Editor's note: This is another installment in an occasional series spotlighting local companies that go largely unnoticed but whose products or services are important to our daily lives.
Tucked away on Lakeshore Parkway off Dave Lyle Boulevard is a place where ideas become reality.
That reality might mean a lifesaving product, a new invention or some other item that just makes life easier or more comfortable for someone.
The place is Composite Resources, a Rock Hill-based company that takes concepts submitted by clients and, as the company's Web site boasts, moves them “off the drawing board and into production.”
“We basically bring it to life,” said operations director Lisa Bennett, whose husband, Jonathan, founded the company in 1993.
They do this by using a mix of composite materials — such as Kevlar, graphite and fiberglass — and traditional materials to manufacture light-weight but strong products for clients, which include governments, corporations and individuals. The company has around 300 active clients, plus another 300 or more that do business sporadically. The vast majority of clients come via the Internet.
The company already has a worldwide footprint, and it's about to grow even more. On Wednesday, the company announced a $3.5 million expansion at its Rock Hill site that will add 50 jobs over the next five years. Composite will buy five more acres of land adjacent to its current site in TechPark, adding a 60,000-square-foot facility to the company's existing 52,000-square-foot facility. The expansion will give the company a dedicated production plant for specialty contract manufacturing work for military and medical products.
“It's almost unbelievable,” Bennett said, referring to the company's growth. “We're a little bit gun-shy about doing it, but we realized if we don't do it, there will be a lot of missed opportunities for the company, for employment.”
The 50 new jobs will be a mix of production technicians, product assembly, administrative support and engineering positions, Bennett said. The company, which employs more than 90 people, plans to start hiring for the positions in the spring. Information on the jobs will be available at www.composite-resources.com.
One of the company's signature products is the Combat Application Tourniquet, which it produces around 2 million of each year for the U.S. military, allied militaries and civilian emergency services around the country. The tourniquet, which can be applied using only one hand, was developed by a former soldier and licensed to the company.
Other products the company has manufactured include:
An all-terrain skateboard with a base made from composite materials rather than wood;
A dome that protects a piece of military equipment as it searches for landmines;
Shoe inserts for the running shoe industry; and
Shift knobs for the Ferrari sports car.
In all, the company's product list numbers 1,500.
“It's always growing,” Bennett said.
New products expected to come online in the next few years include an ammunition bag for the military and a special support pillow for tracheotomy patients.
It's the job of quality manager Forrest Marshall to make sure all of the products meet the high standards of not only the client, but the company. But Composite Resources preaches a mindset of excellence, Marshall said, so defect-free products are simply what are expected.
Having a strong team of engineers and other workers is crucial to maintaining such excellence, he said. As a testament to the quality of the Composite Resources work force, Bennett and Marshall point out that the company has never had a product returned because of a manufacturing defect.
Hard work in the design and planning phases makes the end result much easier to achieve, Marshall said.
“We have very little rework,” he said. “You have to begin with that end in mind.”
Local leaders lauded the company's expansion announcement.
York County Council Chairman Buddy Motz said the company “represents the future of job creation in manufacturing for South Carolina and the nation.”
“This company's innovation and diversity of product proves the entrepreneurial spirit is thriving in York County,” he said.
For Bennett, there's tremendous pride that comes with knowing the company not only produces so many products that are designed to help people, but that clients keep coming back.
“Producing a quality component that our clients order repeatedly,” she said, “that's a huge sense of satisfaction that we're doing our job right.”