Project Will Also Include $7 Million Investment

Governor McAuliffe announced today that Intertape Polymer Group (IPG) will expand their manufacturing operation in Pittsylvania County. The expansion will include the installation of three production lines at their facility in Pittsylvania County. The expansion will create 15 new jobs and bring $7 million in capital investment.

Tobacco Commission member, Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore said, “It is gratifying that Intertape Polymer Group chose to expand its Pittsylvania County operation out of more than a dozen locations around the globe. The Commonwealth’s diverse advanced manufacturing sector employs more than 240,000 Virginians, and our workforce remains one of our greatest assets to help win competitive projects. We look forward to a continued partnership with IPG and to the company’s next chapter of success in Southern Virginia.”

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced Thursday that Unison Ltd, a leading global tube bending machine specialist, will invest $5.2 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing operation in the Cane Creek Centre Industrial Park, jointly owned by the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County. Virginia successfully competed against North Carolina and the United Kingdom for the project, which will create 35 new jobs. Governor McAuliffe successfully recruited this project for the Commonwealth during his June 2017 trade and marketing mission to Europe where he met with company officials at the Paris Air Show.

“We are thrilled to add Unison to Virginia’s international corporate roster, and know the company will be a strong addition to the growing manufacturing community in Danville-Pittsylvania County,” said Governor McAuliffe, speaking at the event. “I met with Unison officials on this important project in June, and am proud the Commonwealth was selected as the company’s entry point into the U.S. market. Strengthening the advanced manufacturing sector is a key component of diversifying and building the new Virginia economy, and we look forward to helping Unison succeed.”

Southeast Manufacturing News featured an article on Virginia's workforce development program in the August 2017 issue.

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Virginia’s Rolls-Royce Crosspointe plant shares its strategies for attracting, hiring and supporting its workers, while Danville Community College excels with its integrated machining education model.

Photo: This worktable demonstrates some of the more interesting parts students are tasked with machining in the Gene Haas Center. Rather than take contracts from customers, the program focuses on giving students work that ensures that they leave with core competencies in milling, grinding, EDM, tool presetting and metrology.

A recurring topic of discussion during my recent trip touring Virginian manufacturing facilities was labor: finding it, hiring it, training it. For some manufacturers, the local reality is that there are not enough already-skilled people looking for work. Hiring under these circumstances entails offering access to technical education of some kind, or a lot of on-the-job training. On the other hand, some other manufacturers have been able to partner with local higher-education institutions in order to establish “pipelines” of people with the skills necessary to begin work with less additional training.

A three-day journey through Virginia shows advanced manufacturing’s concern with pursuing lean principles when facing challenges rooted in the past and arriving on the horizon.

Photo: An employee at TMI Autotech looks over a part drawing in the facility’s machine shop. The company is increasingly being asked to machine small batches of parts for clients such as those that supply TMI with car components.

Amid reassurances from our hosts that Virginia’s weather isn’t usually overcast, rainy and chilly in the middle of May, I and three other media guests traveled town to town for three days visiting, all in all, 10 manufacturers, industry education institutes and R&D campuses. Our ebullient hosts from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) drove our party across the leafy (and yes, wet) hills and valleys of central and southern Virginia to meet manufacturers which, despite their various industries and end markets, nevertheless shared some common concerns: finding and training skilled labor, and pursuing lean principles in the face of challenges both rooted in the past and looming on the horizon.

A second business has signed a purchase agreement for acreage in the Berry Hill Industrial Park, the Regional Industrial Facility Authority announced at a meeting Monday.

Enviva Development Holdings LLC has signed an agreement to buy a 168-acre tract along Berry Hill Road. The company will conduct due diligence on the site — investigations into the suitability of the site for the project — over the next year, with the right to extend the agreement or terminate it without penalty.

It is expected the company, founded in 2004, will invest more than $100 million in the project and create indirect and direct above-average paying jobs, according to Jesse Barksdale, vice chairman of RIFA.

Local officials and Kyocera SGS Tech Hub LLC — which announced in September it was bringing 35 jobs and $9.5 million in investment to the Dan River Region — broke ground Monday morning for its planned facility at the Cyber Park.

Company President Jason Wells — speaking to attendees at the event — called the groundbreaking a “monumental milestone” and a representation of progress and opportunity for the region.

Business leaders, Kyocera representatives and elected officials from Danville and Pittsylvania County attended the ceremony across from the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

Monogram Food Solutions to invest $7.2 million to add warehousing and logistics facility to operation

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today that Monogram Food Solutions, LLC, a Memphis-based manufacturer of value-added processed meats, will invest $7.244 million to establish a warehousing and logistics operation in Henry County. The company has operated a meat snacks production facility in the Henry County Patriot Centre Industrial Park since 2009. Virginia successfully competed against two other states for the project, which will create 101 new jobs.

Speaking about today's announcement at an event in Henry County, Governor McAuliffe said, "I am thrilled to be back in the region to announce Monogram Food Solutions' new operation, which brings the company's total job creation in Henry County to more than 300 in less than one year. Working with companies like Monogram to grow and create new jobs in regions that need them is a key part of my administration's efforts to build a new Virginia economy. I thank Monogram for continuing to invest in our great Commonwealth."

"Monogram's announcement is further proof that Virginia offers the assets companies seek to grow their businesses," said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Maurice Jones. "The combination of great talent, strong infrastructure, pro-business climate and great incentives distinguish the Commonwealth as a great place for business. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Monogram for years to come."