By Callie Hietala
A German manufacturing company is investing $85 million and bringing 355 new jobs to Martinsville and Henry County.
Gov. Ralph Northam visited the county on Tuesday to announce that SCHOCK GmbH, the world leader and inventor of quartz composite sinks, will establish its first U.S. manufacturing operation at the Patriot Centre Industrial Park in Martinsville.
Ahead of the announcement, the Henry County Board of Supervisors and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) held a joint meeting to approve several documents relating to the announcement.
At that meeting, Marc Nover, CEO of SCHOCK North America, said that the new facility will be the company’s main supplier for North America.
The new development is expected to create 100 jobs during its first year, and be fully operational by the first quarter of 2023, said Mark Heath, president and CEO of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. (EDC).
“SCHOCK is an absolutely perfect fit for Henry County,” said Henry County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Adams. “We are excited to have SCHOCK join the county’s corporate community and look forward to what the future will bring.”
“We are excited to welcome SCHOCK to Virginia,” Northam said in a release about the new company. “This important European company is choosing to invest in Virginia because of our highly skilled workers and our outstanding business climate. When a global leader like SCHOCK selects Virginia as its gateway into the United States, that’s a sign that this is a great place to do business.”
Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball shows off his SCHOCK socks to the crowd.
“This substantial investment and the creation of over 350 high-quality jobs is a tremendous economic boost for Henry County and the entire region,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball, who removed his boots during the announcement to reveal SCHOCK socks. “Martinsville-Henry County has made a commitment to infrastructure, education, and workforce in the region, and we are confident the company will benefit from these efforts.”
“Our top priority when we came into office was the economy,” Northam said while at the Patriot Centre, where he addressed more than 50 people, including the county’s supervisors, Martinsville Mayor Kathy Lawson, Martinsville UP Director Kathy Deacon, Del. Les Adams, State Sen. Bill Stanley, representatives from Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC) and the Harvest Foundation.
Northam added that his administration wanted to create “good-paying jobs that individuals can support their families with.” A talented workforce is at the top of the list of what makes Virginia attractive to potential businesses. “One of the things we do at the state level is work with our businesses and say ‘What type of employee do you need? How many do you need and how can we help train them?’ One of the ways we do that is through our community college system.”
Support for SCHOCK’s job creation will be provided through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a workforce initiative created by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in collaboration with the Virginia Community College System and other higher education partners. The program accelerates new facility start-ups through the direct delivery of recruitment and training services that are fully customized to each company’s unique products and needs.
Rhonda Hodges, Patrick & Henry Community College’s (P&HCC) vice president, Workforce, Economic and Community Development, said the college has “been at the table with this prospect since day one, talking about the workforce, talking about our training programs. They’ve toured our MET (Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology) facility several times, and we’ve already met with the Virginia Talent Accelerator program staff and SCHOCK team.” Not only will P&HCC help with the ramp up stages of SCHOCK’s new facility, but “we’re here for their long-term workforce and training needs as well.”
Nover said that “SCHOCK’s future new facility in Henry County represents a bold, special new step for our company.”
As the company’s first manufacturing plant outside of Germany, the Patriot Centre facility will allow SCHOCK to meet demand for high-quality kitchen products with stock made in the U.S.
He said SCHOCK executives weighed several locations on the east coast but ultimately, Virginia and Henry County was the ideal choice. The area has a mentality, and even a geographic similarity, to the company’s hometown of Regen, Germany.
“Everybody from Germany who visited here immediately felt a bond,” he said.
Martinsville-Henry County EDC President Mark Heath welcomed the crowd of more than 50 to the Patriot Centre Shell Building, in which SCHOCK will create its first U.S. manufacturing facility.
Kate Keller, president of the Harvest Foundation, said SCHOCK’s commitment is “monumental for our area.” Harvest provided a $1,000,000 grant through its Harvest Opportunity Fund, which provides resources to help Martinsville and Henry County’s economic development efforts and provide economic incentives to businesses locating in the area.
“Specifically, we’re looking for organizations to either expand the number of jobs they offer or to bring jobs here,” said Keller. The main focuses were to increase the number of jobs as well as the minimum wage. “Our incentive dollars have to go to companies that pay an average of at least $17 an hour,” she said, adding that SCHOCK’s average is $20 an hour.
“We have talked so many times about how Southside built Virginia, lead the industrial revolution,” said Stanley, R-Moneta. “Manufacturing, textiles, furniture,” and all the things that made Virginia grow and go. Many of those jobs were lost when industry moved their manufacturing overseas. “But there is one thing that never failed us,” he said, “and that was our can-do spirit, our drive to succeed, to put Southside back together as the leader of the economy in the twenty-first century and we are doing it here today.”
As part of that rebuilding effort, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Martinsville-Henry County EDC to secure the contract. Northam approved a $1.7 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to help with the project.
Collinsville Supervisor Joe Bryant credited the county’s foresight in building the Shell Building at the Patriot Centre in helping secure the new economic development opportunity. “They saw something they liked” in Henry County, he said.
“As the slogan says, ‘Virginia is for lovers,’ and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be falling in love with Virginia,” Nover said.
