New candles made by Light 4 Life Candles
/ photo by Andy Wolf
SALINA -- An old facility is coming back to life in Salina.
Light 4 Life Candles officially started operations Thursday at the old Will and Baumer facility on Buckley Road. Right now, 60 people work at the facility, and the company hopes to hire more in the coming years.
The building closed down a few years ago when the Will and Baumer Candle Company left the area. Now high tech equipment is helping this facility increase production and compete on a global scale. Company officials say the new equipment will outperform the old facility by about two to three times with half the people. Light 4 Life Candles President Marshall Ciccone says, "You need to do that in order to compete in this world anymore. We're competing with all these other countries where labor really doesn't cost anything. So, in order to do that, we need some technology."
Ciccone used to be the president of Will and Baumer. He says reopening this facility is an uplifting experience.
For now, Light 4 Life Candles is focusing on devotion and sanctuary candles for churches. The company hopes to get more equipment to produce other kinds of candles in the future.
