by JOHN W. McCURRY john.mccurry bounce@conway.com

GE Healthcare's new $85- million building in Wauwatosa is global headquarters for the company's Clinical Systems; Interventional, Cardiology & Surgery; and e- Business divisions.

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he U.S. cancer death rates have declined for the second consecutive year according to a recent report from the American Cancer Society, which credits several factors, including advances in treatment options. One fast- growing company in this field is TomoTherapy Inc., which opened a new operations center in Madison, Wis., last July. TomoTherapy is the developer of a medical device that uses image- guided radiation therapy to target tumors while sparing surrounding tissue.
   TomoTherapy officials expect to create more than 300 jobs over the next three years at the new 66,000- sq.- ft. (6,100- sq.- m.) building. The new facility, located across the street from the company's headquarters, is designed for flexible and lean operations and has the capacity to quadruple previous production.
   "Being able to bring prospective customers to TomoTherapy's world- class facility has been a factor in our rapid growth," said Dr Thomas "Rock" Mackie, TomoTherapy co- founder. "We expect that our new operations center will provide us with unrivaled manufacturing capability."
   TomoTherapy, like many of Wisconsin's young technology companies, is a product of research at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. The company was founded in 1997, and its signature product is the Hi- Art System, now installed at 100 hospitals and treatment centers around the globe. TomoTherapy also opened an office in Belgium in 2006 to facilitate sales in Europe.    High- tech medical device firms such as TomoTherapy and GE Healthcare, which has expanded several times in the state in recent years,

It's Naturally Snack Time    Food processing has long been a key Badger State industry. Two recent projects are an indication of the trend to natural and organic foods.    Kettle Foods, an Oregon- based firm specializing in all- natural snacks, is building an $18- million potato chip plant in the City of Beloit's Gateway Business Park, near the Illinois state line. The project will create about 100 jobs with production beginning during the first quarter of 2007. Company officials said Beloit gives the company proximity to Midwest and East Coast Distribution points.    Tim Fallon, Kettle Foods' president, says his company did an extensive search, looking at eight finalist sites in Wisconsin and northern Illinois before selecting Beloit, a transportation and distribution center for the region. He says construction is on schedule and the plant will open in mid April. This will be Kettle's third plant. The others are in Salem, Ore., and in England.    "We liked the location and Beloit's commitment to the food processing industry," Fallon says. "Beloit has great access to Interstates."    Business is good for Kettle, with its chip business growing at about 50 percent a year. The new plant is built for expansion, with the capability of doubling volume within its existing walls, Fallon says.    Cashton, just east of La Crosse in the western part of the state, is the site of a new $15 million distribution center being built by the Organic Valley Family of Farms, the nation's largest cooperative of organic farmers and a leading organic brand. The 80,000- sq.- ft. (7400- sq.- m.) facility will distribute Organic Valley's fluid milk products from the Midwest as well as the co- op's national specialty products.

are examples of one of the major sectors Wisconsin is actively cultivating, says Mary P. Burke, secretary of the Wisconsin Dept. of Commerce. Advanced manufacturing and alternative energy are the other industries. She says Wisconsin has a competitive advantage in these sectors.
   GE Healthcare's latest expansion is a US$85- million facility in the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa, which opened in early 2006 and now serves as the global headquarters for the company's clinical systems and cardiology business units. The building is home to approximately 2,000 employees.
   "Wisconsin has a strong work force in the advanced manufacturing sector, which has seen a big turnaround over the last three or four years, and we are now actually adding jobs," Burke says, adding that the state's sales and property tax exemptions for machinery and equipment used in manufacturing makes the state competitive in recruiting industry. She says that many manufacturers are also able to cut lead times due to a preponderance of parts manufacturers located in the state.
   Wisconsin's position in the grain belt gives it added steam in the nation's biofuels scramble. The Wisconsin Bio Industry Alliance recently formed to support development of bio- based renewable energy, power and products. Burke estimates there are about 100 Wisconsin firms currently in this burgeoning industry. Several new facilities are nearing completion or planned, including a 20- million- gallon plant from Sanimax in De Forest, just outside Madison. It is adjacent to an existing company facility that collects and recycles restaurant, industrial and trap greases, all of which can be used as raw materials in the biodiesel process.
   Wisconsin recently drew top marks in a study that measures employment, income and quality of life. The nonprofit Corporation for Enterprise Development gave the state an "A" in development capacity, listing it among the top 10 states for workers and families.    Wisconsin is recognized as the birthplace of U.S. stem cell research, and economic development effort in that sector is gaining traction. Gov. Jim Doyle has been pushing the effort with a goal of garnering 10 percent of the stem cell research market for the state by 2015.
   At least four companies have formed or plan to locate in Madison over the past two years. The latest is CellCura, a Norwegian biotechnology company, which plans to open a location this year to facilitate collaboration with the WiCell Research Institute, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. WiCell conducts research, supports research at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and hosts the National Stem Cell Bank.
   CellCura has developed products for assisted reproduction technology for the past 15 years. CellCura conducted an extensive search for a U.S. site and chose Madison for its overall quality of life, accessibility to world- renowned stem cell researchers and its proximity to WiCell, company officials said. It will locate in UW- Madison's University Research Park.
   "Madison was chose because of its proximity to a center of excellence for stem cell research and UW's future- focused policy toward commercial collaboration and the local business environment," says Lesley Hutchings, Cellcura's CEO. "CellCura will undertake research and development projects in specific area of its core technologies to expand its product lines."
   Former U.S. Ambassador to Norway Thomas Loftus, who is from Wisconsin and sits on the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin System, is being given credit for linking up CellCura and WiCell. Loftus, who served as ambassador from 1993 to 1997 and later was special advisor to the World Health Organization, is friends with Dag Dvergsten, CellCura's president.
   "My idea was to have the CellCura people meet with WiCell to see if there was some interest in a joint project, and there was a great deal of interest," Loftus tells Site Selection. "WiCell is very interested in expanding the stem cell cluster in Madison. It was quite clear and easy to see there was a business partnership that could be developed. In essence, Madison is a good place for locating this type of business. We expect a long and fruitful run and I would expect to find more Norwegian companies in the biomedical area that would have some comfort working in Wisconsin."
   Stemina Biomarker Discovery, a startup with ties to UW- Madison research, will also begin operations early this year. The company plans to use embryonic stem cells as a source of biomarkers for preclinical safety testing of pharmaceutical compounds and disease diagnostics.