Sigma-Aldrich making Milwaukee a distribution hub

St. Louis-based chemical manufacturer Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC is expanding its Milwaukee distribution facility and adding 40 jobs to make the city one of two global shipping hubs.
The 50,000-square-foot addition, 6,000 feet of conveyor belt, software and other equipment represent a $30 million capital investment, said Steve Cooper, vice president of distribution.
Sigma-Aldrich currently has a distribution facility in St. Louis, but is consolidating those operations into the Milwaukee facility. Employees in St. Louis have been offered positions within the company.
Construction has started on the Milwaukee facility addition, and is expected to be completed in August, Cooper said. A second distribution hub is in Germany, Cooper said.
The company is moving about 40,000 SKUs from St. Louis during a gradual transition. The distribution hub should be fully integrated by the first quarter of 2013, he said.
 “In the U.S., it will be the central distribution center,” he said. “We’re already up in Milwaukee and the facility here was the easiest to expand. We had some existing space and it was going to be the easiest to grow into.”
Sigma-Aldrich’s Milwaukee distribution building is at 6000 N. Teutonia Ave., a 70-acre site it shares with a Sigma-Aldrich lab. The company also has another Milwaukee building, a warehouse in Port Washington and a production facility in Sheboygan.
There are currently 925 Sigma-Aldrich employees at the Milwaukee-area facilities. The 40 additional jobs are already being added in distribution and shipping.
 The Port of Milwaukee assisted Sigma-Aldrich in creating a free trade zone to ease shipping from Milwaukee, Cooper said.
Sigma-Aldrich makes chemical and biochemical products used in scientific research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and disease diagnosis. In 2011, the company reported $2.5 billion in revenue.