Thriving Economy: Center of Commece

Southeastern Wisconsin is an innovation powerhouse that is helping to set the standards in finance, automation, medical imaging, software, green technology and advanced manufacturing. The seven-county region flourishes with more than 48,000 businesses and a gross economic product of more than $100 billion that is provided by a healthy balance of long-time manufacturing icons thriving alongside next-generation firms and companies. The metro area is home to 13 Fortune 1000 companies, which is high for a region its size.

From the western shores of Lake Michigan to the rolling hills of Waukesha and Washington counties, inventors, entrepreneurs, established businesses and civic leaders continue to strengthen a region known for its global manufacturers, forward-focused technology firms, innovative service businesses and strong financial institutions.

A PERFECT LOCATION. TOP-LINE TALENT. VISIONARY LEADERS.

There are many reasons the Milwaukee Region is an excellent place to do business: its location in the heart of the nation’s industrial Midwest, its access to the abundant waters of Lake Michigan, and its ample supply of skilled workers, to name a few. But there are other reasons why multinational companies call the region home, why entrepreneurs choose Milwaukee to set up shop, and why Forbes magazine has ranked Milwaukee one of the top 10 communities for young professionals. Milwaukee’s comparatively easy lifestyle, including parking availability, low living costs and relatively easy access to the city’s power brokers and other “people in the know,” helps to attract young professionals and keep them in the area. It’s a big city that’s easy to get around. It has one of the lowest commute times of major urban areas and is considered one of the more walkable cities in the country. A brand-new street car system shuttles people around the downtown’s business and entertainment districts while Bublr bikes provide an easy way to get around on rented bikes.

Milwaukee is also a caring community with a Midwestern sensibility that makes people feel at home. Its residents are generous with their time and money, helping to fund a robust art community and making sure social service organizations have the resources they need to serve the less advantaged. The region also is home to companies that care for and invest in their employees. That’s one of the primary reasons Milwaukee has one of the nation’s highest concentrations of best companies to work for per capita, according to the Great Places to Work Institute.

ECONOMIC DIVERSITY

Although many people consider Milwaukee the historic beer capital of America, its breweries today employ less than 1 percent of Milwaukee’s workforce. In fact, no segment of the area’s manufacturing industry employs more than 5 percent of the metropolitan labor force. Within the manufacturing sector, the emphasis has shifted to advanced industries focused on industrial equipment, medical imaging, consumer products and green technologies. The region is increasingly known for diagnostic equipment, electric car batteries and wind turbine equipment.

In addition to the many “brand-name” manufacturers that call Milwaukee home, the region is home to hundreds of smaller manufacturers that provide quality products for customers around the world and create a valued supply chain that builds a solid foundation for business.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing remains a very important engine for the region’s economy. Fifteen percent of the workforce is employed by manufacturers, well above the 9 percent average nationally. The region is home to many well-known manufacturers, including:

● Briggs & Stratton

● Harley-Davidson

● CNH America

● GE Healthcare

● In-Sink-Erator

● Johnson Controls

● Master Lock

● Miller Coors

● Quad/Graphics

● Rexnord

● Rockwell Automation

● SC Johnson

● Snap-On

Two locally based industrial companies are on the Fortune 500 list: Harley-Davidson and Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee). Three other industrial companies based in the region have revenues greater than $3 billion: Quad/Graphics (Sussex), SC Johnson (Racine) and Snap-On (Kenosha).

Rockwell Automation’s leadership in industrial controls puts it at the forefront in developing the Internet of Things network that will improve communication and efficiency.

Manufacturing Council to support these manufacturers and pave the way for tomorrow’s technology. It has identified seven lead projects that could build bridges to the economy of tomorrow, including:

● Mid-West Energy Research Consortium Energy Innovation Center

● FaB Wisconsin Manufacturing Accelerator

● Milwaukee 7’s Regional Export Initiative

● Century City Manufacturing Training Center

● Water Council Accelerator

● Century City/30th Street Corridor Infrastructure Development

● Racine’s Machinery Row

A FAST-GROWING SERVICE SECTOR

The service sector has been the fastestgrowing segment of the regional economy. Service-providing jobs account for more than 80 percent of all nonfarm jobs in southeastern Wisconsin. Health care and social assistance, retail trade, hospitality and food services, and finance/insurance are among the largest service-sector segments in the region. Five Milwaukee-area service companies are ranked as Fortune 500 companies: ManpowerGroup, Northwestern Mutual, and WEC Energy Group (Milwaukee), Kohl’s Corp. (Menomonee Falls) and Fiserv (Brookfield).

ManpowerGroup is the third-largest staffing firm in the world, serving more than 440,000 clients worldwide. Northwestern Mutual is the nation’s leading provider of individual life insurance and a financial services firm that manages $265 billion in assets. Kohl’s is among the nation’s leading retailers with more than 1,100 stores in 49 states. Fiserv is one of the nation’s largest data processing firms, serving more than 20,000 clients in 130 countries. Milwaukee is also home to the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. (MGIC), which is the nation’s leading provider of private mortgage insurance.

Several national financial institutions have a major presence in the Milwaukee Region, including Bank of America, BMO Harris, JPMorgan Chase, US Bank and Wells Fargo. The region is home to significant operations for several large state and regional banks, including Associated Bank, The Equitable Bank, Johnson Financial Group, Landmark Credit Union, PNC Bank and Tri-City National Bank.

Health care is a major service employer. Southeastern Wisconsin is home to major operations for two of the nation’s largest integrated healthcare systems – Advocate Aurora Health and Ascension. Advocate Aurora Health has 10 hospitals in the region. Ascension Wisconsin operates nine hospitals in southeastern Wisconsin. The region’s other major health care providers are Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin, which operates three hospitals, an ProHealth Care, which operates two hospitals and more than a dozen clinics in Waukesha County.

A GLOBAL CENTER FOR INNOVATION

Milwaukee has been a center of commerce since the Potawatomi Indians first settled along the shores of the Menomonee River and Lake Michigan hundreds of years ago. It was a leading Great Lakes port in the 1800s, the “Beer Capital of the World” and the “Toolbox of America” in the 1900s, and is now a global center for advanced manufacturing, electronic commerce, financial services, food and beverage producers, printing and green technologies.

Instead of producing the farm machinery and industrial equipment that powered America’s economic engine in the 20th Century, the region’s research facilities and manufacturing plants are now paving the way for new medical technologies, batterypowered cars and alternative power solutions. With the addition of Foxconn’s advanced LCD production facility and resulting spin-off industries, southeastern Wisconsin will maintain its reputation for innovation well into the 21st Century.

Similar innovation is occurring in the service sector. Southeastern Wisconsin is a leader in the development of financial services, logistics software and health care integration.

ASSISTING START-UPS

Business, educational and civic leaders are committed to realizing the area’s high-tech potential through the development of technology-focused business incubators; educational programs focused on science, technology, engineering and math; the establishment of targeted venture capital funds; and regional economic development initiatives, including the Milwaukee 7. The region also benefits from a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem with organizations devoted to helping start-ups, including BizStarts, MiKE, Gener8tor, and Scale Up Milwaukee, which recently launched SPARC, a growth-training program designed for businesses with revenue between $100,000 and $1 million. Two prominent organizations – Advocate Aurora Health and Northwestern Mutual – have also created venture capital funds to invest in local start-ups.

These efforts – combined with the city’s entrepreneurial spirit – have placed Milwaukee among the 30 cities as a hub for startups.

SOLID & GROWING BASE OF HIGH-TECH FIRMS

The Milwaukee Region, ranked as an upand-coming tech city by Forbes magazine, features a solid, high-tech base. Milwaukee is a leader in medical diagnostic instruments, industrial robots, automation controls, electronic controls, software development, power distribution, water technologies, supply chain and just-in-time distribution.

It is on the forward edge of research into the development of the Internet of Things, battery technology for electric cars, and advanced medical imaging. With the arrival of Foxconn, it will also be the U.S. epicenter for new LCD technologies.

ADVANCED MEDICAL RESEARCH

Southeastern Wisconsin is a leader in health care quality and research. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has consistently ranked Wisconsin among the top states for the quality of medical care delivered (including first in 2017). Medical College of Wisconsin scientists lead biomedical and population health advancements through laboratory research, clinical trials and community-engaged research. Its faculty researchers conduct 2,000 studies annually with more than $144 million in government and private funding.

The Blood Center of Wisconsin and its affiliate, the Blood Research Institute, play major roles in research regarding immunobiology, transfusion medicine and stem cell biology.

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

The Milwaukee Region is home to several internationally recognized medical technology and biotech firms. GE Healthcare, a global leader in medical imaging and information technologies, patient monitoring systems and health care services, employs nearly 6,000 people at multiple facilities in the region.

In addition to GE Healthcare, southeastern Wisconsin is a base for several medical technology firms, including Vesta, which manufactures medical devices; Mortara Instrument, which is now part of Welch Allyn Cardiology; Criticare Technologies, which manufactures medical monitoring equipment; Alcami Corp., which develops and manufactures pharmaceuticals and pharma intermediates; and Bradshaw Medical, a manufacturer of orthopedic and spinal surgery instruments.

The Milwaukee Region is also becoming a center for medical software development. GE Healthcare has committed more than $3 million to UW-Milwaukee to help create a cluster of medical imaging software developers and researchers.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

During the past 15 years, Milwaukee has evolved into a major center for electronic commerce. Two of the world’s largest data processing firms have significant operations in southeastern Wisconsin. Brookfieldbased Fiserv is a leading data processing provider for financial institutions serving more than 10,000 financial institutions in more than 90 countries. FIS, the world’s largest technology solution provider, employs more than 3,000 people in the region. US Bancorp Fund Services and JPMorgan Chase also have significant data processing operations.

The Milwaukee Region is known for its strong supply-chain services. Several large software firms specializing in logistics, including Dematic Corporation, have operations here. It is also home to other specialty technology firms, including Astronautics Corp. of America, an international provider of flight-critical software and instruments; Penta Technologies, developer of enterprise solution software; Connecture Inc., a health insurance software provider; and Zywave, a leading developer of software for financial planners and insurance brokers.

FOOD & BEVERAGE BUSINESSES

Wisconsin is home to nearly 1,200 food and beverage manufacturers, ranking fifth in the nation and employing more than 67,000 people. One out of nine jobs in the state are related to food – from farm to factory to fork. The state ranks first nationally in cheese, second in sausage and third in beer production.

Southeastern Wisconsin accounts for the largest concentration of food and beverage manufacturers in the state with more than 250 companies employing nearly 15,000 people. The region’s legacy brands include: Gardetto’s, Gehl’s, Johnsonville, Klement’s, Leinenkugel’s, MillerCoors, Pabst, Palermo’s, Patrick Cudahy, Sargento and Usinger’s.

Global brands with operations here include: Birds Eye, Campbell’s, Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Nestlé, Pepsi and Smithfield. And foreign direct investment includes: Chr. Hansen, Kerry, Kikkoman, Seda, Lesaffre/Red Star Yeast, Malteurop, Nature’s Path, Purato’s, and the recent attraction of Haribo. Southeastern Wisconsin also boasts the nation’s top ranking in food packaging and equipment manufacturing, as it is home to Germanbased Krones and KHS.

GREEN TECHNOLOGIES

Southeastern Wisconsin has become a nationally recognized hub for green technologies. Johnson Controls is significantly expanding its research into next-generation batteries and energyefficient buildings. The Water Council is strengthening the infrastructure needed to increase research into the world’s freshwater challenges and potential solutions, as well as to support the region’s many water technology companies.

Rockwell Automation is actively involved in the development of the Internet of Things, which will increase efficiency and reduce energy consumption by improving communication between equipment and companies. Ingeteam, a Spanish-based manufacturer of alternative energy equipment, has a major facility in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley.

The Milwaukee-based Mid-West Energy Research Consortium (M-WERC) is working to make the United States energy independent using innovative solutions to energy-related activities, including generation, transmission and distribution. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and several of the region’s private-sector employers are working together to develop microgrid technologies that will be able to store renewable energy.

Milwaukee is home to several companies focused on increasing the efficiency of autos, trucks and other types of transportation. Modine is an international pioneer in thermal management technologies. Actuant has entered the market for power inverters, which are key to using the power generated by wind turbines and solar panels.

Eaton Cooper Power Systems, which produces integrated, smart-grid technologies, recently expanded its South Milwaukee facility to meet the demand for the technology.

PRINTING & DESIGN

Tens of thousands of people are employed in creative enterprises in the metropolitan region. Companies in the region employ more creatives as a percentage of total population than the national average. Two initiatives - MiKE, or Innovation in Milwaukee - and the Creative Alliance Milwaukee are working to grow the local creative industry.

Quad/Graphics, based in suburban Sussex, is one of the largest printing companies in the world, as well as a fully integrated marketer that produces magazines, special interest publications, journals, catalogs, localized retail inserts, direct mail pieces, instore signage and high-end packaging. Other major printers include Arandell Corp., which produces direct-mail catalogs and demographically targeted marketing products, and Serigraph, which specializes in industrial and point-of-purchase printing.

PUBLISHING

The seven-county region is served by six daily newspapers, more than two dozen weekly newspapers, several magazines, 13 broadcast television stations (including two public television affiliates) and more than 40 radio stations.

The state’s largest daily newspaper is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which is owned by Gannett. The region is served by two primary business publications, the weekly Milwaukee Business Journal and the bi-weekly BizTimes. RDA Milwaukee produces several national publications, including Taste of Home, the world’s largest food magazine. Other major publishers include Kalmbach Publishing Co., which publishes Model Railroader, Astronomy and other hobby magazines; and Trade Press Media Group, which publishes trade publications for railroad transportation and facility management.