ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: TUESDAY, October 19, 1993                   TAG: 9310190015
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


ROANOKE FACTORY'S PRODUCT HELPS POWER NEW MUSTANG

Vitramon Inc.'s plant in Roanoke is expanding, and the company's relationship with Ford Motor Co. is a major reason.

Ford is high on the quality of the ceramic chip capacitors that Vitramon makes for its vehicles.

As evidence of that, Vitramon's Roanoke plant was one of two parts suppliers picked to be among the 100 sites nationwide where Ford unveiled its newly redesigned 1994 Mustang on Monday.

The ceremony "signifies the value of our relationship with Ford," said John Dyer, Vitramon's manufacturing manager

Each new Mustang contains 400 tiny chip-shaped Vitramon capacitors.

The solid-state capacitors, which are about the size of a sunflower seed, store and regulate power on electronic circuit boards. Ford uses them to operate air bags, electronic engine controls, automobile entertainment systems and anti-lock brakes.

Ford represents 25 percent of Vitramon's capacitor business. The company declined to put a dollar value on Ford's contract but said its total production is worth $125 million a year. Vitramon's other major customers include AT&T, Motorola, Chrysler and Northern Telecom.

Based in Monroe, Conn., Vitramon is a subsidiary of Thomas & Betts Corp., an electrical and electronics company whose headquarters is in Bridgewater, N.J. In addition to the Roanoke plant, Vitramon makes capacitors at plants in Connecticut, Brazil, England, France and Germany.

The quality of the capacitors made at the Roanoke plant is bringing more jobs to the Roanoke Valley, said Dyer.

Vitramon announced last December that it planned a $21 million expansion of its Roanoke plant that would add 50,000 square feet to its 73,000-square-foot factory in the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology.

Vitramon considered expanding production in Mexico or Singapore instead but was swayed by a $350,000 state grant and $150,000 from city funds to put the additional production in Roanoke. The public money was used for site preparation for the plant addition.

After contractor J.M. Turner & Co. finishes the plant addition, Vitramon plans in January to add 60 employees to its 300-person work force. The company say it will add another 140 over the next four years.

The Roanoke plant will ship one billion capacitors this year, Dyer said. The expansion will increase the plant's annual capacity to 3 billion.

Coy Renick, the plant's human resources manager, said 2,000 people have filed applications with the Virginia Employment Commission for jobs at the plant.

The company hires workers with a high-school diploma or the equivalent and trains them for the job.

Renick said Vitramon offers a benefits package that amounts to 46 cents for each dollar of wages and includes comprehensive health care and two pension plans. The current average wage is $6.75, but that is somewhat low because its work force currently contains many new employees, he said.

At Monday's ceremonies, Yvonne Porterfield and Houston Carter, both workers who have been with Vitramon throughout its five years in Roanoke, lifted the veil from a shiny blue 1994 Mustang two-door hardtop.

Afterward, Vitramon employees, many wearing their white factory coats, were given a chance to inspect the car, trying out its horn and radio.

Phil Nome, Ford's merchandising manager, said the company already has 30,000 orders for the car, which will be in showrooms in December.

Vitramon is one of only two capacitor suppliers used by Ford, Nome said.



 by CNB