Bristol Compressors celebrates five years in Alleghany By DARLENE WYATT Staff To commemorate the first compressor that was assembled here five years ago, Bristol Compressors held an open house Sunday for the people in the community to come and observe how the plant operates.

Community members mingle at the Bristol Compressors open house that was held Sunday in celebration of the plant’s five-year anniversary.

Despite the chilly weather Sunday, between 900 and 1,000 people attended the event. Bristol employees had set up different sections throughout the plant to demonstrate part of the assembly process.

"We’re having an open house to invite everyone to see what has been done here after five years," said Edsel Copeland, vice president of Sparta operations.

Copeland said the plant has 450 employees and builds around 25,000 compressors a week at the Sparta facility. There are three shifts that work five days a week.

"We are proud to be a part of the community," he said. "I am extremely excited to be able to move back to this area and work with the people here."

Copeland was a member of the original team that came to Sparta from Bristol, Va. and worked here about 14 months while the plant was being built. When the plant began operations five years ago, 130 people were employed for a first shift.

As for the future of the plant in the next five years, Copeland said, "I would like to see it double the size of the facility and output."

Some of the first employees hired by the Sparta plant were on hand during the open house demonstrating the plant operations. One of the first employees was Kevin Hoffman who started working at the plant when it began operations on the line, today Hoffman is a process technician. He was living in Troutdale, Va. when he began work at the Sparta plant.

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