MONROE - Members of the City of Monroe Community Improvement Committee are adamant about keeping Quest Industrial, specialized in manufacturing customized and high-tech robotics, in the city.
The committee is recommending the council approve a $100,000 forgivable loan to Quest Industrial, LLC, Monroe, to facilitate the company's move to the north industrial park and its plans to build a 24,000-square-foot facility on about 10 acres there. The recommendation will come before the council for approval as early as next week.
According to Pam Christopher, executive director of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce contracted by the city to spur economic growth, Quest needed to expand and was being lured to move to other communities.
The city could not offer the company a loan through its Revolving Loan Fund. Christopher said Quest could have gotten a $260,000 loan through that program. But, because Quest's pay rate for its employees, many of whom are robotics engineers, is above moderate income level, the company is disqualified for the RLF program.
"Unfortunately, the city had nothing else to offer" the high-end paying employer, who utilizes other businesses and industrial companies in the community and has major clients such as Colony Brands and New Glarus Brewing Company, Christopher said.
"And that's what you want," she added, "expansion of the company and well-paying jobs. The loan was a way for the city to do that, to make the project expand and stay in Monroe."
It's also a way for the city to impart job creation and capital investment, Christopher said. The city should see its investment "recouped in no time at all," she added.
Don Wickstrum, founder and owner of Quest Industrial, said the loan made economic sense for both sides, and everybody at the committee meeting reiterated they wanted Quest to stay in Monroe. The loan makes it feasible for the project to get off the ground and for the company to move into the industrial park, with Woodford State Bank also backing the company's project, he said.
"Offering the loan, which the city has never done before, sends a message to me and my co-workers that the city believes in us and wants to keep high-tech jobs here," Wickstrum said Wednesday.
Quest has become the largest robotics integrator company in the U.S. and is the only company with FDA-approval for its robotics machinery to touch cheese, Wickstrum said.
It has been a "blessing to be in the heart of cheese country," he said.
"We're glad we could stay," he added.
Ground breaking for the new facility will come in late May or early June, and Wickstrum said he will be increasing employee numbers to 13 by the time Quest moves in. He hopes to add another building to the site in two to five years, and a testing field is also coming, he said.
Quest Industrial currently leases a 6,000-square-foot facility near downtown Monroe, which it will retain for long-term storage, Wickstrum said. Quest also has a second location to support its cheese factory clients, who need a cleaner environment for food production.
Wickstrum started the company in 2001 in Brodhead and has become a highly sought-after speaker at schools and universities, making 20-30 speaking engagements a year. Quest Industrial was named one of Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network's Wisconsin Companies to Watch in 2011, and it has received four Fanuc awards for robotics and sales growth in the past three years. The first piece of robotics integration Wickstrum developed was a donut flipper that prepped donuts for glazing.
The committee is recommending the council approve a $100,000 forgivable loan to Quest Industrial, LLC, Monroe, to facilitate the company's move to the north industrial park and its plans to build a 24,000-square-foot facility on about 10 acres there. The recommendation will come before the council for approval as early as next week.
According to Pam Christopher, executive director of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce contracted by the city to spur economic growth, Quest needed to expand and was being lured to move to other communities.
The city could not offer the company a loan through its Revolving Loan Fund. Christopher said Quest could have gotten a $260,000 loan through that program. But, because Quest's pay rate for its employees, many of whom are robotics engineers, is above moderate income level, the company is disqualified for the RLF program.
"Unfortunately, the city had nothing else to offer" the high-end paying employer, who utilizes other businesses and industrial companies in the community and has major clients such as Colony Brands and New Glarus Brewing Company, Christopher said.
"And that's what you want," she added, "expansion of the company and well-paying jobs. The loan was a way for the city to do that, to make the project expand and stay in Monroe."
It's also a way for the city to impart job creation and capital investment, Christopher said. The city should see its investment "recouped in no time at all," she added.
Don Wickstrum, founder and owner of Quest Industrial, said the loan made economic sense for both sides, and everybody at the committee meeting reiterated they wanted Quest to stay in Monroe. The loan makes it feasible for the project to get off the ground and for the company to move into the industrial park, with Woodford State Bank also backing the company's project, he said.
"Offering the loan, which the city has never done before, sends a message to me and my co-workers that the city believes in us and wants to keep high-tech jobs here," Wickstrum said Wednesday.
Quest has become the largest robotics integrator company in the U.S. and is the only company with FDA-approval for its robotics machinery to touch cheese, Wickstrum said.
It has been a "blessing to be in the heart of cheese country," he said.
"We're glad we could stay," he added.
Ground breaking for the new facility will come in late May or early June, and Wickstrum said he will be increasing employee numbers to 13 by the time Quest moves in. He hopes to add another building to the site in two to five years, and a testing field is also coming, he said.
Quest Industrial currently leases a 6,000-square-foot facility near downtown Monroe, which it will retain for long-term storage, Wickstrum said. Quest also has a second location to support its cheese factory clients, who need a cleaner environment for food production.
Wickstrum started the company in 2001 in Brodhead and has become a highly sought-after speaker at schools and universities, making 20-30 speaking engagements a year. Quest Industrial was named one of Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network's Wisconsin Companies to Watch in 2011, and it has received four Fanuc awards for robotics and sales growth in the past three years. The first piece of robotics integration Wickstrum developed was a donut flipper that prepped donuts for glazing.