[WRE UPDATE | BUSINESS] In addition to developing new
products, Southern Weaving is strengthening its existing off erings by making manufacturing processes more versatile and effi cient. In 2011, Southern Weaving acquired Jones Products, which specializes in coatings for webbing. Jones operations were moved from their facility outside of Chicago to a Southern Weaving facility just outside of Anderson, SC. “T e acquisition allowed us to go downstream and add value to our products,” Guarnaccia says. Coatings add durability, ease of cleaning, abrasion resistance, UV protection, and other desirable qualities to the webbing. T e company is currently working to create new and better coatings and fi nishes, but acquiring Jones allows the company to expand its coating options in-house. A thousand miles north of
its Greenville, South Carolina headquarters, Southern Weaving runs another facility in Collingwood, Ontario. T e company’s long-term plan involves more integration and coordination between the Ontario and Greenville facilities. T e goal is for the two facilities to mirror each other, so that they can work in tandem to satisfy customer requirements and do so quickly. T e company is balancing out programs between the two facilities, which has greatly increased its capacity and throughput – and therefore its
Fall protection webbing
growth. In fact, Southern Weaving recently added a second shift at its Collingwood plant. Beyond the US and Canada, international expansion is another part of the company’s long- term plan. Southern Weaving has added distribution centers both in Europe and in South America, and will continue to add more distribution centers and investigate market opportunities that will increase its global footprint.
Despite all the company’s plans for
growth and technological advancement, however, cutting-edge products and a position on the front line of market changes are not ends in and of themselves. T e customers’ needs and customer service remain at the heart of Southern Weaving’s long-term vision. “We are trying to provide our customers the best possible service in the industry,” Guarnaccia says. “We built the inventory to support the program.” To this end, the company keeps striving to improve their customer service. Very shortly, they will launch a quick ship program for their customers in the sling and tiedown market, off ering next-day shipping on a variety of frequently used sling and tiedown webbings. If the Southern Weaving that we
Southern Weaving’s sling webbing
wrote about in 2010 was a company reinventing itself, then the company today is starting to see the results of its reinvention. In a little over a year, the company has added over fi fty jobs, primarily in manufacturing but
78 MARCH-APRIL 2012 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE
Hydraulic hose sleeves from Southern Weaving
also in supervision, quality control, engineering, and sales. But as Susan Crow-Granger states, “T e company has had double-digit growth for several years running, but we’re not stopping there. We’re really driving toward our future, despite the wonderful growth we’ve been experiencing.” If you consider the company’s
history, however, as we described previously, the company’s remarkable performance in recent years may come as less of a surprise. Even at its founding in 1924, Southern Weaving manufactured for the then cutting-edge automobile industry, making brake pads and hood laces for Model T Fords. Later in the century, it embraced new man- made fi bers, helped develop the fi rst synthetic lifting materials, and changed the design of automotive seat belts to make them better and safer – not once, but twice. Given the company’s track record of being an industry leader in adaptation and innovation, the fact that its products are now at the bottom of the ocean and venturing into space seems to fi t quite well. ❙
Visit Southern Weaving at the April Techtextil Show in Atlanta - April 24-26 in Booth 1502
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