Manufacturing Solutions Center Helps Entrepreneurs Grow New Businesses

Dec. 14, 2010 - PRLog -- CONOVER, N.C. – Got a nifty idea for a new product or a better mousetrap? If so, the Manufacturing Solutions Center in Hickory might be able to help you build a prototype and a business.
           That’s exactly what Marianne Wakerlin in Vermont did.
           She had been hand-knitting brightly colored socks for friends and family. It took her a week to make one pair. Her handiwork was so popular that she decided to see if she could get it mass produced. So she attended the International Hosiery Exhibition in Charlotte in hopes of finding a company.
           As she walked around the trade show floor with a pair of her socks in hand, she received a lot of shaking heads and “no’s.” Because of her intricate layering of colors, she couldn’t find any machinery with the capability of weaving the colors together in the manner she could with a simple pair of knitting needles.
           Then saw the booth for the Manufacturing Solutions Center.
           She was greeted with a very enthusiastic “Yes!”
           MSC Director Dan St. Louis indicated he knew Hickory-based L & R Knitting, Inc. had the machinery to make her socks.
           That was in 2000. Today, Solmate Socks sells mis-matched pairs in stores across the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and China. She employs eight people and hires more during peak buying seasons.
           In the Hickory area, contracts with Solmate Socks have saved and spurred job openings. “Marianne saved our business,” says Ron Brittain, owner of L & R Knitting. But it wasn’t just my company that she helped. You have to consider the companies that make the yarn, like Hickory Throwing Company, Catawba Creations in Hildebran that makes toboggans for her and Tarason Labels in Conover.” He adds Solmate Socks has hired additional people in New York and Portland, Oregon.
           St. Louis estimates Solmate’s contracts have saved around 40 jobs in the Catawba Valley.
           He says “Solmate Socks is just one of many companies we’ve been able to jumpstart. We not only help match manufacturers with budding entrepreneurs, but we also guide them in getting their wares to wholesalers and retailers.”
           He adds many think their ideas are worthy of distribution on QVC or through Walmart. “Well, that’s not always feasible. Inventors and budding entrepreneurs sometimes don’t realize how that system works or understand how a business operates. We guide them through the process and some opt out. We help those with bona fide concepts convert them into reality, spurring job creation. That’s what we’re all about.”
           The MSC actually started 20 years ago as a resource for the textile industry in the Catawba Valley. In 2008, it expanded its offerings to help entrepreneurs develop a multitude of non-textile products. Today, staff there also works with Underwriters Laboratories to test materials for lead, strength, color fastness, durability and more.
           “The laboratories are like something you would see in a ‘007’ movie,” says Conover Town Manager Donald Duncan. “Engineers build prototypes or dissect products to figure out how to improve them. In turn, entrepreneurs then start manufacturing their items and hire people. That’s how jobs grow.”
           The MSC is expanding and is slated to move to Conover Station, in downtown Conover, in late 2011 or early 2012.