Rolls-Royce to build second plant in PG

PRINCE GEORGE - Rolls-Royce announced yesterday that construction will begin on a new advanced manufacturing facility at its manufacturing campus in Prince George County. The aerospace firm is investing $136 million to develop an Advanced Airfoil Machining Facility, which will create 140 new, highly skilled jobs.

The new plant will be located alongside the company's rotatives manufacturing facility on the 1,000-acre Rolls-Royce Crosspointe campus and represents the second advanced manufacturing plant that will be built on the property.

The site work on the plant could start in a matter of weeks, with construction slated for early next year and perhaps even before the end of year. Construction would continue through 2013 with an opening expected in 2014.

"Rolls-Royce is making significant investments in the United States and around the world to ensure we have the capacity to deliver on our promises to customers," said James M. Guyette, chairman, president and CEO, Rolls-Royce North America. "With a mixture of manufacturing and research facilities, Crosspointe is a center of excellence for precision-engineered, high-tech components. The expansion will help attract suppliers to Crosspointe, creating an advanced manufacturing hub in Prince George County and driving job creation."

For the region, it is a major economic announcement. "This means economic vibrancy. It means jobs and more jobs," said Tom Loehr, Rolls-Royce executive vice president for Crosspointe. "It means more good jobs."

And Loehr said the Crosspointe campus will spur jobs elsewhere in the region as Rolls-Royce suppliers and others locate to the area.

In March, company officials said they could potentially open a second manufacturing facility at their Crosspointe location in Prince George by 2014. But Loehr said Rolls-Royce commitment to build a second manufacturing plant at Crosspointe never wavered. Rather it was a question of what would be built at the plant.

Originally, company officials expected to be building engine components of the F136 engine, which was a second engine design for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. But that contract was killed by the federal government.

So Rolls-Royce shifted gears and decided to build commercial engine components at the second facility. The 90,000-square-foot facility will produce turbine blades and nozzle guide vanes for Rolls-Royce engines, including the Trent 900, Trent 1000 and Trent XWB engines. These advanced aero engines are used on some of the most sophisticated aircraft in the world, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Airbus A380 and Airbus A350.

"Rolls-Royce has been steadfast all along with our commitment to a $500 million investment and 642 jobs created at Crosspointe," Loehr said. "The overall commitment to Crosspointe has never wavered."

The company is moving forward with the second Prince George plant because business is booming for the aerospace giant. "We have an order book that is at nearly $100 billion - a record level," Loehr said.

But the change in products to be built at the second facility has required a major shift in the design and construction of the new plant. The new plant will be specifically built to accommodate the manufacturing of turbine blades and nozzle guide vanes for Rolls-Royce engines - which is different than for components of the military engine. "It's a complex transition because the product is complex," Loehr said.

All the major components of the new plant - its electrical grid, its water requirements and even the weight the floor can support will be different due to the new products that will be manufactured there. For example, the first Rolls-Royce plant at Crosspointe required 18-inch steel plate reinforced floors to support the weight of the machines at the plant.

"Just about every component conceivable is dependent on the requirements of the individual [manufacturing] process," Loehr said.

The second plant will continue to feature innovative environmental and technological components seen in the first plant - such as skylights that can produce 70 percent of the light in the plant on a sunny day, and the ability to capture rainwater for manufacturing. Loehr said the second plant will be even more technologically advanced than the first.

The construction of the second plant is not the end of Rolls-Royce's investment in the Crosspointe campus, Loehr said. The second plant means the aerospace giant has met two-thirds of its employment and investment commitment at Crosspointe, which is a phased agreement that goes to 2022, he said.

Rolls-Royce Crosspointe is the group's largest and newest advanced manufacturing and research campus in North America. Today, the first line at the rotatives facility - the first plant at Crosspointe - is operational and producing discs for the group's advanced civil aerospace engines.

The Crosspointe campus also includes the newly opened 60,000-square-foot facility for the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a collaboration of government, university and cross-industry business partners focused on breakthrough developments in advanced manufacturing research and technology in America. CCAM has already launched its first research project, Loehr said.

"CCAM is off and running," he said.

Rolls-Royce supports a global network of 28 University Technology Centers, which connect the company's engineers with the forefront of scientific research.

The collaboration between private industry, universities and government is a key to advanced manufacturing, Loehr said. "I believe strongly that the path to globally competitive manufacturing has to due with collaboration." Loehr said. "I believe that is exactly what Rolls-Royce's Crosspointe campus represents."

Loehr praised Virginia's investment in community colleges that will help Rolls-Royce and others recruit workers that need advanced skills and training for high-tech manufacturing facilities.

"Rolls-Royce's announcement of the imminent construction and start of its second global manufacturing aerospace facility here in the Commonwealth of Virginia is cause for pride, celebration and great responsibility among all Virginians and our steadfast friends at this world-class technology company," said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. "This additional major investment in the Crosspointe campus builds on the momentum of Virginia's partnership with Rolls-Royce, while also further diversifying and strengthening our state's strong economy. Rolls-Royce Crosspointe truly has become a beacon for excellence in America - a strategic intersection for high-skilled job creation, cutting-edge innovation and global competitiveness, achieved as an integrated team sharing a common vision."

Senator-elect Tim Kaine, who was governor when Virginia recruited Rolls-Royce to Virginia, also praised the announcement. "Our incredible network of higher education institutions, including the Virginia Community College System, and infrastructure assets like the Port of Virginia were critical in recruiting Rolls-Royce to Virginia in 2007," Kaine said in a statement. "This is great news for the commonwealth and shows that manufacturing has a bright future in America. As senator, I will fight for investments in our workforce and our infrastructure that will continue to ensure our global competitiveness."

Rolls-Royce is a world leader in power systems with annual revenue of $18.1 billion in 2011. In the United States, Rolls-Royce employs more than 7,700 people in 26 states. In the U.S., Rolls-Royce operates 15 manufacturing, assembly or test facilities in 10 states including California, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Worldwide, Rolls-Royce employs over 40,000 people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in over 50 countries. Over 11,000 of these employees are engineers.

- Brian J. Couturier may be reached at 804-722-5109 or bcouturier@progress-index.com.