
DATE: Monday, June 9, 1997                  TAG: 9706070270

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: SMALL BUSINESS 
SOURCE: BY DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   74 lines

RADVA CORP. - PORTSMOUTH: FOAM MAKER GIVES BACK BY HIRING FROM WELFARE ROLLS

You know the foam packing material that wrapped your new computer, dishwasher or crystal wine glass from the Harlequin Romance book club? It was probably made right here.

From a nondescript office and warehouse off Frederick Boulevard, Radva Corp.'s 35 employees work around the clock to produce hundreds of custom-molded foam forms used mostly in packaging.

Radva also makes other foam products such as insulated coolers, cup holders and seed starter kits.

Headquartered in Radford, the publicly held company posted annual sales last year of almost $10 million. That's a huge leap from its beginnings 35 years ago in Luther Dickens' kitchen. Dickens used a pressure cooker and a bandage box to transform expandable polystyrene beads into molded plastic.

Today, Radva employs 125 in Radford and Portsmouth and has an international customer list - including Canon, Gateway 2000 and Hewlett-Packard in Virginia. For two consecutive years, Radva has earned one of Canon's Outstanding Supplier Awards.

``That's our Oscar,'' said Stephen Dickens, Radva shape molded products division president in Radford. ``It took 10 years to get that award. Canon is as tough as they come for quality and expectations.''

But in Portsmouth, what has caught the eye is the company's commitment to the community:

Radva is one of the largest recyclers of polystyrene on the East Coast. It's ahead of the curve in helping get Portsmouth residents off welfare by offering jobs. Plus, it assists the city's economic development office by giving tours of its plant to prospective industries.

``We've worked very hard in the community,'' said Michael R. Samples, Portsmouth plant manager.

Working with Social Services, the Portsmouth Radva plant has hired eight employees off the welfare rolls since November. Three are still with the company.

``We are trying to provide an opportunity to work,'' said Martha Samples, personnel director.

Since 1992, the company has recycled about 700 tractor-trailer loads of polystrene. Radva not only recycles its own by-products, but it also collects foam from the community as well as from other businesses in the region.

``Recycling is a corporate responsibility we take very seriously,'' Michael Samples said.

And Radva is so accustomed to conducting tours for companies eyeing Portsmouth that they give visitors an 8-by-10-inch glossy of the staff in a plush portfolio. The company has also landed three big contracts through these tours.

Radva opened its Portsmouth outlet on a former landfill in the late 1970s primarily to manufacture protective foam casings for the General Electric television plant in Suffolk. GE has since closed its local operation and Radva picked up other accounts.

Within the last two years, Radva has invested about $750,000 in updated, high-tech equipment in Portsmouth. The company is considering expanding the local plant within the year, Dickens said., doubling the area and hiring 10 additional employees. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

JIM WALKER

"We've worked very hard in the community," said Portsmouth plant

manager Michael Samples, right, posing with assistant plant manager

Anthony Bremby.

HEADQUARTERS: Radford, Va

OFFICES: Portsmouth

LINES OF WORK: Foam products

WHEN ORGANIZED: 1962

EMPLOYEES: 125

CEO: Luther Dickens

THE CHAMBER SAYS: "A technology firm with staying power. Hires

unskilled workers and provides them with good wages."