Yaskawa

An electrifying business environment

Yaskawa America Inc. relocates its home base to Wisconsin, adding 700 new jobs

In 1967, Yaskawa America Inc . put a stake in the ground in Waukegan, Illinois. After nearly six decades of growing the company into a leading global manufacturer of variable frequency drives, machine controllers, servo systems, and industrial robots, the company needed more room to grow and to continue its success in advanced manufacturing and automation. And all roads pointed north to Wisconsin.

With a $180 million capital investment, Yaskawa is consolidating its entire Drives and Motion Division―formerly spread out among separate facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin―into a single, expanded 800,000-square-foot headquarters in the Southeastern Wisconsin community of Franklin.

The Milwaukee 7 regional economic development organization, along with WEDC, is assisting with the expansion. Yaskawa’s new campus will feature training and lab buildings, manufacturing and packaging facilities, and robotics and semiconductor production operations.

Gov. Tony Evers speaks with Yaskawa executive at ceremony.

This relocation will create 700 high-paying jobs in Southeastern Wisconsin. And the hum, buzz, and whir of even more manufacturing in the state is music to many ears.

“I am really excited to be celebrating Yaskawa’s decision to relocate its headquarters to Wisconsin and expand its footprint here in the Badger State,” Governor Tony Evers said at a press event. “Companies across the globe are choosing Wisconsin to grow and expand because they know we have the best workers making the best products.”

Yaskawa America CEO Mike Knapek agrees that Wisconsin is an ideal location for its new headquarters. “We want to be able to build robot manipulators here in Franklin and ship them to Ohio in two days so that we can react to the market quicker, respond to customer needs, and make more local modifications much quicker than depending on our operations in Japan. Longer term, it made a lot of sense to move all our operations to Wisconsin.”

‘The perfect fit’

Yaskawa America Inc. is backed by its parent company Yaskawa Electric Corp. in Kitakyushu, Japan―a pioneer in factory automation for 110 years and counting.

Secretary Missy Hughes speaks with Yaskawa America CEO, Mike Knapek.

With such an impressive lineage—and with a welcoming local reception—Yaskawa has a promising future in Southeastern Wisconsin.

“Having a company here that is looking at the frontier of AI and robotics is the next step of manufacturing in Wisconsin. We talk about advanced manufacturing, but this is really the future,” said WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes. “With its emphasis on advanced manufacturing and cutting-edge technology, Yaskawa is the perfect fit for our state.”

Providing a warm welcome

To encourage Yaskawa’s choice of Wisconsin as its new home base, WEDC approved up to $18 million in performance-based Enterprise Zone Tax Credits for the company.

The actual amount of tax credits Yaskawa receives will depend on how many jobs are created and the total amount of capital invested.