ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996            TAG: 9602220035
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER

AREA MAY GET FACTORY PA. COMPANY LOOKING AT SITES

A Pennsylvania company that forges steel for the automotive and mining-machinery industries is expected to decide in the next two weeks whether it will locate a new plant in the Roanoke area.

Jim Link, marketing manager for Meadville Forging Co., called premature a recent report in the Meadville newspaper that a site near Roanoke had already been selected for the $15 million to $20 million plant. The plant may well be put in the Roanoke area, but sites in other states are still under consideration, he said.

One of the sites the company has been eyeing is a 35-acre property along the James River near Buchanan. Another site in the Roanoke area also is under consideration, but it hasn't been identified.

It would be to Meadville Forging's advantage to have a plant in the Roanoke area. One of the company's major customer's is The Timken Co.'s plant at Altavista in Campbell County. Timken makes tapered roller bearings for the front axles of four-wheel-drive trucks.

Timken is a major consideration in the company's decision, Link said. Meadville Forging provides Timken with about 2.4 million forged steel cups a year that are used in the manufacture of the bearings.

Meadville Forging operates two plants in Pennsylvania, one in Meadville, about 90 miles north of Pittsburgh, that employs 285 people. Another is in nearby West Mead Township with 55 workers. Those plants will continue in operation, Link said.

The new plant is expected to employ 30 to 40 people when it opens and roughly 75 if operations move to three shifts, Link said.

The company is unable to build the plant near its others in Pennsylvania because Internal Revenue Service rules prevent it from acquiring any more tax-exempt industrial revenue bonds for construction there.

Both state and local economic developers in Virginia have been working with the company to find potential plant sites, Link said.

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