Italian Company Selects Charleston For North American Base

Catalfer SRL, an Italian-based company, announced today their decision to locate its new North American subsidiary, New Finishing Line LLC, in the Kanawha Valley. New Finishing Line LLC will locate in the Charleston Area Alliance incubator and begin warehousing and distribution of Catalfer’s products throughout the North American market from its West Virginia base of operations. Catalfer SRL manufacturers a diverse line of chemicals, tools and abrasives for the automotive, wood and marine industries.

A large sales force will promote New Finishing Line’s products throughout the North and South American markets. The company plans to begin looking for a permanent site in West Virginia soon to manufacture and prepare final assembly operations – its first North American manufacturing site – creating as many as 40 new jobs by 2008.

State's Second Major Interstate Electric Transmission Project Announced

Allegheny Energy announced on February 28 a proposal by its electricity delivery business, Allegheny Power, to build the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line - a new transmission line from West Virginia to central Maryland.

The project is aimed at improving system reliability and reducing transmission congestion in the region. The proposed 500-kilovolt transmission line would span about 330 miles, all within Allegheny's service territory, from the Weirton, West Virginia, area to near Kemptown, Maryland. Allegheny's proposal will make effective use of existing facilities, properties and rights-of-way. If approved by federal and state regulators, initial engineering and planning is expected to begin in 2007, with the first segment in place in 2013. The projected cost is approximately $1.4 billion.

High-Tech U.K. Firm To Locate North American Office In Kanawha Valley

Applied Computing & Engineering, a company specializing since 1987 in the development and marketing of computer software for simulating engineering design and manufacturing processes, announced today they will be establishing a North American office in the Kanawha Valley. The company, based in the United Kingdom, will locate an office in Kanawha County and begin to develop new clients in the U.S. market. Applied Computing currently works with such respected companies as Boeing, Rolls Royce, Nissan Motors, Daimler Chrysler, Jaguar Cars, and Airbus Industries.

“We are eager to open our West Virginia operation,” said Dr Stewart Allinson, Managing Director of Applied Computing. Yash Khandhia, Technical Director for Applied Computing believes the Charleston operation will become significant in the first two years. “If our plans succeed, we will move a substantial portion of our software development operations to Charleston. In two years we anticipate that we may have up to ten graduate engineers working in software development and technical support.”