Tecton Products Chooses Roanoke County
Contact: Robert P. Plagemann, Tecton Products, LLC
701-277-0209
Doug Chittum or Jill Loope,
Roanoke County Economic Development 540-772-2069
Tecton Products Chooses Roanoke County
ROANOKE, VA – Tecton Products, LLC, a manufacturer of pultruded composite products, announced today that it will locate its first Virginia plant in Roanoke County’s Center for Research and Technology. The company will invest $6.5 million in the first phase of the project and create 58 new jobs. Phase II will invest an additional $5.6 million and create 93 more jobs by 2011. Tecton also considered a site in North Dakota for the project.
Headquartered in Fargo, N.D., Tecton Products began in 1990 as a partnership between Marvin Windows and Doors and the company’s president, John Jambois. Tecton’s initial charter was to work with Marvin to develop a high performance window and door product line using pultrusions for the framing components. During Tecton's pultrusion process, glass reinforcements are impregnated with a proprietary liquid resin and pulled through a heated die. The resulting composite profile is strong, thermally stable, insulating and resistant to corrosion, chemicals and moisture. Today Tecton Products has become the world’s largest manufacturer of thin walled complex shaped pultrusions.
Tecton Products selected Virginia for their expansion for several reasons. Tecton’s largest customer, Integrity from Marvin, recently located a new production facility in Roanoke County. “The facility in Virginia puts us in the middle of our east coast customers and Roanoke is a great community for us”, said John Jambois, president of Tecton Products.
In addition, Tecton utilizes complex technology in the creation of their products. “The nature of our business requires an excellent discipline in engineering and material sciences. We plan on developing partnerships with Virginia Tech, which we believe is critical to our future success”, said Robert Plagemann, General Manager of Tecton Products, Roanoke.
Tecton Products is the second company to locate in the Roanoke Valley as a result of Integrity Windows and Doors’ February 2003 announcement to locate in Roanoke County. Cardinal Glass also announced a Roanoke County location that October. The new Tecton facility will be the second company in the Center for Research and Technology, which is the closest Roanoke Valley business park to Virginia Tech.
“Tecton’s proprietary manufacturing process represents the type of high tech manufacturing and technical jobs that we envisioned when we created the Center for Research and Technology,” said Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge. “The close proximity to Virginia Tech was instrumental in Tecton’s decision to locate in the CRT. We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome such a high-quality, value-added company to our community.”
“When Marvin Windows chose Roanoke County for its east coast Integrity Windows manufacturing operation, we began to encourage their suppliers to follow. The announcement of Tecton Products, along with the recent Cardinal Glass announcement validates that Roanoke County is a desirable location for high tech manufacturing operations. Based on Tecton’s market position and performance in Fargo, ND, we expect continued growth for many years,” said Hodge.
The company was aided in its decision by Roanoke County, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, and the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership. The company will benefit from a $100,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, and the Virginia Department of Business Assistance will provide training through its Workforce Services Program.