Northrop Grumman
BY KRISTEN UPPERCUE. Northrop Grum-
man, a global aerospace and defense tech-
nology company serving the U.S. military,
opened a new 50,000-square-foot facility
this year at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory
in Rocket Center, WV, to help meet the mil-
itary’s growing demand for rocket motors.
The company has invested more than
$100 million in the new facility over the
past five years alongside the U.S. Navy,
which owns the lab. The new facility is
designed to optimize manufacturing flow,
reducing product travel time and distance
between operations. Due to facility growth,
the state of West Virginia has supported
the company by helping to retain more
than 1,100 jobs, and more than 500
Rockwool North America
BY JEAN HARDIMAN. Rockwool is working
on a $150 million investment in Jefferson
County that will create its second stone
wool insulation manufacturing plant
in the U.S. The project builds on the
foundations established by its facility in
Marshall County, MS, which opened in
2014, and more than 30 years of history
in North America and 80 years globally.
The new facility, which has a targeted
completion date of fall 2020, will help
Rockwool meet growing customer demand
for its stone wool insulation products,
especially in the economically vibrant
Mid-Atlantic region.
Combined with taxes paid and payroll
for staff members, Rockwool projects that
in total $218 million will be injected into
the local economy over the first 10 years
of operation. It's expected to employ 150
people directly with all but a small handful
being hired locally. Opportunities with
Rockwool in Ranson will be in the areas of
operations, engineering, maintenance and
trades for building improvements, super-
vision of safety, quality, quantity, cost, effi-
ciency, environment and customer service.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
additional jobs are expected to be created
at the location in fields ranging from
production operators to engineers over
the next five years. Northrop Grumman
will also be spreading out the expansion
of the facility in phases over the next few
years to keep pace with production needs.
Northrop Grumman provides products
that discover threat detection and secure
communications in many different plat-
forms, including cyber defense, space mis-
sions and strike systems for the country’s
military and logistics, modernization and
autonomous systems, to organizations
around the world. It is also the leading
provider of the C4ISR analysis systems,
which provide integrated solutions that
support the U.S. and its allied forces.
“Our Rocket Center team has engi-
neered and manufactured technologies
to support our military for more than 70
years,” says Vice President and General
Manager of Defense Systems Mike Kahn.
“We are extremely pleased that the state of
West Virginia will be supporting invest-
ments in both infrastructure and in our
workforce to ensure we can continue to
deliver the capacity and cutting-edge tech-
nology that our military services need to
execute their missions for years to come.”
“We anticipate an approximate 80/20
split between technician roles supporting
the production line and leadership/man-
agement positions,” says Michael Zarin,
vice president of group communications.
“We offer competitive compensation
packages with baseline salaries for tech-
nical positions ranging between $35,000-
$55,000 per year and with leadership/
management positions averaging around
$85,000 per year. Based on experience
elsewhere, we expect a similar number of
indirect jobs will be created as we build
supplier relationships and locally source
services and products. During the factory
construction phase, there will be as many
as 250 people working on-site.”
Solvay
BY KATLIN SWISHER. Undergoing a $70
million expansion at its Willow Island,
WV, manufacturing plant, Solvay is ex-
pected to create 30-40 new union jobs
when its expansion is complete in 2021.
The Willow Island location is a man-
ufacturing site for Solvay’s Technology
Solutions global business unit, which
supplies specialty chemicals to customers
worldwide. Its primary focus is the pro-
duction of UV light stabilizers, which are
used to reduce the harmful effects of the
sun’s radiation on plastics.
The ongoing expansion will create a
second, fully independent high molecular
weight and hindered amine light stabilizer
manufacturing unit spanning 27,000
square feet that complements the existing
product line.
“This state-of-the-art facility was de-
signed with the latest improvements in
technology to ensure operator safety,
reduce impact on the environment and
improve the quality and consistency of
the final product,” says David Fenton,
industrial director of polymer additives
in Solvay’s Technology Solutions global
business unit. “The new design is well
laid out, and the equipment is easy to
access, creating a safer space for teams
to conduct maintenance activities. Solids-
handling capabilities have also been up-
graded to create an even safer and more
productive working environment for em-
ployees, which ultimately leads to greater
efficiency and improved customer service.”
The expansion doubles Solvay’s cur-
rent capacity, enabling the company to
provide greater security of supply and a
faster response to customers as demand
for Solvay’s light stabilizers and the poly-
olefin plastics they support grows. Com-
pletion of phase one is expected this fall
with the full unit operational in 2021.