Drake Extrusion to expand its manufacturing operation in Henry county

Drake Extrusion a subsidiary of International Fibres Group (IFG) and leading manufacturer of colored staple, filament polypropylene fiber and specialty yarn producer in Henry County will be investing $6 million to expand its manufacturing operation in Henry County. The project will also create 30 new jobs. Governor Terry McAuliffe was in the area on Wednesday and he brought this great news with him.

The investment will be in new top of the line manufacturing equipment. The CEO of Drake Extrusion, John Parkinson, said that the company has already started moving in the new equipment and will be fully outfitted by the end of the year.

Parksinson said that the company has had its ups and downs and about 10 years ago he never would have imagined he could make an announcement like he did today.

They really were struggling to make this business work. They had an onslaught of Chinese businesses that just really decimated the U.S. textile industry. Everybody else was looking to downsize the business at that point in time, but they had faith in the business.

Drake Extrusion chose to locate in Martinsville-Henry County 21 years ago, said John Parkinson, Drake Extrusion CEO. At that time they believed that both the state and the locality had a proactive approach to business, which proved to be absolutely correct. As a result, Drake Extrusion has continued to make several additional investments in M-HC, which is now the only locality in which their parent company does business in the U.S.

Since 1996, Drake Extrusion has become the leading U.S. manufacturer of polypropylene fiber and yarns. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden parent company IFG is a worldwide producer of polypropylene, polyethylene, polyamide fiber and filament yarn with additional offices in the UK, Austria, Belgium as well as Virginia. Drake’s products serve a variety of sectors, including residential upholstery, home furnishings, automotive, floor covering and geotextiles.