Cadence breaks ground on new facility
STURGEON BAY, WI - Cadence Inc. broke ground this morning on a new 62,000-square-foot facility along Neenah Avenue in the City of Sturgeon Bay Industrial Park. The property was formerly owned by local farmers Roger and Sandy Anderson, and two years ago he sold the land to the city to eventually be developed.
Cadence is a leading supplier of advanced products, technologies and services to medical, life science, automotive and industrial companies worldwide. The facility, due to be built by February 2016, will be three times the size of the Cadence's current building at 512 S Columbia Ave. With more size, the company will be able to expand production capacity along with introducing new technologies to support a growing clientele list.
According to Alan Connor, president and CEO of Cadence, the Sturgeon Bay operation is one of the leading providers in the United States for precision metal stamping for complex components used in medical, automotive and industrial applications.
"We continue to expand our unique multi-slide forming, microstamping, insert molding, and assembly capabilities, and this new facility will allow us to continue to grow and better serve our customers," Connor said.
Vice President of Manufacturing at Cadence Sandy Sekaldo said she is looking forward to what the building and move will do for the community.
"I am pleased not only for our customers and employees, but also the community of Sturgeon Bay. We fully expect that this expansion will create many job opportunities over the next several years," Sekaldo said.
A team of employees at Cadence were involved in developing the design, layout and structure of the new building plans.
"This is a great day for Sturgeon Bay," Mayor Thad Birmingham said at the groundbreaking event. "We really see the attitude the city has towards its businesses. We want to help encourage what we have here to grow, we want to make sure they stay in Sturgeon Bay and create the kind of value in jobs we need here."
This project required the cooperation of Bill Chaudoir and the Door County Economic Development Corp. (DCEDC), the city of Sturgeon Bay, Bayland Buildings, and Roger and Sandy Anderson.
Bayland Buildings, based out of Green Bay, will be the general contractor and has been working with Cadence for a little over a year on this process with the different parties, said sales representative David Phillips.
"This site is also set up for future additions for them if they do as they expect to do, and we hope to be back here in the future to help with those additions," Phillips said.
The Sturgeon Bay City Council accepted the purchase offer on a Finance/Purchasing and Building Committee recommendation on Tuesday.
"Cadence is smart to have seen that skill set and opportunity in Sturgeon Bay and Door County, and they are going to benefit with the wonderful team they have here," Chaurdoir said.
The Andersons had sold 25 acres near the industrial park to the city two years ago under the condition that he continue to farm it for 10 more years. Therma-Tron-X Inc. needed three acres to expand, and the Andersons gave up the acres. Eight more acres will be built on before the 10-year timeline for the Cadence project. The property currently has winter wheat growing on it that Anderson was compensated for, due to losing it in the building construction.
"I love Sturgeon Bay, and that's why we're doing what we are," Anderson said. "I couldn't say 'no' to it, because Cadence could have gone somewhere else, it was that serious."
Cadence's Sturgeon Bay location has been operational since 1974, and materials produced include components in implantable medical devices, such as pacemakers, and sensors used in military applications and automobile safety features, Sekaldo said.
Cadence employs nearly 500 people worldwide with headquarters in Staunton, Va., and other locations in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the Dominican Republic.
Contact Alyssa Bloechl at abloechl@doorcountyadvocate.com or on Twitter @DCA_AlyssaB.
