Enjoy a night of delicious food from local food trucks Bulkogi and Royal Cheesecake, craft brews from Havoc Brewing, live music by Thousand Ways, games, a raffle, and a special presentation highlighting the Carolina Tiger Rescue’s journey and what lies ahead.

This event is perfect for friends, family, and animal lovers alike–so come celebrate with the Carolina Tiger Rescue and enjoy an evening honoring fifty years of impact and dedication.

INFO: 

• Date: November 2nd
• Time: 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
• Location: Havoc Brewing Company, Downtown Pittsboro

For more information, visit the Carolina Tiger Rescue’s website. 

The post Carolina Tiger Rescue Celebrating 50 Years in Pittsboro appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

SILER CITY — Fabricated pipes and fitting products aren’t glamorous commodities, but they’re essential in the smooth operation of several critical industries — and a global supplier has its North American headquarters in Siler City.

AD Tubi was founded in Italy in 1997. CEO Andrea Degano started the company after more than 20 years of learning the industry from the ground up. Since then, AD Tubi products have made their way around the world, but the company has only recently increased its U.S. footprint.

“In late 2017 we made the decision to move forward with expansion of our operations into North America,” Craig Sullivan, president of AD Tubi USA, told the News + Record. “There were two states being considered, North Carolina and Texas — those are the best for new business in the country. And ultimately we settled on Siler City in 2018.”

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record’s website.

The post Take a look at tubing from Siler City’s AD Tubi appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

PITTSBORO — 3M is one of the world’s most prolific manufacturers, with tens of thousands of diverse products.

But its plant in Chatham County sticks to the company’s roots — mining for raw materials.

The 95,000 square-foot facility just south of Pittsboro is one of 3M’s three North Carolina operations. Each has distinctly different functions: a Charlotte plant makes “advanced dissolved gas control” membranes, and a Monroe plant manufactures breathing apparatuses for emergency medical uses.

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record’s website.

The post Built in your backyard: Roofing materials from Pittsboro’s 3M appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

PITTSBORO — Energy is an imprecise science. Experts generally agree about two-thirds of all electrical energy goes to waste ­— from the generation point at a power plant, through a series of transformations, and finally at the outlet in your house, energy is sacrificed hither and thither with wanton abandon.

“All that’s considered ‘rejected energy,’” Alex West, vice president of operations and financial officer at Pittsboro’s 3DFS, told the News + Record. “Only about 33% of the energy that is produced electrically is actually used and the rest is lost mostly through heat and through vibration.”

3DFS hopes to change that. The small Pittsboro startup — which has operated for about 10 years, the last seven in a 10,000 square-foot lab on N.C. Hwy. 902 — intends to upend the energy industry’s notion of acceptable waste. Its technology, software-defined electricity, has demonstrated the ability to radically improve energy transmission and retention. According to data on its website, 3DFS can demonstrate 94% efficiency, “meaning that the electrical energy remained electricity and fully transferred the energy into work…”

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record website.

The post Pittsboro’s 3DFS: Revolutionizing the energy industry appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

Medical device manufacturers have come under intense scrutiny in the last year. Several scrambled at the pandemic’s start to supply COVID-19-specific products, with limited success. Just this month, federal regulators harangued a medical laboratory in Baltimore after hasty disregard for sanitation standards led to about 15 million contaminated vaccines.

But Pittsboro’s Gilero — an engineering design firm and medical device producer — is showing the world how it’s done.

I caught up with Gilero’s CEO, Ted Mosler, last week to see what new and ambitious plans he has for the yet-modest operation. Last I wrote about the company, Gov. Roy Cooper had just visited the Pittsboro plant to examine its face shield production. Gilero, which only opened its Pittsboro location in 2019, shot to statewide prominence when its 3D printed plastic protectors were used in health care facilities around North Carolina.

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record’s website.

The post Pittsboro medical device manufacturer vaulted to global relevance appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

The recording of the webinar is available here. The webinar begins around two minutes in. Additional resources are listed at the bottom of the page. See below for a recap of the presentations from Mike Zelek, Chatham County Public Health Director and Kathie Russell, Managing Partner of Russell & Associates.

Mike Zelek, Chatham County Public Health Director:

• You will be able to get a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine. Each vaccine went through rigorous testing, and that is how we know it is safe and effective.
• The vaccine is free to everyone. Some providers may take insurance and bill insurance, but it is administered at no cost.
• It is important to keep practicing the Three Ws: Wear, Wait and Wash. Employers should continue to encourage employees to follow it as well.
• The Chatham County Health Department is working to ensure equitable access to the vaccine for marginalized and minority communities.
• Supplies of the vaccine are limited, which is why there is a structured roll-out.
• Severe allergic reactions to the vaccine are less than 5 per 1 million doses administered.
• There is 15–30-minute monitoring period following the vaccine where you will be monitored for any reaction.
• You could experience some temporary reactions to the vaccine, common ones being a sore arm and fatigue.
• You cannot get COVID-19 from the vaccine. The vaccine generates an antibody response to prevent you from infection. The second dose helps to boost the longevity of the vaccine.
• If you have COVID, stay home. Once you are recovered, you can get the vaccine.
• In the vaccination process, your privacy and personal information are protected at all times.
• Groups 1, 2, and 3 are all currently eligible for the vaccine.
• The Chatham County Health Department has a database you can enter your information in to get contacted about making a vaccine appointment. Link: chathamcountync.gov/vaccinetool
• Other providers do have the vaccine, and you are encouraged to pursue all options available. UNC Health, Walgreens, and CVS are a few offering the vaccine.
• Allow employees time off for receiving the vaccine and recovery time if possible.

Kathie Russell, Managing Partner of Russell & Associates. 

• Availability of the vaccine for all US adults over 18 is expected by the end of May.
• The time is now for employers to develop detailed vaccination plans to meet the goal of protecting workforces while remaining fully operational.
• Businesses should develop their plan with the help and advice of legal counsel to avoid potential legal pitfalls and given that many of these concepts are highly-fact dependent and need to consider industry, company philosophy, composition of workforce, community spread, and a whole host of additional factors.
• Consider the following ten steps when developing your plan:
  • Organize a vaccine committee- appoint the relevant people (HR or similar), make the committee the center point of contact regarding the vaccine.
  • Determine your place in line- Determine whether your business is determined as essential by the state or county to determine when your employees are eligible.
  • Consider if you will mandate the vaccine- It is legal to do so, but it can be complicated. It is better to encourage than mandate. If you chose to mandate vaccinations, consider engaging legal counsel for your circumstances. Please see the video for further considerations (timestamp: 35:40, 41:16, 43:20).
  • Consider if you will encourage the vaccine- If you do not want to mandate receiving the vaccine, consider encouraging employees to receive it.
  • Mount an effective education campaign- provide your employees with helpful and truthful information about the vaccine from reputable sources like the local health department or the CDC.
  • Will you incentivize the vaccine? If you want to incentivize your employees to get the vaccine, there are legal issues to consider such as IRS requirements, ADA accommodations, religious accommodations, and many others. If you chose to incentivize vaccinations, consider engaging legal counsel for your circumstances. Please see the video for further considerations (timestamp: 37:49).
  • Will you offer onsite vaccinations? Some larger employers may be able to establish an on-site vaccination center. Doing so may raise several legal issues related to premises liability, privacy and more. Consult with legal counsel if you are considering this.
  • Plan for post vaccination issues- Plan to allow for employees to stay at home if they are experiencing vaccine side effects. Consider staggering vaccine appointments.
  • Keep safety measures in place – continue to require masks, social distancing, and other COVID protocols.
  • Stay updated on vaccines and trends- because of the rapidly changing landscape of the pandemic and vaccines, it is important to continue closely monitoring the evolving developments and trends.
• Can employers require the vaccine? The short answer is yes, employers can require the vaccine, but encouragement instead of mandates avoids legal risks. See the video at timestamp 41:16 for more information.
• Requiring Proof- It is lawful for an employer to request proof of vaccination, despite the ADA’s restrictions on disability-related inquiries. Any subsequent questions may be subject to the restrictions. See the video at timestamp 42:30 for further explanation.
• Adopting a vaccine mandate for employees still carries legal and practical risks. For full considerations, see the video at 43:20.

Q&A Session

Q: How would you address the concerns of someone who is concerned about potential long-term impacts of the vaccine that we are unaware of?

MZ: The vaccine is built from science that has been around for a long time. The COVID vaccine is a mRNA vaccine, and after triggering the immune response, the mRNA aspect quickly leaves the system. Those that were in vaccine trials have continued to be monitored and there haven’t been any to date. The point of taking the vaccine is to prevent getting COVID, which has documented long term health effects.

Helpful Links and Resources

Find out your vaccine group: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/findyourspot

Get in the Chatham County Vaccine Database: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6115069/COVID-19-Vaccine-Inquiries

Chatham County COVID-19 resources: https://www.chathamcountync.gov/services/health/coronavirus

COVID-19 Vaccine: www.chathamcountync.gov/coronavirusvaccine

COVID-19 Testing: www.chathamcountync.gov/coronavirustesting

CCPHD Website: www.chathamcountync.gov/publichealth

CCPHD Facebook: www.facebook.com/chathamhealth

Vaccine Poster for Businesses: Do you want the COVID-19 vaccine? 

COVID-19 Vaccine Checklist for Businesses: Checklist for Businesses

Group 3 Info: Group 3 – Vaccine Info

Group 3 FAQ: Group 3 – Vaccine FAQ

The post Recap: COVID-19 Vaccine Briefing for Chatham County Employers appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

PITTSBORO — Gov. Roy Cooper paid a visit to the Gilero manufacturing facility in Pittsboro last Thursday to see how personal protective equipment is produced.

Gilero, a medical device maker with a second location in Morrisville, shifted its production focus in April to help fight the spread of COVID-19, as reported by the News + Record at the time. As the pandemic quickly overwhelmed the country, company employees worked nights, weekends and breaks to assemble 3-D-printed face shields for health care facilities, according to Kaitlyn Shaffer, Gilero’s marketing communications manager.

Since then, Gilero has expanded its services to include construction of negative pressure environments for hospital beds and packaging nasal swabs used in COVID-19 test kits.

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record website. 

The post Gov. Cooper visits Pittsboro PPE manufacturer Gilero appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

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To keep their employees safe, Charter Furniture is in daily direct contact with their corporate offices to get the best guidance. They have safety protocols in place for their office and manufacturing areas, offering sanitizing stations, monitoring employee temperatures and providing facemasks for employees and their families.

“The whole leadership team has made this place safer,” Lorenzo Mendoza, Senior Vice President of Operations and Continuous Improvement at Brown Jordan, the parent organization of Charter Furniture, said. “We are going through a daily monitoring of employee’s temperatures, and this must be a bit uncomfortable for them, but we are mostly offering our employees respect. It is something we do just because we want to keep them at work and we want to protect them.”

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Charter Furniture was faced with tough questions about how they would be able to continue operating. They decided to pivot their operations and put their employees to work on something a little different from furniture: personal protective equipment.

Because of their familiarity in working with fabric for their furniture production, Charter has heeded the call to make cloth face coverings. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. The Chatham County Public Health Department placed an order for masks with Charter Furniture, as well as fellow Siler City business and essential food manufacturer, Brookwood Farms.

Now, thanks to Charter Furniture, those that working on the front lines and working to keep the community fed are better protected.

“Under the direction of our great leadership team, and with the scarcity of masks in this pandemic, it was logical for us to decide to make masks to keep them safe,” said Mendoza.

The next step for Charter Furniture is evaluating what it would take to get their products certified so that they can contribute even further, as well as researching how they can get involved in making other pieces of personal protective equipment.

As Charter Furniture looks to the future, a backlog of orders from before coronavirus struck will be keeping them busy. They are hopeful that the summer will bring some normalcy back to their suppliers and customers to allow them to pick back up right where they left off.

Interested in ordering cloth face coverings from Charter Furniture? Visit charterfurniture.com or contact Lorenzo Mendoza at lmendoza@brownjordan.com or at 336-622-2201 ext. 20126. There is a 25 piece minimum for orders.

The post Siler City’s Charter Furniture Heeds the Call to Make PPE appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.

SILER CITY — Along with other organizations in Chatham County, ranging from the nonprofit Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge to medical device manufacturer Gilero, Charter Furniture has begun to tailor its facilities and equipment to helping in the fight against COVID-19.

The Siler City-based furniture manufacturer, which is owned by national company Brown Jordan, is making cloth masks specifically for businesses, including an initial delivery of around 300 masks to Brookwood Farms, also in Siler City. Company Senior VP of Operations and Continuous Improvement Lorenzo Mendoza spoke to the News + Record about the effort. The answers have been edited for clarity.

Continue reading on the Chatham News + Record’s website.

The post Q&A: Siler City’s Charter Furniture re-purposing operations for cloth masks appeared first on Chatham County Economic Development Corporation.