"The grading and construction of the building will begin in the second quarter and should finish in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter," AFG vice president of marketing and business development Fred Wallin tells GlobeSt.com "It takes about 12 months to get the equipment ordered from Germany, so we expect to be up and running in June of next year."

Both local and state organizations pitched in to woo AFG in its pursuit of a location for the facility. The company also considered locating the operation in Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee.

"While Washington County was competitive, the real key in our decision was the interest, professionalism and aggressiveness of the team from the community and the state," AFG president and CEO D. Roger Kennedy explains in a statement. "Now that the decision has been made, we feel that Abingdon, Washington County and Virginia offer us unique assets including a well-educated labor force, a solid quality of life for our employees, excellent transportation for us to ship to our customers, and a solid commitment for the leadership of the community and the state to make this successful for all of us."