GE Healthcare Investing $50M In West Milwaukee

Press release from GE Healthcare:

September 17 2020

West Milwaukee, WI – September 16, 2020 – GE Healthcare today announced a $50 million investment in its existing West Milwaukee facility as part of its intention* to concentrate teams and resources in key facilities across Wisconsin. The investment in its Electric Avenue facility in West Milwaukee will create a world class, industry-leading product development and manufacturing campus for medical imaging.

GE Healthcare also intends to bring 1,500+ Wisconsin-based employees to its facilities at Electric Avenue in West Milwaukee and Research Park in Wauwatosa from elsewhere across the state in the coming years. The company also intends to sell portions of its Waukesha campus off I-94, with most existing teams and work based there transferred to other local sites. The Magnetic Resonance (MR) buildings and teams in Waukesha will remain there, including around 600 existing jobs. These moves and investment are subject to required bargaining with representative unions.

“We saw an opportunity to better use existing capacity and make significant investments that would both reaffirm our commitment to manufacturing and product development in the state, and create an advanced medtech hub in metro Milwaukee,” said Tom Westrick, President & CEO, Life Care Solutions, GE Healthcare.

These proposed moves would create a global showcase for Computed Tomography (CT) wing-to-wing manufacturing and engineering by co-locating similar product and support teams to enhance collaboration and better serve healthcare providers and their patients. GE Healthcare recently acquired an 87,000 square foot facility next door to its existing Electric Avenue facility to expand the foundation for this product development and manufacturing campus.

“Electric Avenue was GE Healthcare’s very first site in Wisconsin in 1947, and today we’re cementing that 75-year legacy in the state for another generation,” said Mike Barber, GE Healthcare’s VP & General Manager for Platforms and Solutions. “This $50 million plus project would represent one of the largest one-time investments in a U.S.-based GE Healthcare site, and we’re excited to expand our footprint in West Milwaukee, a Federal Economic Opportunity Zone.”

GE Healthcare is committed to Wisconsin, which is home to several business leadership teams including healthcare products like CT, MR, X-Ray, Services, Life Care Solutions, engineering, supply chain and more. GE Healthcare has an $8 billion annual economic impact on the state directly and indirectly, with around 6,000 employees state-wide and more than 1,000 in-state suppliers. GE Healthcare partnered closely with Wisconsin state, county and local leadership leading up to this announcement.

Missy Hughes, Secretary & CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, said: “We’re delighted GE Healthcare has chosen to continue to invest in Wisconsin. Our state is a global manufacturing powerhouse – and our reputation is reinforced by having companies like GE call it home. It also shows that Wisconsin’s skilled, dedicated and well-educated workers compete with the best in the world.”

David Crowley, Milwaukee County Executive, added: “This is welcome news and confirmation that Wisconsin can lead when it comes to advanced manufacturing. I am proud to collaborate with companies like GE Healthcare that are making long-term investments in our region that bolster economic equity and bring opportunity to our residents. Moving forward, we will continue to work with the whole community, forward-looking villages like West Milwaukee, and partners in the business sector like GE Healthcare to grow quality jobs and continue to make our area a desirable place to live, work and raise a family.”

Paul Farrow, Waukesha County Executive and co-chair of the M7 regional economic development partnership, said: “I am excited by GE’s willingness to make a long-term commitment to our region. GE Healthcare has contributed a lot to Waukesha County, and thousands of GE employees will continue to call our county home. The proposed sale of the existing GE Healthcare campus in Waukesha will open up opportunities for new economic growth in the county, while ensuring the company’s presence, along with their hundreds of local suppliers, in Southeast Wisconsin for decades to come.”

John Stalewski, West Milwaukee’s Village President, commented: “We’re excited about GE Healthcare’s intentions to send hundreds of jobs and significant investment to the Village of West Milwaukee. As the original home to GE Healthcare in Wisconsin, we have always valued GE as a neighbor, and we’re thrilled to see them expand their presence here in our community. I know that this investment will not only benefit West Milwaukee, but the region as well.”

*Proposal only; final decision to be made after required bargaining with relevant unions.

This press release was produced by the GE Healthcare. The views expressed here are the author’s own.