Governor Scott Walker visited Phillips-Medisize Corp. in New Richmond Thursday to join company officials in announcing the company is undertaking a $30 million expansion at five facilities throughout Wisconsin — a move expected to create up to 484 new jobs in four counties.
“Phillips-Medisize is already a major employer in Wisconsin – with 1,400 employees at 12 facilities throughout the state. An investment of this magnitude really solidifies this growing company's commitment to Wisconsin,” Governor Walker said. “Phillips-Medisize has operations around the world and had other options for this expansion. Their decision to stay and grow here says a lot about the state's strong business climate and dedicated workforce.”
Phillips-Medisize Corp., a leading provider of design, development, and manufacturing has already started construction at facilities in New Richmond and Menomonie, and future expansions are planned at its facilities in Hudson, Phillips, Medford, and Eau Claire.
“Phillips-Medisize has a laser focus on supporting our customer's growth and the company's new business awards through continued investment in our people, process and facilities,” said company Chairman and CEO Matt Jennings. “We are excited to announce the investments in our facilities that will expand our capabilities, enable us to hire employees with needed expertise and will allow us to deliver on our commitments to our customers with the right resources, at the right time.”
To help secure the new jobs, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) has authorized Phillips-Medisize to receive up to $5 million in state tax credits over the next 39 months. The actual amount of tax credits the company will earn will be contingent upon the number of jobs created.
“We applaud Phillips-Medisize for deciding to grow in Wisconsin and are pleased to be able to work with the company to make this project a reality,” said Reed Hall, secretary and CEO of WEDC, the state's lead economic development organization. “This expansion project will provide hundreds of family-supporting jobs throughout western and west-central Wisconsin and is good news not just for the region but the entire state.”
This is Phillips-Medisize's 50th year in operation, and for the past five decades, the company has continued to make significant capital investments, as well as provided continued job creation in the region.
With the expansion of the Metal Injection Molding facility in Menomonie, the facility will be nearly 50,000- square-feet. The expansion will allow for the site to house an additional 10 molding presses and one continuous debind and sintering furnace. This will be the second expansion of this site in the last two years. Concurrent with this expansion, the company will add another continuous debind and sintering furnace, which will bring the site to four continuous and three batch furnaces.
The project also calls for a 33,000 square-foot addition at Phillips-Medisize's medical facility in New Richmond. This expansion will include the construction of additional clean room space due to the facility's focus on the manufacturing and assembly of diagnostic and surgical products. Construction is expected to be complete in late 2015.
Additionally, Phillips-Medisize plans to add more highly experienced personnel to its Design Development Center staff over the next nine months. These individuals will be experienced design and development professionals, who will assist in the commercialization of pharmaceutical devices, allowing Phillips-Medisize to continue to provide its customers all the resources necessary to take a drug delivery device from the bench to the patient's bedside.
Phillips-Medisize is actively recruiting and hiring medical and pharmaceutical device technical engineers and quality individuals to support our customer requirements in drug devices, consumable diagnostics, and surgical devices. For more information on careers with the company, visit phillipsmedisize.net/about-us/careers