What's made in the Port City? Here are a few things that might surprise you

Matthew Prensky, Wilmington StarNews
Updated ·3 min read

Manufacturing has a significant impact on Wilmington’s local economy, yet oftentimes people don’t recognize just how much is made in the Port City, according to Josh Hallingse.

“On the statewide indexes, we often rank high for innovation in the manufacturing space because of those pretty recognizable names that Wilmington and New Hanover County have attracted over the years like GE, Corning and Quality Chemical,” said Hallingse, who’s the vice president of small business development and business retention at the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.

But the manufacturing sector stretches far beyond mainstays and can largely be divided into three categories, according to Hallingse.

You have the anchor institutions such as Corning or GE – companies who’ve employed Wilmingtonians for years and continue to be stables in the community. Then you have a cluster of local, family-owned manufacturing businesses that have grown from garages to global suppliers, and finally international manufacturers that have chosen Wilmington as their hub for U.S. domestic operations.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s made in Wilmington – some of which might surprise you:

The anchor institutions

  • Most people know about Wilmington’s “anchor institutions,” Hallingse said, like Corning, GE Hitachi and GE Aerospace – the large manufacturers that have “a legacy here.”

  • Corning and GE have been stables in Wilmington for decades. Corning opened its factory in Wilmington in 1966. GE's production of fuel for nuclear power arrived in 1967, followed by its aviation operations a little more than a decade later in the 1980s.

  • Corning has manufactured optical fiber and cable in North Carolina for more than 40 years based out of its operations in Concord and Wilmington.

  • GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has two operations in Wilmington. The first is a training facility and the second is a fuel manufacturing facility.

  • GE Aerospace builds a variety of components at its Wilmington facility that “… can be found in a wide range of today and tomorrow’s high-performance engines.”

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Local, family-owned manufacturing

  • What’s unique to New Hanover County is the growth of local manufacturers who make products for “niche industries,” such as the county’s coastal economy, Hallingse said.

  • Some of these small, family-owned manufacturing companies make outdoor gear for offshore fishing and paddleboards for rescue operations.

  • Fathom Offshore, for example, is a company of 12 employees started by two “avid fishermen” who wanted to make fishing gear that could meet their standards while offshore fishing, Hallingse said.

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Global manufacturing

  • In addition to legacy companies and local manufacturers, Wilmington hosts a group of global companies.

  • Companies such as IMS USA use Wilmington as a manufacturing base to make “high-end” products, according to Hallingse.

  • IMS USA, which is an Italian company, makes woodworking tools. A separate Italian company with a manufacturing facility in Wilmington makes parts for industrial conveyor belts.

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This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: What's made in Wilmington at GE, Corning, other businesses