Manitowoc Cranes Expansion

Congratulations to Manitowoc and Manitowoc Cranes!
Thank you Manitowoc Cranes and Manitowoc Company!
This 50,000 square foot expansion means 70 new manufacturing jobs to our community.

News Release


October 15, 2007


Ground broken on Manitowoc factory expansion

Manitowoc’s crane division has broken ground on a new 50,000 sq. ft. addition and expansion project at its crawler crane assembly facility in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The new addition is part of a $25 million renovation and modernization investment that the company is making in its Wisconsin-based manufacturing facilities. Manitowoc announced plans to expand its Port Washington fabrication facility in late August.

Larry Weyers, executive vice president of the crane division’s America’s region, says the expansion is not only a sign of the strength of the crawler crane market worldwide, but also reinforces Manitowoc’s commitment to quality and innovation.

“The renovations will not only help us meet a growing demand for crawler cranes,” he said. “But it will also support future product development efforts.”

The Manitowoc facility expansion includes three new buildings and significant capital equipment expenditures. One of the new facilities is a 20,000 sq. ft. building that will be used for assembling Manitowoc’s larger crawler models, the Model 18000 and Model 21000. There is also a 33,000 sq ft. final assembly and paint addition. In this area, Manitowoc will add a paint booth and oven, a reassembly area as well as two additional loading bays. The final building addition is an employee services area which will include locker rooms, a lunch room and tool room.

Manitowoc will also invest in capital equipment, to include a burn table, large machining center, tooling and fixtures, small parts paint booth and a large boring bar.

Steve Brahm, vice president of operations for Manitowoc’s crane division, says these expansion projects are part of an on-going re-investment strategy.

“Manitowoc Company, our parent company, has continued to financially support crane manufacturing globally ,” he said. “In addition to facility improvements, we’ve also been able to add nearly 300 new manufacturing jobs within the last two years in the United States alone.”
About The Manitowoc Company
The Manitowoc Company, Inc. is one of the world’s largest providers of lifting equipment for the global construction industry, including lattice-boom cranes, tower cranes, mobile telescopic cranes, and boom trucks. As a leading manufacturer of ice-cube machines, ice/beverage dispensers, and commercial refrigeration equipment, the company offers the broadest line of cold-focused equipment for the foodservice industry. In addition, the company is a leading provider of shipbuilding, ship repair, and conversion services for government, military, and commercial customers throughout the US maritime industry.


Remarks: Groundbreaking Event Manitowoc Cranes
October 15, 2007
Mayor Kevin Crawford


This is not only a great day for Manitowoc Cranes, but also a great day for the city that is the namesake for this company. Manitowoc Company and the City of Manitowoc have a proud history of growing together. No where else on earth can employees of this caliber be found. Others may say that they have the best workforce in the world, but we do…and Manitowoc Company employs them and trains them.

Having some history with the company as a rigger and a test operator, I can only observe that the technological evolution of the Manitowoc Crawler Crane has been nothing short of incredible. Thanks to John Hemkin, of TWH Collectibles, the Mayor’s Office is graced with a scale model of the Manitowoc Model 18000. This mammoth lifting device is at the same time an engineering feat and a ballet with its sleek lines and amazing capacity. Congratulations to everyone involved in the development of this machine and others large and small, that allow Manitowoc Cranes to dominate the North American crane market. Manitowoc Cranes can also be seen on the skyline of every major city around the globe.

Important to both Manitowoc Company and the City of Manitowoc is the concept of public/private partnership. The City of Manitowoc is proud to have played a role in assisting Manitowoc Cranes move in the early nineties from the peninsula to the South works facility and also in investing in Manitowoc Company’s Corporate Headquarters.

We were also proud to work closely with Chairman of the Board Terry Growcock’s effort to expand the Wisconsin Maritime Museum as a major investor.

Congratulations and thank you to Larry Weyers, Eric Etchart, Glen Tellock and union and other employees of Manitowoc Cranes on this important investment in our common future.

Quay Street Dedication

The extension of Quay Street bringing access to historic downtown Manitowoc from the carferry was officially dedicated on June 29th with a Street Dance and celebration including a parade of several hundred classic cruisers. The Rod Scheuer Group rocked!

WI Maritime Museum Banners

New WI Maritime Museum banners along downtown riverfront celebrate our 28 Manitowoc-built submarines. The banners are a fresh burst of color that really POP!

Stealing Water from the Lake Michigan Basin

It is my honor to have been asked to serve our state as a member of a Legislative Council Committee that is examining whether or not the fresh water of Lake Michigan should be allowed to be shipped to areas outside of the Great Lakes Basin.

It would seem to me to be a mortal sin to risk the future of the greatest source of fresh water in the world for the purpose of profit, but apparently somebody has enough influence in Madison to have the legislature reexamine this already answered question.

By the way, the folks in Brown County that are going to be the beneficiaries of Manitowoc’s water live in the Lake Michigan basin.

I think it was Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus who said that if someone outside the state of Wisconsin wants our water, tell him or her we sell beer. The governor was a little simple in his summary, but not too far off the mark.

Veterans' Day

This Past Saturday morning, Veterans’ Day was celebrated with a very traditional commemoration ceremony at the Veterans’ Memorial across from Evergreen Cemetery on North 18th Street.

There were the usual and appropriate remarks from veterans and other dignitaries, but what made the event so poignant was the presence of the family of a young, local man, very recently killed in action.

This family reminded everybody that those dying for us in Iraq and in other active duty around the world are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, neighbors and friends and not some strangers that we’ve enlisted to do the business of freedom.

We owe our veterans everything. Let’s make sure we take care of them.

Retail Rumors 1/6th True

After hearing false stories regarding his own demise, Mark Twain quipped that "...the rumors of my death have been greatly exagerated". The same is true with rumors circulating regarding a huge retail demise in Manitowoc.

Lowes in not closing.

Charcoal Grill is not shutting down.

Newey's is not closing it's doors.

Hobby Lobby has no intent of ceasing business.

Family Dollar, too, is doing very well, thank you.

Unfortunately, both for the employees and for faithful customers like myself, the word I received from the store manager at Big Lots is that the Manitowoc store is closing as of January 15, 2006. It appears the closing is part of a system-wide effort to increase profits. The store manager also mentioned that Big Lots' lease terminates on January 15th, hence the choice of that date for shut down.

We will miss Big Lots and the associates who served us there and hope they quickly find new employment. Big Lots has been an appreciated business in Manty since 1994. Thanks for the friendly service and amazing array of merchandise at great prices!

Aquatic Center Funding

My planned redesign of the City of Manitowoc’s 2007 budget to deal with the unfair and unfunded storm water utility mandate placed upon the City by the State of Wisconsin will in no way affect the Common Council’s ability to fund their planned share of the Aquatic Center park.

Our families need and deserve this facility for their summer recreation. As a matter of fact, I completely endorse and encourage the Common Council’s continued support of this great project.

Stormwater Utility DEAD

At a time when citizens should be reveling in our new-found economic successes such as the developments at Harbor Town Center, the growth of Manitowoc Cranes and Ice, Burger Boat, Koening-Vits, Tramontina and Orion Energies, the near completion of the Brown County Water pipeline and MPU’s new generation facility, the advent of the elegant new 100 Maritime Place professional office building in our downtown, and the extension of Quay Street through to the Carferry facility, our citizens are worried about yet another mandated task put upon them by the state legislature for which they will have to pay the bill.

This is horribly unfair!

Last year, a Storm Water Utility with its associated fee was included in the Executive Budget Plan for 2006. However, there will be NO Storm Water Utility in next year’s budget, nor in any budgets in the foreseeable future. It is my intent to bring forward an Executive Budget Plan for 2007 that is sustainable, with no looming structural deficits, and that does not include a Storm Water Utility or its associated fee as a funding source. According to the wishes of the vast majority of businesses and individuals in our community, the costs associated with the storm water mandates will remain imbedded in our local property taxes, a method of paying for the mandate that is popular and deemed fair by most people.

This same communication will serve as an urgent request to Senator Joe Leibham and Assemblyman Bob Ziegelbauer to author legislation to provide equity for city-based businesses and property owners in regard to storm water clean up. Right now, virtually the entire burden of reducing the pollution carried by storm water is placed on city dwellers, causing their responsibility and financial burden to be much higher than others living in Wisconsin. Clean water is every one’s responsibility and if the state’s mandates included all businesses and all citizens, not only those existing in cities, costs would be more equitably distributed and much lower on an individual basis.

Happy Birthday Manitowoc County!

On this auspicious day of July 8th, fresh from celebrating our nation’s independence, this centennial birthday celebration marks not only the one hundredth anniversary of the Manitowoc County Historical Society (one of Wisconsin’s oldest), but also the beautiful structure we stand before today, the Manitowoc County Courthouse.

The Courthouse, constructed in the Beaux Arts Neo-classical style, is an elegant and magnificent edifice that graces downtown Manitowoc. It is the City of Manitowoc’s great fortune that our forefathers had the compelling foresight to not only locate the Courthouse in downtown Manitowoc, but to create such a significant and striking structure that has been preserved these 100 years. And for that, I applaud the County of Manitowoc for taking care of and maintaining the Courthouse these many years, preserving its authenticity.

The refined beauty of the Courthouse, albeit on a smaller scale, is on par with the grandeur of the statehouses in Madison and Washington. It is an edifice in which the citizens of Manitowoc can take much pride. It is a landmark, both local and to visitors alike, and is the anchor for Manitowoc’s downtown Historic District. Recognized by the United States Department of the Interior on the National Register of Historic Places, the Manitowoc County Courthouse gives integrity to the whole of Manitowoc’s Historic
District.

The Manitowoc County Courthouse, is a part of who we are. Aside from our few celebrated centenarians in town, it predates most of us and may outlast most of us. It certainly outlasted several mayors during the construction phase. Mayor William Rahr was in office when the 1902 resolution calling for a “more commodious and convenient courthouse” was passed, while Mayor William Kemper was in office when the construction was underway, and Mayor Henry Stolze, Jr. was in office when the building was finally dedicated. As Mayor of the City of Manitowoc a century later, I am thrilled that our forefathers had the presence of mind to commit to such a distinguished, polished and cultured structure to represent Manitowoc County.

Richard Florida, author of the “The Rise of the Creative Class”, and a national speaker regarding the importance of creativity and its effects on the economy, extols the value of an authentic downtown. An authentic downtown creates an identity for the city, bolsters the psyche of her citizens, and draws visitors from afar to visit her. The beauty and grandeur of the Courthouse, and an authentic downtown, appeals to our values and tastes, and even our sense of pride. It can also affect the choice of those entrepreneurs and businessmen considering Manitowoc for relocation, with an ultimate positive impact on our local economy.

It’s incredible to consider the lasting impact that decisions made 100 years ago have on today’s economy. Chief Wampum, Indian Friend of the Early Settlers, to whom a monument stands even today just off Broadway Street, would have espoused the philosophy of seven generation thinking. That is, how will a decision made today affect those who live seven generations from now? Clearly, the county officials making decisions about the location and design of the 3rd and current Manitowoc County Courthouse were touched with the wisdom of Chief Wampum. As the center of County government, and an important architectural structure exemplifying Manitowoc’s historic district, the Manitowoc County Courthouse has achieved, on many levels, the success of seven generation decision making.

Chris Tegen, a native son of Manitowoc, served as architect for the historic project. Mr. Tegen is also credited as the original architect of other memorable facilities in the City of Manitowoc including Holy Family Hospital, Schuette Bros. Dept. Store, the Dempsey Block of North 8th Street (where Beernsten’s is located), Cleveland School (currently Martin’s College of Cosmetology), the old Jefferson School, and the Luling School (currently the McKinley Administration Building). Perhaps Mr. Tegen derived inspiration from climbing Roefes Hill (current site of Lincoln High School) to gaze at a panoramic view of the once-rustic city in a simpler, less developed time. A mural, depicting just such a view circa 1882, still graces the interior wall of the Courthouse. We are fortunate that progress, and her sometime companion haste, did not destroy this rare glimpse of
Manitowoc’s past. And so it is, firmly rooted in the past, that we go successfully forward.

It is, therefore, with great pleasure that I commend and congratulate Manitowoc County and her citizens for the care and maintenance of this jewel, this Diamond on the Lakeshore, the Manitowoc County Courthouse.

Happy 100th Birthday Manitowoc County Courthouse!