Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993 TAG: 9301230088
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
COMPUTER PIPELINE KEEPS BUSINESS IN VIRGINIA
The executive director of the Virginia Economic Bridge Initiative had high hopes of spinning off some of Northern Virginia's booming business to Southwest Virginia when she took the job."I went to Northern Virginia in 1989 when we were at the height of our economy," Flo Graham told the Wythe County Joint Industrial Development Authority at its meeting Thursday. "We thought we were going to be able to move business after business after business down here to Southwest Virginia."
It did help bring an AT&T operator-assistance center to Norton with 300 jobs and a C&P operation to Pulaski with 100 jobs. But its emphasis now is on telling Northern Virginia companies what Southwest Virginia already offers - through a Virginia Procurement Pipeline, a program being developed at Virginia Tech.
Graham said 350 Southwest Virginia businesses are listed on Tech's computer, along with where they're located and what they produce. Plans call for all Southwest Virginia's companies to be on the computer list eventually, so Northern Virginia companies can see what is available.
The program already has yielded business. She cited Mobil Oil's purchase of $3.2 million worth of uniforms for gas station attendants from Lebanon Apparel in a joint venture with Crest Uniform Inc. of Salem. That will add 30 jobs at the Lebanon plant.
"Mobil did not buy $3.2 million worth of uniforms to be good guys. It was the best business deal they could get, and that's why they did it," Graham said.
"The procurement opportunities are unlimited for us. We may not be able to move big businesses down right now - we will later - but right now we can work on letting people know where Southwest Virginia is, that we're the manufacturing heart of Virginia and that we have lots of things to sell," she said.
"We're not trying to get anybody in Northern Virginia to do a handout," she said. "We are competitive down here. The only thing we have to do is communicate this to the people who are buying."
Bridge representatives were shocked when they met procurement people in Roanoke and learned how they went about seeking products they need.
"They have their normal list of people that they buy from, but, when they can't find what they need on their normal list, they go to the phone book. And guess what phone books they use? Charlotte [N.C.]. They are purchasing those things that they can't find on their normal list out of state. So what we're trying to do is keep business in Virginia."
Graham said Tech's data base eventually would be like a telephone directory.
The program also has held workshops in Southwest Virginia on electronic data interchange, which more businesses are using for procurement and which the federal government will be using by 1996.