Rome Conveyors offers 35 years of experience creating custom solutions to all of your material handling needs. We offer consulting, design, and implementation of creative conveyor solutions that suit your business’s operations and space. Jay Burnett, CEO, founded Rome Conveyors and teamed with Roach Conveyors to offer customized material handling equipment to commercial laundry’s and quickly expanded across many other industries. With the team of Roach engineers, an 800,000 square feet state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and Rome Conveyors’ experience in the conveyor industry, we provide labor-saving material handling solutions at the best possible price.
Jay Burnett
Owner & CEO
Jay took his first job out of school with Rome Industries, a world leader in agriculture, land clearing, and forestry equipment after college. During his time with Rome Industries, he worked on the design of structural fabrication, hydraulics system design, and research & development testing for new equipment. Through his travels to many customer and testing facilities, Jay witnessed the implementation of machines he had designed and gained invaluable real-world experience.
Jay was later hired as a process engineer with ITT Lester industries, a supplier of components to the automotive industry. Jay had previously completed design co-op work with ITT during school to help fund his education and was offered a full time position. During his tenure at ITT, Jay helped improve material handling systems to reduce labor and improve material flow.
Jay then accepted a position as a plant engineer with Rome Machine, who had been one of his regular vendors. He soon took over all designs of Rome Machine’s products. At the time of his hire, Rome Machine was the leading supplier of wet processing equipment to the hosiery, rug, and garment dyeing industry. Jay worked to improve existing product design, developing one of the world’s largest 150 ton/450 lb. load size textile extraction presses with a 5000 PSI hydraulic system and the PLC control logic system for its operation. After NAFTA implemented new trade regulations, many Rome Machine products no longer had any stateside demand. Recognizing this and relying on his extensive knowledge base with textile products, Jay began developing customized products for the laundry industry, which utilized the same equipment and factory automation.
During his 33 years with Rome Machine, Jay’s responsibilities grew to include management of manufacturing and sales in addition to overseeing all design. While there, he developed many of the current machines in production today, such as inclined loose goods shuttles for loading and unloading batch system washers and dryers, conveyor unloading and transport systems for handling large 800 lb. loads, and stagers for folding and delivery. These products can improve product flow across all areas of laundry processing, beginning with soiled products entering the facility and ending with clean, folded product staged for delivery.
Excited to have a more direct impact on the industry, Jay decided to form Rome Conveyors, LLC. Rome Conveyors partnered as a distributor with Roach Conveyors to grow sales in the material handling area of the industrial laundry industry. With Roach’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and Jay’s experience, Rome Conveyors and Roach can provide customers with labor saving systems at the most cost-effective pricing.
Mike Burnett
Operations Manager
Mike graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies in 2004. His passion for corporate training and business development landed him a position with Pharmacy Insurance Administrators in Rome, Georgia upon graduation. During his time with Pharmacy Insurance, Mike worked as a Customer Service Supervisor, managing a large team that acted as third-party administration for a major pharmacy group in California. In addition, Mike served as an expert trainer for Customer Service and Support for large administrator teams.
Following his growing passion for exemplary customer service training, Mike was hired as a lead customer service and development trainer with Mannington Commercial in Calhoun, GA. His responsibilities included all aspects of product and customer service training for Mannington’s commercial flooring products division. During this time, Mike coached every employee on a monthly basis to increase service levels and continually develop exemplary service teams. Continuing his ongoing career development, Mike became a certified facilitator and trainer through expansive courses in Atlanta, GA and New Orleans, LA.
Mike was then promoted at Mannington to Operations Supervisor for the Burke Flooring division, specifically all Rubber products. In this role, Mike was responsible for managing a large service team, all budgetary decisions for the division, and maintaining strong distributor and vendor relations. Traveling across the country, Mike cultivated lasting relationships with distributors, which grew the business and reduced overall costs. When the Burke customer service team was relocated to Calhoun, GA, from Umatilla, FL, Mike facilitated the transition and succession for the division.
In 2017, Mike joined the Rome Conveyors team. Excited to grow the business to reach a larger customer base, Mike was hired as Operations Manager. Mike is committed to deliver exemplary customer service to clients and distributors. This, paired with Jay’s expansive experience in the industry, will allow the Rome Conveyors team to continue their tradition of excellence in the industrial laundry industry.
Danny Williams
Sales Engineer
Danny joined Rome Conveyors in 2024, bringing over 25 years of material handling industry and leadership experience to our team. His extensive background in Sales and Enterprise-level Project Management will make him an invaluable resource to new and existing clients alike.
After attending Coosa Valley Technical College and earning a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology, Danny continued his education at West Georgia College, where he earned a BSBA in Business Management. He later completed both a Project Management-specific course and Prioritization and Organization course with National Seminars Group.
Danny then managed daily operations, samplings, and maintenance projects working in Plant Operations for the City of Rome, Georgia in their Water Department. Here, he obtained a Class II Waste Treatment Plant Operator license and designed and implemented a department safety program. Shortly thereafter, he served as the Operations Manager for Norcon Systems, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of conveyor systems for various industries, including Automotive, Appliance, Foundry, Textile, and Electronics. As a leader within the organization, Danny managed Quality Control, supervised and oversaw Project and Engineering Managers, and prepared, reviewed, and approved all estimates for conveyor systems, equipment, and installations.
In 1998, Danny founded Elite Equipment, Inc., a custom design and manufacturing business for conveyor systems and material-handling systems. As the President and Chief Executive Officer, Danny managed all business operations, sales, projects, scheduling, installations, and customer service. His organization designed conveyor systems for a multitude of end-uses, including Transfer Cars, Assembly Line Conveyors, Vertical Reciprocating Conveyors, Robotic Load / Unload Stations, CDLR’s, Gravity / Skate Wheel Conveyors, Custom Pallet Stackers, Mezzanines, Stairways, and Custom Work Aids.
We are thrilled to welcome Danny to the team!