TIFTON — American Textile Company officially opened its newest Tifton location on Mar. 7.

The 400,000 square foot state-of-the-art warehousing and distribution facility will more than double the company’s distribution capacity. The company’s Tifton footprint now consists of approximately 650,000 square feet with more than 400 employees.

Lance Ruttenberg, American Textile Company President and CEO, said that the facility will ship more than 30 million bedding products annually.

“We believe this operation will be the most sophisticated of its kind in our industry,” he said. “The partnership we have created between a company and the City of Tifton proves there is a winning formula when the goal is to make sure everybody remains focused on the long term benefits of an investment.”

He recognized Brian Marlowe, Jonathan Jones, Grady Thompson, Richard Golden, Red Hill, Julie Smith, Tyrone Spearman, Homer Day, Frankie Mathis, Jay Short, James Herring and Mark Sandifer as local leaders who helped facilitate the building of the new location.

The construction of the new facility was completed by Jones Construction and will make American Textile the first resident of the Tift County Development Authority’s new industrial park.

American Textile Company, which was founded in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1925, provides basic bedding products, supplying mattress protectors, pillow protectors, bed pillows, travel pillows, comforters, mattress pads, sheets and pet bedding to large and small retailers in the United States and Canada.

American Textile began its relationship with Tifton in 2010 when company officials announced the opening of their first Georgia location, which began in April 2011. In 2012, the company moved their North American distribution operations from Duquesne, Pa. to Tifton and that transition was completed in July 2012.

“Partnerships are extremely important in our economic development endeavors and American Textile Company continues to exceed expectations,” said Brian Marlowe, president and CEO of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce and president of the Tift County Development Authority. “They continue to provide quality jobs for our residents, invest in our community and their employees volunteer their time, effort and resources for the betterment of our community. Our partnership with American Textile could serve as a model for how public-private partnerships should work.”

Marlowe was honored at the grand opening by having a company conference room named after him. He was also presented with a commemorative coin from American Textile Company Chief Executive Officer Jack Ouellette.

High-level executives from the company as well as representatives of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce, the Tift County Board of Commissioners and the Tifton City Council were in attendance.

Secretary of State Brian Kemp was in attendance, as were representatives of several elected officials.

Also in attendance were representatives of the Tift County school system, which received a $35,000 donation to the Tift College and Career Academy.

Follow Eve Guevara on Twitter @EveGuevaraTTG.