November 18 2022 0Comment

South Carolina Manufacturing Conference and Expo Industry Trends & Takeaways

Once again, Alston Construction had a presence at the South Carolina Manufacturing Conference and Expo (SCMEP) in Greenville, SC. The conference features the latest industry trends and practices, as well as economic forecasts, supply chain best practices and training sessions.

Business Development Manager Tim Germaine along with David Babb, Keagan Donnan and Evan Cherry from the Greenville office represented Alston at the expo which encompasses more than three footballs fields of exhibitors wanting to be involved in the growing South Carolina industries. As the number one state in the country for auto and tire exports, South Carolina’s economy is built on auto manufacturers like BMW, Mercedes and Volvo.

The conference also touched on the other two hot industries in South Carolina – aerospace and biotech. Topics covered throughout the conference included professional development in the areas of life sciences, automotive and advanced manufacturing advancement, cyber technology and small business development.

“One thing that was discussed a lot was the utilization of modern technology, especially in material handling and loading/unloading utilizing robotics,” said Germaine. “To help educate, Spot, the AI dog was a big hit at the conference with manufacturing companies, starting conversations around how investing in AI technology can help their workers.”

Additionally, SCMEP focused the expo on women in manufacturing. Women make more than 47% of the workforce in the U.S., but only 29% are in manufacturing jobs. The goal is to assist women and manufacturing companies in navigating available resources and create individualized strategies to tackle this workforce need.

The South Carolina Manufacturing Conference and Expo is presented by SCMEP, SC Biz News, the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, South Carolina Research Authority and South Carolina Technical College System.

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