Brown Deer-based Badger Meter, Inc. today announced the opening of a new $5.5 million customer experience center at its corporate headquarters at 4545 W. Brown Deer Road.
The 38,000-square-foot facility is intended to showcase the company’s technology, flow measurement product line and commitment to sustainability.
It includes the largest indoor flowmeter testing facility in North America, a 300-seat auditorium and several training and conference rooms. There are also interactive touch-screen and video stations to describe the company’s products and tell its story.
“We want customers to see how our products are made and tested and why they are the best in the market,” said Richard Meeusen, Badger Meter chairman, president and chief executive officer.
Meeusen acknowledged that as Badger Meter has transformed into a more high-tech company in recent years, its headquarters haven’t kept pace. The company moved into the facility in the 1950s and while it has been expanded and upgraded over the years, one customer described it as “like visiting his grandmother’s attic,” Meeusen said.
He said customers need to walk away from a visit to the Badger Meter facility with a sense of the high-tech work the company does.
“It’s to give the customers confidence in our company,” Meeusen said.
He also noted that despite having the state-of-the-art flow lab fueling its research and development efforts, the company’s technology labs didn’t tour well.
Meeusen also noted the price tag on the facility shows employees and community leaders at the state and local level that the company will continue to have a presence in the Milwaukee area.
“This investment is just further proof that we intend to be here for another 111 years,” he said.
Meeusen said the new center will be used for customer meetings, training sessions, conferences, employee meetings, tours and local events. The renovation of existing space for the new facility also included creating a fitness center for company employees.
