The last of 12 million refrigerators built at Orange's 74-year-old Electrolux factory rolled off the assembly line on Monday.
Hundreds of employees have been forced to walk away from a place that had - over generations in some cases - become a cornerstone for countless families in the community.
The Swedish-owned company announced in 2013 that production at the factory would be moved offshore to Asia and Europe to cut costs in a hit to both the town and Australian manufacturing. 
Three hundred employees joined Electrolux Orange manager and the mayor of Orange John Davis to mark the end of 70 years of manufacturing from the site.
"It is a sad day, but I want to thank each and every one of you, as, since the day of the announcement in 2013 we would close, you have all done a remarkable job," Mr O'Kane said.
"You have done all that has been asked of you and you should be proud of your professionalism and attitude right up until the end. You have been outstanding."
Mr O'Kane said the factory could not compete with overseas-based manufacturers.
"At the end of the day, a labour rate of $2.50 an hour, that is really hard to compete against," he told ABC radio.
"I'm just fearful for Australian manufacturing."
Mr O'Kane will leave Orange at the weekend to head production at the Electrolux plant in Thailand.
On Friday, the 300 employees remaining at the factory began signing the back panel of the final upright model refrigerator to come off the production line.
On Monday, the honour of the final signature went to the factory's longest-serving employee Steve Brakenridge, who started at the factory 46 years ago as a toolmaking apprentice.
Mr Brakenridge will continue to work until   December to oversee the distribution of the remaining stock of refrigerators stored at the factory.
"I've had a great working life here and I will go into retirement when I leave here," he said.
"As part of my job I was able to do a lot of study and moved into a supervising role as supply chain manager.
"This place was like a little town when I started, a real working class environment. You could get anything from a haircut at lunchtime to putting a bet on the horses.
"I will miss this place, but not the 5am starts."
Cr Davis told the workers remaining at the factor the contribution of the factory and its workers to Orange's economy should never be underestimated.
"There are so many houses built in Orange that are a result of someone working at Electrolux or having a family member work here," Cr Davis said.
"I wish you all well: those who are looking for a new job or those who are retiring."
On Monday the company hosted a farewell lunch for the 200 departing production employees before they walk out the gates for the last time.
Historian Liz Edwards, who has worked closely with Electrolux to record the site's history, said it was the factory and Orange that provided a haven for people escaping war-torn Europe following World War II.
"So many migrants were able to make a new life for themselves and their families, send their children to school here and prosper in the community," she said.
Orange's deputy mayor Chris Gryllis worked at the plant in the mid-1960s and said the town was losing the backbone of its economy and could take years to recover.
"Every second house in Orange would be associated with this factory in some way or another," Mr Gryllis said.
"Those of us who knew the factory have a sentimental attachment to it."
The Electrolux plant has employed about 40,000 people since it opened as a small arms factory in 1942.
At its peak, it employed 2000 people.
Mr Gryllis is confident those left unemployed would eventually find jobs elsewhere if given the right training.
He said Orange had the economic resilience to deal with the blow.
"We've seen other factories, not as big, closing down," he said.
"We have the orchards, the wine, the food.
"We have become to some extent the nerve centre of the mining industry, so we're travelling quite well as a regional city."
But the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said the former employees' prospects of finding long-term work were slim.
"They've had a number of other key closures in the region and the economy in that area has just been laid to waste," the union's NSW secretary Tim Ayres said.
He said Electrolux had a plan it put to the federal government requiring a very small investment in new capital to keep the plant going.
"But the federal government rejected it out of hand."
Central Western Daily with AAP