A southeast Wisconsin business alliance says more than financial incentives and support services are needed to entice companies to the area.
Gateway Technical College, the Kenosha Area Business Alliance, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the Kenosha County Job Center and other private companies have created a partnership with the goal of growing the local business community. The partnership has found that training workers to fill specialized and technical jobs is important in attracting companies.
Gateway has provided training for more than 50 companies since 2011. Training has included areas such as robotics, die cast and computer numeric control operation.
Kenall Manufacturing decided to move from Gurnee, Illinois, to Kenosha County more than three years ago.
The key factor was Gateway’s involvement in training, said Randell Hernandez, the company’s executive vice president of operations.
“There was a lot of proactive movement on their part,” Hernandez said.
The college has since developed programs to meet the company’s specific workforce needs.
“If the college doesn’t have one, we customize one to provide the training a company needs,” explained Debbie Davidson, Gateway’s vice president for business and workforce solutions.
The Kenosha Area Business Alliance said more than 8,000 jobs and $1.2 billion in capital investment have relocated to Kenosha County since 2013.
