Manufacturers Provide Solid Backbone to Local Economy
They may not be as visible to locals as the corner store or a favorite restaurant, but Mooresville is home to some longtime businesses whose services span the globe. Locals know the names Custom Products, General Microcircuits and Rowboat Dock & Dredge – they’re all big employers. But few are aware of the long and successful track record each of these “quiet giants” has built from its Mooresville base.
For example, Custom Products has been supplying fabricated, fire-blocked seat cushions to the airline industry for more than 30 years. It does all of its engineering and design, certification and manufacturing at its Mooresville plant.
“This has been a good place for us in terms of having a quality employee base; our people are just fantastic,” says Dave McKnight, president. “We’ve got about 120 people working here, and for a family-owned business, there just isn’t a better place to operate.”
The high-tech work at General Microcircuits, or GMI, includes everything from design and engineering services through prototype building, testing and assembling circuit boards and other electronic products.
Founded in 1980, the company supports more than 600 projects for dozens of customers, says Dave Dalton, executive vice president of sales and marketing.
“We started out near Lake Norman in a building we shared with a hairdresser,” Dalton recalls. “Now we have about 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space and another 20,000 square feet of storage space.”
GMI has around 116 full-time employees and adds temporary workers based on need. Many of the workers have been cross-trained from former textile operations.
“The textile industry was the largest employer here back in the 1970s, and we were very fortunate that it required special skills to do that detailed work,” Dalton says. “We were able to parlay that over into electronics and get people with skills and a great work ethic. You couldn’t ask for a better place to grow a business.”
GMI also benefits from the region’s network of community and technical colleges, where programs can be customized to train or retrain employees as new products come online.
“They help us ensure that our current staff has the skills they need to make sure we lead the way and stay competitive,” Dalton says.
The Lake Norman area also saw the arrival of Rowboat Dock & Dredge in the early 1980s, when the company set up shop to offer a dredging service to developers needing to remove shoals for the installation of floating docks, says Bob Wilson, president.
“The transition to heavy marine construction was a natural migration, given the barges, push boats and other pieces of floating equipment owned by the company,” Wilson says. “Now, Rowboat provides a full design, permitting and construction service to the recreational boating and marine-related industries.” Mooresville’s location and workforce have made the difference for the company and continue to do so, Wilson says.
“The slow yet deliberately progressive pace of the Mooresville community provides businesses an opportunity to grow in an atmosphere of true Southern charm,” he says. “Rowboat Dock & Dredge is privileged to call Mooresville our home.”
