Dana Ford
Ribbon cuttings are rarely so well attended.
About 100 people turned out to watch the ribbon cutting ceremony at Rath Refractories Inc. located inside the Mill-edgeville Baldwin County Industrial Park, Wednesday morning. Besides employees of the plant, area officials, and friends and family, the ceremony was attended by Dr. Ernst Rath, chief executive officer of the company. Following the ceremony, attendees were invited inside for a barbecue lunch and a look at the manufacturing plant.
“Welcome to the city of Milledgeville,” said Mayor Richard Bentley to the people who gathered for lunch. “This is a testament, here, to what Milledgeville can be ... It’s also a testament to the fabric of our community,” Bentley said about the opening of the plant.
Rath Refractories is an Austrian-based company that manufactures high intensity bricks, used on the inside of kilns. The bricks pass through a process that exposes them to temperatures of up to 3,300 degrees Fahrenheit, for as long as three days.
The Milledgeville plant is the only location in the United States that can manufacture the special sort of brick.
For full story, please see the May 11, 2006 edition of The Union-Recorder.
