Kent celebrates grand opening

Kent Industries Inc. celebrated the grand opening of its Clarendon County facility Wednesday with local officials and a special guest from state government, Gov. Nikki Haley. "We are not only building things in South Carolina, but we build them well and Kent International is a great example of that," Haley said. "The company's decision to establish their first U.S. bike assembly facility in South Carolina, investing $4.3 million and creating 175 new jobs, is a huge deal for the local community of Manning and all the hardworking people who live there. (This is) one more example of Team South Carolina getting the job done and bringing manufacturing back to our shores." Kent announced earlier this year its intentions to open a facility at the old Sunbeam plant on Greeleyville Highway. It has done extensive work on the 200,000-square-foot facility that has remained largely empty for nearly a decade. "We are seeing the economics of domestic sourcing changing due to increased energy and transportation costs overseas," said Kent Chairman and CEO Arnold Kamler. "We have developed a long-term approach and are taking action to create our own manufacturing hub onsite by encouraging companies to move component part production here." Kamler said the company's plan is to source as much as 60 to 70 percent of the component parts in the USA by 2018. At the present time, most of the component parts are imported from Taiwan and China. Kent's new American-produced line will be be under the name Bicycle Corporation of America. "This will be the first mass production of bicycles sold in the USA in more than 15 years," Kamler said. Manninglive.com will be posting further updates throughout the rest of this week on Kent's exciting grand opening.