KACO USA’s expansion in North Carolina was made possible in part by a performance-based grant of up to $100,000 from the One North Carolina Fund. Lincoln County’s overall annual wages average $34,524. Salaries will vary by position, but will average $34,580 per year. KACO will add production, accounting and management personnel at its Lincolnton facility. “The partnership with North Carolina and Lincoln County allows KACO to expand operations locally, as well as open the door for future expansion of the ZD Group in the state,” said Marcio Lima, company president and CEO. The China-based group operates nine facilities in North America. KACO USA, which currently employs 101 people at its Lincoln County plant, is a unit of German KACO GmgH + Co., which became part of the Zhongding Group in 2014. Harbour is survived by wife Helen Harbour, daughters Melissa Harbour-Hennessy and Carrie Harbour-Nolan, son Paul Lawler and five grandchildren.KACO USA, a maker of high-precision sealing solutions for the automotive industry, plans to expand its production facility in Lincolnton, North Carolina, creating 100 new jobs and investing $8.4 million there over the next three years. Plans for a paddle-out celebration of life are pending. “He always wanted to make a better surfboard.” “He constantly sought to innovate,” Howson said. Remember The Endless Summer? Statue of filmmaker Bruce Brown joins other surf icons in Dana Point.River surfing catching on with the help of wave legends like Gerry Lopez.Surf icon Phil Edwards, who brought style to the forefront of the sport, is honored with a statue in Dana Point.South Bay surfing icon, big-wave charger Greg Noll dies at age 84.“He always took me under his wing when we had projects to do, we learned things from each other,” Lewis said. “Everyone looked up to him and loved him for that.”įriend Eric Lewis knew Harbour from outside of the surf world, calling Harbour a self-made engineer who decided to make surfboards for his career. “He was more than a surfboard shaper, he gave back to everyone,” Harbour-Hennessy said. Harbour had fans around the world and a cult-like following among surfboard enthusiasts, some who gathered over the years at Harbour Surf Days to ride waves at Bolsa Chica State Beach and sharing stories about his boards, both historic and new designs.īefore health issues started taking a toll, Harbour would show up with his camera, a surf celeb sitting in his beach chair on the sand, taking photos of people enjoying his creations. Harbour was one of the few of his time who withstood the waves of change in the surf world: enduring the shortboard revolution that sent competitors and friends into retirement, the sudden closure of blank manufacturer Clark Foam in 2005 that crippled the industry and several economic downturns. “I don’t think any one of them will ever forget coming in contact with Rich Harbour, ever.”
“He really did mentor a lot of these people, these kids,” said Howson, himself once a Harbour team rider. Hot-doggin’ surfers from the Long Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington area became part of his elite surf team in the ’60s and ’70s, proudly wearing the team jacket and representing the shop in contests. Howson said Harbour was an incredibly giving man – of his time, his expertise and his general knowledge. That was really special, and that’s living on with everyone.
Everyone constantly said how they looked up to him for guidance and advice and direction, in life, and he gave it to them. “I didn’t realize until later in my life, I shared him with so many people. He was such a father figure to everyone who came in here, everyone who worked for him, everyone who knew him,” daughter Melissa Harbour-Hennessy said. “I think he was such a dad to everybody, not just his own family. Through the decades, big-name shapers such as Mike Marshall, Dale Velzy and, more recently, Tim Stamps, shaped under the Harbour label before branching out on their own.
Iconic Seal Beach surfboard maker Rich Harbour dies at age 77 – Orange County Register