LAFAYETTE, Ga. – At its manufacturing plant off Broomtown Road, the Roper Corp. uses about 72 miles of steel rolls on a daily basis, which is more than twice the distance from the facility’s home in LaFayette, Georgia, to downtown Chattanooga.
GE Appliances recently completed a $180 million investment at the plant in LaFayette, which has grown from a pre-COVID workforce of about 1,800 employees to approximately 2,500. Beginning June 30, the starting wage at the plant will be $17.50 an hour.
Opened in 1973, the Roper Corp. is the largest employer in Walker County. Although it doesn’t give out production volumes for competitive reasons, it has 15 lines that make various cooking appliances, including cooktops, wall ovens and ranges in three fuel types. It’s a subsidiary of GE Appliances, which is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, and has more than 15,000 U.S. employees.
(READ MORE: Roper Corp.’s LaFayette plant plans future with more workers, robots)
GE Appliances completes $180M investment at Roper plant, adds automation
The investment included the addition of two state-of-the-art assembly lines, which are each about 500 feet long. They’re able to produce gas, electric and induction ranges. Luther Ingram, the executive director and plant manager at Roper, said the move boosted the plant’s capacity, enabling it to remain competitive.