This local company is moving its corporate headquarters to South Milwaukee
South Milwaukee is now home to the corporate headquarters of Steele Solutions.
The company moved into the "Big Muskie" building at 1117 E. Rawson Ave. in South Milwaukee’s former Bucyrus campus in 2021. Since that time, Steele Solutions has invested over $12 million in capital improvements onsite, according to South Milwaukee City Clerk Patrick Brever.
Reich Brothers purchased the empty 27-acre campus in 2018 after Caterpillar consolidated operations north of Rawson Avenue that same year. Steele Solutions was the first major new tenant to move in.
Brever isn't sure exactly how many employees are coming from the former headquarters in Franklin, 9909 S. 57th St., but he said the move brings the total number of jobs onsite in South Milwaukee to approximately 200. The company still operates a facility in Milwaukee.
“(Steele Solutions) were the spark that brought life back to this area of our downtown,” South Milwaukee Mayor Jim Shelenske said. “Now, over 500,000 square feet of manufacturing space is occupied, and we are evaluating a potential residential/commercial project in the former office buildings.”
Some of that manufacturing space has been occupied by the likes of Roadrunner Transportation Services, Dawn Equipment, Styled Aesthetic and Badger Industries. The residential/commercial project under consideration is a collaboration between Scott Crawford, Inc. and J. Jeffers Co. for apartments, commercial space and green space.
Steele Solutions, founded in 1996, manufactures work platform solutions for companies focused on sorting products and fulfillment. The company has installed equipment in all 50 states and 14 countries, according to an April 24 news release from South Milwaukee.
“Moving our corporate headquarters and structural fabrication to South Milwaukee and the Rawson campus has helped us increase our ability to automate the manufacturing process and align our entire business with our core values,” said Steele Solutions CEO Kevin O’Neill. “We are proud to call South Milwaukee home.”
Erik Brooks, the former mayor of South Milwaukee, praised the news on his South Milwaukee blog.
“Steele Solutions is a great addition to South Milwaukee because it’s a growth company serving a long-term growth industry,” Brooks wrote. “Remembering a tour I took with the company president a couple years ago, it’s clear that as online retail goes so does Steele Solutions — a maker of mezzanine racking for companies like UPS, FedEx and Amazon. And online retail is obviously booming, with a runway for growth.”
Contact Erik S. Hanley at erik.hanley@jrn.com. Like his Facebook page, The Redheadliner, and follow him on Twitter @Redheadliner.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Steele Solutions moves corporate headquarters to South Milwaukee
