MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ) – A groundbreaking event was held in Manitowoc on Thursday for a new manufacturing plant that will provide more jobs to the area and hopefully a good first impression on clients.
Redline Plastics had simply grown too big for its building.
To accommodate its growth they’ll be moving into a nearly 118,000 square foot facility, more than twice the size of their current space.
“Right now, we are very, very crammed,” explains Nick Murray, vice-president of operations at Redline Plastics. “Operations is probably about 40 to 50,000 square feet.”
The new plant is going in the Manitowoc I-43 Technology and Enterprise Campus, which has been booming.
“It’s been kind of crazy,” says April Kroner, Community Development Director with the city. “We are actually at a position now of looking for new land so we can continue industrial expansion within the city.”
The company has been steadily growing and their increased workforce made the move necessary.
“They recently went, just over the past twelve months, they had sixty-five employees their now up over one-hundred employees,” says Kroner.
And that number will only continue to rise.
With the move, they are expecting to add more than forty new employees to accommodate future growth.
Additions in the workforce should benefit both the company and Manitowoc.
“Our next goal is really to attract people to move here now because all of these businesses are doing so well,” says Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels. “The workforce is really the huge key, the challenge that we have is to get people to move here.”
One challenge could be very low current unemployment numbers.
“We know with the economy, we know there’s a very low unemployment rate here so we’re doing everything we can to try and entice and attract talents especially from this area,” says Murray.
For the existing employees, as well as those set to be hired, there should be a lot to like.
“To have better office space, to have better, newer manufacturing space, which is laid out in a better way for them,” she explains.
The facility should also provide a good impression on some big-name clients.
“Harley-Davidson, they also have other major brands like Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda, Indian,” says Kroner.
Construction on the new facility is expected to be complete by November of this year.
