Brookfield-based
Milwaukee Tool is planning to invest $60 million in a new 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Grenada, Mississippi.
The new plant will support 800 new jobs and will support Milwaukee Tool’s power tool accessory and power tool businesses. It will likely open in late 2022.
The company is also adding another 400 positions across its operations in Mississippi. The Mississippi Development Authority, Grenada County and Tennessee Valley Authority are providing unspecified support for the project, according to an MDA announcement.
“Our new Grenada facility, as well as our ongoing investments in U.S. operations and manufacturing, will allow us to continue to serve our distribution partners and users with the speed, agility, and unparalleled levels of innovation that they’ve come to expect from Milwaukee Tool,” said Steve Richman, group president of Milwaukee Tool. “We’re thrilled to continue expanding our presence in Mississippi, where we have been fortunate to attract, retain, and recruit some of the best talent in the country. The bookends to our success continue to be our people and our culture.”
Milwaukee Tool has grown from around 500 employees in Mississippi in 2010 to nearly 2,350 in 2020.
The announcement is a reminder that Milwaukee Tool’s rapid growth is not limited to southeastern Wisconsin, where the company has also added hundreds of jobs in recent years.
Across the country, Milwaukee Tool says it has invested $368 million in domestic expansion projects in the last five years and increased employment to 5,500 in the U.S.
The company is in the midst of seeking approvals for a $30 million investment in a downtown Milwaukee office building that initially would be home to 400 employees and could eventually grow to 2,000. The project, which would be supported by $20 million in tax incremental financing, has run into some opposition over the planned benefits for contracted service workers.
Milwaukee Tool is also developing a corporate campus in Menomonee Falls and a hand tool manufacturing facility in West Bend. The West Bend project, supported by $2 million in tax credits, is expected to open in 2022. The company picked West Bend over a site in Indiana for the facility, according to Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. records.