New Carolina cluster launches communications plan

COLUMBIA — New Carolina’s Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) Cluster launched its strategic communications plan Thursday during the S.Ca. Economic Developers’ Association’s (SCEDA) fall membership meeting.

Cluster co-chair Deepal Eliatamby, president of Alliance Consulting Engineers, presented the cluster’s plan to a crowd of 150 economic development leaders from across the state.

“The purpose of the plan is to promote a greater understanding of the critical nature of the cluster and its impact on South Carolina’s overall economy,” Eliatamby said in a press release issued by New Carolina.

The plan outlines five main goals and strategies to accomplish over the course of the next 18 months, including raising awareness and recruiting stakeholders; marketing the importance of the cluster; establishing a TDL council composed of industry and government members; and raising funds to support the cluster’s growth, development, and projects.

“We were delighted to offer our SCEDA members the first glimpse of the cluster’s plan and the first opportunity to get involved,” Buddy Bateman, president of SCEDA and AT&T’s regional director in Florence, said in the release. “The TDL industry is on almost every economic developer’s agenda, and the cluster’s efforts to pull together and unify the industry will greatly help advance our efforts as a state.”

With the launch of the plan, the TDL Cluster aims to motivate effective collaborative leadership to bring together the resources required to develop the critical vision, organization, infrastructure, process and marketing that will result in bolstering our state’s economic momentum and global competitiveness.

Launched in February 2008 under the guidance of New Carolina, the TDL Cluster was formed to provide a formal structure for transportation, distribution, and logistics companies to collaborate and address issues impacting our state’s industry today. Companies in the cluster have come together to increase efficiency and innovation within the industry and to work on improving competitiveness on a regional, national, and international front.

The cluster now has more than 40 participants from industry, government, education, and trade groups. It has been working over the past year to develop a strategic communications plan that key industry leaders identified was needed at a statewide summit held in May 2008.

During the next six months, the TDL Cluster plans to present the plan at regional events, including one in Florence, to get feedback and support.

A copy of the cluster’s plan, “Transportation, Distribution and Logistics: A Plan to Ignite the Cluster,” can be downloaded from the New Carolina Web site at www.newcarolina.org.

New Carolina, also known as South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness, is a public-private partnership working to increase per capita income and enhance South Carolina’s economic competitiveness through a cluster development strategy.