Rocky Mount, NC, Dec. 19--Ronile Inc. plans to expand its factory operations, adding 74 jobs and investing $1.15 million in its plant. The announcement comes almost three weeks after another longtime Franklin County manufacturing business, Cooper Wood Products, told its 125 employees that it will shut down by the end of February.
"Clearly, anytime we can provide new jobs in the community of this caliber and this quality, it takes the edge off of layoffs," said Franklin County Administrator Rick Huff.
Most of the new jobs will fall into the $10- to $13-per-hour wage range.
Company officials expect to start hiring no sooner than March. Ronile intends to shut down a factory in Lafayette, GA, and move its operations to corporate headquarters in Rocky Mount, said Ronile Chief Executive Officer Phillip Essig. While employees at the Lafayette plant will be offered a chance to transfer to Rocky Mount, it's doubtful many will do so, Essig said.
Ronile's factories in Rocky Mount and Lafayette use different industrial processes for dyeing yarn. However, the company often shipped its products from both plants to the same customers. It made good business sense to do all the shipping from one location, Essig said.
Ronile has about 1,400 employees at factories in five states, with 254 working at the factory on Cliff Street in southern Rocky Mount. The company manufactures dyed yarns used in the commercial carpet industry. A family-run company, Ronile was founded in 1984 by chairman Abe Essig and his wife, Elinor. The company's name is Elinor spelled backward. It started with a yarn-spinning plant in Fieldale in Henry County and moved to Rocky Mount in 1987 when it acquired an existing dye works there. Phillip Essig is Abe and Elinor Essig's son.
Originally the company made yarn for apparel, but withdrew from that market in 1987, Phillip Essig said. The company has avoided the problems with foreign competition that have shut down other American textile firms.
