OC Business Center welcomes French Company

You can now see a French flag flying outside a downtown Walhalla business. Tuesday night at their annual meeting, Oconee Economic Alliance Executive Director Richard Blackwell announced that the company had recently set up operations in the Oconee Business Center at Brown Square. “Vermon is something we have been working on for a while now but to have a French company setting up operations in downtown Walhalla that is very significant. We look forward to working them continuing to grow and I hope people take pride in again a French company is in downtown Walhalla.” In addition to the French flag, company representative Dana Todd received a sign from Walhalla Mayor Danny Edwards. Todd describes the new business. “It’s just starting put its ultrasound probes for non-medical applications. We are making products that hang on inspection system and they are used to inspect flaws in welds typically. They are used in refineries is the major application, so anywhere there are welds that might break in the future they have to get inspected so things don’t break and blowup. They’re also used in the aerospace and nuclear industry, anywhere there are critical components that are made out of metal that need regular inspection to keep from breaking and bad things happening.” The Oconee Business Center, an incubator that helps give birth to new businesses, has made getting started easy, says Todd. “It has been very easy to get the business started because of the Oconee Business Center. We didn’t have to concentrate so much on finding a place and dealing with getting things set up with a location. Internet was there, power is already there and paid for, so it was very easy.” Like the nine other occupants of the Oconee Business Center, the company is starting small with three employees, but Todd envisions that number will grow to 10 workers in five years.