reas of Virginia that are used to welcoming projects to the commonwealth – the high-tech haven of northern Virginia, for example – find themselves sharing the limelight with areas considered off the beaten path. Rural parts of southwestern Virginia, as well as south-central and Blue Ridge-mountain-range locations in the west, are more than keeping pace with the more populous, eastern areas that tend to attract new projects. Which means Virginia's efforts to help these areas get noticed are paying off.
        "One of the things we've done here is encourage our project managers to redouble their efforts to get non-metropolitan areas in front of our prospects," says Mark Kilduff, executive director of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. "We will still only recommend the locales that meet the prospects' requirements. But close to 50 percent of our total prospect visits are now in non-metro areas. It's beginning to make a difference."
        It's hard to find a region of Virginia that is more rural than the southwest corner, where parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia meet in a mountainous region where coal mining was the economic engine for generations. But Smyth, Russell and Grayson Counties all saw new capital investment in 2003 in industries more associated with the future than the past. Harvest Pharmaceuticals invested US$3 million in a call center and warehouse/distribution facility in Independence, Va., in Grayson County. The new facility will employ 30 people at capacity. Harvest executives are familiar with the region's work-force attributes, having already founded General Injectables & Vaccines in nearby Bland County.
        Helped in part by the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, Teleflex Automotive is expanding its parts manufacturing facility in Lebanon, Va., in Russell County, which will result in 75 new jobs; the plant already employs 200. Troy, Mich.-based Teleflex makes custom-engineered cable controls, electronic throttle controls, driver control mechanisms and transmission shift control systems.
        Smyth County was one of two locations in Virginia to benefit from General Dynamics' investments in 2003. General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products division, based in Burlington, Vt., is investing $6.5 million to relocate its Resin Transfer Molding operation to its Marion, Va., facility, creating 120 jobs. The Marion site already employs more than 650 people at three manufacturing facilities that occupy 1 million sq. ft. (93,000 sq. m.).

An Eastern Investment, Too

General Dynamics' larger Virginia investment goes to Prince William County, south of the Washington, D.C., metro area, where the defense contractor's Land Systems unit will assemble the U.S. Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV). The $64.5-million investment will create 170 new jobs initially, with the potential for as many as 340 over the life of the program. Production of 1,000 EFVs gets under way in 2005.
        "We looked at six major factors in the site selection process: cost, facility and related infrastructure, performance testing capability, environmental considerations, information technology and transportation availability," noted John Wosina, Vice President, Amphibious Systems, at General Dynamics Land Systems, when the project was announced in August. "Each of the 10 bids was evaluated very carefully and objectively; we selected the offer that provided the best value."