
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991                   TAG: 9104200154
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY/ BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

L & M TO CLOSE SALEM PLANT; 40 JOBS LOST

L & M Valve Co. said Friday it will close its Salem plant this summer, leaving about 40 employees without jobs. The company is consolidating the operation with a new plant in Vancouver, Wash.

Wayne Reichert, president ofL & M Valve's parent, Technaflow Co. of Warren, Ohio, did not return three telephone calls seeking information about the move. Johnny Ellis, the plant's manager, was out of town.

Technaflow has bought a competitor's business and is consolidating its operations at Vancouver.

John Mayhew, founder of the company and owner of the 20,000-square-foot building on Southside Drive where L & M operates, confirmed the company expects to move out about June. The lease runs until September, he said.

Only a small number of the work force of 44 or 45 have been offered transfers, Mayhew said.

Mayhew started the company, a maker of valves for paper mills and other heavy industry, in 1974. He said he had enlarged the business to more than 60 employees before selling it to Technaflow.

Mayhew said he plans to take over the building and make electronic hydraulic systems to open and close valves. He's sold prototypes of the hydraulic systems, he said.

Mayhew said he will probably start with five or six employees. This is a niche market of $3 million to $5 million a year, "ignored by the big companies," he said.

He also operates Virginia Valve Co. at his home, a business he started four years ago.

by CNB