In an account of its humble beginnings — 11 employees, a rented press, and a borrowed binder housed in a 20,000-square-foot building — Quad/Graphics credits its rise to prominence to a long-held belief: If you build plants, work will come. A similar belief may have inspired the State of Wisconsin, which has extended job creation incentives to Quad/Graphics. Wisconsin could state this belief as follows: If you build a business-friendly climate, the plants will expand.
Through $300 million worth of investments in three of its Wisconsin plants, Quad/Graphics has reinforced its position as the nation’s most technologically advanced printer of magazines, catalogs, direct mail, and other commercial products. The company, which employs approximately 6,500 people from its Sussex, Hartford, and Lomira, Wisconsin locations, recently completed the installation of seven new presses, two high-density storage systems capable of storing tens of thousands of pallets of work in process, and a high-volume trim wastepaper collection system. The Wisconsin Department of Commerce is providing up to $3 million in tax credits for creating up to 750 new jobs connected with the investment.
“All these investments increase our competitiveness and increase our need for highly skilled individuals,” said Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics president and CEO. “To its credit, the State of Wisconsin recognizes the value employers like Quad bring to the state’s economy by offering job-creation incentives.”
Quad/Graphics is the largest privately held commercial printer in the Western Hemisphere. Founded in 1971 with a single location in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, it now has nine print-production facilities nationwide as well as a network of prepress, graphic design, photography and sales locations. With sales of $1.9 billion, Quad/Graphics employs approximately 6,500 people in Wisconsin and 12,000 people worldwide. Quad/Graphics was named one of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” 2006.
