Clean Future: Turning possibilities into realities

Rich Palzewic

Staff

December 1, 2022

LITTLE CHUTE – With an eye on the future, Excellerate, a division of Faith Technologies Incorporated (FTI), officially broke ground on a new 385,000-square-foot smart manufacturing facility in the Village of Little Chute.

The facility, which aims to eventually achieve net-zero operations, is expected to be completed by fall 2023, will be located just off Hwy 41 on West Evergreen Dr. and add more than 200 jobs to the Northeast Wisconsin region.

“Where this facility is going, it’s toward the edge area of the village,” David Kittel, the community economic director of Little Chute, said. “It will help us expand to have more development. That will help our tax base and help the village maintain the services we provide to our residents. It’s not only good for the village, but we’re also happy (Excellerate is) staying in the Fox Valley.”
 
What does Excellerate do?
Pat McGettigan, executive vice president of Excellerate, said the company manufactures electrical components and assemblies.

“We are expanding to Little Chute to meet the increased demand for our prefabricated sustainable electrical energy solutions and respond to our client demands,” he said.

McGettigan said the new facility will be the hub for Excellerate’s manufacturing of microgrids, modular builds, e-houses and specialty engineering.

“Utilizing clean energy technology, this facility will be built as a smart manufacturing facility and be equipped to achieve net zero in the future,” he said. “It’s all about what we can take off-site and see how far we can push it.”

McGettigan said net zero can be achieved by eliminating carbon dioxide emissions.

He said as the company has progressed, it wanted to get more involved with projects on th?e front end.

“We are involved in the design phase as well,” he said. “When you design things, there’s a better success rate because you plan with the end in mind.”

When Excellerate works with clients, McGettigan said it can help reduce costs by 20% or more.

“If a typical build time is 18 months, we might be able to get that down to 12 months or less,” he said. “By taking six months off build time, it means they’re making money sooner. For example, by month eight, you have such and such planned – Excellerate is going to start ahead, will be on-site by month eight and have things fully installed. That’s how you start to see those big schedule improvements.”

McGettigan said it’s getting harder and harder in the construction industry to get people in the field – so that’s where Excellerate “comes to the rescue.”

Local officials from the Fox Valley area and Excellerate officially broke ground Nov. 14 on a new 385,000-square-foot facility in the Village of Little Chute. Excellerate Photo

“If you’ve heard of mega-projects, there probably hasn’t been a time in the United States when it’s been at a higher level than now,” he said. “As an example, there are a lot of battery plants being built right now. When you’re talking about a million square feet, or larger, of building space, those are the types of projects where you gain a lot of momentum by doing off-site construction – it’s what we do.”

McGettigan said the Little Chute location will be equipped to be an off-grid manufacturing facility, leveraging clean energy technology from EnTech Solutions, another division of FTI.

“We’ll have power generated from solar panels, storing excess energy in the battery system to optimize renewable energy utilization,” he said. “Additionally, this facility will be home to a clean energy electric vehicle charging depot in the future.”
 
Another example
Another example of benefits Excellerate can provide, McGettigan said companies can also benefit from Excellerate’s off-site assembly capabilities.

“For example, with a solar field, typically you’d see people assembling in the field,” he said. “They start with a base and a bunch of different pieces and then have to wire the thing. We can do all of that in the facility – all the assembly, pre-wiring and then we ship those out. They’re roughly 20 feet long by 9 feet wide when we ship them. When they are out in the field, we anchor them, set them and they’re ready to go. That example probably took 50% of the labor off-site.”

McGettigan said project size dictates how much labor time is saved.

“On a smaller job where we’re simply assembling something, it might only save about 50 hours of time,” he said. “On some of our bigger projects, we’ve saved companies 100,000 hours. It’s better for safety, efficiency and productivity.”

McGettigan said safety is a major focus of Excellerate.

“Knock on wood, but at our Excellerate facilities, we’ve not had a recordable safety incident in more than 1,400 days,” he said. “If you look at FTI overall, we’ve only had two recordable safety incidents for the entire year – that’s the lowest we’ve ever had. Our goal is to get to zero.”
 
Apprenticeship program
McGettigan said Excellerate hires individuals across all levels of industry knowledge.

“It’s not just about understanding what to do, it’s about our culture,” he said. “We want to get people indoctrinated to that. The thing about FTI, you can start in the field as a helper and work your way up. Our CEO is an example of this – it shows the potential for growth. Wherever you go, there are opportunities for you.”

Part of this investment in professional growth, McGettigan said, is Excellerate’s apprenticeship program, which includes fully paid training.

“At the end of four years, you’ll come out of that as a journeyman electrician,” he said. “If you’re not sure what you want to do coming out of high school, the trades are a phenomenal way to make a great living. The trades can take you in a bunch of different areas. If you’re willing to travel as a tradesperson, you can make a boatload of money.”
 
Economic impact on Little Chute
Kittel said the project has been in the making for about four years – even before he started in his current position.

“I’ve only been with the village for about three years, but I do know before the COVID-19 pandemic, things were moving forward,” he said. “Like many other businesses and projects during the pandemic, things went quiet – people weren’t sure of the economy and how things would play out.”

Kittel said a building of that capacity takes a lot of planning, so FTI had to make sure everything was in line before moving forward.

“Coupled with the supply chain issues – I’m not sure COVID caused all of it, but it expedited a lot of these issues,” he said. “Everyone was trying to make sure this project made sense for them.”

Kittel said FTI approached the village to build on the vacant property for a variety of reasons.

The new Excellerate expansion project in Little Chute – expected to be completed by fall 2023 – will add more than 200 jobs to Northeastern Wisconsin. Excellerate Photo

“Little Chute had land available on the interstate – it was a logical decision on their part,” he said. “There were also some ties with the higher echelon of Faith Technologies with the village as well – that all played in our favor.”

Kittel said the project will help the village economically and with its growth.

By adding more than 200 jobs to the area, he said it won’t only benefit Little Chute.

“Currently, maybe we don’t have all the housing in the village to take that on, so everyone (in the Fox Valley area) will see a benefit,” Kittel said. “It will also help us attract more to that (County Road) JJ area. We might also see smaller companies pop up throughout the area that will support this project.”

He said even though most of the area is zoned industrial, there is a possibility of adding housing.

“It’s more of a commercial setting, so our thought process is that a lot of the vacant land that goes out behind it will be some form of commercial,” Kittel said. “Maybe we’ll see more apartments and multi-family residential built as well.”

McGettigan said Little Chute – and Fox Valley in general – is the perfect place to build.

“I get asked a lot, ‘Why the Fox Valley?’” he said. “There’s a lot of talent in this area. From years of industrial work here – it’s a great skill set. We don’t have problems finding qualified workers.”