Blythewood Online 691

Tag: Element TV

  • Element celebrates 5th anniversary

    The Fairfield Central cheerleaders and band welcome Governor McMaster and Congressman Norman to Element.
    Gov. McMaster, Congressman Norman Praise Company’s Success

    WINNSBORO – “Last summer we were wondering how we were going to stay open. This year we’re wondering how we’re going to produce all the orders that are coming in like a tsunami,” Michael O’Shaughnessy, CEO and owner of Element, said during a barbecue luncheon at the facility in Winnsboro on Friday.

    Gov. Henry McMaster addresses the lunch crowd at Element on Friday. Element owner and CEO Michael O’Shaughnessy and Congressman Ralph Norman, seated, also spoke, honoring Element’s fifth anniversary. | Barbara Ball

    The event, which featured Gov. Henry McMaster and U. S. Representative Ralph Norman as speakers, was a triple celebration of the company’s survival of last summer’s tariff crisis, it’s now booming business and the fifth anniversary of the opening of Element.

    In referring to what he called the trade war last year that threatened to raise the tariff on televisions assembled by Element, O’Shaughnessy said, “while it [trade war] is a good thing in the long term, Element found itself in a unique situation in which the tariffs could have materially hurt us or put us out of business.

    “But we all went to work to solve the crisis,” he said, crediting McMaster, Norman, county and company officials. “We have now solved the tariff issue that has been holding us back,” O’Shaughnessy said.

    Introducing McMaster and praising him for his support of the company in its darkest hour, O’Shaughnessy said there is not a better advocate for South Carolina than Gov. McMaster.

    “It was because of Gov. Haley that Element came to South Carolina,” O’Shaughnessy said. “But it’s because of Gov. McMaster that we stayed in South Carolina. He went to bat for us and he never stopped.”

    The luncheon was also an opportunity for Carl Kennedy, Vice President of Human Resources, to announce that the company has hired 100 new employees since the first of the year. He also acknowledged the 99 employees who have been with the company since it opened.

    Those employees were joined by McMaster and Norman as well as county, Town of Winnsboro and school officials under two large white tents in front of the building on Highway 321 Bypass.

    Speaking to Element’s success, McMaster said the people, “like the people here,” he said, gesturing to those sitting before him, have contributed to that success.

    “You’ve got to have the people, you’ve got to have the businesses and you’ve got to have the education – the three legs of the stool. If you have two of these and not the third, it won’t work,” McMaster said, addressing the state’s success in bringing in new companies.

    “New businesses are coming to South Carolina and we’re going straight to the top,” he said. “The best is yet to come.”

    Quoting Winston Churchill, Norman said, “’There’ll be a time when doing your best is not good enough, when we must do what’s required,’ You have done what’s required,” Norman said, praising the company, its employees, county and state officials for pulling Element through last summer’s crisis.

  • Element TV spared from tariffs

    WINNSBORO – Element Electronics has been notified that the components it uses to manufacture television sets in Winnsboro are no longer subject to federal tariffs. The latest U.S Department of Commerce list of tariffs was released yesterday, and Element was not on it.

    “All is well that ends well,” County Council Chairman Billy Smith said. “We could have done without the unnecessary scare, but we’re glad the administration listened to our pleas and has removed the tariffs from the parts Element imports for their products. I know there had been some public reporting about Element looking to possibly expand. I don’t know whether that’s on the table right now; but to Element, if you’re thinking about expanding in Fairfield County, we’re here to help you do that in every way we can.”

    Element announced in early August that it would be closing beginning Oct. 5, due to the issuance of federal tariffs on the parts. In a letter issued to employees, Element’s Vice President of Human Resources, Carl Kennedy, announced that the company would be laying off most of its employees and closing its facility located at 392 Hwy 321 South in Winnsboro.

    Element Manager Mike O’Shaughnessy blamed the closure entirely on ongoing and increasingly difficult tariff related matters.

    The announcement that it would close came just months after Element Electronics sought the county government’s help as it began looking to expand its footprint and potentially increase employment and tax revenue in the county.

    On Wednesday, Element released a statement, that “Our South Carolina factory will remain open!”

    “Our South Carolina and Fairfield teams really came together on this, working with Element to make this possible, and I’m ecstatic at this news that all the hard work paid off,” Smith said. “It’s a great day in Fairfield County.”

    Related: Element blames closing on tariffs; Fairfield asks feds to exempt Element

  • Fairfield asks feds to exempt Element

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County leaders want the federal government to waive tariffs impacting Element Electronics, tariffs the TV assembler says will wipe out 126 jobs, essentially shuttering the Winnsboro plant.

    However, a nonprofit geared toward the manufacturing sector disputes whether tariffs and trade wars are even to blame.

    By unanimous vote, Fairfield County Council swiftly approved a resolution on Monday that asks the Trump Administration to spare Element from the 25 percent tax set to take effect.

    “Fairfield County is ill-equipped to withstand the further loss of jobs and economic investment due to the recent events surrounding the closure of the V.C. Summer Nuclear Plant expansion project which resulted in the loss of over 5,000 local jobs and billions of dollars in investment that would have positively impacted Fairfield County and its citizens,” the resolution states.

    Element initially accepted $1.3 million in tax credits and pledged to create up to 500 jobs by the end of 2018, according to an August 2013 news release from the S.C. Department of Commerce announcing Element’s plans to open a Winnsboro plant.

    This past spring, a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods took effect, prompting Element and Fairfield County to modify the incentive agreement by reducing incentive levels.

    If the 25 percent tariff takes effect, Element has said it would be forced to lay off most of its workforce. Although Element is based in the U.S., its televisions consist of components imported from China.

    President Donald J. Trump has taken aim at China, specifically, in tariff-related tweets to the commander in chief’s official Twitter page.

    His most recent tweet posted Aug. 5, two days before the Element announcement, said tariffs would build economic prosperity.

    “Tariffs are working big time. Every country on earth [sic] wants to take wealth out of the U.S., always to our detriment,” the tweet stated. “I say, as they come, Tax [sic] them. If they don’t want to be taxed, let them make or build the product in the U.S. In either event, it means jobs and great wealth.”

    While losing 126 jobs is regrettable, unfair trade with China has been much more punitive to South Carolina workers, according to the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

    The alliance further claims in an Aug. 8 op-ed to its website that the tariff announcement is merely a convenient way to shift blame.

    “Element says it is seeking to have ‘our parts removed from the tariff list’ in order to maintain its taxpayer-funded operations in South Carolina,” the alliance op-ed states. “But nothing has changed — Element still wants the government pick up the tab for its American facility while staying dependent on China.”

    In support of its position, the alliance cites a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, an independent think tank many conservative websites criticize as affiliated with the labor movement and left-wing policies.

    According to the study, unfair trade with China displaced 50,700 South Carolina workers between 2001 and 2015.

    The study ranked South Carolina 13th in jobs lost by percentage of workforce (2.58 percent), though it didn’t break down job losses by county.

    “Growing U.S. trade deficits with China have reduced demand for goods produced in every region of the United States and led to job displacement in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” the study states.

    This isn’t the first time the Alliance for American Manufacturing has clashed with Element.

    In 2014, the alliance filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, claiming Element was fraudulently stating its TVs were made in the U.S. when they were pre-assembled in China and shipped here.

    A settlement was later reached when Element agreed to change its labeling to “assembled in the U.S.,” a moniker prominently displayed today on its website.

    At Monday night’s council meeting, however, Fairfield County residents in attendance hardly cared about Trump tweets, trade wars or false advertisement claims.

    Their concern was simple. Jobs.

    In addition to Element, another 300 jobs evaporated when the Winnsboro Wal-Mart at 721 Highway 321 Bypass shut down in 2016.

    Fairfield Memorial Hospital is shutting down later this year. And, of course, there’s V.C. Summer.

    Clarence Gilbert of Winnsboro was among the dozen residents taking to the podium, urging council members to take action to save Element.

    “It is time for us to drop that ‘oh well’ attitude, to stand up for our county against the potential job losses,” Gilbert said. “You can only poke a cat so long before it can scratch you. Let’s start scratching. Let’s save Element.”

    Others used the Element news to lobby for the county to approve repurposing the Mt. Zion Institute building in Winnsboro into a new county administrative building to spur economic activity downtown.
    Terry Vickers, president and CEO of the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce, was among them.

    “I’ve been giving plenty of interviews too. It is poor Winnsboro, poor Winnsboro,” Vickers said. “We are not poor Winnsboro and we are not poor Fairfield County. Please don’t let one item [Mt. Zion] be divisive in this community.”

  • Element gives $30K for chorus trip

    Before being presented with Element’s check, Fairfield District Honors Chorus presented the songs that they will perform at Carnegie Hall. | Barbara Ball

    WINNSBORO – Fairfield County School District’s Honors Chorus learned last September that they are one of five high school bands and choruses chosen to perform next week at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Then, last week, they got more good news when Element TV in Winnsboro donated $30,000 to help finance the $50,000 trip.

    As of last week, the students had only raised $20,000. That’s when Carl Kennedy, Vice President of Human Resources at Element TV in Winnsboro, stepped in. He invited the chorus to perform for the company’s four-year anniversary in Winnsboro on March 9. Following the performance, Kennedy surprised them by presenting them with the check from Element.

    The students will leave by chartered bus on Sunday at 3 a.m., perform Tuesday evening, at 6 p.m., then return to Fairfield County the next day.

    “One of the students told me this morning that they are getting ready to make an impression on the world on the world’s most renowned stage,” Kennedy told the audience. “They are going to make us proud.”