Success Highlights

Gatorade Finds Eighth Home in Wythe County

Wythe County is home to PepsiCo's eighth Gatorade facility. The 950,000 sq ft Gatorade facility is the anchor of Progress Park. With the sports drink and flavored water markets growing at phenomenal rates, PepsiCo began searching in 2004 for a site for its eighth facility to serve the Mid-Atlantic market. The company considered sites in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Originally, Wythe County was not the preferred Virginia locality in the competition. However, through efforts of Wythe County, Town of Wytheville, and the Joint IDA that focused on key needs of the facility, Progress Park emerged as the leading Virginia site. Despite stiff competition from other states, PepsiCo chose the central location afforded by Progress Park at the intersection of I-77 and I-81. Announced by Governor Warner in a June 2005 press release, the Gatorade facility employs approximately 300 people and represents over $140 million capital. The new Blue Ridge Facility employees the world's leading hot-fill production equipment. The plant has the capacity to double from four to eight production lines, nearly doubling employment, investment, and building size. The Blue Ridge Gatorade facility recently received gold certification under the US Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification program. The Blue Ridge Plant is the world's largest food and beverage facility to have received this recognition.

Gatorade President Chuck Maniscalco stated, in Governor Warner's press release, “We are excited to award Virginia as the site of our newest plant. The Wytheville area is a wonderful community and an important transportation hub to the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley. We weighed many economic, community and resource factors in our final decision, and we are happy to call the Commonwealth home to our eighth manufacturing and distribution facility.”

To serve the Gatorade facility, plastic bottle maker Amcor PET Packaging, part of Amcor Limited of Australia, located to Progress Park Lot 18, adjacent to Gatorade, constructing a 700,000 sq ft facility. In a January 2006 press release by Governor Warner, the Amcor facility produces PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles for Gatorade and other customers. The Amcor facility created 144 new jobs and represented a $105 million investment in the local economy.

Combined, Gatorade and Amcor PET Packaging represent 500 new jobs and $0.25 billion of new investment in Wythe County. Both companies qualify for incentives by locating to a Virginia Enterprise Zone.

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Wytheville Technologies: A Progress Park Pioneer

The first company to call Progress Park home was Wytheville Technologies, Inc. (WTI), an automotive parts manufacturer (press release). The Japan-based Somic Ishikawa, WTI's parent company, constructed a 67,000 sq ft facility on Progress Park Lot 4 in 2001. In addition to manufacturing steering components for Toyota and other automotive companies, WTI soon became an incubator to two other companies partially owned by Somic Ishikawa: Atsumi Car Equipment and Brewer Automotive Components. All three companies operated in the Lot 4 building, and quickly ran out of space.

In 2003, after considering locations in other states, WTI decided to construct a second facility in Progress Park on Lot 11. “The outstanding workforce we currently have in place and the strong level of commitment and partnership shown by Wythe County and the Commonwealth were the main factors in leading us to choose Virginia over the competition for this expansion,” said Peter Argue, Wytheville Technologies’ Vice President in Governor Mark Warner's press release on the 2003 expansion.

As part of its move into the new 160,000 sq ft Lot 11 building, WTI constructed the world's largest zinc plating line, with a state-of-the-art pretreatment system to remove ions from wastewater before releasing it into the public system. The company's 2003 decision to expand in Progress Park brought 102 new jobs to the area and $31 million of capital investment to the community.

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Plant of the Year

Beverage World magazine recognized the New River Pepsi Bottling Group plant in Wytheville as the Plant of the Year in the magazine's February 2006 issue. This honor was bestowed upon the plant as it entered only its second year of operation. Plant Manager Rodney Coleman and his team have designed and implemented a truly impressive operation. The New River facility is located on Nye Road, overlooking the I-77/I-81 overlay. Constructed in 2003, this 330,000 sq ft facility was Pepsi Bottling Group's first new facility in a decade and served as the flagship model for its next-generation, highly automated production facilities. Beverage World magazine praised the plant for its workspace design, technology implementation, and management philosophies. PBG earned this award using a predominantly local workforce.

The plant also earned PepsiCo's Caleb Bradham Award for production quality for its first year of operation.

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Klöckner Largest Rigid Plastic Film Producer in US

Klöckner Pentaplasts of America (KPA) is the largest producer of high-quality rigid plastic films in the Americas. Headquartered in Gordonsville, Virginia, the company manufactures rigid plastic film for such applications as food, pharmaceutical, medical device, electronics, and general-purpose thermoform packaging, as well as printing and specialty applications. KPA has been operating in Rural Retreat since 1993. In early 2002, the company added a specialty product of environmentally friendly shrink film (press release) and later in the year Governor Warner announced that KPA was expanding its rigid film production capacity. Another TDO expansion occurred in 2004. A major expansion of rigid film production capacity was announced in 2005. This series of expansions resulted in the creation of approximately 200 new jobs and $60 million of capital investment. This on-going commitment to the Rural Retreat facility continues to maintain it as one of the most productive rigid film plants in the world.

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Fantastic FiftY

Each year, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Virginia Business magazine name recipients of the Fantastic Fifty Award, a list of the fifty fastest growing, privately held companies in Virginia. Musser Lumber made the list in 2001 and 2002, and Camrett Logistics (now Camrett Companies) made the list in 2002 and 2003. The success of these two Wythe County companies shows the entrepreneurial spirit that allows businesses to thrive in Southwest Virginia (press release).

Musser Lumber was founded by Mike Musser in 1968. Located in Rural Retreat off I-81 Exit 60, the company is a lumber-processing facility with concentration yards, planer mills, several custom sorting mills, a custom dimension mill, and a pallet dimension operation. Musser Lumber undertook major expansions in 2002 and 2004.

Camrett Companies is a full-service logistics company divided into two divisions: Camrett Logistics (dedicated fleet) and Camrett Dedicated Logistics (warehouse distribution). Founded in 1995 by Collin Peel, Camrett Logistics has experienced phenomenal growth (press release). As an example of the company's community support, some of Camrett's trucks display advertisement decals for Progress Park.

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Progress Park's First Mini-Park Tenant

Coalfield Services, a local company founded by Scott Akers in 1977, has steadily grown since it began operation. Coalfield Services is a general contractor to the coal industry and also provides crane services. The company currently operates a facility on Peppers Ferry Road just north of Progress Park. In March 2006, Coalfield Services announced its intention to build a fabrication shop on Lot 6 in Progress Park's Mini-Park*. This expansion will create 10 new jobs and will facilitate further growth for this company in the future.

*Progress Park's Mini-Park is an area in the northwest portion of the park that is designed to accommodate smaller industries. With sites as small as 3 acres, the Mini-Park ensures that smaller, local operations can benefit from the amenities of Progress Park and its Enterprise Zone designation.

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