HENRY COUNTY (WSLS 10) - Governor McAuliffe announced on Tuesday that two companies are investing in Henry County, creating 47 new jobs.
Alcoa is set to invest more than $8 million to expand its aerospace forging capabilities at its manufacturing operation in the county. That money will create 15 new jobs.
Alcoa is splitting into two companies, one of which will produce what the company calls its upstream business the other, which the Henry County operation will be a part of, will produce specialty metals.
"Titanium, nickel, and other aerospace alloys," Joe Piccioni, Alcoa's Ti Segment VP, explained referring to what will be produced in Henry County.
Alcoa expects to complete the expansion by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, the governor also announced that Performance Livestock and Feed Company, a North Carolina-based company, will invest $4.2 million to build a new feed production facility in Henry County.
"It has been a priority, obviously," Gov. McAuliffe pointed out, "to bring jobs to every part of the region but what we do love are the manufacturing jobs and the advanced manufacturing jobs."
The family-owned business plans increase production by 50 percent over the next three years, and commit to purchasing nearly $11 million in Virginia-sourced grains and other feed ingredients.
Virginia competed against North Carolina for the project, which will create 32 new jobs in Henry County.
"We want to supply feeds, we want to be a grain buyer, we want to be a bi-product buyer," President Jason Pendleton explained.
Both companies also received grants from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission.