TOWN OF GENESEE - Market share growth and public demand has meant business is powering up at Generac.
The engine-driven generator manufacturer is planning what it calls a major expansion - including hiring more than 400 employees and doubling the size of the plant floor and offices in the company’s Whitewater plant.
"It’s a major deal," said Mike Carr, manager of marketing communications for the company. "We’re hiring 450 people by March 1 - from general assembly to skilled trades.
"This is a good time to be doing it. A lot of people are looking for good job opportunities. This will be good news for a lot of people."
Some new jobs will be created at the town of Genesee and Eagle plants, but the bulk will go to the Whitewater facility. In addition, new product lines and shifts will be added, he said.
Kris Welsh, area manager of Manpower Inc., said it is exciting to hear the news from Generac and that it will give hope to a lot of people.
"In the fourth quarter in Walworth, Jefferson and Waukesha counties, we have seen a pretty stable manufacturing environment," she said. Not many companies added or laid off workers and the same is expected for the first quarter of 2004.
However, Welsh said finding the people to fill the positions may be harder than it sounds.
"Generac will be looking for a lot of skilled workers and there aren’t a large supply of those available compared to unskilled," she said. "A large ramp-up in a short amount of time is going to be a challenge for any business."
Generac human resources director Stephanie Borowski said in a prepared statement, "This is the start of an ongoing initiative to add staff to support our growing level of business."
Carr said there has been "significant growth" for several reasons, including:
* New products, some of which are innovative.
* The general business climate is improving.
* Business had picked up for their industrial products significantly by midyear.
"The upswing started ahead of two major events," Carr said.
First there was the blackout that affected the East Coast. Then there was the hurricane that struck North Carolina, he said.
"Those kinds of events really create awareness of our usefulness whether you’re a business owner with the risk of losing everything or a homeowner who could lose all the food in the refrigerator and the wells are not functioning," Carr said. "Demand follows in the wake of that."
Borowski said the company is the market leader in its automatic home standby products.
"We manufacture more residential generator systems than all of our competitors combined, and that portion of our business has been gaining tremendous momentum this year."
No figures or percentages of the sales increases were being released, Carr said.
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