Company opens third center,
announces 200 jobs

Global Contact Services (GCS) announced more than 200 jobs with an annual payroll exceeding $4 million in the company’s newest insurance center in Summersville.

GCS was the first tenant for the 20-acre Mt. Hope Industrial Park, bringing more than 450 jobs and a $3.5 million investment in 2001. GCS also has a $550,000 insurance center in Oak Hill, with 80 work stations and more than 170 positions.

Many of the employees located throughout West Virginia are licensed insurance agents ready to answer media-generated inquiries. GCS receives and places phone calls on behalf of its clients, Fortune 500 companies in the insurance, financial services and telecommunications industries.

Crestline Windows and Doors
production expands

SNE Enterprises, manufacturer of Crestline Windows and Doors, announced an expansion and the addition of as many as 150 jobs at the company’s Huntington manufacturing facility.

The company's plant will grow to more than 400,000 square feet from its current 290,000 square feet.

“The cooperation we received from state and local officials, as well as the outstanding dedication and loyalty from the West Virginia work force, made today’s announcement possible,” said Kevin Schield, vice president.

Plastics manufacturer
announces new facility

Officials from PWP Industries announced the company’s intention to locate its newest manufacturing facility in Parkersburg, investing $10 million and creating as many as 130 jobs.

PWP produces PET plastic packaging for the food industry with a full line of products and the ability to manufacture innovative designs to meet customers’ needs.

The company, headquartered in Vernon, Calif., will purchase the 120,000-square-foot Parkersburg/Wood County Area Development Corp. shell building.

With the addition of this facility, PWP management expects the company will be the largest producer of PET packaging for the bakery and fresh-cut produce industries in the U.S.

Aerospace company opens
in new building

Gov. Bob Wise joined U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and officials from FCX Systems to celebrate the grand opening of the company in its new 46,000-square-foot building in the Chaplin Hill Business Park.

FCX systems, which designs, manufactures and sells solid state frequency converters worldwide for commercial aviation, private, government, corporate and industrial lab applications, employs 67 people and plans to double its work force within three years at its new location, with an investment of $2.7 million.

FCX Systems is the anchor tenant for the new industrial park, owned by the Monongalia County Development Authority.

State’s economic advances
touted at business summit

Gov. Bob Wise recounted the most recent major economic development projects, advances in West Virginia’s biometrics and biotechnology industries and important changes to the state’s business incentives at the 66th annual meeting of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the 2002 West Virginia Business Summit.

“None of this good news is an accident,” Wise said. “It is part of a well-thought-out plan to bring our economic development team together to work for the prosperity and success of West Virginia.”

Wise also spoke on the importance of Amendment One, the Local Option Economic Development Act, to the future of West Virginia’s economy. The amendment gives counties and municipalities the ability to help finance economic development projects through the issuance of revenue bonds paid for by the increased value of property tax collected from a new development site.

The Business Summit brings together top business and government leaders from throughout West Virginia to discuss state and federal issues that affect employers and employment.

West Virginia first in South
in number of projects per million

Southern Business & Development magazine ranked West Virginia first among southern states in the number of economic development projects per million people in 2001.

The states included Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Guardian expands Inwood
manufacturing plant

Guardian Industries Corp. announced the formation of a second fiberglass insulation production line.

The $15 million to $20 million investment will result in the creation of 100 jobs.

Guardian Fiberglass began operations in 1997 in a $35 million, 700,000-square-foot facility, which continues to provide a strong complement to Guardian’s four other fiberglass facilities in Arizona, Michigan, Mississippi and Ontario.

The company employs approximately 150 people in Berkeley County.

“We have found West Virginia to be very supportive of Guardian and we appreciate the ongoing cooperation of Gov. Bob Wise and his associates,” said Duane Faulkner, president of Guardian Building Products Group, a subsidiary of Guardian Industries Corp.

Guardian Industries Corp., based in Auburn Hills, Mich., is a leading worldwide manufacturer of float glass and fabricated glass products for the commercial and residential construction industries and is the world’s largest producer of mirrors.

Bruce Hardwood Flooring
adds more than 90 jobs

Bruce Hardwood Flooring announced the addition of more than 90 jobs and new production lines.

Training funds from the Governor’s Guaranteed Work Force Program and support from the Randolph County Development Authority helped make the project possible.

“Our location in the heart of the West Virginia hardwood region is exactly the right spot for our company,” said Rod Rogers, human resource director for Bruce Hardwood Flooring. “Plus, we have access to some of the best workers anywhere.”

University buys electricity
from West Virginia wind center

The Catholic University of America signed a long-term contract to purchase electricity generated at Florida Power and Light’s Mountaineer Wind Energy Center under construction on Backbone Mountain near Thomas, West Virginia.

In this project, 44 wind turbines will produce 66 megawatts, enough to supply 22,000 homes. Conventional production of this amount of electricity would generate 200 million pounds annually of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of more than 14,000 cars.

The Army, the Navy and National Geographic each have bought a turbine’s worth of power from the Tucker County wind project, which equals 4 million kilowatts a year.

West Virginia has the most wind energy potential in the eastern United States.

Report maps out state’s
20-year energy strategy

Gov. Bob Wise, along with members of the Governor’s Energy Task Force, unveiled a groundbreaking energy action plan for the state.

It calls for the continued use of West Virginia’s vast coal and natural gas resources, while also urging the development of new energy and environmental technologies, energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energy forms.

The Governor’s Energy Task Force – consisting of business and industry leaders, scientific researchers, academics, labor, environmental leaders and governmental officials – presented “West Virginia’s Energy Roadmap: Our Approach to the New Energy Economy,” an action plan that the Task Force crafted over the past year. The report can be viewed at www.wvgov.org.

InfoAccess announces jobs,
investment in West Virginia

“The Romney location is within a day’s drive of most major eastern and midwestern cities,” said Len Fowler, president and CEO of T-Base Communications, Inc., the parent company of InfoAccess.

InfoAccess provides multiple-format document publishing, accessible financial statements and accessible compliance and evaluation services to the telecommunications and financial sectors throughout the United States.

“It is a pleasure to welcome this company, which provides such a valuable service to people with visual and hearing challenges,” said Gov. Bob Wise.

Among the many notable accomplishments by T-Base is the development of the first talking bank machine in the United States for the city of San Francisco’s Credit Union in 1999.

“West Virginia offers a good standard of living and a low crime rate for my employees. It is a place with an aggressive education program and a great work force,” Fowler said.

Project retains 958 jobs
at dinnerware manufacturer

Gov. Bob Wise met with Homer Laughlin China employees for the first time since working with the company to keep 958 jobs.

Wise also named Joe Wells III, the company’s new president, a Distinguished West Virginian.

The West Virginia Economic Development Authority approved a $10 million loan in June to the company to allow existing management to acquire the assets of majority stockholders.

Homer Laughlin is a Newell, W.Va.-based designer and manufacturer of lead-free ceramic dinnerware to the retail and hotel/restaurant segments.

The company markets its products under a variety of brands including Fiesta®, Lyrica®, Gothic® and The Ameriwhite® Collection.

AT&T celebrates grand opening
of new location in Charleston

AT&T celebrated the grand opening of the company’s new location in Charleston.

The 35,000-square-foot facility will house AT&T customer contact associates and clerical support, who will provide U.S. customers with information about billing and service.

“The Charleston site is always one of our better performing sites,” said Nancy Pryor, vice president of consumer long distance sales and service. “We attribute that to our highly experienced employees and their desire to please our customers.”

AT&T has operated in Charleston since 1987.

The Greenbrier rated
world’s No. 1 golf resort

Readers of Conde Nast Traveler, a national travel magazine, rated The Greenbrier the No. 1 golf resort in the world.

More than 4,000 readers rated 285 international nominees based on such criteria as golf course design, accommodations, speed of play, other activities, food and pro staff. The Greenbrier scored 90.6 out of 100.

Ted Kleisner, The Greenbrier’s president and CEO, said the professional staff played a big part in the rating.

“The quality of the labor force in West Virginia is unmistakable. They are the best I’ve worked with, and I’ve worked all over. There must be something in the water, because people are innately pleasant around here, and I think people take note of that.”

Family practice group honors
Marshall for grads entering field

The American Academy of Family Practice awarded Marshall University in Huntington a bronze achievement award for having 21.8 percent of graduates enter the family practice specialty during a three-year period.

Excel Homes on magazine's
list of top 25 builders

Excel Homes, which operates a 92,000-square-foot residential off-site construction facility in Ghent, W.Va., is among the top 25 manufactured home builders by total dollar volume in 2001, according to Manufactured Home Merchandiser, an industry magazine. The total dollar volume for all 25 companies was $5.9 billion.

WVU students place sixth
in future truck competition

West Virginia University students earned sixth place in the FutureTruck 2002 competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and Ford Motor Co.

As part of the competition, the students, along with teams from 14 other top North American university engineering departments, re-engineered a Ford Explorer SUV to improve fuel economy while retaining the vehicle’s utility and customer appeal.

The WVU team also won the Best Off-Road Performance Award.

Rounding out the top five slots were the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan Tech, the University of California-Davis, Cornell University and Pennsylvania State University.

Innovative energy projects
receive money from DOE

The U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Program (SEP) awarded $200,000 for innovative energy projects in West Virginia.

One project supports the process of using waste from an industry, in this case coal mining, to produce electricity.

The Industries of the Future – West Virginia program received $100,000 to develop a review of the technologies needed by seven key industries in the state: steel, aluminum, glass, chemical, forest products, mining and metal casting.

W.Va. personal income growth
among highest in U.S.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, West Virginia’s personal income grew by 4.5 percent in 2001, the fourth-highest growth rate in the nation.