'None of us was ready to retire'

Sitting on top of a hill and looking down on his former textile plant, Ed Kirkland feels blessed that he's taken a step up in the world -- literally and figuratively.

The 57-year-old manager of the new Rath Refractories Inc. plant in Milledge- ville knows now "that experience matters."

"All those years of plugging along, doing what you were supposed to do, paid off," he said.

A year ago, the former human resources manager at Concord Fabrics learned that the mill where he'd worked for 20 years was closing.

Before he even could send out a resume, Kirkland got calls from the Georgia Department of Labor, the Milledgeville Development Authority and Randstad USA, which he'd used for his staffing needs for six years.

An international corporation, Rath AG, was opening a plant in town to make highly specialized refractory bricks, which are used in high-temperature kilns that process the white pigment used in paints and papers.

Rath wanted to interview Kirkland for the plant manager job.

The company valued his ceramic engineering background but was even more interested in his knowledge of the local labor market.

"I didn't know anything about making bricks, but I'd worn a lot of hats as the HR manager -- purchasing, employment, safety and training director," he said. "In 20 years I'd made a lot of connections, and, if my mechanics and I didn't know how to solve a problem, we knew who to call.

"That's not the kind of stuff you learn overnight."

It was especially valuable to a company with its home office in Austria. Kirkland visited Vienna to learn the process and came home to get the one-of-a-kind plant up and running.

"It's been awesome to have this opportunity to start over again," said Kirkland, who brought 14 mill employees with him to Rath. "We've all had to do a lot of physical work, so we're renewing our bodies as well as our spirits. I feel good. I certainly don't feel 57.

"You don't realize the experience you have until you run into a problem or an opportunity. None of us was ready to retire. I plan to work another 10 to 15 years. Then I hope to have a chance to sit back and see what we've accomplished."