A new manufacturing line from Maruchan Virginia Inc., a Chesterfield County-based ramen soup and noodles manufacturer, will mean 50 new jobs for the region. The $18 million project, announced yesterday at the county Board of Supervisors meeting, will bring the number of manufacturing lines at the Chesterfield facility to nine. “Chesterfield County continues to offer a number of amenities and opportunities for the continued success of our business,“ said Maruchan Vice President and General Manager Nobuhide Kaneshige.

Struck nine years ago by devastating floods from Hurricane Floyd, Franklin and the surrounding region now contemplate a future without the area’s longtime economic lynchpin.

International Paper’s Franklin mill The Franklin operation was started by the Camp family as a sawmill in 1887. International Paper acquired the mill in 1999, as part of its $7.9 billion acquisition of Union Camp. The shutdown starts Nov. 7, when the No. 6 paper machine is idled. The paperboard operation closes by year’s end—it is a 140,000-ton-a-year operation. The paper operation closes by spring—it is a 600,000-ton-a-year business, with three machines. 8,292—population of Franklin in 2008 34,374—population of Isle of Wight County in 2008 19,262—population of Southampton County in 2008 The Franklin mill is one of the company’s 22 paper mills, including nine foreign mills, and is one of the company’s 21 containerboard mills, including seven foreign mills.

Rolls-Royce, a British company with its North American headquarters in Reston, initially is planning to invest $170 million and hire 140 people at the aircraft engine components plant.

Painful cost-cutting and rising sales to automakers helped the nation’s largest aluminum producer return to profitability for the first time in nine months. Alcoa Inc. yesterday also forecast an 11 percent increase in worldwide aluminum demand for the rest of the year. The lightweight metal is used in everything from airplanes to cars to houses.

A private trade group says the manufacturing sector grew for a second straight month in September, after contracting for 18 months.

Signaling that manufacturers are leading the economy into a recovery, output from the nation’s factories, mines and utilities posted widespread August gains. In a further dose of good news, inflation remained essentially nonexistent as prices scarcely rose last month. The August gains in industrial production marked the second straight increase after the global recession dried up the appetites of customers worldwide. The Federal Reserve said yesterday that output rose 0.8 percent, beating analysts’ estimates.

Jobs and money are coming to the Martinsville area of Southside Virginia. American Foods Group LLC sold its meat snack division to a Tennessee company that plans to invest $3 million to expand production at a plant at Patriot Centre Industrial Park in Henry County near the city of Martinsville. Employment at the facility will nearly double from 130 employees to 250 in October when the expansion is expected to take place, said Karl Schledwitz, chairman and CEO of Monogram Food Solutions LLC, based in Memphis.

A German forklift manufacturing company is planning to close its distribution plant in eastern Henrico County early next year, affecting 57 employees. Jungheinrich AG said it will relocate its sales and service operation to Houston later this year, and it will shut down all operations at its 80,000-square-foot plant at 5601 Eastport Blvd. early in 2010.

A private-sector index measuring the health of U.S. manufacturing declined last month at the slowest pace since August, as companies boost production to restock bare shelves.

Construction: falls for seventh time in eight months
  Pending home sales: edge up

Brighter news on manufacturing and possibly home sales is offering more hope that the longest recession since World War II is near an end. But with construction and many other segments of the economy still weak and unemployment rising, any rebound likely will be slow. A key gauge of manufacturing showed yesterday that industry activity declined less than expected in June. The Institute of Supply Management’s manufacturing index posted a 44.8—the best showing since August, a month before the financial crisis erupted with force.

Reynolds Packaging Group has notified the state of job cuts at one of its Richmond-area plants. The company expects to lay off 158 employees at its plant at 2001 Reymet Road in August, according to a notice filed with the state’s Dislocated Worker Unit. The job cuts will be effective Aug. 1, according to the notice, which was dated May 29 but posted on a state Web site yesterday.

Bankruptcy protection for the nation’s biggest automaker is becoming more probable with a deadline a little more than two weeks away, the company’s top executive told reporters yesterday. General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson is holding out hope that the company can restructure without court protection, but he says the tasks to complete are large.

The slowdown in everything from construction to automobile sales and consumer spending has rippled across manufacturing jobs at one of the Richmond area’s largest employers.