The Racine County Economic Development Corporation announced that a German hand tool manufacturer is locating a regional sales and service facility into the Town of Yorkville’s Grandview Business Park.
This marks the second German manufacturing company Racine County has secured as a result of its foreign direct investment and international recruitment activities.
Stahlwille Tools LLC, based in Wuppertal, Germany, designs and manufactures hand and special-purpose tools for the aerospace, energy generation, transportation and general trade industries. It plans to begin operating out of its Town of Yorkville facility by the end of September.
“Once again, Racine County’s strategic position in the center of the Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor played a role in attracting a new business to Racine County,” said Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave. “RCEDC’s commitment to attracting foreign direct investment continues to add to our growing economy and concentration of foreign-owned companies that call Racine County home.”
Stahlwille’s decision to move a facility to Racine County came in the spring when Gov. Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the Milwaukee 7 and the RCEDC attended Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial trade show located in Hannover, Germany.
A Stahlwille representative attended a breakfast hosted by the Wisconsin delegation, and shared the company’s plan to locate a sales and distribution office in the Chicago area.
The RCEDC helped Stahlwille establish business bank accounts, secure a residence in Racine County, obtain proper insurance and operating permits, and negotiate a lease agreement.
“The decision to locate in Racine County was made based on a number of key factors,” said Frank Hansen of Stahlwille. “Stahlwille’s management team was interested in a location in northern Chicago due to a large pool of potential customers in the market. After researching differences in taxes, labor laws, financial outlooks and more, the company decided to seek a location in Wisconsin instead.”
He said the final decision to select southeastern Wisconsin was due to meeting with Gov. Walker; Jim Paetsch, M7’s vice president of corporate attraction and expansion; and Logan Dawson, an RCEDC representative.
“In the end, we’re glad we made the choice. We found a very good location to start the business and with a lot of help of the RCEDC and especially Mr. Dawson, our transition was quite easy,” Hansen said.
