GIW Industries celebrated the completion of its major expansion project on Wednesday, cutting the ribbon on the latest addition to its Grovetown facility.
“The key thing that GIW and Columbia County have in common is growth,” said Columbia County Board of Commissioners Chairman Doug Duncan. “And part of Columbia County’s growth and success has come from the investment that you’ve poured into this facility, the jobs to create, they all come together to make Columbia County what it is, we would not be who we are without you.”
GIW has been in Columbia County as Georgia Iron Works since 1970. In 1996, it became a subsidiary of German mining equipment manufacturer KSB Group, specializing in designing and producing heavy duty centrifugal pumps for use in the mining and dredging industries. In 2014, GIW launched its own brand of slurry pumps.
GIW has been working at developing its production space for nearly a decade, with the first two phases of its expansion beginning in 2013. Two phases became five in what was ultimately a $44 million investment that entailed several upgrades to the plant on Wrightsboro Road, including the construction of a new distribution center, increasing its furnace capacity and adding tens of thousands of square feet to its foundry.
The new foundry, also called the large casting capacity increase facility, was the site of the special launching event coordinated by KSB Mining and GIW. Alongside Duncan, Development Authority Executive Director Robbie Bennett and State Representative Barry Fleming also attended.
GIW Brand Manager Meilin Ruiz notes that the new facility is expected to bring about 100 jobs to Columbia County, but that since the overall expansion project had been accumulating new hires throughout for plants in Grovetown and Thompson, the overall number of working opportunities is closer to 200, many with apprenticeship programs.
“We have we have employees here that have a tenure of 40 or 50 years, and they pass on those skills,” said Ruiz. “We have a great training program will take folks that enjoy outdoor work, that manual labor, and we train them through that whole thing.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
