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New ATW tech center provides promise for Gilman engineers

JANESVILLE — When a global designer of factory automation equipment couldn’t encourage former Gilman engineers to leave Janesville, it did the next best thing.

Assembly & Test Worldwide came to them, and the result is a technical center that will open in downtown Janesville.

By Jan. 1, ATW is expected to employ 21 engineers who will make an average annual salary of $75,000, Gene Haffely, the company’s chief operating officer, said Friday during a visit to Janesville.

ThyssenKrupp, the company best known in Janesville as Gilman, announced in May that it would close its plant on Delavan Drive and put 160 people, many of them engineers, out of work.

“That was painful to see,” said Haffely, who worked for Gilman for six years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“We’ve watched Gilman for a long time. Everybody in this industry has, as they’ve provided trained talent to everyone in the industry.”

The Dayton, Ohio-based ATW has design, manufacturing and technical centers in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Connecticut, as well as in India, Germany, Brazil and China.

“We do not import low-cost product or take advantage of low-cost labor,” Haffely said. “Our customers are global, and they expect us to have a presence in the places where they are manufacturing.

“If you’re going to sell into China, you have to be in China.”

ATW posted sales of $150 million last year, thanks to growth in the automotive, off-road vehicle and pharmaceutical sectors that make up a large part of its customer base.

ATW needs more engineers, and for that it is turning to the displaced ThyssenKrupp employees.

“The technical abilities, values and culture of Gilman people are legendary, and we knew we had to recruit them,” Haffely said. “But a good share of those people didn’t want to relocate.”

ATW is leasing about 5,200 square feet of office space in the One Parker Place office building in downtown Janesville. It has an option on another 1,800 square feet, and Haffely said he wouldn’t be surprised if the engineering stable in Janesville grew to 30.

In return for a guarantee of employing 21 engineers, the city has offered the company a $315,000 forgivable loan at 4 percent interest over 10 years. For each of the 10 years that ATW maintains its employment level, part of the loan is forgiven.

Troy Loos and Bill Jezo will head up the Janesville operation. Both are former Gilman employees: Loos wrapped up a nine-year career in August, and Jezo left in 2003 after 30 years with the company.

“The primary reason we’re doing this is to help our business,” Haffely said. “But it’s also nice to be able to give something back to the people of Gilman and to Janesville.

“There are good people down there with 30 years of experience that you just can’t find anywhere else in our industry.”

Officials who worked for the last several months to bring ATW to Janesville are thrilled with the quality of the company, the talent pool it will employ and the wages it will pay.

“They intended to recruit these highly talented people—people who could work anywhere in the world—but they didn’t want to leave Janesville,” said John Beckord, president of Forward Janesville and the person who had the first contact with ATW months ago.

“And the fact that they want to be downtown says something, as well. The return on this investment is about as good as it gets.”

Acting City Manager Jay Winzenz said ATW’s professional staff and location will help build a critical mass to draw similar businesses and related entertainment options downtown.

“I know this isn’t everything that all the laid-off ThyssenKrupp people hoped for, but the idea that some of those people will be able to stay in Janesville and work at good paying jobs is great,” he said.

ATW’s announcement capped off a successful week for job recruitment in Janesville. LiquiPur plans to hire 90 people for a bottling operation on the city’s east side, and an unnamed company wants to hire another 80 for light manufacturing and distribution work on the south side.

“It’s been a great week, and it will be a really great city council meeting on Monday,” Winzenz said.

“Two hundred jobs in one week is super.”