Just a reminder to join us at the South Milwaukee Spring Market on Saturday at Caterpillar’s Global Mining Heritage Museum.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
More than 45 vendors are expected, and we’ll have live music. The Caterpillar museum will also be open during the market, and, if you haven’t yet seen this South Milwaukee attraction, that’s reason enough to stop by.
Learn more in my previous post, and we’ll see you there!
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Check out these headlines from around the South Shore:
And click here to see Oak Creek Patch photos from Saturday’s performance by the University of Wisconsin marching band at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center.
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Ready for summer?
Season four of the South Milwaukee Downtown Market begins with an indoor Spring Market on Saturday, April 21, at Caterpillar’s Heritage Building and Global Mining Heritage Museum.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The event will feature more than 40 regular market vendors – and some new faces – selling arts, crafts, organics, baked goods, prepared foods and other specialty items. Live music from South Milwaukee’s Ron Plevak and local students is also planned.
The recently remodeled and expanded museum, located inside the Heritage Building, 1970 10th Ave., will also be open during the market, giving customers a chance to experience this one-of-a-kind South Milwaukee attraction.
Check out the press release here, and tell your family and friends!
(By the way, the summer market season starts May 24, and we’re still looking for vendors. Learn more on our website.)
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story in Sunday’s business section about the impacts of Caterpillar’s acquisition of Bucyrus International last year.
It paints an overwhelmingly positive picture.
Check it out here. From it:
Caterpillar has added about 200 jobs in South Milwaukee since it acquired Bucyrus and now has 1,600 employees. The company is spending $6 billion on capital expenditures, much of it in the mining equipment division.
“We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our U.S. manufacturing plants. We are confident that, for a lot of our products, it makes sense to have a large North American presence,” Wunning said.
Last July, it seemed as if 131 years of Bucyrus history was wiped clean when Caterpillar took over, dropped the Bucyrus name and rebranded everything in its own name.
The change seemed sudden, but Caterpillar spent months preparing for it.
The Peoria, Ill., company wanted one face for the mining division, not two, Wunning said of dropping the Bucyrus name.
“We can grow our businesses faster together than we could individually,” he said.
I’d like to know what you think. Post your comments below, and vote in the poll!
Filed under Local Business
Caterpillar had a strong 2011, and there’s optimism for the new year. Is that great news for South Milwaukee?
Check out the Wall Street Journal story on Cat’s annual earnings here. From it:
Caterpillar said it is racing to expand capacity for mining equipment and has such a big backlog that it won’t be able to deliver on some orders for large mining trucks until 2014. Whether those delays lead to a loss of business depends on how fast Caterpillar and its competitors can expand production, Edward Rapp, Caterpillar’s chief financial officer, said in an interview. “We are absolutely committed to hitting goals” for higher capacity, he added.
“The orders are there,” said Lawrence De Maria, an analyst for brokerage firm Robert W. Baird. “Now they just have to get capacity up to meet that demand.” The company expects to spend about $4 billion on capital investments in 2012, about half of which will be in the U.S.
Let’s hope some of that investment comes in South Milwaukee.
(Check out similar stories in Bloomberg, the New York Times, and Reuters.)
Filed under Local Business
Local historian John Gurda has another great piece in Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — this one taking a closer look at the acquisitions of M&I Bank and Bucyrus International in the past year.
“Before 2011 disappears completely in the rear-view mirror,” Gurda writes, “we should pause to consider two local business giants who lost their independence during the year. One succumbed to failure and the other, ironically, was a victim of its own success. Those icons, you may have guessed, are M&I Bank and Bucyrus International. They’re both still with us, in most of the same locations and with substantially the same products, but they operate under different principles and entirely different principals.”
As for Bucyrus, he writes:
Turnabout, I suppose, is fair play. Milwaukee snatched Bucyrus from Ohio in 1893, and now an Illinois firm was returning the favor. Caterpillar moved quickly to secure its new prize, changing the signs on the South Milwaukee plant to yellow and gold almost overnight.
The Caterpillar sale was a tribute to Tim Sullivan’s management skills, a windfall for stockholders and a testament to the quality of the Bucyrus labor force. Whether it works out for the long-term benefit of those employees and their communities is a question that only Caterpillar can answer.
Check out the column here, and post your comments below.
By the way, Gurda also spoke at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center on Saturday. The topic: “A Region Built on Water: Milwaukee’s Use and Abuse of a Vital Resource.” If you went to the show, I’d like to know what you thought.
Filed under Local Business
Good news for South Milwaukee: Caterpillar continues to see strong sales growth of its construction and mining machinery.
That’s according to this story from the Wall Street Journal. From it:
The November period was the 19th straight three-month period of sales growth for the world’s largest seller of bulldozers, excavators and wheel loaders. But the growth has been moderating in recent months because of tougher year-ago comparison figures and softening economic conditions throughout the world.
And check out these other local headlines:
Also, South Milwaukee NOW has published a new South Shore police blotter.
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Oak Creek Patch has its take on the potential impact of the widened and otherwise improved College Avenue.
Check out it out here.
And check out these other local headlines of interest:
Also, South Milwaukee NOW has posted the honor rolls for South Milwaukee Middle and High School. See them here.
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Caterpillar continues to focus on growth in North America (and China too).
The company said Friday that it wants to open a new manufacturing facility in North America that will ultimately employ more than 1,000 people. The location of the plant is to be determined.
The production work it wants to bring closer to home is currently being done in Japan.
Check out The Business Journal story here … and this one about another acquisition Caterpillar is seeking in China.
And check out these other local headlines of interest.
Also, State Sen. Chris Larson has published a new Larson Report, and the South Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce has published its November newsletter.
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Former Bucyrus CEO Tim Sullivan has kept a relatively low profile in the past couple of months, following the closing of the Caterpillar deal.
He did speak briefly at an event on Sept. 24 unveiling the Bucyrus plaque being erected at Heritage Park on 10th and Milwaukee Avenues.
Now, Sullivan has been named chairman of a group studying the mine regulatory process and pushing for legislation to streamline the approval process.
Here is the story. From it:
Sullivan said the association would not lobby for legislative changes, not serve as a conduit to funnel political donations and wouldn’t fund advertising touting the benefits of mining to the Wisconsin economy.
The association also would not accept funding or be represented on the board by Gogebic, Sullivan said.
“We want to be completely independent of any potential investors (in the mine),” Sullivan said.
The association expects to provide data and information that shows how iron ore mining can be done without harming the environment, Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the association isn’t being formed solely because of Gogebic, noting that Aquila Resources, a German company, began exploring for gold in Marathon County in June.
“It’s pretty clear that commodity prices are driving all of this interest right now,” Sullivan said.
As I’ve posted before, this pending legislation has me concerned, especially if it means a significant reduction in environmental reviews done before a mine is built, as previous legislation floated did.
I hope lawmakers find the right balance on this issue. I fear they won’t.
Filed under Local Business
I’ve definitely lamented the loss of the Bucyrus name from South Milwaukee on this blog … which is why I’m glad to see the efforts of former Mayor Chet Grobschmidt and others to memorialize the mining manufacturer pay off.
A brass historic plaque commemorating Bucyrus as an icon in the world mining industry will be unveiled and dedicated at a ceremony at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Heritage Park on 10th and Milwaukee Avenues.
The plaque depicts the history of Bucyrus since its founding in 1880, its relocation to South Milwaukee in 1892 and its “retirement” in 2011 as Bucyrus International. Check it out here.
All are encouraged to attend the ceremony. I hope to see you there!
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Today’s TMJ4 was in South Milwaukee recently for its Speedbusters segment, monitoring traffic near 15th and Marquette Avenues.
Check out the report, including video, here.
And check out these other headlines of note:
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As expected, the U.S. Justice Department has cleared the Caterpillar-Bucyrus deal.
Here is the press release, and here is an item from WISN. From the release:
The DOJ action, in addition to the expiration of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act waiting period, concludes the antitrust review process in the United States. The clearance by the DOJ will allow the acquisition, valued at approximately $8.6 billion (including net debt), to proceed as soon as all other conditions to closing have been satisfied. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2011.
What do you think of the deal and its potential impacts on South Milwaukee? Post your comments below!
Filed under Local Business
Check out these headlines from around the South Shore …
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Bucyus International is doing quite well ahead of its acquistion by Caterpillar, with first-quarter earnings jumping 61 percent on strong demand, the Oak Creek-based company reported Friday.
Check out coverage in The Business Journal and Journal Sentinel, and here is the press release from the company.
Caterpillar’s deal to acquire Bucyrus is expected to close by mid-2011.
Filed under Local Business
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