to continued success in the future.
Sincerely,
Carol BurdettePresident, AdvanceSC Board of Directors
Contents
BOARD VISION
ADVANceSc OVeRVIew
TeSTImONIAlS:
Guardian Industries Corp.
Master Precision Global
United Christian Ministries of Pickens County
York Technical College
FuNDINg PROgRAmS:
Public Assistance
Manufacturing Competitiveness Funding (MCF)
Economic Development
Education
FINANcIAl SummARy
Board of Directors 2008
JIm AlexANDeROconee County Economic Development Commission
DAVID BeARDMilliken & Company
RIchARD BRIeReSolutia, Inc.
cAROl BuRDeTTeUnited Way of Anderson County
RuSS DARNAllSouth Carolina Technical College System
JAck elleNBeRgSouth Carolina Department of Commerce
lIllIAN BROck FlemmINgGreenville County Schools
TeRRI heARDMichelin North America, Inc.
BOBBy hITTBMW Manufacturing Co.
SANDy mARTINDuke Energy
keN RADADuke Energy
PeRRy STePheNSThe Timken Company
wIllIAm TAylORThe Springs Company
Carter Exhibit 1
Assisting the Communities of the Carolinas.
Established by Duke Energy in 2004,
AdvanceSC assists communities in Duke
Energy’s South Carolina service area
through grants for public assistance and
economic development. The organization
concentrates on advancing education to
support industry, assisting other economic
development organizations to attract
and retain industries and enhancing the
competitive position of manufacturers.
Duke Energy provides funding for
AdvanceSC with 50 percent of its
profits from certain wholesale or Bulk
Power Marketing (BPM) sales of electricity
in South Carolina. AdvanceSC is a limited
liability company managed by a board of
directors independent of Duke Energy.
Our recent AdvanceSC grant award was utilized to help fund a project within our
glass-tempering department. The funds from the Manufacturing Competitiveness
Grant covered approximately 30% of the total for the equipment costs for the project.
The project included a total replacement for the controls of the tempering furnace.
The old control system was installed and commissioned in early 1989, and the heart of
the system was a vintage that well preceded Microsoft DOS and is no longer supported
by the manufacturer. Several of the components are no longer available for purchase.
A failure of any of the existing equipment would have completely idled our department,
so Guardian Industries approved an overall system replacement for our plant.
The new control system funded by AdvanceSC monitors and automatically adjusts
the heat controls and speed of the line. It also controls the fan speed for the air duct
pressures within the air quenching areas of the line. One of Guardian Richburg’s sister
facilities in Corsicana, Texas designed and replaced their system approximately four
years ago. Their platform was used as the base to the Richburg furnace with the
appropriate modifications to facilitate the differences between that furnace and the
one located here in South Carolina.
Between the Texas and South Carolina facilities, the entire design and installation
was completed with Guardian personnel. As such, the cost of the equipment and the
associated shipping charges comprised the total cost of the project.
Guardian Industries Corp.
“ The new control system funded
by AdvanceSC monitors and
automatically adjusts the heat
controls and speed of the line.” Dan Johnson, Plant Engineer
Carter Exhibit 1
Founded in 1989, United Christian Ministries (UCM) provides emergency assistance
services to residents of Pickens County, South Carolina. Our services assist people
in crisis or poverty in meeting their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter. Our
relationship with Duke Energy, The Duke Energy Foundation and AdvanceSC has
allowed us to provide heating and cooling assistance to thousands of individuals
through the years. My testimonial to the work of AdvanceSC’s funds in our
organization could be filled with dollar amounts, percentages and other service
statistics, but I believe the positive impact of AdvanceSC is best illustrated by the
following story.
Frances walks with great difficulty due to severe arthritis. She is 74 years of age.
After many years of marriage, she became a widow in 2004 when her husband lost his
battle with cancer. Frances owns her home which she used for collateral a few years
ago to secure a loan to pay her husband’s mounting medical bills. Her loan payment is
$150 each month. Her remaining living expenses are quite modest and thankfully so
as her sole source of income is her monthly Social Security check of $678. After the
deduction for her Medicare, Frances’s net monthly income is $585.
Frances first visited United Christian Ministries at the end of November 2002. One
might assume she visits often due to her meager income, but she is of the generation
that believes in self-sufficiency and dislikes asking for help. I imagine I will see
Frances most any day now as her visits are like clockwork. You see, Frances only
visits UCM once each year. The record of visits in her client chart outlines this
predictable pattern. She manages month after month but when the weather turns
cold she simply cannot stretch her dollars far enough to pay her heating bills. I look
forward to seeing Frances soon because in spite of her physical condition and limited
income she always manages to offer a smile and kind words to those she encounters
at UCM.
On behalf of the volunteers and staff of United Christian Ministries, thank you
AdvanceSC for enhancing our lives and enabling us to serve Frances and many others
just like her at their time of need.
AdvanceSC was very instrumental in helping to fund an important electrical hook-up
on behalf of Master Precision Global (MP Global) at Spartanburg Community College’s
Tyger River Campus. This funding allowed us to install the power requirements to
meet our project scope.
MP Global is a manufacturer of plastic electronic assemblies and has partnered with
Spartanburg Community College (SCC) in its Accelerated Business Center located at
the Tyger River Campus. Due to the cost to increase the availability of electricity to
our process, we were originally planning to reduce our project scope and the initial
economic profile (capital and employment).
The funds provided by AdvanceSC were spent to add power from an existing
transformer to a service panel located within the 42,000 square foot manufacturing
space provided by SCC. This funding has directly impacted our ability to continue
with our plan to reside at the Tyger River Campus for 18 months while creating and
training employees. With the support we’ve received so far, we’re looking forward
to branching out in the years to come – creating at least 120 jobs and making a
significant impact on the community. Thank you AdvanceSC.
United Christian Ministries of Pickens County
“ She manages month after month but when the weather turns cold, she simply cannot stretch her dollars far enough to pay her heating bills. AdvanceSC is there in her time of need.”
Teresa Nash, Executive Director
Master Precision Global
“With the support we’ve received so far, we’re looking forward to branching out in the years to come – creating at least 120 jobs and making a significant impact on the community. Thank you AdvanceSC.”
Bob Bronsink, Southeast Business Unit Manager
Carter Exhibit 1
AdvanceSC funds have been vital to York Technical College’s efforts to address one of the most
critical needs facing manufacturers in South Carolina and throughout the nation – the development
of a technologically savvy workforce to operate and maintain the sophisticated equipment used
in today’s manufacturing facilities. With the help of AdvanceSC, the College has been able to
successfully launch three major training initiatives in response to the growing demand for a strong
talent pool of qualified technicians in York, Chester and Lancaster counties.
Recent changes in technology and an aging workforce have created a critical shortage of skilled
workers at AbitibiBowater and at other pulp and paper manufacturing facilities across the United
States. To address the need for more skilled workers in the rapidly-changing pulp and paper
industry, the College used AdvanceSC funds to develop on-campus facilities to teach pulp/paper
processing technology. Our long-term goal is to share our acquired knowledge with other technical
colleges that serve the paper industry and to create a sustainable, long-term partnership with
AbitibiBowater that meets their needs for skilled workers.
AdvanceSC funding has been instrumental in helping to fund the College’s state-of-the-art
Mechatronics training center in Chester County. The Center’s goal is to help shape the future of
new and existing industry within the Chester community by training technicians to operate and
maintain the next generation of “smart” electromechanical (mechatronic) devices and products.
A related goal is to provide Chester County high school students with a seamless transition from
high school to college by enabling them to take mechatronics-related courses that can be applied
toward a degree or certificate from York Tech.
A third initiative focuses on preparing our industrial maintenance students to install, program, and
repair automated/robotic manufacturing equipment that is used in modern manufacturing facilities.
AdvanceSC funds are helping to offset the high cost of equipping the College’s robotics laboratory
with advanced automated/robotic equipment that simulates a real-life manufacturing environment.
Our goal is to improve the technical skills of existing workers from local industries and entice other
companies to relocate to the area.
We are very grateful to AdvanceSC for supporting the College’s efforts to promote economic
development in our communities. Partners like AdvanceSC make it possible for us to equip
men and women with the necessary skills and training needed to compete for today’s high-tech
manufacturing jobs. Without well-trained, qualified technicians, our communities will neither
retain nor attract high-paying manufacturing jobs.
York Technical College
“ Partners like AdvanceSC make it possible for us to equip men and women with the necessary skills and training needed to compete for today’s high-tech manufacturing jobs.”
Dr. Marc Tarplee, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs
Carter Exhibit 1
2008 Financial SummaryFunding ProgramsPublic Assistance ProgramsThrough The Duke Energy Foundation, Duke Energy and its customers in the Carolinas provide
financial assistance to South Carolina citizens in great financial need through direct grants to Duke
Energy’s Share the Warmth, Cooling Assistance and Fan Heat Relief programs. AdvanceSC makes
an additional annual allocation to these public assistance programs to be administered jointly with
the existing programs in South Carolina.
Once funding requirements for the identified public assistance programs are met, the remaining
AdvanceSC funds are divided among education, economic development and manufacturing
competitiveness programs.
Manufacturing Competitiveness Funding (MCF)Fifty percent of the remaining available AdvanceSC funds are allocated to the manufacturing
competitiveness fund to strengthen the competitive position of existing manufacturing within Duke
Energy’s service area. Recognizing the community value in retaining existing manufacturing, the
program provides financial assistance to manufacturers investing in applications that increase
productivity, efficiency and reliability, or which reduce environmental impacts.
Economic DevelopmentOnce funding requirements for the identified public assistance programs are met, 25 percent of the
remaining available funds are designated for direct funding of economic development initiatives and
for creating new sustainable manufacturing and manufacturing-related jobs within Duke Energy’s
service area in South Carolina.
Funds are provided to regional economic development partnerships and alliances, key chambers
of commerce and county economic development organizations for the purpose of attracting new or
expanding industries in the Duke Energy service area of South Carolina.
Specific project investment is considered where a broad base of community support exists and
where Duke Energy would provide electric service.
EducationAdvanceSC believes that education is one of the core components needed to prepare our state for
future economic development. The past two decades have witnessed South Carolina’s transition
from an agricultural- and textile-based state to a manufacturing-centric state, and the future of the
manufacturing sector is a key factor in the economic stability and growth of our state and its citizens.
The South Carolina Governor’s 2001 workforce survey cited that 61 percent of South Carolina
businesses were unable to find adequately skilled labor to fill job openings. AdvanceSC seeks to
fund programs that offer new solutions, develop new skills and create an educational foundation to
prepare our citizens for this emerging economy.
Programs eligible for support include:
• Technical college training programs that prepare the workforce to support new and existing
manufacturing and related industry;
• College or university research and higher education programs that provide innovative solutions and
competitive advantages for manufacturing and related industry;
• High school education programs that support workforce preparedness for manufacturing and
related industry and increase graduation rates.
2008 AdvanceSC Grants 2004-2008 AdvanceSC Grants
2008 Public Assistance Allocation 2004-2008 Public Assistance Allocation
2008 Education Grants 2004-2008 Education Grants
89% 11%
28% 19% 6% 47% 24% 28% 7% 41%
78% 22%
21% 4% 75% 11% 12% 77%
mcF education
economic Development Public Assistance
cooling
heating
college/university high School
Technical college
mcF education
economic Development Public Assistance
cooling
heating
college/university high School
Technical college
economic Development $4,114,032
mcF $6,728,414
education $2,706,850
Public Assistance $900,000
TOTAL $14,449,296
economic Development $11,026,270
mcF $18,626,341
education $12,498,933
Public Assistance $2,950,000
TOTAL $45,101,544
cooling $100,000
heating $800,000
TOTAL $900,000
cooling $650,000
heating $2,300,000
TOTAL $2,950,000
college/university $100,000
Technical college $2,031,360
high School $575,490
TOTAL $2,706,850
college/university $1,517,351
Technical college $9,637,188
high School $1,344,394
TOTAL $12,498,933
Carter Exhibit 1