New manufacturing plant to soar with job opportunities

NORTH CHARLESTON (WCSC) - More than 300 jobs could soon be coming to the lowcountry, after a manufacturing facility opened its doors today.

TIGHITCO held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at their new 100,000 sq. ft. facility in North Charleston.  Community leaders, company officials and Governor Nikki Haley were all in attendance.  The facility is the future site of the production of wingtips for business jets.

"It's a very complex aerostructure," Intertech President Jonathan Zucker said.  "Obviously, it takes on some stress during flight and we make that out of a series of composite and metal structures."

TIGHITCO currently operates several facilities across North America and already provides airplane parts to Boeing, which has a production site just a few miles away from TIGHITCO's newest building.

"We look at co-locating with our customers to lean out the supply chain," TIGHITCO President Peter Nicholas said.  "The other benefit is, when their engineering people need to talk to our people, or they want to come see product on the shop floor, they're 10 minutes away or 30 minutes away."

Nicholas said recent problems with the battery inside Boeing's Dreamliners have not affected their partnership.

"Boeing will get this figured out.  Its Boeing's big company and they know what they're doing," he said.  "They've continued producing airplanes at the same five per month rate they were at before their troubles.  They're very close to getting it figured out."

TIGHITCO could hire up to 350 people at the facility.  Job availabilities will be posted to scworks.org.

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