MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Fouts Brothers Incorporated have been in Milledgeville since 2019. Before then, Johnathan Jackson of the Development Authority in Milledgeville and Baldwin County said the building was vacant and hundreds of jobs were lost.
"This was a former Rheem manufacturing facility and when they departed 900 jobs went with them, but now we’re slowly rebuilding that and it makes me excited to think that so many people now have the opportunity raise their families and contribute to the community of Baldwin County,” Jackson said.
The rebuilding is coming over a two-year expansion. Fouts Brothers will bring 96 jobs in 2023 and 70 more in 2024. CEO Scott Edens said the expansion is a result of increased demand from customers. Now, the Fouts Brothers want to do more.
"We decided to go ahead and expand our own product line and that's what we launched this year in July, so we opened up this section about 150,000 square feet with an additional $3.5 million investment, and we will by the end of the year be producing six fire trucks per week off of these production lines," Edens said.
The space is what caught their eye, he said, but the community is why they stay.
"Well we had a very specific need in a building of this size first that was the only thing that drew us to Milledgeville trying to find a building but the community has been very supportive, and we’ve had many job fairs and hiring events and have been able to grow the business frankly because we’ve been able to find great associates to join our business.”
Edens said one great thing about the company is the expansion job opportunities that come with a variety of job titles.
"It’s not just entry-level positions even though that we have many of those in our company that we can train from but we also have engineers, accounting, finance, leadership, and management so there’s a lot of opportunity for people in Baldwin county to find a home here at Fouts Brothers,” Edens said.
Jackson expects the expansion to bring other businesses to Baldwin County. He’s grateful for what the expansion will do for the community.
"Just putting people back to work who have been impacted by the state of Georgia's retraction for Baldwin County, but also the retraction of big industries like Rheem," Jackson said. "It has meant a lot.”
Fouts Brother started in Smryna, Georgia back in 1952. Edens said making emergency vehicles was his grandfather's last hobby and a family initiative to give back to the community.