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NOVEMBER 17, 2022
Madison County Journal
Merged with The Comer News and The Danielsville Monitor, 2006
MadisonJoumaITODAY.com
Vol. 39 No. 41 • Publication No. 1074-987 • Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia 30633 • A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers Inc. • 16 Pages, 2 Sections Plus Supplements
$1.00
COUNTY GOV’T
BOC
extends
moratorium
to May 23
Madison County com
missioners were alarmed at
how developers were using
loopholes in the county
zoning ordinance to carve
up farmland and turn it into
residential property.
So they passed a six-
month moratorium on
rezonings and property
splits to give the county
time to overhaul its regu
latory structure, with the
aim of handling growth in
a sensible way. That effort
has coincided with the
comprehensive land use
update process.
The six-month moratori
um expires this week, but
the commissioners agreed
See ‘BOC’ on 2A
IDA
IDA to
discuss
‘personnel’
Friday
The Madison County
Industrial Development
and Building Authority will
hold a called meeting Fri
day Nov. 18, at 8:30 a.m. at
the Jackson EMC office off
Hwy. 29.
The lone agenda item
is “to discuss or deliber
ate upon the appointment,
employment, compensa
tion, hiring, disciplinary
action or dismissal, or peri
odic evaluation or rating of
a public officer or employ
ee.”
The agenda doesn’t say
whether the matter will be
discussed in open or closed
session, but discussions of
See ‘IDA’ on 2A
Index:
News — 1-3A
Opinions — 4-5A
Church — 5A
Crime — 6A
Social — 7-8A
Sports — 1-2B, 8B
School — 4B
Classifieds — 3B
Obituaries — 5B
Legals — 6-7B
Contact:
Phone: 706-367-5233
Web: MadisonJournal
TODAY.com
News submissions:
zach@
mainstreetnews.com
Rec volley
team wins
state
— Page 8B
19 th annual
Madison Co.
Toy Ride held
— Page 8B
Honoring veterans
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(Left) A flag-folding ceremony was part of the Madison
County Veterans Day Salute, “Service Before Self,” at
the high school gym Friday morning. Cadet Private
Josey Byers (pictured) and Cadet Private First Class
Ava Smith conducted 13 folds while the meanings of
each fold were recited. (Right) Veterans are applauded
as they enter the gym Friday. See Page 5A for more
photos. Photos by Zach Mitcham
BUSINESS
SMI: a growth story
Composite manufacturing business in Comer is in high demand
SMI in Comer produces carbon-fiber parts for high-end General Motors vehicles, along with parts
for a number of industries.
Thomas Yoder, SMI production manager, shows off a part pro
duced in Comer.
By Zach Mitcham
zach@mainstreetnews.com
Think of plastics. Think of met
als. Now, imagine a substance in
between the two — something
light like plastic, but tough like
metal.
Such a material could be used in
car parts, in aerospace technology,
in sports and recreation equipment
— the possibilities are many.
Well, Madison County is home
to SMI Composites, a company
that is realizing those possibili
ties as it rapidly expands to meet
growing demand for high-end,
carbon-fiber parts in a wide variety
of products.
The company has been tucked
away in Madison County’s Madico
Park since 2014, but SMI is known
as a major player in the composite
manufacturing industry.
And that’s becoming increasing
ly true as the company experiences
rapid growth both in facilities and
employees, while also branching
out into the latest technologies,
including artificial intelligence
(AI).
Rob Cushard, general manag
er of SMI, smiles when he talks
about his co-workers and the fel
low management at the Comer
facility, noting that the early days
at Madico were racecar guys basi
cally put in a building in a field
to start manufacturing. Cushard,
a Michigan native, has worked in
manufacturing for years and finds
the working relationship at SMI a
breath of fresh air.
“As a shop rat, it’s like, ‘Oh my
gosh, I finally got a dream team,’”
said Cushard, who joined the com
pany in January.
Two long-timers, Dustin Fowler,
operations manager, and Thomas
Yoder, production manager,
remember the early days in SMI’s
original 10,000-square-foot build
ing at Madico Park. They remem
ber the mud parking lot, where
auto executives got their expensive
shoes muddied during a visit.
“You had to deal with that before
you could convince them to give
you work,” said Fowler.
Yoder laughed.
“We used to throw rocks here,”
he said.
But now the SMI property is
covered with facilities, and busi
ness is booming with a bustle
of activity on a tour through the
buildings on any given day.
“All the parts are highly aesthet
ic,” said Cushard of what’s being
produced in Comer. “They’re the
premium packages on the high-
est-profit vehicles for General
Motors, with the Cadillac CT4s,
CT5 and the Corvette z06 and
wide-body vehicles. So every day
that I see a Corvette article on Fox
News or CNN, it’s showing those
parts.”
It’s not just auto parts. It’s car
bon-fiber shoe inserts, autonomous
drone parts, MRI tables, parts for
aerospace companies, even parts
for U.S. missiles. Most anything
that needs a high strength-to-low-
weight ratio is a potential part
waiting to happen at SMI.
And the company is filling the
orders as fast as it can, while also
looking for new parts to produce.
That means expansion is need
ed, and the company will soon be
online with a new 35,000-square-
foot building that will increase the
total facilities to 107,000 square
feet, a tenfold increase in space
over the past eight years. There
have been complications with the
county in getting water to that
expansion, but a contract for ser
vices was recently signed, and the
company can now move forward
See ‘SMI’ on 2A
