Sherwin-Williams to Consolidate Two Plants into One Wausau Facility
As local leaders push Wausau's central location as a top reason for businesses to relocate to the region, one company is making the leap.
Sherwin-Williams plans to close its paint-blending plants in Appleton and Eau Claire and consolidate their operations under one roof in Wausau, where the company will fill paint orders for other manufacturers, a company official said.
While the move brings just nine full-time jobs to the area, some leaders say it demonstrates one of the Wausau area's main selling points to companies that are relocating.
"Sometimes people just take a look at what others have done and when they go through the thought process of relocating, they say 'Geez, it's good enough for Sherwin-Williams, maybe it's good enough for us,'" said Jeff Zriny, executive director of the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce.
Sherwin-Williams expects to open the facility in December in the Wausau West Industrial Park, said Scott Olson, who will serve as the facility manager in Wausau. The company will hire several full-time paint blenders and a sales representative, and could add more workers in the future. But Olson said the location is unlikely ever to have dozens of employees.
"There may be some more jobs, but it's not going to be much more than that," said Olson, who declined to discuss wages for the new jobs.
The Chamber and the Marathon County Economic Development Corp., or McDEVCO, recently launched their Central Time branding campaign, which leaders hope will lure businesses here by emphasizing Wausau's central location and other assets.
The campaign has its critics, but Sherwin-Williams chose Wausau largely because of where it is.
"I know (Sherwin-Williams corporate leaders) were looking in the central part of the state, and Wausau gave them the best options for where they wanted to go," Olson said.
Sherwin-Williams also is consolidating the plants in Wausau because it has a lot of customers here, including some that specialize in metal fabrication and powder coating, Olson said.
One of those customers is Crystal Finishing Systems in Weston, which uses Sherwin-Williams for powder-coating products. Owner Mark Matthaie said having a distributor in Wausau is an asset for the metal fabrication industry.
Having Sherwin-Williams choose Wausau also aligns with McDEVCO's initiative to foster Marathon County's strong metal fabrication industry.
"They're not exactly a fabricator, but someone who supplies them (and) is moving closer to the source," Zriny said.
