Milwaukee will host anniversary celebration in 2003
While media attention has focused on the 100th anniversary of Harley-Davidson in 2003 and the impact that celebration will have on Milwaukee, another major local corporation also will be marking a centennial, although on a more subdued level.
Plans are under way at Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation for the 100th anniversary of its Allen-Bradley brand.
And while there won’t be parades and Maier Festival Grounds parties associated with it, the Rockwell celebration will still have a significant impact on Milwaukee, as up to 15,000 people from throughout the world will come to the city for the firm’s annual Automation Fair, company spokesman Steve Smith said.
The 12th annual trade show, which has been held outside of Milwaukee, will be held next Nov. 18, 19 and 20 at the Midwest Airlines Convention Center. The Milwaukee Automation Fair will be a three-day event rather than the usual two-day affair.
This year’s fair, which is taking place this week in Anaheim, Calif., was expected to draw 10,000 to 12,000 people.
The fairs showcase Rockwell Automation and partner products and services to improve manufacturing optimization, integration, collaboration and efficiency. The fair includes exhibits, technical sessions and hands-on labs.
In addition to that industrial focus, the Allen-Bradley 100th anniversary will include public events, Smith said.
Rockwell Automation is working with the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry on a factory segment of the museum, which should open in April.
And in Milwaukee, the corporation is working with the Milwaukee Public Museum to develop an Allen-Bradley storefront in the museum’s popular Streets of Old Milwaukee section.
The firm also is considering various employee and customer events for the celebration, Smith added.
But don’t look for a 100th anniversary edition of a Rockwell Automation product, a la a 100th anniversary Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
"It’s difficult to have a consumer-focused type of event when you have an industrial audience," Smith said. "We realize next year is Harley-Davidson’s big event; we’ve somewhat tempered our expectations."
Harley-Davidson riders will trek to Milwaukee next summer in "The Ride Home" for four days of festivities in and around the city, starting Aug. 28, with the big birthday party at Veterans Park at the lakefront on Aug. 31.
More than 200,000 people are expected to come to Milwaukee for the Harley-Davidson anniversary events, which will also include activities sponsored by local dealerships.
It’s expected that the Harley-Davidson festivities will pump $26 million into the Milwaukee area economy.
The Rockwell Automation convention will be big, but not that big, and it will be of a very different nature.
The Harley-Davidson anniversary is an event; the Allen-Bradley gathering is a convention, observes Doug Neilson, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau. "These are two totally different experiences and feels."
"We don’t expect to fill the lakefront grounds" with revelers, Smith said wryly of the Rockwell Automation convention.
And while the Allen-Bradley brand is very well respected, Rockwell’s products don’t evoke the kind of emotions that cause people to covet related branded merchandise. "I don’t think anyone has an Allen-Bradley tattoo on his arm," Smith said. However, the name is etched thoroughly into the Milwaukee psyche, and the Bradley name literally etched into such landmarks as the Bradley Center, the new Lynde and Harry Bradley Technology and Trade School in Milwaukee.
Nonetheless, the focus of the anniversary events and convention will be reinforcement of the Rockwell Automation brands and the now-global nature of the company, Smith said, noting how the product line has expanded over the 100 years.
At the same time, the firm will show off its Milwaukee home, and Milwaukee gets a chance to show itself off to a high-quality audience, Neilson said.
It’s a corporate piece of convention business, and thus, one could expect the city will benefit from corporate-type spending, Neilson said. Hospitality industry standards suggest the Rockwell Automation Fair could have an economic impact on Milwaukee of $9.2 million to $9.5 million, he said.
"We expect this one to be very good," he said.
Fair attendees will book about 5,500 hotel rooms on the peak night, filling hotels out to Brookfield and up to Glendale.
"That’s about as good as you get here," Neilson noted.
An additional benefit of the convention is that it will come in November, a month not normally associated with convention business in Milwaukee. So, it won’t displace other potential business but, rather, will add to size of the local economic pie, Neilson said.
He is promising the Rockwell Automation Fair attendees a good time in Milwaukee. "The expectations of the people coming to town will be exceeded," Neilson said. "And all those experiences can help build momentum for us" for other convention business, he added.
Automation Fair attendees will see the results of further downtown redevelopment, including completion of the Milwaukee Theatre, extension of the RiverWalk into the Third Ward, major developments at the Shops of Grand Avenue and new streetscaping along Wisconsin Avenue.
Rockwell Automation actually traces its roots back to 1880 with the incorporation that year of the Dodge Manufacturing Co. The Allen-Bradley brand goes back to 1903, when Lynde Bradley and Stanton Allen formed the Compression Rheostat Co., with an initial investment of $1,000, according to Rockwell Automation records.
The company was renamed the Allen-Bradley Co. in 1910. From sales of $86,000 in 1915, Allen-Bradley sales grew to $1 billion in 1985, the year it was purchased by Rockwell International. The $1.651 million deal was the largest acquisition in Wisconsin history, with proceeds of the sale benefiting the Milwaukee area to this day.
The firm’s evolution continued, with Rockwell moving its corporate headquarters from California to Milwaukee in 1999, and Rockwell International changing its name to Rockwell Automation last year.
The corporate offices are now in the U.S. Bank office tower at 777 E. Wisconsin Ave., while the main plant is at 1201 S. Second St.
Rockwell Automation now employs approximately 23,000 people at 450 locations in 80 countries. More than 5,000 are employed at Milwaukee-area facilities.
Along with Harley-Davidson and the Allen-Bradley brand, the Milwaukee School of Engineering will mark its 100th anniversary in 2003. Another major Milwaukee industrial name is tied to the founding of MSOE; Oscar Werwath started the school with $500 in start-up money from Louis Allis.
On the convention side, after a "tough first quarter," Neilson sees a good year for Milwaukee in 2003. "We’re looking to have a better year," he said.
The Automation Fair will help, but other high-profile conventions are on the books, as well, including those of the National Association of Counties and the National Association of Postmasters.
Additionally, Milwaukee will host the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in June, "giving the city great exposure," Neilson said. Event winners move on to world and Olympic competition.
Nov. 22, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
