Tuesday's visit by President Barack Obama provided us our first opportunity to speak with the man who runs V&M Star's parent company in France.
Obama talked about how efforts to rescue the economy are working, creating jobs, growing small businesses and keeping communities like Youngstown going. He sited the $650 million expansion project at V&M, which promises to create 350 additional jobs as an example of how current policies are working.
Phillippe Crouzet is the chairman of the management board for the Vallourec Group and was in the audience when the president spoke.
Crouzet said the government's infusion of nearly $20 million in federal stimulus money helped persuade the company to locate its expansion in the Valley. He also said the local facility, its closeness to natural gas deposits and its skilled workforce gave the Mahoning Valley an advantage over other potential sites, such as Houston, Texas.
Crouzet said the company will move workers from V&M Star's existing plant into the new facility, saying "by moving people, we move the knowledge, we bring the knowledge immediately. This we could not have done in Houston."
The expansion project will create about 400 construction jobs, as well as 350 new manufacturing jobs, effectively doubling V&M Star's current work force.
V&M Star Expansion Facts
- The new mill will total more than one million square feet of space and will be located in the Brier Hill Industrial Park, created through a cooperative agreement between Girard and Youngstown.
- The new facility is expected to employ 350 new people, doubling the size of its current workforce.
- About $4.37 million worth of Recovery Act funds will help with excavating, grading and drainage improvements to the site.
- Another $16.5 million in recovery funds will help with Phase II, or the building of a rail spur and rail marshalling yard that will help V&M move freight to and from the main railway.
- The new facility is set to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the expansion is expected to take about 18 months to complete.
