MOSINEE, Wis. (WSAU) -- The Mosinee stop for Governor Scott Walker’s campaign was part of a local business’ celebration. Schofield based Crystal Finishing Systems held their ribbon cutting ceremony at their newest location in the Mosinee Business Park, across from Central Wisconsin Airport. They purchased the former SNE plant in the summer of 2013, and have begun aluminum extrusions on one of the machines already.
Company President Mark Matthiae says the economic downturn put a lot of companies out of the business, and it made opportunities for Crystal Finishing Systems. “Well, we were looking to build a new facility for additional expansion. I drive by this facility everyday on my way to work, and I saw the for sale sign. We’ve dealt with this facility for a long time, knew it was a beautiful facility, and the opportunity and the timing was perfect.”
They’ve had the former SNE building over year and a half, but Matthiae says the type of work they do requires a lot of planning and permitting. “The permitting process is long, as almost every process we do is a permitted process through either the EPA or the DNR, so that process takes some time. We were actually able to break ground in March of this year, and we’ve had an awful lot of people working hundreds and thousands of hours to get this facility where it is today.”
Crystal Finishing Systems manufactures custom extruded aluminum, plus the appropriate tempering and painting, so their product can be used by other manufacturers in many fields, including automotive and building construction. Matthiae says the Mosinee plant can produce more large volume orders. “We really built our business on the custom market, smaller runs and orders, and the new processes will better handle larger orders, and we’ll be shipping those throughout the country and some exporting as well.”
Matthiae says many of their products are used for truck accessories and tonno cover rails for pickup trucks, and the demand is growing. “The aluminum market itself is very good. The aluminum market is expanding in many different segments, especially automotive, and with that comes a lot of opportunity.”
Crystal Finishing Systems, like many other manufacturers, is looking for highly skilled people to weld aluminum, run CNC machines, and program the automated product line tools. They employ over 600 people now, and anticipate growth to over 1,000 employees.