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Roanoke Valley: Virginia's
Home of Manufacturing

Talk about access. The Roanoke Valley is equidistant of New York and Atlanta, and its central location puts two-thirds of the U.S. population within a day's shipping distance. I-81 connects the region to the third largest highway system in the country, and the proposed I-73, which will run from Detroit to Charleston, S.C., will cut through the heart of the Valley. With this sort of access, the region has become a Mecca for manufacturing facilities, especially in the biotech and automative industries.

Virginia Tech, located in nearby Blacksburg, has a lot to offer both industries. First looking at the biotech industry, Virginia Tech offers the internationally recognized Fralin Biotechnology Center, where the world's first transgenic pig, "Genie," was born. The university also has plans to develop a $100 million bio-informatics institute, which will use high-powered computers to study plant genetics. The Carilion Biomedical Institute, a $76 million research center, is being developed through a partnership between Carilion Health System, Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia and will assist in commercializing research conducted at the two universities.

In the last couple of years, Roanoke Valley has developed a cluster of biotech industries. PPL Therapeutics, the Scotland-based company most known for cloning the first adult mammal (Dolly the sheep), has operations in the Valley. Dutch-owned Pharming Healthcare, too, is operating in the region, where it makes medicines using proteins from cows' milk. InnoTech last year invested $125 million to develop a vision products production facility. CropTech, a Virginia Tech startup, is also working to produce disease-fighting human proteins in tobacco leaves.

Virginia Tech is also playing a major role in the growing automotive cluster. The Virginia Tech Center for Transportation Research is coordinating the research involving Virginia's Smart Road. The Smart Road is a 5.7-mile (9.2-m.) advanced test bed for intelligent transportation systems research. Equipped with all-weather testing capabilities, the road is expected to attract more than $100 million in research funding to the area; it has already attracted some $7 million in research contracts for 20 different projects, and another 100 projects, worth $20 million, are planned for the next several years.

Roanoke Valley also offers "proximity to some of the states that are doing the first line of automotive manufacturing," says Phil Sparks, executive director with the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership. "There is a growing cluster of this type of industry. So if you're looking for an engineer or someone to work for your plant, they can move to the Roanoke Valley and feel like they have a job if something doesn't work out at one company -- there's always the opportunity to go work for another company."

Volvo Heavy Trucks North America and Dynax America, a maker of transmission parts, have had operations in the Roanoke area for quite some time, and last year several new companies moved into or expanded in the region as well. Koyo Steering Systems is investing some $37 million for a new manufacturing plant in Botetourt County, employing 200 within three to five years. Tower Automotive is investing $50 million to add a new 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,226-sq.-m.) facility in Botetourt County for the manufacture of customized frame rails for Class 5, 6, 7 and 8 trucks.

"We selected the Roanoke Valley because of its pro-business climate, excellent transportation network, work-force readiness and high quality of life," says Dale Hemberger, business unit leader of Tower Automotive. "We are also impressed with the technical support offered to us by Virginia Tech and Virginia West Community College."