Capitol Connection
By State Senator Joe Leibham
December 2, 2011
 |
Senator Joe Leibham congratulates the 650 employees of Rockline Industries in Sheboygan as they celebrate plans for a $10 million facilities investment and the creation of 60 new jobs.
|
Working Together To Grow Jobs
Last week, I had the pleasure of joining the 650 employees of the Sheboygan-based Rockline Industries to celebrate the company’s plans to add upwards of 60 new family-supporting jobs in our area as they invest $10 million in new technology and in a new 6,000 square foot expansion of their facility. I began working with Rockline earlier this year regarding this opportunity and I am proud to report that both the State of Wisconsin and the City of Sheboygan partnered with the business to ensure that the job growth would occur in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Rockline is a privately-owned company founded in 1976 that is principally engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of both branded and private-label products sold throughout the world. In fact, Rockline is the largest supplier of coffee filters and private-label baby wipes in North America. Other products manufactured and distributed by Rockline include antibacterial wipes, baking cups, household cleaning products, incontinent wipes, moist towelettes, water-activated and wet facial wipes, and a variety of contract wipe products.
While Rockline’s corporate headquarters is located in Sheboygan they also operate manufacturing facilities in Springdale, Arkansas, Booneville, Arkansas, Montville, New Jersey, Redditch, England and South China. The state tax incentives that will only occur as the jobs are created helped to make the Sheboygan facility competitive for the expanded production and job growth.
I also enjoyed visiting with the employees of the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry Co. that is located in Manitowoc when they announced they will create up to 43 new jobs as a result of a $7.5 million expansion of their facility. Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry was founded in 1909 and produces nonferrous (non-iron based) castings for a wide variety of industries as well as pressure canners and aluminum cookware.
Like Rockline, the company is eligible to receive state tax credits when they create the new jobs.
In another example of working together, the City of Plymouth and the State of Wisconsin worked together with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) located in Plymouth to create a competitive climate that helped the business decide to invest $13.5 million to update and modern their facility here instead of in another state. Most importantly, this important decision, partnership and investment will mean that 375 good-paying jobs will also continue to be located here in Plymouth Wisconsin.
Finally, I was pleased to join the team at Viking Masek Global Packaging Technologies in announcing their plans to construct a new 40,000 sq. ft. facility in Oostburg. Viking Masek, which is currently located in Kohler, will move to the new facility to meet their expanding business opportunities as a manufacturer, seller, and servicer of vertical form, fill, and seal packaging machines (VFFS) for the packaging industry. The owner and management team expressed their appreciation of the new “open for business” attitude of our state government and are excited to be growing both their facility and more jobs in Wisconsin.
While there continues to be major challenges facing our economy and employment numbers at the local, state and national level, it is good to recognize these success stories. By working together, we can make Wisconsin competitive for the growth of more private sector jobs.
As always, it has been a pleasure communicating with you. Please remember to communicate with me and share your input by calling 888-295-8750, writing to me at P.O. Box 7882, Madison, WI 53707-7882, or by e-mailing me at Sen.Leibham@legis.wi.gov. You can also log on to the 9th Senate District on-line office at www.leibhamsenate.com.
It is an honor to work for and represent the residents of the 9th District in the State Senate.