| By
Chris Costanzo
The three-building Vermont Castings complex on Route 107
in Bethel, the former headquarters and showroom for the
stove company, has been sold.
The new owners are R&H Holdings Corp., parent
corporation of Silvatech Corporation, which presently
operates out of an older building near the railroad
underpass in Bethel village. R&H intends to move
Silvatech's operations into the Vermont Castings complex in
the next few months.
The modern complex consists of three buildings with a
total of about 19,500 square foot R&D building
,while the administration building and showroom will be
rented out for now.
Silvatech, which has been
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operating
since 1984, employs about 20 people. The corporation designs
computerized controls for sawmill machinery.
Its products enable the best positioning of logs for the
most efficient cutting, allowing modern sawmills to get as
much useable lumber as possible out of the logs available.
Silvatech also engages in the wiring and mounting of its
products.
The successful Bethel firm is the result of a
productive partnership between Bill Rouseau, a UVM
graduate and forester who grew up in the sawmill business,
and Mike Hughes, a Dartmouth trained electrical engineer.
The Vermont Castings complex had been owned by the Green
Mountain Economic Development |
corporation,
and was bought outright by Vermont Castings shortly before
being sold to Silvatech.
Vermont Castings general manager Dale Trombley said the
transaction will benefit both Silvatech and Vermont
Castings.
The complex represented much unneeded space for Vermont
Castings, since its sales and marketing activities had been
transferred a few years ago to CFM Majestic, its parent firm
in Canada, and its R&D activities have moved into the
Bethel assembly plant.
Silvatech, on the other hand, now has facilities that are
conducive to growth. According to Bill Rousseau, "The
move to new quarters will give Silvatech more room to work
and to develop new products".
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