When there is an environmental disaster most anywhere in the world, the call goes out to Flint Technical Geosolutions (FTG) of Metter where company president Bill Smallwood and his team of engineers and technicians put their heads together to find a solution.

It is ironic that people from the four corners of the earth know about the “Solution Driven Company” located on East Lillian Street in Metter but many locals have no idea what the company previously called Flint Industries does.

Says Smallwood, “ Through our company and its subsidiaries, FTG makes deals all over the world, but nobody seems to know much about us right here at home.”

He describes FTG as a multi-market sector company with a vast range of solutions. The company’s mantra is that the Georgia company “will team with you to solve your environmental problems.”

This is done through three divisions of the company. The Coastal Division offers protection, land reclamation, and assistance with ports and harbors. The Sludge Dewatering Division handles water and wastewater in industries including mining and industries such as the pulp and paper, food processing, and animal waste. The third division is Sludge Caps, the initial focus of the company.

Founded in 1995 as Flint Industries, the company began with a focus on manufacturing sludge capping material. By 2004, they added geotextile tubes for dewatering of sludge and sediments. Sludge, often the product of industrial or refining processes, is a thick, soft wet mud or similar mixture of liquid and solid components. Coastal tubes were first offered in 2007.

When explaining what his company actually does, Smallwood shares a few of the noteworthy solutions that were planned and manufactured in Metter. In France, FTG put together the best of Europe and the United States to take care of a radioactive site. A beach was built up and salvaged in Kenya, and the company solved problems for a phosphate mine in Australia.

“We are very involved in wastewater treatment for many of the world’s second and third world countries,” Smallwood states with pride that his company is able to help people who might otherwise not have clean water for the various needs in their lives.

How the company makes all of this happen is that they have as a core belief to create alliances with others with whom they share values systems.

“This allows for a greater reach as the footprint of FTG is expanded,” explains the company’s president. In other words, he believes that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.

By working hand in hand with engineers and environmental specialists throughout the world, FTG and its staffers have become experts in international trade. The company has many domestic as well as international projects ongoing at any time built on the concept of “We basically build a friendship.”

Due to the fact that FTG is involved so heavily with environmental concerns, they work closely with the United States Army Corps of Engineers. One example of work coordinated between FTG and COE is the creation of an island in Peoria, Illinois. Smallwood adds that in that project, nature was actually a part of the project.

“The island needed plant life, and the birds that were native to the area vegetated the island at no cost to anyone. They did what birds do by depositing seeds and creating a natural habitat,” he explains.

FTG uses human resources from near and far. The company’s vice president, Julie Kucera, is a specialist in industrial fabrics. She agrees with Smallwood that the company needs workers who are trainable in some of the lost skills, such as the use and maintenance of industrial sewing machines. Because of the specializations that are a part of the company’s skillset, FTG has developed its own training methods for their employees from technicians to distributors to engineers.

Smallwood adds, “We want to help our workers to get various certifications that will help them in their work with us but also in their future endeavors.”

Smallwood points out that each employee of FTG has what is called a Hero Wall. That is a wall in his or her workspace where diplomas, certificates, and awards are displayed as a visual representation of the progress that employee has made in his or her career.

Another important part of working for FTG is that the management wants every worker to have a purpose.

“We show them the impact what they are doing has on the world,” he exclaims.

One of those employees of whom Smallwood is especially dependent is his North American Manager, Katie Harper Johnson. Johnson is a Metter High School graduate who finished her education at Georgia Southern University.

She is currently involved in all aspects of FTG’s shipments throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Smallwood helped raise his North American manager, and he is proud to have his “daughter” making her way in a career field that is about 96 percent male.

He says, “It is important in this industry for females to feel empowered and to be treated respectfully.”

In fact, he insists on all people being treated with the utmost respect despite their gender, nationality, religion, or status.

In addition to having technicians and manufacturing workers on staff, FTG hires interns from near and far. When a person interns under Smallwood and Kucera, he or she will have the opportunity to earn certifications just as a full-time employee.

Interns come from as near as Georgia Southern University but also from other counties, as the current intern who is a native of Brazil.

Because the solutions are often being designed and installed in foreign counties, language barriers can be a problem. FTG trainers and managers often use technology to bridge the gap between English and whatever language is spoken by the locals on site. During Covid, they made use of online technology to train a group of guys in Bolivia via Skype and with the use of translators, which added another layer to the complexity of what FTG does.

Smallwood tells the story of how language matters. He and some other Americans were working on a water project in South America when the local workers on the job would not get into the water to do the necessary work. The Americans, showing off their American work ethic, jumped into the river to get the job done. After clearing some vegetation, they quickly got back onto dry land.

Smallwood laughs, “There was a sign, in English, warning that there were crocodiles in the water!”

Back to the three divisions of FTG. The company started with sludge cap projects for companies such as FMC (fertilizers), Georgia Pacific (pulp and paper), and the US Department of Energy. This has grown to reinforcing phosphate stacks in places such as Idaho and Australia and projects in the pulp and paper and chemical industries throughout the US.

Dewatering using TITAN Tubes has been a part of FTG for 22 years. The tubes feature hi-flo dewatering, pressure relief bands and seamless noses. This technology is used in wastewater treatment and was used in the removal of radioactive sludge in France. Not just overseas, TITAN Tubes have been used as a part of oil spill cleanup on the Great Lakes and are regularly used in the pulp and paper industry in Georgia.

Smallwood points out that one of FTG’s largest markets is the pulp and paper industry.

“Have you noticed that there is less smell related to paper mills around coastal Georgia?” he asks.

That is due to the technology that has its roots in Metter, Georgia, only about 60 or so miles from the nearest paper mill site.

For 20 years, FTG has been involved in coastal protection. This is a part of Team TITAN’s mission using TITAN tubes, TITAN bags and coastal mattresses needed for island creation, land reclamation, restoring marshes, and taking care of sand dunes on beaches all over the world.

Not only does FTG go to clients the world over, they regularly bring the world to Metter.

“We use Savannah as our draw to get people to come for training in our Georgia site,” he explains.

Kucera adds, “Metter being close to the port and airport in Savannah helps.”

The company ships most of the solutions that are fabricated on Lillian Street in Metter through the Port of Savannah.

Savannah is not the only draw for the international visitors. FTG has brought people from Africa, Latin America, Canada and Asia to Metter for training. The management of FTG feels obligated to show them Southern hospitality and to make their visits personal. Restaurants serving Southern foods and home cooking are favorites with FTG visitors.

Says Smallwood, “Papa Buck’s, Jomax, and Bevrick’s are the favorites.”

He adds that the quaintness of small town Metter exposes international travelers to “the real America” as opposed to what they have seen in the media.

Kucera points out another local landmark that is a hit with visitors.

“They love to walk around Guido Gardens,” she cites.

She gives the example of a recent visitor from Nigeria who asked to return to Guido Gardens several times during his stay in South Georgia.

“When he went home, he shared photos and what he had learned about the local flora with his family in Nigeria,” she said.

With all that FTG has accomplished worldwide, the company has become a go-to for the Georgia Distribution Export Council committee for advice to the Department of Commerce. Smallwood is proud to say that Georgia is a leader in being proactive, and that makes Georgia industry such as FTG relevant in a big way.

The current political climate involving international trade and tariffs has to this point not cost FTG any jobs. Smallwood and his team, however, have had to add “surcharges” to recent orders to compensate for increases due to tariffs. This way, he says, the extra cost to the customer can be more easily removed once the world economic situation stabilizes.

Even with the added expenses caused by worldwide inflation, FTG has in the works a possible plant expansion that will result in the need for hiring more personnel in the company’s Metter facilities.

Currently, FTG has 25 full-time employees, some salaried and others hourly. They operate in two buildings, both located on East Lillian Street in Metter.

“Although our two facilities are not very far apart on the same street, the office building, which includes storage and shipping, is located within the City of Metter. However, the manufacturing portion of FTG is located within the County,” Smallwood shares as a bit of interesting trivia.

Learn more at flintusa.net/.

 

by Suzanne Tyson