MOVE PAYING OFF FOR SHELTER MAKER

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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 15, 1993                   TAG: 9304150070
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
MOVE PAYING OFF FOR SHELTER MAKER
VFP Inc., a longtime maker of equipment shelters for international communication companies, has more than doubled its space and expanded its market with a move from Roanoke to a new Botetourt County building.
The company will show off its $3.2 million plant tonight. U.S. Sen. John Warner will speak at the facility in East Park on Alternate U.S. 220. Customers, suppliers and the company's 120 employees have been invited, said VFP President Frank Van Balen.
The company moved in January from a crowded 37,000-square-foot plant in Blue Ridge Center for Industry to the new 82,000-square-foot block and steel building.
VFP makes lightweight, fiberglass-coated communication buildings. It has expanded into the manufacture of standby power systems. One of the largest was a 1,200-kilowatt backup generating system for a supercomputer sold to an overseas customer. Van Balen won't detail the location, citing security reasons.
VFP also has provided an uninterruptible power source as a backup system for Carilion Health System's computer building on Reserve Avenue Southwest.
Van Balen said the company's volume is expected to increase by 25 percent this year. About half of VFP's production is to foreign customers in 53 companies.
South American markets are a new venture. Van Balen predicted they will grow by three or four times.
The company sells shelters and systems to commercial and military users, including such international firms as AT&T, Motorola and Northern Telecom Ltd., as well as to local communication firms and satellite transmission companies.
In its new facility, the company is installing more equipment in the shelters, work formerly done at the building site, and doing more for customers, Van Balen said.
It's a matter of more electronic engineering, he added. "We're more of a job shop."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB