health insurance agent in Ladson

Boeing’s South Carolina workforce grew by about 950 in 2022, part of a companywide surge of 15,000 employees around the world.

Boeing shared its year-end employment numbers in conjunction with filing its 10-K financial performance forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The growth of the Lowcountry workforce brings the total headcount to about 6,500 at Boeing South Carolina’s two campuses, according to figures released by the company. The company said in a news release that it plans to hire another 10,000 workers worldwide in 2023.

Part of the Palmetto State hiring took place because delivery resumed for the Dreamliners produced at the Ladson plant. Production of the 787s had continued at a slower pace while the company and Federal Aviation Administration worked to address safety concerns.

Related: Boeing makes first 787 delivery since 2021

The company acknowledged that a return to deliveries accounted for some of the hiring, but not all of it.

Although the Dreamliner program is based at the North Charleston plant, other Boeing operations include:

• Boeing’s engine nacelle design and manufacturing center of excellence, supporting the 777X and 737 MAX programs, among others.

• Boeing Research and Technology South Carolina, the center of the company’s composite manufacturing development activities.

• One of Boeing’s four Information Technology Centers, which provides support to the entire Boeing enterprise across the globe.

• One of the primary U.S. Air Force base locations (Joint Base Charleston) supporting the C-17 fleet with technical and logistics solutions.

• One of three domestic BCA Engineering Design Centers, performing engineering work statement for BCA, BDS and BGS programs and projects.

• Senior Boeing executives leading enterprise roles such as 787 Engineering; 787 Quality; Ethics, Law and Global Compliance; and others.

“Our diverse Boeing South Carolina team demonstrates a commitment to safety, quality and integrity every day on the 787 program and across the many other Boeing programs and projects BSC supports,” Lane Ballard, vice president and general manager of the 787 program and Boeing South Carolina site leader, said in the news release. “I am proud of our growing team in South Carolina, and we will continue to invest in our teammates and the development of meaningful and fulfilling careers for generations to come.”

Boeing South Carolina is one of only three aerospace production sites in the world where twin-aisle commercial airplanes are assembled and delivered. It is the only site in the world that encompasses the full cycle of Dreamliner production, starting with fabrication using carbon composite materials and ending with final assembly and delivery to the customer.

The company has invested more than $83 million with charitable organizations in South Carolina, with an emphasis on education, arts and culture, health and human services, civic engagement and the environment. From their headquarters in Virginia, Boeing today said it would donate $500,000 to earthquake relief in Turkey.

LADSON, S.C. (WCSC) - A free closet is helping young girls in the community find their inner and outer beauty ahead of this year’s prom season.

Tiana’s Closet started in 2018 and creates a shopping experience for girls who may not have the opportunity to get the dress of their dreams.

The closet is made possible by donations of dresses, shoes, jewelry and purses.

Director of Tiana’s Closet Andrea Hampton Mills says every girl deserves a night to remember, and they hope that shopping at Tiana’s Closet can give them that experience.

“Our ultimate goal is for these young ladies to leave with a smile on their faces,” Mills says. “When they walk in the door, they need to feel love, and when they walk out they need to. That’s really what we’re all about is making these girls know that they’re worthy and they are deserving.”

They dressed over 30 girls Saturday from head to toe but also included affirmations for them to remember their self-worth regardless of their appearance. Some of the positive affirmations include self-worth, being resilient, body image and planning for the future.

“It means the world to me,” Tiana’s Closet volunteer Kayla Lofton-Black says. “I remember at that time, I’ve always been a chunky baby, so being able to help young ladies find dresses that fit their body and that makes them feel confident and beautiful; it’s just everything to me. I’m really glad that I got to be a part of this today.”

Tiana’s Closet takes donations all year long to prepare for the event and clean anything that may be dirty before giving it to the girls. They have locations in Ladson, Summerville, Moncks Corner and Holly Hill.

“Just knowing how many girls deserve a night to remember, but sometimes it’s difficult, we want to bridge that gap,” Mills says.

The event was from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, but if you are in need of a prom dress this spring, girls can still shop the closet.

Contact Tiana’s Closet on Facebook or call 762-529-4183 to schedule a shopping appointment between March 5 and 19.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Share

Ladson, SC – Even among the nation’s best bass anglers, whispers of words like big crappies attract a captive audience. So it was for Major League Fishing star David Walker, a confirmed crappie sneak. One day, while driving home from his latest bass derby, Walker found himself daydreaming about a local crappie lake and the makings of an epic fish fry. “After a hectic bass tourney, I love coming home and catching a boatload of crappies or white bass with my daughters,” says Walker, a wizard with a small jig and softbait.

A lifelong panfish fan, Walker recently discovered a new bait concept for crappies, perch and bluegills. Ironically, the idea first occurred to him while fishing bass tournaments.

“When I first started throwing these so called ‘superplastics’ for bass several years ago, I quickly learned an almost magical advantage of the material known as ElaZtech, which was that panfish and other nuisance fish couldn’t peck the tails off the back of your bass jigs,” recalls Walker. “While bass fishing with traditional soft plastics, it’s always been a headache and major time waster when you’ve got perch, sunfish and other tail-pecking fish in the area. But using these ElaZtech baits, I discovered panfish could peck them all they wanted, with little to no effect on the bait. I could stay in the game, non-stop, without reeling torn baits back to the boat, and constantly re-rigging a new tail.”

All the while, Walker was thinking about crappies. He knew that ElaZtech’s advantages held tremendous panfish potential. “This is a material that’s wonderfully soft and lively, making it easy to activate, so it moves and undulates fluidly in the water,” he notes.

“Like most anglers, I accepted for years that traditional panfish sized soft plastics just don’t move that well underwater. Because they’re relatively rigid, traditional soft crappie baits tend to lose action the smaller you make them. So, you often had to resort to larger baits than you wanted or had to retrieve them faster to achieve the desired tail movement or the right swimming action. Neither are ideal for a fish that often exhibits size and speed selectivity in their feeding habits.

“You’ll understand that when I started fishing ElaZtech, I was pretty excited about its advantages for bass. But secretly, I couldn’t wait until panfish-sized superplastics arrived on the scene. Combine a super soft, lively bait with crazy durability and you quickly appreciate what I’m saying. This stuff has all the makings of the perfect panfish bait.”

A few days after the finish of a recent bass tournament, Walker found himself on his favorite crappie lake. He spotted the aqua-blue packs of new Z-Man Micro Finesse baits lying on his boat deck and a light bulb ignited. “I grabbed up a pack of Shad FryZ™— a cool little 1-3/4-inch paddletail swimbait— and put it on a 1/10-ounce Micro Finesse ShroomZ™ panfish jig. Almost immediately, it became my favorite crappie bait, and here’s why.”

From the first few casts, Walker noticed that in water the bait’s tail activated and kicked realistically, almost effortlessly, even at slow retrieve speeds. “The Shad FryZ is one of those rare crappie-sized swimbaits whose tail will wag and thump even as it’s falling. Crappies can be really speed sensitive, in terms of lure retrieves and drop-speed. Too many traditional crappie baits require excessive speed to activate them; often, that’s too fast for crappies, especially in cooler water.”

Walker, a deep-thinking angler who’s always conjuring ways to maximize lure performance, suggests that bait buoyancy and rate-of-fall remain two ignored factors in the crappie-catching equation. “Consider that the natural buoyancy of the Shad FryZ slows its sink rate. So, while I can benefit from the extra casting weight of a 1/10-ounce jig, the rigged bait flutters and fishes more like a 1/16-ouncer. And it still exhibits that nice natural tail-kick on the fall that induces bites.

“As veteran anglers know, crappies primarily feed up,” Walker continues. “So, keeping your lure at or a few feet above their eye level is of utmost importance, especially in spring.”

Unlike traditional PVC soft plastics, which sink, Walker notes that ElaZtech baits float, slowing the drop-speed of the jighead. “That’s something you simply can’t do with other crappie baits, because traditional plastisol baits sink fast—often, shooting right through the active strike zones of crappies and other panfish.”

To further tweak rate of fall, Walker spools with “straight 6- or 8-pound test braided line and no leader,” he suggests. “After trying those micro-thin 2-, 3- and 4-pound test braids, I realized thicker diameter braid, which floats, slows the lure’s rate of fall a bit more.”

Walker offers another tip for creating a semi-permanent soft “lure” that catches dozens of fish without replacing the tail. “Add one drop of Loctite Gel Control glue to the jighead before threading on the Shad FryZ or other Micro Finesse body,” he explains. “This locks the bait in place and has allowed me to catch close to 50 crappies on one single bait—all without re-rigging or even re-positioning the original bait on the jig hook.”

Analogous to the way anglers initially perceived braided superlines, Walker acknowledges that anglers often approach superplastics with hesitation. “Similar to superlines, which require different knots, ElaZtech baits call for slightly different rigging and storage,” he notes. “But the advantages are too dramatic to ignore.

“To rig a bait onto a jighead, thread the body onto the hook in traditional fashion. Then, rather than pushing it up and over the jig’s keeper barbs, grasp the bait by the head and pull and stretch it right up tight to the jighead. This material is so stretchy and resilient that you almost can’t rip it by hand.

“For storage, just keep baits in their original packs— don’t mix them with regular soft plastics in storage compartments—and your superplastics will last for years. That’s all there is to it.”

While springtime anglers typically target shallow water fish, Walker prefers to pursue bigger, less pressured crappies in 5 to 15 feet of water—just outside eventual spawning zones. “Count the lure down to the right depth and begin a slow, steady retrieve. Pause every 5- to 10-seconds. Let the bait stop and hang momentarily. The tail will hover; won’t drop unnaturally below the jighead and turn fish off. It’s a real key to ‘talking’ lethargic crappies into biting.”

“As a bass angler familiar with the toughness of ElaZtech, I spent years trying to slice and customize bigger worms into panfish-sized offerings. They worked, but the new Micro Finesse baits give me panfish profiles and actions I’m after, no knife needed.

“As crappie fans discover the advantages of superplastics for panfish—super soft, easy to activate and crazy durable—we’ll all be eating a lot more crappie dinners.”

A dynamic Charleston, South Carolina based company, Z-Man Fishing Products has melded leading edge fishing tackle with technology for nearly three decades. Z-Man has long been among the industry’s largest suppliers of silicone skirt material used in jigs, spinnerbaits and other lures. Creator of the Original ChatterBait®, Z-Man is also the renowned innovators of 10X Tough ElaZtech softbaits, fast becoming the most coveted baits in fresh- and saltwater. Z-Man is one of the fastest-growing lure brands worldwide.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston-based manufacturing company Bintelli is expanding its operation with a new 174,000-square-foot facility in North Charleston.

The facility, off Palmetto Commerce Parkway, opened last week and will focus on building golf carts and low-speed electric vehicles.

This marks the third expansion for Bintelli in the last three years.

“This new facility is a testament to the amazing work our dealer family has done over the last few years,” Bintelli Founder and President Justin Jackrel says. “As we are now operational in what I believe is the largest LSV (low-speed vehicles) manufacturing facility in America, we’re going to be able to even better support our dealer family with the additional vehicles, parts and support they need to continue their rapid growth nationwide.”

Another focus for the move was to have more space for employees so the building is a more comfortable workspace without limiting tight boundaries, says Kevin Marques, Bintelli Production Facility Manager.

“It keeps growing and the biggest thing is keeping the culture the same; we pride our employees and making sure everyone is happy,” Marques says. “We actually know each employee by name and I want to keep that feel here because I think that’s very important for us; that’s the biggest thing, as we grow, I just want to maintain the culture within the company.”

Bintelli assembled 7,000 vehicles last year and is on track to produce 12,000 this year, making the move to a larger facility necessary.

Bintelli says with this new facility, they will be able to keep up with the demand for low-speed electric vehicles and golf carts.

“This expansion is another step in solidifying ourselves at the forefront of the industry,” Bintelli Vice President Jason Perske said. “While faster order fulfillment and greater inventory availability is going to be an incredible asset for our dealer family, I’m far more excited about what this means for the additional levels of support we can offer. I’m excited for all of our dealerships to share in this huge announcement and incredibly thankful for all the support they show us every day.”

In addition to the recent facility expansions, Bintelli says they are also focused on expanding its support and production staff.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKINGSTATEMENTS

This presentation has been prepared for informational purposes only from information supplied by Sun Communities, Inc., referred to herein as "we," "our," "Sun," and "the Company," and from third-party sources indicated herein. Such third-party information has not been independently verified. Sun makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of such information.

This presentation contains various "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and we intend that such forward-looking statements will be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. For this purpose, any statements contained in this presentation that relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, trends or prospective events or developments and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts are deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "forecasts," "intends," "intend," "intended," "goal," "estimate," "estimates," "expects," "expect," "expected," "project," "projected," "projections," "plans," "predicts," "potential," "seeks," "anticipates," "anticipated," "should," "could," "may," "will," "designed to," "foreseeable future," "believe," "believes," "scheduled," "guidance," "target" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific to the matters discussed in this presentation, some of which are beyond the Company's control. These risks and uncertainties may cause the Company's actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to the risks described under "Risk Factors" contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, such risks, uncertainties and other factors include but are not limited to:

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statement was made. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this presentation, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in the Company's expectations or otherwise, except as required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on the Company's behalf are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

2

SUN COMMUNITIES - COMPANY KEY TOPICS

Key Topics

Strong Results in 2022 Demonstrated Recession-Resistant Platform, 2023 FY Guidance Based on Continued Strong Same-Property NOI Growth

Leading Owner / Operator of Manufactured Housing ("MH") &

Recreational Vehicle ("RV") Communities, and Marinas

Compelling Supply-Demand Fundamentals & Best-in-Class Assets

Drive Strong Performance Throughout Economic Cycles

Track Record of Delivering Strong Core FFO Per Share Growth

Strong Investment Grade Balance Sheet Supports Growth

Robust ESG Platform

Page

4 - 6

7

8 - 13

14 - 21

22

23

SUN OUTDOORS ROCKY MOUNTAINS - GRANBY, CO

Rental Revenue Breakdown

ROBUST FUNDAMENTALS CONTINUE TO DRIVE OUTPERFORMANCE

53% of Real Property NOI Derived from MH

Consolidated NOI for the year ended December 31, 2022

Steady, Organic Growth

85% of NOI Derived from Rental Income

Consolidated NOI for the year ended December 31, 2022

11%

4%

85%

Real property Home Sales Service, retail, dining and entertainment

Source: Company information. Refer to Sun Communities, Inc. Form 10-K and Supplemental for the year ended December 31, 2022, as well as Press Releases and SEC Filings after December 31, 2022, for additional information. Refer to information regarding non-GAAP financial measures in the attached Appendix.

FY22 PERFORMANCE REVIEW

Resilient Platform and Operational Strength Drive Outperformance

COUNTRY VILLAGE ESTATES - OREGON CITY, OR