The big news in Wisconsin is regulatory reform. The state has made it easier to get permits and to get through the paperwork required for any commercial construction project. Along with neighboring states, Wisconsin also has established more development zones to incentivize locating in underdeveloped or brownfields areas, while revisiting tax incentives.
      "They have made great strides by instituting substantial tax credits for businesses locating or expanding in the state," observes Dennis Donovan. "This is a really big change. Until now, Wisconsin had no such incentives to speak of."
      GE Medical Systems took advantage of the change when it decided to stay in Wisconsin after a two-year search for a new facility that included serious discussions with officials in Mount Pleasant, Ill. The company received $7 million in incentives, to offset the $85-million cost of the 475,000-sq.-ft. facility in Wauwatosa.
      The "Grow Wisconsin" initiative targets high value-added manufacturing such as the GE facility. Last year, paper manufacturer Stora Enso benefited as well, when it received $650,000 for customized training of workers after investing $100 million in technology upgrades for three of its Wisconsin plants.
      And Quad/Graphics, based in Sussex, Wis., is adding around 250 new employees at four of its Wisconsin locations and investing $230 million in expansions and equipment improvements at three of them. According to Business Journal of Milwaukee, the printer's Lomira plant will cover 2.1 million sq. ft. (195,090 sq. m.) when a new 67,000-sq.-ft. (6,224-sq.-m.) racking system is completed in September 2005. The enormous structure will be able to hold 42,000 pallets of printed material. A similar system, covering 53,000 sq. ft. (4,924 sq. m.), is being installed in Sussex.
      Sussex, which saw two new presses in 2004, will see three more added to its complex by the end of 2005, at a cool $17 million apiece. The 1.7-million-sq.-ft. (157,930-sq.-m.) Sussex site just added a 172,000-sq.-ft. (15,979-sq.-m.) finishing facility and is about to finish a 30,000-sq.-ft. (2,787-sq.-m.) wastepaper collection facility. In Hartford, Wis., the company is adding a 160,000-sq.-ft. (14,864-sq.-m.) facility for pre-shipment staging, bringing that complex's footprint to some 1.5 million sq. ft. (139,350 sq. m.).