Huntington Ingalls Industries Builds in Hampton Roads, Virginia

America’s Largest Military Shipbuilding Company Sails through a Century of Success

Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of HII, is the nation’s sole designer, builder, and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy, and is and one of only two shipyards capable of designing and building nuclear-powered submarines. For more than a century, HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder.

Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Company in 1886, Newport News Shipbuilding’s history as the builder of the most complex ships in the world goes back 134 years in the Commonwealth. NNS employs over 25,000 Virginians, making it the largest industrial employer in the Commonwealth and the largest shipbuilding company in the United States, with approximately $4 billion in revenues.

As the exclusive provider of refueling services for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers at the forefront of new ship technologies, specialized manufacturing capabilities, and nuclear facility management and remediation, HII relies on the Hampton Roads region’s world-class port facilities, major military commands, and diverse real estate to accommodate its long-term management and facility needs. In 2016, the Virginia General Assembly approved the Advanced Shipbuilding Production Facility Grant Program, making available up to $46 million in capital funds to Newport News Shipbuilding to help the company upgrade its foundry and invest in facilities necessary to build Columbia-class submarines.

NNS was awarded a contract in 2018 to build significant components for the new Columbia-class submarines along with its existing product lines, including the construction of Virginia-class submarines, the refueling and complex overhaul and defueling of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, and the construction of Ford-class aircraft carriers. A portfolio of this magnitude required a major increase in hiring and an innovative approach to meet the challenge.

Virginia’s pro-business climate, infrastructure, and talent pipeline have contributed to Huntington Ingalls’ growth in the Commonwealth for more than 100 years. When the company made the decision to evolve its business model and technology to include unmanned systems, Virginia remained in lockstep.

Next-Generation Infrastructure and Talent

Spanning more than 550 acres, Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News shipyard includes manufacturing facilities, dry docks, and piers. The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding offers four- to eight-year, tuition-free apprenticeships in 19 trades and nine optional advanced programs. Through partnerships with nearby Thomas Nelson Community College, Tidewater Community College, and Old Dominion University, The Apprentice School’s academic program provides the opportunity to earn associate’s degrees in business administration, engineering, and engineering technology, and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical or electrical engineering. The Apprentice School was approved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to operate as a postsecondary institution in 2020. This certification gives the School the authority to grant academic degrees on its own, further enhancing its national reputation as the model apprenticeship program and reinforcing the company’s commitment to workforce development.

In conjunction with its shipbuilding division in Mississippi, Huntington Ingalls’ Technical Solutions division supports various national security initiatives through unmanned systems, defense and federal solutions, nuclear and environmental services, and fleet sustainment. Also headquartered in Newport News, HII Technical Solutions is comprised of nearly 6,000 professionals in 45 states and 16 countries. Virginia’s digital infrastructure supports the largest concentration of data centers in the U.S. and boasts the second-highest concentration of tech workers in the nation (Cyberstates, 2019). Supporting HII’s mission-critical solutions to a wide variety of government and commercial customers worldwide through next-generation enterprise IT, military training and simulations, and designing and engineering unmanned undersea vehicles requires Virginia’s density of fiber, reliable and competitively priced power, and robust pipeline of talent.

As a longstanding Virginia business, many of the shipbuilders employed at the Newport News campus are third-and fourth-generation shipbuilders. For more than 100 years, Newport News Shipbuilding has served our nation in peace and war, in times of adversity, and in times of abundance. Ensuring the company’s legacy of “Always Good Ships,” this generational workforce has designed, constructed, overhauled, and repaired more than 800 ships for the U.S. Navy and commercial customers.

Hampton Roads is a magnet for quality talent, and thousands of service members exit the military and enter the civilian workforce each year. There are approximately 30,000 students enrolled in career technical education programs in the region in the areas of manufacturing, STEM, and construction trades that help prepare students for careers with companies like Newport News Shipbuilding. Workforce development is at the core of HII’s operating philosophy, and the company invests more than $110 million a year in workforce development, education, and training initiatives, from its apprentice schools at the Newport News and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions to academic partnerships with colleges and universities, to STEM investments in K-12 education.

Historic Hiring Initiative and Investment

In 2018, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division began one of the largest hiring initiatives in its history. Through a partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia, NNS announced a plan to hire approximately 7,000 people, including the creation of 2,000 new jobs, over a five-year period to support the building of Columbia-class submarines.

In addition to this significant hiring initiative, NNS is also retraining employees over five years to incorporate new digital shipbuilding technology and is making nearly $1 billion in capital investments in the company’s facilities and technology infrastructure.

“We are very excited to build this state-of-the-art facility and believe this added capability will truly enhance our ability to perform current and future work, and allow us to remain on the forefront of advanced manufacturing technology. We are appreciative of the great partnerships we have with the Commonwealth, Governor Northam, and our local officials as we move forward in constructing this new facility.”
– Mike Petters, HII President and CEO

Full Steam Ahead in the 21st Century

HII is advancing development of unmanned systems to support the increasing needs of current and future customers that defend our national security. As part of this commitment, the company is expanding its Virginia footprint by establishing an Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence in the City of Hampton. The state-of-the-art operation will create 250 new jobs.

The first of two planned buildings on the 20-acre campus will be used to assemble hull structures for Boeing’s Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) program for the U.S. Navy. The 22,000-square-foot facility was completed in January 2021. Structural development of the main facility, a 135,000-square-foot building, is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2021. The purpose-built facility will be used for unmanned systems prototyping, production, and testing.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is a national leader in advanced manufacturing, and this additional investment is a powerful testament to Virginia’s talent and business environment and builds on the company’s century-old legacy in the Commonwealth.

Ferguson Seeks State-of-the-Art Corporate Headquarters Site

Ferguson Looks for Room to Grow

In its 65-year history, Ferguson grew from a small local distributor to the nation’s leading distributor of residential and commercial plumbing supplies and pipe, valves, and fittings. The company established its corporate headquarters in Newport News in the 1950s and has since become a $15 billion company with over 1,400 locations and more than 24,000 employees nationwide. By 2014, Ferguson’s headquarters workforce had swelled to beyond capacity, and more than 1,000 IT and sales operations staff were working from multiple locations. In addition, Ferguson still needed to grow its team by hundreds of employees to keep up with its growth.

The Hampton Roads, Virginia Solution

Top-Notch Talent

With Ferguson’s history and proven track record of success in Hampton Roads, the region had already demonstrated that it could provide the workforce for Ferguson to thrive. While the company initially considered moving operations to other states, Virginia’s talent base proved to be larger and stronger compared to the competition. Next, the Commonwealth needed to guarantee an office fit for a major corporate headquarters.

The Right Space

Newport News had always envisioned a marquee property owner for the fourth quadrant in City Center at Oyster Point, a 52-acre high-density, mixed-use development with retail shops, restaurants, and class-A office space located in the heart of the Peninsula. Given Ferguson’s long history in Virginia and Newport News, the company was the perfect fit.

“Ferguson is deeply rooted in the Commonwealth, and we have been proud to call Virginia home for more than 60 years.”
– Kevin Murphy, CEO

The city focused its pitch on the fact that City Center could accommodate the growth and space required by the company, and also advance Ferguson’s efforts to recruit and retain new employees. Newport News knew that high quality of life and access to amenities would be increasingly important to employees evaluating prospective employers, and the prime location in City Center could provide Ferguson’s team access to a number of restaurants and retail and personal services. While many sites would meet Ferguson’s physical space requirements, City Center’s competitive advantage was direct and convenient access to many services and amenities used by company employees daily, ultimately helping the company attract and retain the workforce it needed for continued success.

Ferguson Chooses to Expand at Home

In June 2017, Ferguson announced its plans to remain and grow its corporate headquarters in the City of Newport News. The company will invest $82.8 million and create 434 new jobs, while retaining over 1,000 existing positions.

Ferguson broke ground on its future eight-story headquarters in June 2018 at Newport News’ City Center at Oyster Point. The state-of-the-art, 260,000-square-foot facility includes a multilevel glass atrium with meeting and collaboration space, as well as a rooftop terrace-style meeting and event space. The company’s second headquarters campus was completed in November 2020, and around 1,600 associates working in human resources, marketing, e-commerce, information technology, and national sales will report to the new facility in 2021 due to COVID-19.

Strong as STIHL in Virginia Since 1974

No Stranger to No. 1

STIHL Inc., the Hampton Roads, Virginia-based headquarters for U.S. operations of the worldwide STIHL Group, manufactures the No.1 selling brand of gasoline-powered handheld outdoor power equipment in America, as well as the No.1 selling brand of chainsaws in the world. Notably, the company’s products are sold solely through authorized local STIHL Dealers from coast to coast — not big box stores. STIHL Inc. exports to more than 80 countries around the world, and the majority of STIHL products sold in America are also built in America: in Virginia.

Germany-based STIHL Group was founded in 1926, and by 1971 produced the world’s best-selling chainsaw brand. Recognizing the U.S. market as one of the largest in the world, the Stihl family decided to open a manufacturing facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1974. For over 45 years, STIHL has been an invaluable corporate partner in the Commonwealth. Decades of success have resulted in global and domestic competition for the company’s many expansions, but the Commonwealth and the City of Virginia Beach continue to provide STIHL with the most fertile environment for growth.

The Hampton Roads, Virginia Solution

Infrastructure, Access, and The Port of Virginia

Finding a site with access to a major port was a critical factor in STIHL’s selection process, and Virginia Beach’s proximity to one of the country’s largest deepwater ports made it an ideal U.S. location, allowing the international manufacturer strategic access to the global marketplace. As the only East Coast port with authorization for 55-foot channels, The Port of Virginia boasts deep shipping channels, no height restrictions, and double-stack rail service with two Class 1 railroads.

Virginia’s highway system represents the nation’s third-largest state-maintained transportation network, comprising more than 70,000 miles of primary and secondary roads and six major north-south and east-west interstate routes. A majority of the products produced at STIHL’s Virginia plant are sent to 11 branches and distributors across the U.S. that, in turn, sell the products to more than 10,000 authorized local STIHL Dealers across the country. Virginia continues to invest in its integrated transportation system of highways, railroads, airports, and seaports to provide logistical advantages for companies in every industry.

In 1974, STIHL Inc. began assembling one model of chainsaw in a rented 20,000-square-foot facility in Virginia Beach with 50 employees. The manufacturing area was expanded in 1983 and again in 1990. In 1996, STIHL continued its growth with the opening of a new 50,000-square-foot storage facility to house finished goods for worldwide distribution. In 2003, the company announced a 228,000-square-foot addition, followed by another $78.4 million expansion in 2005.

In 2019, STIHL completed a $30 million expansion of its U.S. headquarters operation, constructing a state-of-the-art 80,000-square-foot administration facility to combine the finance and controlling, sales and marketing, legal, and customer and technical service teams under one roof, as well as the addition of a new museum and brand experience center.

Today, more than 2,100 employees work in over 1,000,000 square feet of operating space, manufacturing millions of powerheads a year on the sprawling 150-acre campus located at Oceana West Corporate Park in Virginia Beach. The advanced manufacturing facility uses highly automated technology to produce more than 80 models of STIHL equipment through vertically integrated processes with extensive quality assurance checks.

Top Talent

The quality of a workforce reflects the quality of a company, and STIHL is committed to excellence in its products, people, and dealers. As the headquarters for STIHL Group’s entire U.S. operations, the Virginia Beach facility depends on a strong, consistent pipeline of employees with diverse specialties.

Virginia prides itself on offering the No.1 workforce in the country (CNBC, America’s Top States for Business, 2019), including a robust working veteran population. Each year, thousands exit the military and enter the civilian workforce in Virginia, providing a steady stream of dedicated talent to a variety of industries. The Commonwealth is known for its world-class post-secondary education system that consists of more than 45 local and regional universities and 23 public community colleges with 40 campuses around the state. Ranked the No. 1 Top State for Higher Education (SmartAsset, 2021), Virginia has continuously provided STIHL with a premier labor pool that can effectively fill all machining, product assembly, molding, engineering, sales and marketing, and finance positions.

Another 45 Years

Virginia is home to all facets of the manufacturing industry, and securing STIHL’s U.S. headquarters and manufacturing operation more than four decades ago continues to bring far-reaching benefits. STIHL repeatedly demonstrates a commitment to longevity in the Commonwealth with forward thought, expansion, and job creation. Virginia is proud to be the home of STIHL’s largest manufacturing location worldwide, and looks forward to supporting the company’s growth for the next 45 years.

“The City of Virginia Beach has been an ideal business partner. For over 45 years, the city has continued to create a positive economic environment for manufacturers like STIHL, supporting our continued growth and expansion.”
– Bjoern Fischer, President

ADP’s Search for a Central Service Center

ADP’s Decision to Open an Office in Hampton Roads, Virginia

With a number of business units operating throughout the Northeast, ADP saw the opportunity to centralize certain operations in one location as a way to improve efficiency, increase cohesion, and maximize resources. The global provider of cloud-based human capital management solutions wanted an urban space that could accommodate its needs and attract a strong pipeline of talent.

Enter the City of Norfolk.

The Hampton Roads, Virginia Solution

Dynamic Downtown with Robust Talent Pool

The City of Norfolk, with its walkable downtown, public transportation offerings, affordable housing, and entertainment options, has attracted millennials in full force. Today, residents between the ages of 20 and 34 make up the largest age group in the city. Long known for being home to the world’s largest naval station, Norfolk annually absorbs exiting military into its workforce, while also benefitting from the local higher education system. Seven colleges and universities and four community colleges are within an hour’s drive of downtown, allowing ADP close proximity to new graduates who want to remain in the Hampton Roads region.

In addition to boasting ADP’s target workforce, Norfolk could offer a state-of-the-art office building to accommodate ADP’s needs at a competitive price. Set just steps from the Harbor, the nearly 300,000-square-foot facility at 2 Commercial Place has the space and layout ADP officials envisioned for its regional customer service center. The former bank building’s prestige and location in the heart of the city was the right fit.

“We chose to locate a new facility in Norfolk because of the thriving business climate in the city and Commonwealth. We have the opportunity to attract a diverse workforce that will make significant contributions to ADP and add value to the client experience. We look forward to building long-lasting relationships with the people of Norfolk and Virginia.”
– Debbie Dyson, President, National Account Services

ADP Transforms Norfolk

In March 2016, ADP announced its plans to invest $32.25 million to establish a regional customer service center in the City of Norfolk. ADP, which will create more than 1,800 new jobs, will be a marquee company on Norfolk’s corporate roster and undoubtedly help retain and attract a strong workforce.

Today, ADP is on track to hire more than 1,800 employees in its new Norfolk office.