LEBANON, VA – June 14, 2022 – An additional 15 new full-time jobs are projected to be coming to Russell County, Va., through an expansion by Polycap LLC assisted by an up to $100,000 grant from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA) Coalfield Workforce Development and Training Fund to the Russell County Industrial Development Authority (IDA).
The grant, which was closed recently between VCEDA and the Russell County IDA, will be used for workforce development and training to assist with Polycap LLC’s planned expansion. The new jobs are expected to be created within a four-year period and will exceed original job projections made by the company when it first located in Southwest Virginia’s e-Region. Currently, Polycap LLC employs 41. According to the application, 80 full-time employees are expected to be employed there within four years, with an average full-time wage of $46,000. The total employment number is 15 more than originally projected in 2019 and 39 more than the number of employees there now.
“We are pleased to assist Russell County and Polycap LLC in this manufacturing expansion,” said Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA executive director/general counsel. “The company’s expectations of creating even more jobs than initially projected when they first came to Russell County is additional good news.”
Polycap LLC was recruited to the Lebanon shell building in 2019 by the Russell County IDA and VCEDA. Polycap is the first and only U.S. manufacturing plant for Plasticap, which was based in Toronto, Canada. Plasticap has since moved all of its manufacturing to the Lebanon facility and now operates solely under the Polycap name.
Polycap manufactures plastic caps and closures for the food, personal care, household, medical and pharmaceutical industries, using an injection molding process. Examples of its products include plastic caps for cashew and peanut jars, salad dressing bottles, liquid laundry detergent bottles, nutritional supplement jars, juice and beverage bottles and the caps that go over spray cans.
As part of the incentive package to attract the company to Lebanon, VCEDA initially approved an up to $3.373 million loan to the IDA to assist primarily with the build-out of the Lebanon shell building for the project. VCEDA also previously had provided a $1,544,087.44 loan to the IDA for the construction of the shell building.
“At the time of the IDA’s application to VCEDA in 2019, the IDA and Polycap projected 28 full-time jobs within one year, 48 full-time jobs within three years (with an average annual full-time wage of $30,670), and 65 full-time jobs within five years (with an average annual full-time wage of $31,398),” Belcher said. “Three years into the project, despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company, which were significant, the company has grown to 41 full-time employees with an average annual full-time wage of $36,000.”
Polycap’s growth since it first located in Russell County is driving the need for additional workforce training and hiring, Russell County IDA Chairman Ernie McFaddin noted.
“The amount of growth they are currently experiencing has created the need for additional employees to be added immediately,” McFaddin said. “To accommodate this spike in employment, additional capital is needed to cover the cost of the new employees and to allow time for the product to be manufactured and sold.”
“We have tremendous growth potential and we greatly appreciate the support through VCEDA and the Russell County IDA, as well as the support from the Town of Lebanon, local resources and particularly our capable employees, who participate in every aspect of our success,” said Polycap LLC Vice President Peter Gossmann. “We feel our employees are our people and every day they add to the training and education of new staff, as well as fully participating in the effort to acquire more employees with the required skills for our injection molding and extrusion businesses.”
About Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority and Southwest Virginia’s e-Region: The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1988 to enhance and diversify the region’s economy and help create jobs, markets Southwest Virginia’s e-Region and its focus on electronic information technology, energy, education, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurship. VCEDA is a unique economic development organization that manages funds for economic development projects from a percentage of the coal and natural gas severance taxes paid by coal and natural gas companies that operate in the region. Located in southwestern Virginia, the region includes Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell, and Wise counties and the City of Norton. www.vceda.us or www.e-Region.org.