Written by: Braden Kozlik
“This is something that will say to the world, ‘we have arrived.”
This is what Governor Scott Walker told FoxConn chairman Terry Gou back in July of 2017 after finalizing terms of the highly anticipated Foxconn electronics manufacturing plant coming to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sounds too good to be true, however it started when President Donald Trump found Kenosha as a great place to establish a manufacturing plant that FoxConn had been waiting to determine. That month, Foxconn and President Donald Trump announced at the White House that Foxconn will build a US $10 billion flat screen TV manufacturing plant in Racine county. “This will be a high-tech facility that will attract workers of various skill levels to produce products that will really define where the economy is going to go for years to come.” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. This was an opportunity he knew would revolutionize Wisconsin’s economy,
Walker included that part of “wooing” Foxconn to Wisconsin included meetings with chancellors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee and the president of Gateway Technical College to talk about training opportunities so graduates would be prepared to work at the plant. Being the company’s first U.S. manufacturing plant, the majority of Foxconn's factories are located in Asia, with others in Brazil, Europe, and Mexico. Introducing the country with its first FoxConn plant would add $51.5 billion to Wisconsin’s gross domestic product over the 15 years the state pays incentives to the company, a new analysis by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce concludes.
Kenosha consists of mostly farm fields that FoxConn will utilize to set up its brand new plant, however with that comes public infrastructure, including water and sanitary sewer services, road improvements, electric and natural gas services, fiber optic lines, and much more. Promising 13,000 high paying jobs, the manufacturing plant is the largest corporate attraction deal in U.S. history, in terms of pure number of jobs. Now, you begin to think about where are these employees are going to live, where they’re going to eat, and how they will be entertained. Hotels, restaurants, hospitals, apartments, banks, and many stores will be and have currently been in the works.
In the past, FoxConn has struggled to meet high safety and other standards expected of consumer electronics brands while keeping costs low. As you may know, this is a big concern for its chinese manufacturing plants making Apple products which have drawn attention for worker suicides, accidents, and labor disturbances that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou has tried to reduce by raising wages and pledging to prevent more deaths. With the opening of Kenosha’s new plant, not only will you be attracting people to FoxConn on a national scale but an international scale as well, making the environment safe and sufficient for everyone.
Taking into consideration all of the data and economics that comes with this great project, we also begin to think about the basics in terms of what this means for these potential FoxConn employees and for high school students like us. Foxconn is currently recruiting in Wisconsin for several hundred positions that cover a variety of areas and skill sets in human resources, hardware, software and firmware engineering, finance and accounting, legal, business analysis, graphics and interior design, construction management, and sales and marketing.
Foxconn director of U.S. strategic initiatives Dr. Alan Yeung mentions “Wisconsin offers a talented, committed workforce, with the strong employment ethic and culture in the Midwest, and a long track record in advanced manufacturing, all of which presents an extraordinary opportunity in achieving our AI 8K+5G vision and supporting the state’s transformation into a global high-tech hub.” Yeung goes on to say that as a long-term partner of the local community, they are committed to the shared goal of attracting and nurturing talent, and working with their Wisconsin partners to build a workforce of the future.
As juniors and seniors approaching college in 1-2 years, FoxConn will be in the development stages as they comes time to reaching out to interns that are interested in engineering, accounting, or any of the other several hundred positions that are open. Because of such a large variety of positions, employment is crucial and nothing drags in an intern like a good paycheck that will set them well on their way. Since these employees will be making such great money, they of course will need something to spend all their money on. This is the opportunity of a wide variety of companies to get involved to further give Kenosha and the state of Wisconsin a better economy, by opening up store, restaurants, hotels and more around the city to bring more people to Wisconsin.
In conclusion, establishing this FoxConn manufacturing plant will not only be beneficial to the company itself, but also to the state’s economy. A great company like FoxConn will invite national and international people looking for high paying jobs, a great place to stay, and a booming economy to popularize the city of Kenosha and ultimately the state of Wisconsin.
Sources
Lawson, James. “Foxconn Chooses Racine County.” Kenosha News, 5 Oct. 2017, www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/foxconn-chooses-racine-county/article_33f23e55-7b8f-57a0-bd5b-579245c7bcf7.html.
Romell, Rick, and Jason Stein. “Foxconn Factory to Be Built in Mount Pleasant; Announcement Set for Wednesday Morning.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, 3 Oct. 2017, www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2017/10/03/foxconn-factory-site-unveiled-wednesday-expected-mount-pleasant/726546001/.
Shepardson, David. “Foxconn Announces U.S. Manufacturing Plant in Wisconsin.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 27 July 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-foxconn-wisconsin-idUSKBN1AB258
“Things to Know about Foxconn Plant Coming to Wisconsin.” Fox Business, Fox Business, 27 July 2017, www.foxbusiness.com/markets/things-to-know-about-foxconn-plant-coming-to-wisconsin.
Although the Foxconn deal appears great for Wisconsin in advertising, in reality it is detrimental to our state and our economy. First, in agreement with the state Foxconn received an exception in order to use far more water from Lake Michigan than otherwise allowed. Coupled with lax pollution requirements this deal jeopardizes the future of our natural resources and fresh lakewater. Next, the deal comes with a 4.1 billion dollar subsidy, far and away the largest such government handout to a corporation. This wouldn’t be a problem given that in return Foxconn promised to invest 10 billion dollars in Wisconsin but Foxconn has a history of backing out of deals. Current news reports suggest Foxconn wants to bring in Chinese workers instead of hiring Wisconsin workers as well as not delivering nearly the number of jobs as was proposed. Foxconn has said that instead of the promised Generation 10.5 plant producing screens they will instead build a Generation 6 plant with about a third of the necessary investment. As of now, given the expected lifetime operation of the plant, economic analysts are skeptical the Foxconn plant would ever turn a profit for Wisconsinites and pollute our natural resources along the way.
ReplyDeleteThe Foxconn deal is only a reflection of the many pro-business, pro-economy government reforms over the last 8 years. I think the impact not only encompasses Foxconn but also that Wisconsin has evolved into a very business friendly state. More companies will follow Foxconn's example and move operations and involvement to Wisconsin. Right to work as well as lower taxes are advantageous for business and have positively impacted the economy and workers in this state. Wisconsin has been successful when manufacturing takes place here (for instance how Milwaukee came to grow). Although I cannot predict whether these business friendly policies will stay for the future, if they do, business will continue to find a advantageous place for production in Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteSTEM and manufacturing jobs are the future and businesses expanding into this state will ensure the retention of local talent. Right now, many of our college graduates move to other states that have more business opportunities. This trend needs to be reversed if we are to allow our economy to grow bigger. It can only be reversed by the expansion of business into this state.