aCorridor Headlines

1. Universal Fiber Systems announces expansion
   Governor announces 84 new jobs; $13 million investment.
2. California company acquires Nautilus
   Grayson County plant will continue operation.
3. DIRECTV announces virtual call center
   100 virtual jobs in Southwest Virginia.
4. Somic America merges two Wythe companies
   Wytheville operations will continue to supply automakers.
5. Washington County drug company expands
   Innovative Technologies to manufacture drugs at new facility.
6. Snack foods company buys Bristol manufacturer
   Bristol Snack Alliance plant to continue to operate.
7. From My Perspective...
   An update from Executive Director Tom Elliott.
8. around the aCorridor...
   Alpha Natural Resources to build company headquarters in Bristol. ABB provides innovative safety training for employees to work on wind terminals. 'Introduction to Exporting' session May 4 in Abingdon.

Universal Fiber Systems announces $13 million expansion at plant

Kenneth Reynolds of the Washington County Board of Supervisors addresses the crowd at the Dec. 9 Universal Fiber System’s announcement of a $13 million expansion. Also in the photo are, from left, Russell Owens, Washington County IDA; Marc Ammen, CEO of Universal Fibers, Inc.; and Delegate Joe Johnson.

Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced Dec. 9 that Universal Fiber Systems, a leading producer of fibers and yarns for carpet, upholstery, automotive, industrial and other textile applications, will invest $13 million to expand its production facility in Washington County. The project will create 84 jobs. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project.

Universal Fibers has had a presence in Virginia for nearly 40 years. This project marks the company’s second expansion in less than five years and will meet growing demand domestically and internationally. The company produces solution-dyed fibers for the flooring, transportation, and industrial fiber and textile markets and was the first to introduce solution-dyed nylon to the world. Most recently Universal Fibers has won several environmental awards for its branded Earthsmart™ products and practices, some of which includes the process of taking used commercial carpet fluff and converting it back into high-quality recycled nylon.

“Washington County, Virginia is our company headquarters so it only makes sense for this location to be our first choice for this exciting expansion, said Marc Ammen, CEO of Universal Fibers, Inc. Our workforce here is skilled and has proven to be committed, hard- working and capable. This expansion will increase our capacity to help us meet customer demands.”

Med-Fit Systems to acquire Nautilus, keep plant in operation

Nautilus commercial fitness systems will continue to be produced at the Grayson County plant in Independence. Med-Fit Systems, Inc., a physical therapy and senior care products provider located in Southern California, announced in February it had reached agreement with Nautilus for the purchase of Nautilus’ commercial company assets.

California-based Med-Fit Systems, Inc., has announced that it has reached agreements with Nautilus for the purchase of Nautilus’ commercial company assets. Med-Fit Systems is a 23-year-old physical therapy and senior care products provider located in Southern California.

“Nautilus has experienced international manufacturing success in Grayson County for more than three decades,” said Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. “This acquisition represents a huge victory for the community. Jobs will be retained and the potential for new job growth is promising for a region hard hit with a 12 percent unemployment rate. This was a challenging deal to secure. I commend and congratulate Grayson County for their hard work, and I thank Med-Fit Systems for this tremendous opportunity.”

“The county has been persistent in its efforts to insure that quality jobs and investment stay in our community. This is a premiere example of the county’s capabilities to pull resources and pragmatically apply them to fit the needs of our existing industry,” said Larry K. Bartlett, chairman of the Grayson County Board of Supervisors.

DIRECTV announces virtual call center in Southwest Virginia

Congressman Rick Boucher, right, is joined by Gary Qualls, vice president of business operations and development for DIRECTV, at the March 30 announcement that DIRECTV will create a virtual call center in Southwest Virginia.

Congressman Rick Boucher announced in Abingdon March 30 that DIRECTV, the world’s most popular video service, and its customer service partner, Convergys, plan to establish a virtual call center in Southwest Virginia. The project will create 100 new jobs, recruiting from three regions: Virginia’s aCorridor, the New River Valley, and Virginia’s e-Region.

“The remote agents hired by DIRECTV are able to work from home due to the high-speed Internet access available in communities throughout our region,” said Boucher.

Governor Bob McDonnell called the virtual call center that will employ persons from three regions of Southwest Virginia “a truly innovative approach.” This project is unique in that these 100 new employees will complete online training and telework from home, saving transportation dollars and ensuring that the creation of the call center will have a positive economic impact on a broad area.

Two Wythe County manufacturers merge into Somic America, Inc.      

Effective Jan. 1, Wytheville Technologies, Inc.(above) and Brewer Automotive Components, Inc., both located in Progress Park in Wytheville, completed a merger to form Somic America, Inc. The newly formed company will continue to operate the Progress Park facilities, supplying components to North American automakers, including Toyota and Subaru.

Effective January 1, Wytheville Technologies, Inc. (WTI) and Brewer
Automotive Components, Inc. (BAC) completed a merger to form Somic America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Somic Ishikawa of Hamamatsu, Japan.

The newly formed company will continue to operate manufacturing facilities in Virginia and Maine, supplying components to North American automakers, including Toyota and Subaru. The merger gives the company direct access to machining and plating capabilities and will make the company more competitive in the automotive industry. WTI has been a major supplier of material and plating services to BAC for several years.

Somic America manufactures suspension and steering components at three manufacturing facilities, two in Wytheville, Virginia, and one in Brewer, Maine. The Brewer facility opened in 1989, with the Virginia operations commencing in 2000.

Innovative Technologies purchases building forexpansion project

Senator William Wampler Jr., right, presents the Washington County IDA with a check from the Tobacco Commission to assist Innovative Technologies with its expansion. From left, are Keith Latham, president of Innovative Technologies; Kenneth Reynolds, Washington County Board of Supervisors; Delegate Joe Johnson; and Senator Wampler.

Innovative Technologies, a local pharmaceutical research and development company, announced in January its purchase of the old Abingdon Cold Storage facility at Interstate 81’s Exit 22. Company President Keith Latham decided to expand his business and wants to start manufacturing his company’s drugs at the new facility. He also wants to hire 18 new employees by the end of the year, roughly quadrupling the size of his staff in about 12 months.

Latham opened Innovative Technologies in 1996 at the Bristol-Washington County Industrial Park, which is just outside the Bristol, Va., city limits on Industrial Boulevard. The company has 35 drugs in its development pipeline, Latham said, including the four it plans to manufacture at its new Exit 22 facility.

Ohio company announces acquisition of Snack Alliance

Mike Wells, plant manager of the Snack Alliance production facility in Bristol, Virginia, speaks at the site’s five-year anniversary celebration, highlighting the company's successes since occupying a former Moore’s Snack Foods plant in 2004.

An Ohio snack foods company announced March 1 its plans to acquire the operations of Snack Alliance, including its Bristol plant. Shearer’s Branded Snacks, based in Brewster, Ohio, plans to buy the company’s assets, including manufacturing plants in Bristol, Oregon and Canada, according to a news release.

“I don’t think this will affect our plant at all,” Snack Alliance Manager Mike Wells said in an article on the purchase in the Bristol Herald Courier. “This fits their [Shearer’s] footprint to grow their company.”

Snack Alliance operates a 42,000-square-foot facility in Bristol, the former Moore’s Snack Foods plant, that employs 246 who make and distribute potato chips, rice-based chips and other private-label snacks.

“We’ve done a really good job bringing this plant back since Snack Alliance took it over in December 2004, so this doesn’t surprise me,” Wells said.

According to the Bristol Herald Courier, the plant employed 78 people at that time and produced about 80,000 pounds of chips daily. In addition to tripling its workforce, the plant now generates about 120,000 pounds of chips per day.

“The combination of Shearer’s and Snack Alliance will create a leading North American supplier of private label and contract pack salty snack products, complemented by the high-growth Riceworks brand,” Chairman and CEO Robert Shearer said in the company’s statement.

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From my     perspective...

Tom Elliott     

Executive Director

2009 End of Year Report Card

• 7 Expansions, 423 jobs, $44.15 Million capital investment

2010 Year-to-Date Report Card

• 3 Expansions, 33 jobs, $6.3 Million capital investment

We are just a tad late getting out our first newsletter this year, so I needed to give you the year end results for 2009. Not a great year, but a little better than 2008. Some key announcements at the end of the year made the difference. Congratulations to Washington County for great announcements with Universal Fibers and Innovative Technologies, and to the City of Bristol for landing the new Alpha Natural Resources corporate headquarters.

As for this year, there has been a slight increase in activity, but not much to show up on the scorecard so far. I am pleased that a lot of my time has been devoted to the right type of activity – prospect activity. At the same time, I can tell you that the competition for projects is fiercer than ever! Other states are offering incentives that we are having great difficulty matching at the state and local level. However, for the right projects that pay a decent wage and provide adequate benefits, we will hold our own.

One of the brightest spots so far this year was the purchase of Nautilus by Med-Fit Systems. This acquisition kept alive a company with a rich history in our region and a worldwide reputation for the best in fitness equipment. As a long time resident of Independence, and having years of involvement with Nautilus, this was important to me both professionally and personally. Congratulations to County Administrator Jonathan Sweet and all the Grayson County officials who worked so hard to make this happen.

While federal officials point to signs of economic recovery, there is one huge factor that still needs to recover for us to see a better year – Confidence. We’re seeing prospects gather data and conduct preliminary research. Let’s hope that more of them regain the confidence to ink the deal!

around the aCorridor...

Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced in November that Alpha Natural Resources will build its new corporate headquarters in Bristol, Va., creating 69 jobs and retaining 131 jobs. This project comes as a result of the July 2009 merger of Alpha with Foundation Coal. Virginia successfully competed with Maryland and Tennessee for the project. Alpha has committed to invest approximately $17.5 million in its new headquarters facility through a lease-back agreement and an additional $3.5 million in other direct outlays. Located in Bristol's new Sugar Hollow Business Complex, the building is expected to be ready for occupancy in mid-2011.

Bland County employer ABB Inc. is taking employee safety to new heights, according to an article in the Wytheville Enterprise. Since the transformer manufacturing company in Bland services the product it sells, crews are training for repairs at wind turbine sites across the world, and in early March they trained on snow-covered Big Walker Mountain. After three days of providing instruction at the plant, Eli Avery of Gravitec Systems Inc. in Washington state prepared the team of six volunteers from ABB for hands-on training in rappelling at the 100-foot observation tower. John Caldwell, health and safety director for ABB Inc. said that wind terminals are typically 300 feet tall—three times taller than the Big Walker tower. The steel structures, he said, are enclosed with various coverings, such as fiberglass, and the transformers are stored in a pod inside the terminal—sometimes on the ground or midway up the structure. ABB Inc. is making sure its crew is trained in fall protection and emergency descent if needed when servicing electricity generated wind turbines. The group also is being trained in CPR, first-aid and defibrillator use by the Bland County Rescue Squad.

A free "Introduction to Exporting" session will be held from 9 a.m. to noon May 4 at the Southwest Higher Education Center for those new to exporting. Sponsored by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and regional sponsors, the three-hour interactive session will also be held May 5 at Roanoke and May 6 in Lynchburg. Intended primarily for new-to-export companies, it is a rare opportunity for local businesses to learn about the benefits of exporting and about free resources available to them to help them expand their sales and business area beyond US borders. Pre-registration is required. To pre-register, click here.

Evatran, LLC in Wytheville, the makers of the world's first "hands-free" proximity charging system for electric vehicles and extended-range hybrids, lauunched a field trial of Plugless Power™ pre-production units in and around Wytheville. Field trial participants include the Town of Wytheville, several businesses, and individuals, each of whom will be driving electric vehicles on a regular basis and supplying Evatran with feedback on the Plugless Power™ system. The electric vehicles, including three Wheego Whips, a Current from Electric City Motors and one ZENN ,were scheduled to be delivered in March, with Plugless Power prototype systems installed after an initial acclimation period.

Carroll County has received word of approval of an expansion of an Enterprise Zone in the county. According to the Galax Gazette, the expansion of an Enterprise Zone covering areas in Hillsville and Carroll’s industrial park at Exit 14 has been extended to highly developable land at Exit 8 in Fancy Gap and Exit 19’s Wildwood business park. The expansion would allow a large swath of land in Fancy Gap—from Chances Creek and Pottery Drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway area, and an even larger swath from Coulson Church and Airport roads to the large, graded, ready-for-development tract called Wildwood at Exit 19—to be added to the more than 2,000 acres in the Enterprise Zone in and around Hillsville. Enterprise zones offer state and local incentives to qualifying businesses.

The United Way of Smyth County announced in late February it had raised $195,334 in a campaign that had a goal of $185,000, surpassing the goal by five percent. The results of the campaign were announced in the United Way’s annual meeting which was attended by more than 80 United Way Board Members, supporters, and agency representatives.

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