Rolls Royce fires up jet engine plant
By Elliott Robinson
Aug 27, 2010, 14:33
PRINCE GEORGE — Rolls-Royce is getting ready to finish its jet engine plant in Crosspointe. It wants members of the Tri-Cities to get ready for it as well, said Andy Clark, president of the Hopewell-Prince George Chamber of Commerce.
Rolls-Royce held a meeting with the Hopewell-Prince George Chamber of Commerce and members of the governor's cabinet last week on its vision for the site. Crosspointe sits on 1,000 acres along Interstate 295 and may become the company's largest center in North America. It is expected to employ about 500. In addition, it will be home to the Commonwealth center for Advanced Manufacturing, a research center that is a partnership among Rolls-Royce, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.
"They have the potential to bring in lots of research," Clark said. There has been some corporate interest as well, he added.
If Congress approves the use of an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the bladed disk components to the engine would be made at Crosspointe as well. The building of these and other components require skilled labor and other workforce training beyond the people already in place at industries already here.
"Workforce development is going to be crucial," Clark said. "It doesn't do any good for Rolls-Royce to come to hire these people away from other industries. We have to grow the pipeline of the skilled workforce. We need more people to fill these jobs. ... If we don'™t have our workforce trained, they'll get it from somewhere."
Clark said John Tyler Community College is in talks to help in workforce training but the region needs to have students interested in the sciences related to Rolls-Royce in high school. This could require some curriculum changes but Rolls-Royce has indicated that it is willing to help.
"They're committed to finding out the way to get people trained," he said. "The sooner we can get those people trained, the better."
The first part of the facility is slated to open in the summer of 2011.
