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WI: Construction Starts on New Sun Prairie R&D Facility

9 Apr, 2019

Sun Prairie, Wis., city officials participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony at MacDon’s new research and development facility in the Sun Prairie Business Park recently. Sun Prairie Mayor Paul Esser and City Council President Bill Connors were joined by Michael Gay, Senior Vice-President of Economic Development for the Madison Region Economic Partnership, and Melissa Hunt, Regional Economic Development Director for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).
 
The project includes an approximately 15,000 sq.ft. research and development facility related to the manufacturing of high performance agricultural harvesting equipment that will open in fall of 2019.
 
MacDon’s growth plans for the next five years could result in 20 highly skilled, competitive wage jobs in the Madison Region.
 
“MacDon is very excited to be making a long term commitment to the City of Sun Prairie and the Madison area, Dane County and the State of Wisconsin,” remarked Neil Barnett, manager for MacDon’s Madison area operations.
 
“MacDon first came to the area in 2015 with little more than our name and a desire to attract strong, passionate people to design agricultural products for the future, and now just over three years later we have grown to an office with 10 highly qualified engineers,” Barnett added.
 
“We are proud to be a part of the Sun Prairie and the Greater Madison Region,” Barnett said. “It is a good location with strong businesses, schools, and farming culture, which provides us with the ability to attract qualified employees.“
 
Barnett expressed his appreciated for the support from MacDon Inc. & Linamar Corporation, MacDon’s parent company.
 
Specifically, he thanked Linda Hasenfranz, CEO of Linamar Corporation, Jim Jarrell, COO of Linamar Corporation, Ken Ross, President of MacDon Industries, and Kiera Young, Vice-President of MacDon Industries.
 
Barnett also went on to thank MacDon’s local project partners, including the City of Sun Prairie, the Madison Region Economic Partnership, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Broadwing Advisors, Harmony Construction, Angus Young Architects, and Dr. Kevin Shinners from the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
 
“I am so pleased to be welcoming MacDon into Sun Prairie,” Esser said. “They are a high quality business doing innovative development work on agricultural equipment and which is exactly the type of company we want to have in our business park. I am confident this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship been MacDon and the City of Sun Prairie. Welcome to Sun Prairie.”
 
“MacDon’s investment in Sun Prairie is both logical and critical for this region of the state,” said Senior Vice President of Economic Development for the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) Michael Gay.
 
“What the company will do at this new state of the art facility in Sun Prairie is anchored in both the Agriculture, Food and Beverage and Advance Manufacturing Industry Sectors….two sectors where this region excels,” Gay said.
 
“Secondly, this new facility is Research and Development based and will hire more high-skilled labor with engineering and technology related degrees,” Gay said. “Lastly, this is a foreign direct investment (FDI) project from company based in Canada. This is another successful effort by the City to attract global capital to the region.”
 
For 70 years MacDon has been a world leader in technology, innovation, and manufacturing of high-performance harvesting equipment.
 
Their harvesting history is rooted deep in the rich prairie heritage of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
 
MacDon products are distributed and supported worldwide from offices in Canada, the United States, Australia, Russia, Brazil, and Germany.
 
MacDon’s relentless pursuit of improvement is driven by their desire to make harvesting easier and more productive for farmers.
 
Linamar Corporation is a diversified global manufacturing company of highly engineered products powering vehicles, motion, work and lives.
 
The company is made up of two operating segments – the Powertrain/Driveline segment and the Industrial segment, which are further divided into five operating groups – Machining and Assembly, Light Metal Casting, Forging, Skyjack and Agriculture, all world leaders in the design, development and production of highly engineered products.
 
The company’s Machining and Assembly, Light Metal Casting and Forging operating groups focus on precision metallic components, modules and systems for powertrain, driveline and body systems designed for global electrified and traditionally powered vehicle and industrial markets.
 
Linamar has more than 28,600 employees in 60 manufacturing locations, eight R&D centers and 25 sales offices in 17 countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia which generated sales of $6.5 billion in 2017.
 
For more information about Linamar Corporation and its industry leading products and services, visit www.linamar.com or follow on Twitter at @LinamarCorp.

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Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation

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