By Chet Greason
Staff Reporter

Robica Forman Tank Ltd., longtime local manufacturer of tanks and trucks, has gone into receivership.

An emotional Bob Nothof, VP and General Manager of the company, spoke with the Journal Argus Monday night.

“We’ve got forty people out of work,” he said. “We were hoping a white knight would come in and save us, but as it is, it’ll be sold…We had a full order booked, but because of what’s happened those orders are leaving quickly.

“We’ve had a lot of great years, and we had one bad one,” explains Nothof. “We recovered from it, but we’re going down anyway.”

The company, located just north of St. Marys, has been operating in the area for sixty years. The largest manufacturer in Perth South, Robica’s most senior employee has been there fifty-two years, and was hoping to get to fifty-five. Six employees have been there for over twenty years, and ten over ten years. “It can’t be a bad place to work or people wouldn’t stay around that long,” notes Nothof.

“The employees have been very, very loyal,” says a tearful Nothof. “Hopefully, we can do something to turn it around.”