Manufacturing Myth Busters: Making a Difference

For this next series we will talk about the many myths associated with manufacturing. You’re going to learn how manufacturing is the largest industry in Southwest Virginia and offers rewarding careers for over 17,000 people. We’ll talk about the products being made, innovation occurring through manufacturing, what the manufacturing environment looks like today, as well as career opportunities.

The first myth we want to address is the idea that we aren’t making a difference. There’s an idea that we are in this little bubble here in Southwest Virginia and all of the interesting things that are changing the world are happening somewhere else, probably in some big city far away. That’s just not true, and in this episode you'll learn about the many reasons why.

Show Notes:
SVAM website: www.swvam.org
Open careers in manufacturing in Southwest Virginia can be found at https://swvam.org/careers/careers/

Referenced Companies:
Universal Fibers, Inc.
Atsumi Car Equipment
General Dynamics Mission Systems
Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co.
Volvo
Tempur Sealy
Scholle IPN
PepsiCo
Appalachian Plastics
Wolf Hills Fabricators
Hollingsworth and Vose

New release: Midwest Textiles and Hollingsworth & Vose Partner Up to Sell Ready-to-Sew Face Mask Kits and Nanoweb® FM for the General Public. View here.

Want more information on careers in manufacturing? Visit our careers information page. 

Other resources: 
https://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/top-five-manufacturing-myths-busted/

https://monroeengineering.com/blog/6-common-myths-about-american-manufacturing/

Transcript

Manufacturing MythBusters: Making a Difference

Intro:

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for joining us today as we deep dive into the world of manufacturing in Southwest Virginia. 

When most people think of Southwest Virginia, they think of our beautiful mountains and quaint small towns. They think of sweet tea, four wheelers, and delicious, hearty food. What often doesn’t come to mind for many people is jobs. Even farther from that thought process would likely be Southwest Virginia’s booming manufacturing industry. That’s right. I said, “booming manufacturing” in Southwest Virginia. 

For this next series we will talk about the many myths associated with manufacturing. You’re going to learn how manufacturing offers rewarding careers for over 17,000 people in Southwest Virginia. In fact, manufacturing is the largest industry in Southwest Virginia. There are over 350 manufacturers located here. That number was pretty mind blowing to me when I first heard it. We’ll talk about the products being made, innovation occurring through manufacturing, what the manufacturing environment looks like today, as well as career opportunities. 

We’re calling this series “Manufacturing MythBusters” because there are a lot of myths associated with manufacturing, especially in our region. 

To start, let’s address a phrase all of us living in Southwest Virginia have heard (and maybe even said ourselves at some point), “There’s nothing happening here.” I have great news for you! That couldn’t be further from the truth, especially when you take a look at all of the things happening in manufacturing in our region! 

The first myth we want to address is the idea that we aren’t making a difference. There’s an idea that we are in this little bubble here in Southwest Virginia and all of the interesting things that are changing the world are happening somewhere else, probably in some big city far away. That’s just not true, and I’m going to tell you many reasons why. 

The fact is, Southwest Virginia is connected to the entire globe because of its manufacturing base. 

You may not know that Southwest Virginia is home to manufacturing companies who also have locations all over the world. For example, Universal Fibers, Inc a manufacturer of synthetic fibers used in things like carpet is based in Bristol, Virginia and has manufacturing facilities in Europe, Thailand, and China. Atsumi Car Equipment, is part of a global company with operations in Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, the United States and Mexico that processes axles for 4-wheel drive vehicles. General Dynamics Mission Systems in Marion is part of the General Dynamics company, a global aerospace and defense company, which employs people in all 50 states in the U.S. as well as 70 other countries. And those are just 3 examples out of the many manufacturers who connect Southwest Virginia to the nation and the world through their many locations. 

Products

Let’s talk some more about the things being made right here in our backyards. That’s what manufacturing is: turning raw goods into finished products. What finished products are we putting out into the world with a “Made in Southwest Virginia” stamp on them? 

• Ever pass a tractor trailer on the interstate? It’s very likely that, when you did, you passed one made at Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. in Glade Spring or Atkins. Their trailers are dubbed “the Cadillac” of tractor trailers. 
• Speaking of tractor trailers, Volvo in Dublin, Virginia, is the largest Volvo truck manufacturing facility in the world. They make the actual truck part for tractor trailers. This plant produces all Volvo trucks sold in North America. This means anyone in North America driving a Volvo truck is driving a product made by Southwest Virginians. 
• Similarly, Tempur Pedic in Duffield, Virginia produces all Tempur Pedic pillows sold in the US. So, if you own a Tempur Pedic pillow, it was made by the great people of Southwest Virginia. It’s likely, if you have a Tempur Pedic mattress, it was made there too. 
• Have you ever purchased a Coke from a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s? Did you know the bags that hold that delightfully sweet concoction is made in Chilhowie by Scholle IPN? 
• Speaking of such beverages, water, tea, soda, and syrups are made at the PepsiCo location right here in our region. 
• Ever heard of Sea World? Appalachian Plastics in Glade Spring makes their electric poles that look like trees. They make them out of a special material that can’t be destroyed by woodpeckers, which was a big problem for Sea World.
• Let’s talk custom products for a minute. A lot of manufacturers in our region do important custom work. These companies operate job-to-job, rather than mass producing one product. Wolf Hills Fabricators located in Abingdon, Virginia is one such company. Among their menu of product and service offerings, they do custom heavy duty fabrications. 9 years ago, Superstorm Sandy forced the closing of the Queens Midtown and Hugh Carey tunnels in New York City, inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of commuters for weeks. Wolf Hills Fabricators worked on flood gates that, in the event of a major storm, can seal the tunnels in about 30 minutes. Talk about making a difference! [INCLUDE LINK TO STORY IN SHOW NOTES]

It’s amazing to think about people all over the world depending on Southwest Virginia because of the products being made through manufacturing. Those people certainly don’t think “there’s nothing happening here.” 

Innovation

You also can’t say that there’s nothing happening here or that we’re not making a difference when you learn about the incredible innovation happening here in our region. Many people think drab and monotonous when they think manufacturing, but today’s manufacturing is more exciting than ever. Manufacturers in Southwest Virginia, on a daily basis, are innovating both in the way they produce a product, such as incorporating technology like 3-D printing and artificial intelligence, and in the products they put out. 

Not to be too much of a downer, here, but we all remember what things were like in 2020 when the pandemic struck. They’re readily available now, but personal protective equipment like masks were very hard to come by in the beginning. Many Southwest Virginia manufacturers pivoted their operations to help increase the supply of these incredibly necessary products. For example, At Hollingsworth & Vose Company in Floyd, VA, several projects were initiated to increase the supply of filtration media used in N95 respirators, surgical masks, surgical hoods, gowns, and ventilators. One of these projects was the development of Nanoweb® FM (a filtration media), which aimed to increase the availability and supply of protective filtration media to not only mask manufacturers, but also the everyday consumer. By providing a channel where anyone could go online and purchase their own facemask kits and media, Hollingsworth and Vose offered the general population an option for enhanced personal protection over a fabric mask alone. If you remember how desperate those times were, you understand how huge this was. 

Another example of Southwest Virginia creating never before seen products and processes is Universal Fibers in Bristol, Virginia. They were the first company to figure out how to dye carpet fiber so that the color went all the way through the fabric and not just on the outside. Image a radish. A radish is reddish pink on the outside, but, when you cut it open, it’s white in the middle. Now imagine a carrot. Cut it open, and it’s orange all the way through. That’s how they changed the way these fibers were dyed. They took them from radishes to carrots. It meant, when fibers were worn down, they didn’t change color. They didn’t fade. They stayed the same. They also produce Woolmax, the most natural synthetic fiber in the industry. Market demand for synthetic fiber started in World War II when the wool and silk fibers needed for uniforms and parachutes were limited. As an alternative, chemical companies developed synthetic fibers like polyester and nylon. Universal Fibers created Woolmax, which has both the performance advantages of synthetic fiber, as well as the neutral organic styling and warmth of wool. So, you see, we’re making big differences, which impact the world, through the groundbreaking and innovative thinking of Southwest Virginians. 

Outdated/Dying

We’ve all been there. Someone says the word manufacturing and BAM! We’ve got an image in our head of a person covered in sweat and grime, doing the same thing over and over again. You’re probably picturing a dark, dirty, dangerous facility. Basically the last place on earth you’d ever want to work, right? I’ve been in so many manufacturing facilities in our region and I have been shocked at how different the environments have been from that same image I had in my head. Many facilities are brightly lit, temperature controlled, and clean. Manufacturing is held to very high safety standards, which makes for a much different working environment than that of manufacturing from years ago. Manufacturers also work hard to recruit and retain their employees and know that a good working environment plays a huge role in that. 

The final notion in this idea that there’s nothing happening here that I want to address is in regard to jobs. I’ve heard so many people say that there are no jobs here. I’ve spoken to so many graduating high school students who tell me they would love to work in the region, but don’t believe there are any opportunities for them. That’s false! So many of these incredible manufacturers that we’ve been talking about are hiring! For multi-level positions! Manufacturers are hiring everyone from machine operators to engineers and everything in between. Currently there are literally hundreds of openings in manufacturing right here in Southwest Virginia - all across our region. Manufacturers need skilled, hard working individuals to make the products the world depends on. We’ll talk more about these jobs and the benefits associated with them in our next episode. For now, you can visit our website, which we will link in our show notes, for a listing of current job openings. This listing is updated every Thursday with the most accurate information. 

Closing

Now you know, thanks to manufacturing, there are big things happening here in Southwest Virginia. Manufacturing is an innovative industry which provides many opportunities for people in our region to work a good-paying, safe job while creating products to be used both locally and globally. Manufacturing has deep roots in our area and is an industry that’s here to stay. In our next episode we will talk more about the hundreds of available jobs, the variety of career opportunities, and varying levels of education needed in manufacturing. 

So, that myth that there’s nothing happening here. It’s officially busted. Thanks, manufacturing!