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Italian automobile parts maker
locates facility in Wayne County
Sogefi, an Italian automobile components manufacturer, announced 148 jobs and the company’s $27 million investment.
The company will produce automotive suspension parts for Ford.
“Today’s announcement is a tremendous addition to the economy of Wayne County and West Virginia,” said Gov. Bob Wise. “Sogefi is a major auto parts supplier that has shown significant growth and has a worldwide presence.”
The company, with annual sales of nearly $1 billion, operates in 60 locations worldwide and employs 7,200 people.
Sogefi’s location in the area of the Interstate 64 automotive corridor continues West Virginia’s efforts to target the industry.
First Turkish company
comes to West Virginia
Mak Trade LLC, which manufactures wiring harnesses used in military equipment, announced its location in West Virginia.
The company, the first from Turkey to locate in the state, has several contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense.
“We chose West Virginia for three main reasons: its location near our contracting offices in Columbus, Richmond and Pittsburgh; its location near the main depot where we ship our goods in New Cumberland, Pa.; and finally, the incredible cooperation we have received from the state’s economic development team,” said Mehmet Ali Karatokus, general manager of Mak Ticaret Electronics Ind. Ltd. Co.
In 2000, Senator Robert Byrd, along with then-Congressman Bob Wise and members of Congress from West Virginia and from other Appalachian states, launched the Appalachian-Turkish Trade Project (ATTP) to open new economic ties between the two regions.
Marshall University researcher
produces hydrogen
Research by Marshall University Assistant Professor Dr. Sergei A. Markov will aid the production of hydrogen, necessary for hydrogen-based fuel to operate the freedom car, developed through the collaboration of the United States Department of Energy and car manufactures around the world.
Markov used a bioreactor combining green algae and high intensity light from solar energy to generate hydrogen.
Verizon offers grants to fund
distance-learning network
Verizon will offer more than $1.6 million in grants over the next two years to help jumpstart a sophisticated distance-learning network in West Virginia.
The Digital Bridge project, which will link most of the state’s libraries, community colleges and workforce training offices, will significantly broaden educational opportunities for adults.
As part of this initiative, 176 libraries, many in rural areas, will receive new equipment that will dramatically increase the speed of their current Internet connections.
Verizon’s total commitment of $1,628,000 to the project will be made between now and the first quarter of 2004.
High-tech company brings jobs,
connectivity to West Virginia
Gov. Bob Wise announced that ebSource LLC, a high-technology company, has relocated its Pittsburgh office to Wheeling, creating as many as 50 jobs with average salaries of $60,000 over the next three to four years.
Using ebSource’s remote servers, small businesses can avoid the costs and hassles of installing and maintaining local computer networks and of connecting offices in multiple locations, telecommuters and employees on the road. Companies access ebSource’s services through the Internet.
“The high-speed connectivity available in Wheeling was just as good as that in Pittsburgh,” said Kirk Mechlin, CEO of ebSource. “I also have been impressed with the intensive support of Governor Wise and of state and local economic development officials.”
Morgantown research firm
wins $23 million contract
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has awarded Analytical Sciences, Inc., a competitive $23 million, seven-year contract to support the institute’s public health initiatives with a wide range of information technology services and solutions.
The company, which currently employs about 530 people, has opened a new regional office in Morgantown, W.Va., and employs about 30 new technical personnel.
The new staff works in the Morgantown office and at NIOSH research facilities, in Morgantown and in Cincinnati. Founded in 1983, ASI conducts research and provides technical and professional services to help government and industry clients identify and solve problems affecting human health.
Progress reported on Alzheimer’s test
at Rockefeller institute in Morgantown
Scientists are wrapping up clinical trials on a fast, relatively painless skin test that could someday be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in people who have begun to suffer memory loss.
Researchers with the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute at West Virginia University developed the test after confirming that at least three molecular defects in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients can be found in cells throughout the body, including the skin.
The trials, under way at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, West Virginia University and other hospitals across the country, are aimed at determining which of the molecular pathways is the best indicator, or whether the pathways would diagnose best in combinations.
“We think at least the preliminary studies suggest that it will work. It could be very exciting,” said Ernest Villafranca, director and chief executive officer of the institute, a 3-year-old partnership between academia and the private sector.
West Virginia aerospace company
to supply parts for Hawk UAV
ATK has been awarded a $13 million contract to supply Vought Aircraft Industries, Dallas, Texas, composite parts for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial reconnaissance system.
Production options could raise the total value of the contract to $92 million by 2010.
Under the initial contract, ATK will fabricate graphite epoxy components for an enhanced Global Hawk wing, one of several system improvements being made to accommodate a larger payload.
Delivery of the first ship to Vought is scheduled for mid-2004. ATK Composites, Clearfield, Utah, will be responsible for overall management of the Global Hawk program as well as tooling design.
The company’s Southern Composites Center, Iuka, Miss., and ATK Tactical Systems, Rocket Center, West Virginia, will share manufacturing work on the program.
ABL named historic site
in aerospace, aeronautics field
Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in Mineral County has been named an historic site in the field of aeronautics and astronautics by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
AIAA recognized the facility as “one of the key locations that helped establish the U.S. solid rocket industry after World War II.”
AIAA also highlighted the facility’s production of the “second stage of the Polaris missile,” the Navy’s first generation fleet ballistic missile program and the introduction of the “cast double based propellant process” into the manufacturing of rocket motors, an innovation used to fuel many Navy missiles of the 1950s and 1960s.
Bombardier’s West Virginia Air Center
earns fleet maintenance job
Air Wisconsin has formed an agreement with Bombardier Aerospace for heavy maintenance on its fleet of Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet aircraft.
The work will be performed at the Bombardier-owned West Virginia Air Center in Bridgeport, West Virginia, which employs some 350 people. The five-year contract could be extended to an eight-year period.
Aurora’s West Virginia facility
supports Hunter UAV
Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. announced it has provided pylons and cowling for recent upgrade programs on the RQ-5A U.S. Army/TRW “Hunter” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Operating under subcontract to TRW, Aurora fabricated and delivered the hardware from its facilities in Manassas, Virginia, and Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Bayer Corp. plans
new West Virginia unit
As part of a major capital investment plan, Bayer Corp. will build a polyurethane dispersion units with a capacity of 5,000 tons at Bayer’s New Martinsville, W.Va., facility. Other projects include new facilities and units in China, Germany and Columbus, Ga.
Wireless communications company
announces operations center
Gov. Bob Wise announced that Sequelle Communications Alliance, Inc., which offers competitively priced, wireless broadband communications, will locate its network operations center in Wood County.
Sequelle’s $5 million local investment will bring as many as 50 jobs with salaries of at least $45,000 annually.
“West Virginia will be at the forefront of wireless technology, lending support to a type of communications remarkably suited to the state’s rural nature,” Wise said. “A vibrant, reliable digital network will attract the kinds of companies West Virginia wants.”
CDI Corp. continues to add
to West Virginia work force
CDI Corp. relocated its business support operations to West Virginia.
The relocation of CDI’s Shared Services Center creates new jobs in addition to the 137 brought to Charleston in the past year.
In June 2001, the Philadelphia-based company pledged to add 420 jobs to its existing work force of 317 in West Virginia.
The agreement was part of an effort spearheaded by Wise, in cooperation with CDI and Dow Chemical, to maintain technology and engineering jobs in West Virginia.
CDI Corp. is a global provider of engineering and information technology project delivery and specialized staffing.
Williamson Memorial Hospital
among top 100 in U.S.
Setting national performance benchmarks across four critical areas: quality of care, operational efficiency, financial performance and adaptation to the environment, Williamson Memorial Hospital in Williamson, West Virginia, is among the top 100 hospitals in the U.S., according to Solucient.
The study showed that the southern region of the United States represented the highest number of benchmark hospitals (31), followed by the North Central region (29), the Northeast (26) and the West (15).
It also found that winning hospitals employ fewer staff but offer nearly $2,000 more per employee in annual salary and benefits than do peer hospitals.
Williamson Memorial is in the small community category with 25 to 99 beds. Solucient provides health care business information to providers, payers, employers and pharmaceutical companies.
Cisco CEO Chambers again
accepts $1 salary
Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers earned $1 in the fiscal year ended July 27, refused a bonus, and declined two million of the six million stock options granted him, according to the company’s proxy statement.
Chambers, a West Virginia native, has been working for $1 a year since April 2001, when a sharp cutback in technology purchases sent Cisco’s sales plummeting and led to 6,000 layoffs at the San Jose, Calif., maker of computer-networking equipment.
The proxy offered no indication of when Chambers would accept a more typical salary. In the past, Chambers has said he would do so “when the market recognizes Cisco’s turnaround.”
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