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Michelin Dedicates New Plant in Upstate for “Tweel”

Eight years ago, we interviewed our next guest's company about a revolutionary new tire design that combined the benefits of a radial tire, such as improved traction and longer wear, into one that requires no air.  Since then, it has been tested on wheelchairs, Segways, passenger cars, and NASA moon rovers and for the past two years successfully sold for use on front-end loaders, proving the demand.  Which has resulted in the recent announcement of a $50 million plant in the Upstate to manufacture the tire.

Mike Switzer interviews Ralph Dimenna, vice president of Michelin Tweel Technologies in Greenville, SC.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.