Velan Valve Favors Vermont Location

 
If Vermont is not a good place to do business, why locate here?  Of course there are indigeneous businesses serving the local population, largely service businesses, which one finds in any U.S. state.  But a number of companies maintain their U.S. or eastern U.S. headquarters in Vermont.  Why?  I asked the in-house counsel and Vice President of Human Resources at Velan Valve, Sabine Bruckert.  Velan Valve is a multinational company with 500 or so employees at its headquarters in Montreal and about 150 employees at its plant in Williston, Vermont.  Detailed company information is available at www.velan.com. Velan manufactures industrial valves for applications such as hydroelectic dams and naval ships - the kind of valves that only can be transported on a flat bed trailer towed by an 18-wheeler.   Ms. Bruckert pointed out that the business climate is relative.  As a Canadian company, they find the cost of labor is lower in Vermont.  By locating their U.S. plant only 2 hours from their headquarters, personnel can move easily between headquarters and their U.S. plant without the delay and expense of airline travel.  Parcels can be delivered between the plants in 2 hours.  Executives easily can manage departments in both locations.  Velan has been reasonably satisfied with the workforce available in Vermont, as qualified machine tool operators are hard to find everywhere, not just in Vermont.  And Ms. Bruckert cites easy access to the U.S. Interstate highway system from the Williston plant as another important feature.  Ms. Bruckert reports that the most difficult requirements they face in their U.S. operations are common to all U.S. states, such as post-9/11 security requirements for U.S. imports and U.S government contracts.  Overall, Velan finds Vermont to be an excellent place to do business for reasons that have nothing to do with access to skiing or quality of life.  There are a number of other Canadian companies maintaining their U.S. headquarters in Vermont for similar reasons, and if they happen to also like skiing or boating on Lake Champlain that is an added plus.