Eren Tataragasi

Richmond County Daily Journal

Gov. Bev Perdue’s office announced Monday afternoon that Richmond Yarns in Ellerbe will expand its workforce by 135 jobs and invest about $1 million in the local economy during the next three years.

Richmond Yarns, owned by Ken, John and Kenny Goodman and Janice Coen, has been operating in Ellerbe since 1976 and currently employs about 140 people. The expansion is being made possible by Canadian yarn-spinning company, FilSpec, Inc.’s purchase of a controlling interest in Richmond Yarns.

The new company will be called Richmond Specialty Yarns, LLC and will produce specialized yarns from fibers and fiber blends to serve the military, medical, protective wear, marine, upholstered furniture and other markets. Salaries for the new jobs will vary by job function, but the overall annual average wage will be $25,931, not including benefits, said a county press release.

Under the new business deal, Kenny Goodman will stay on as operations manager and will continue to own 25 percent of the business.

“That was important to the buyer and to us,” said Ken Goodman.

Goodman said this deal has been in the works for the past nine to 10 months and without it the company faced the possibility of having to close.

“Since last year when we entered this major recession, our volume level wasn’t at a place where we were profitable,” Goodman said. “This whole thing has been about keeping these jobs in Richmond County.”

Goodman said the company was fortunate and pleased to be able to broker this deal, but that it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the board of commissioners and County Manager Rick Sago.

“It’s a big deal,” Sago said. “The thing that’s critical is that if this hadn’t happened, the mill would have closed. We read about closings all the time and this time we were able to save jobs and make a deal that will create new jobs. Any job we can save is huge, but it’s even better when we can create new ones.”

“The bottom line is we are very excited and happy that through the hard work of Rick Sago, Ken and Kenny Goodman we were able to sell this plant and save these jobs in anticipation of hiring an additional 135 employees,” said Board of Commissioners chairman Kenneth Robinette. “Anytime you can save jobs and expand, it’s huge. I’m just happy for all of the employees.”

Robinette said this is something the county worked very hard to make happen.

“It’s been a good day’s work,” he said. “Our staff is second to none and our economic development team is one of the most aggressive and successful in the state for a rural county.”

Goodman said when he and his son considered looking for a buyer for Richmond Yarns, Kenny looked to FilSpec whom he already had a working relationship.

“We did contract work with them,” Goodman explained. “We’d spin yarn for their customers that were closer to us and shipped the product on a commission basis, but this works for them because it eliminates the middle man.”

“We did a good job and produced high-quality products, but in the best of times textiles is a difficult business,” Goodman continued.

Goodman said during the next two to three years folks will see significant changes at the plant, but of course it’s still all based on the economy.

“We’re hopeful things will improve,” Goodman said. “This is a very good thing for Richmond County. Our primary goal was to make sure jobs stayed here and the plant stayed here. With unemployment the way it is it’s hard to find new jobs and we didn’t want that to happen. We’re optimistic about the new company, it’s a positive for them and Richmond County.”

In a release from the governor’s office, FilSpec CEO Jean Parenteau said, “For FilSpec, North Carolina was the best choice because of the very good relationship we already have with Richmond Yarns, Inc. as a supplier, because of their available manufacturing capacity and because of the quality and stability of the workforce already in place.”

The deal with FilSpec was made possible, in part, because of a $150,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund which provides financial assistance through local governments to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state.

Companies receive no money upfront from this grant and must meet job creation and investment performance standards to qualify for grant funds. These grants also require and are contingent upon local matches.

“During these tough economic times it’s critical to make the investments to grow jobs and companies expand,” said Sen. Bill Purcell in the governor’s press release. “This is certainly good news for our area.”

“North Carolina’s skilled workforce continues to attract globally competitive companies and we welcome these new jobs to Richmond County,” said Rep. Melanie Wade Goodwin.

n Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.