That collaboration and the state’s willingness to lay out tax breaks and cash incentives to large corporations and shun labor unions soon paid off in a big way. In 2004, two suppliers for aeronautics giant Boeing—Texas-based Voight and Italian firm Alenia Aeronautica—announced a merger to begin manufacturing the fuselage and tail section of Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston. Then, four years later, came the stunning news that Seattle-based Boeing would move production of the Dreamliner from its home base in Everett, Washington, to North Charleston as well. It was the biggest economic development announcement in South Carolina since BMW set up shop in the Upstate in 1994. The company announced an initial investment of $750,000 million and pledged to create 3,800 jobs. “That changed everything in epic fashion,” Dykes says. “People started to ask, ‘What does Boeing see there?’”
In 2015, Mercedes-Benz, which had had a presence in Charleston since 2006 assembling its popular Sprinter vans from foreign-made components, or “kits,” converted into a full-fledged production facility. That same year, Volvo broke ground on a 2.3 million-square-foot plant in Berkeley County to produce standard sedans—and later electric and hybrid cars—for its North American market. Called OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), the mega plants are the pinnacle of the industrial recruiting universe. Metro Charleston had become a manufacturing behemoth. “Those are the big fish,” Dykes says. “You can go your whole career and not have one of those. We have three.”