Broadwind Energy continues to churn-out products from its Manitowoc River Peninsula location at 101 South 16th Street. Matt Boor, Director of Business Development, tells SeehaferNews.com that there are two prongs of the business, locally, and a plant in Abilene, Texas. The towers are what they are best known for but according to Boor, “On the other side of the business, is what we call our heavy fabrications division where it’s essentially welding, cutting, possibly rolling and assembling other large fabrications for all sorts of businesses.”
Boor explains their biggest customer for wind towers is Siemens-Gamesa Renewable Energy, while on the metal fabrication side Caterpillar is the top buyer. He told us they do anything from “…parts for mining equipment, parts for a crane boom, or any sort of large steel fabrication.“
The Broadwind executive says they want to diversify, as that’s the key to success. “Any business has its pitch and drain,” Boor explained. “You want to be diversified enough so that when something is up another is down and vise versa.”
Manitowoc Shipbuilding moved to Sturgeon Bay in 1968 and decades later, in 2004, the first wind tower construction began on the peninsula. Boor says there are plenty of advantages to being located right on the lake. One instance where it was very helpful involved an order in 2016, where they shipped several tower sections to a location just south of Detroit on a barge. This saved countless travel hours, and dollars in the process. They’re also able to ship their towers by flatbed truck via the interstate system.
Boor says just like everybody else, they’re hiring. Despite their 200 employees, they are looking for people to fill a wide variety of positions, which can all be found at bwen.com.
