German manufacturer Ritz Instrument Transformers is expanding its CSRA presence even further with a new facility underway in Waynesboro poised to bring some 130 jobs and become a key hub in the original equipment manufacturing (OEM) sector.
In early 2023, the company leased a 240,000-square-foot factory building on Evercare Way in Waynesboro to use for its U.S. operations. This marked Ritz Corp’s return to the Burke County town after General Electric announced in 2019 that it would be moving its own high voltage switch gear factory from Waynesboro to Philadelphia.
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Now, the manufacturer is putting $28 million into developing its own facility in Waynesboro’s Burke County Industrial Park, in what Ritz USA CEO Scott Flowers calls the company’s “single-largest investment to date.”
“Like so many other job creators, Ritz knows that Georgia has what it needs to succeed, and we’re proud they’ve chosen the best state for business yet again for this expansion,” said Gov. Brian Kemp in an announcement Tuesday regarding the new factory.
The original equipment manufacturer (OEM) develops and produces low, medium and high voltage instrument transformers, along with solid insulation bus-bar systems. Ritz also has another facility in Lavonia, Ga., open since 2010. The 30 workers at the Evercare facility will transfer to the new plant once it’s operational.
“The U.S. electrical grid is undergoing rapid expansion and transformation,” said Flowers, who told The Augusta Press last year that Ritz had planned on building its own manufacturing plant in Waynesboro, where it once had factory from 1991 to 2006, although then the projection was to develop a factory within three to four years. “The utility industry reacts to and prepares for growth driven by adoption of electric vehicles, new datacenters needed to power AI, continued addition of renewable generation, and an increase in the U.S. manufacturing base.”
Ritz will be hiring for roles in management, administrative staff, technicians, operators, maintenance, and testers over the next few years, and the plant is expected to open in 2025.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
