Waukesha Metal Products
N53 W24635 S. Corporate Circle, Sussex
www.waukeshametal.com
Industry: Manufacturing
Employees: 137
Sussex-based Waukesha Metal Products has provided its clients with metal form manufacturing, metal stamping, sheet metal fabrication and custom projects for nearly 43 years. For the past decade, further expansion into international markets has sparked growth throughout the company.
“We’ve followed our customers’ growth,” said Jeffrey Clark, president and chief executive officer of the company. “We just recently purchased a plant in Mexico, and we continue to grow in that area as well as other international markets. There is lots of opportunity for us to continue our growth trajectory.”
Waukesha Metal Products was named the #1 Business of the Year in Waukesha County Business Alliance’s Top 10 Businesses of the Year program for 2014.
An acquisition, completed in 2010, drove the company to double-digit growth. In 2013, the company earned nearly $31.2 million in revenue, and is on track to continue that growth trajectory this year and into the future.
The company operates out of three manufacturing facilities: a 49,000-square-foot stamping and tooling plant in Sussex; a 42,000-square-foot fabrication plant in Grafton; and a newly acquired 110,000-square-foot facility in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
According to Clark, the company grows with the industries it serves, but the company’s approach to business and relationships has helped as well.
“Part of our success is driven by our ability to service our international customers, but a lot of it can be attributed to the talented workforce we have as well,” he said. “We’re very thankful for the hardworking employees that provide the foundation for our growth.”
In addition to the nearly 140 full-time employees at Waukesha Metal Products, the company is focused on its goal of providing youth and adult apprenticeships to area high schools and colleges, Clark said.
The skills gap is an issue the entire country is dealing with, and the company is dedicated to doing its part in finding a solution. In 2013, the company announced plans to establish additional education and training facilities at its Sussex headquarters. Clark hopes to have that up and running in the near future.
“We’ve taken a really strong position in the community on education and partnered with a lot of great institutions and organizations to bring awareness and a solution to the issues surrounding the future of skilled workers in the community,” Clark said. “We certainly won’t be able to hire everybody that comes through our training center, but I don’t see that as a negative. It’s a win for the community if we can provide career opportunities and family-supporting wages for individuals in the program.”
The company plans to continue to invest in automation technology and other innovations to help streamline its processes and continue to compete on a global scale, Clark said.
“Getting the plant in Mexico fully online is a big focus of ours,” Clark said. “Right now it’s a large facility with a small number of people there, but it will open up several new opportunities for our company and free up capacity constraints in other areas, particularly in Sussex.”
