ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996            TAG: 9610160027
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER

PIP, PIP FOR PIPE LINERS ENGLISH FIRM TO BUILD IN HENRY COUNTY

A British company will build a $2 million factory in Henry County to make plastic liners for leaky underground pipes.

Applied Felts Ltd. of Wakefield, England, will hire 10 workers before production starts in February, the Patrick Henry Development Council in Martinsville announced Tuesday.

The jobs will pay $8 to $10 an hour, said Sherry Ramsey, acting executive director for the agency.

The company, in business since 1865, only recently introduced its drainage pipe sleeve - made in the United Kingdom - to potential customers in North America. Initial sales amounted to 150,000 feet, or 281/2 miles, according to a company statement. The release did not give a precise date of those sales but said they were over 12 months.

The product, marketed under the Cured-in-Place brand name, is sold primarily to public works departments in large cities, where digging up and replacing leaky pipes may be impractical. The liner slips inside the pipe.

To keep up with growing American demand, the company decided it needed a manufacturing plant near major transportation routes in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The company met with a state export development team while the team was visiting the U.K. to recruit companies to Virginia. The meeting convinced Applied Felts officials to visit the Henry County area last spring.

Local officials pursued the company in part because former textile workers who live in the area could provide the company's work force. Textiles and garment industries have been shedding workers for more than 10 years in Martinsville, Henry County and surrounding communities.

Construction of the 16,000-square-foot factory has begun in Bowles Industrial Park, the company said. The plant is scheduled to be completed in December.

After startup, the company intends to add product lines and "considerably more" employees to its local payroll, local officials said.

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