Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/278800
w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m March 2014 • /insight on manufacturing | 23 Representing Masters Gallery Foods at the MOTY Awards are, from left: Jeff Giffin, president and CEO; Jodi Schoerner, vice president of finance; Jeff Gentine, executive vice president and co-owner; and Mark Grasse, vice president of manufacturing. into one of the leading commercial laundry manufacturers in the world. alliance is bringing the concept of laundromats, with all the convenience and improved hygiene and quality of life they provide, to emerging markets around the world. This dramatic international initiative is fueling manufacturing and employment growth in Wisconsin. alliance completed a major $23 million plant expansion in september 2013. Less than two months later, it announced a second, even bigger expansion of its manufacturing and assembly facilities in Ripon – a $46 million project, the largest in their history. alliance, established in 1908, employs 1,887 people, including more than 1,600 in Ripon, where it added new hires in almost every department during 2013. alliance Laundry was featured in the may 2013 issue of Insight magazine with president and ceo mike schoeb on the cover. Masters Gallery Foods masters Gallery Foods, inc. is a leading national cheese supplier with one of the largest privately held cheese inventories in the country. established in 1974, the company operates a state- of-the-art production facility that cuts and wraps cheese products such as cheese sticks, shreds, dice, chunks, loaves and cubes. masters distributes its products throughout the U.s. and puerto Rico with exports into mexico and other parts of the world. in February 2013, the company received the 2012 manufacturer of the Year award from the sheboygan county chamber of commerce and for the 11th consecutive year was selected as a "Wisconsin 75" company, an annual listing of the largest privately held businesses in Wisconsin. masters also installed an ultrasonic cutting machine that cuts cheese with sound waves, the only one of its kind in the U.s. and one of only two in the world. masters employs 439, most in Wisconsin. Other New North region nominees a total of 34 companies were nominated for the moTY awards. Besides mercury, alliance and masters Gallery, other nominees from the New North region were: N.e.W. plastics corp., Luxemburg; plexus corp., Neenah; precision machine, inc., algoma; Renard's cheese and Deli, sturgeon Bay; saco polymers/ NWp inc., sheboygan; and Winsert, inc., marinette. The accounting and advisory firm of Baker Tilly, the law firm of michael Best & Friedrich LLp, and the business association Wisconsin manufacturers & commerce sponsor the moTY awards program. F Mercury Marine leadership accepting their company's award are, from left: David Foulkes, vice president of engineering, product development and racing; Steve Cramer, vice president and CFO; Stephan Cloutier, vice president of global procurement; Kevin Grodzki, president, global sales and marketing; Mark Schwabero, president; Denise Devereaux, vice president of human resources; John Pfeifer, vice president of global operations; and Steve Fleming, director of communications.