Willow Creek Women’s Clinic announces merger with OakLeaf Clinics
Builds on the past, offers a glimpse into the future
February 24, 2025
MARINETTE – Winsert – a global “innovative alloy solutions” manufacturer and supplier according to its website (winsert.com) – was named a finalist for Wisconsin’s 2025 Manufacturer of the Year award following what President Mark Coduti called “reharmonization of the organization.”
Jason Anderson – vice president and general manager – said Winsert specializes in manufacturing “high-end, niche” metal alloys that are used in componentry across industries such as transportation, aerospace, energy, industrial, food processing “and (agriculture) applications as well.”
“We also utilize specialty, proprietary alloys – impacted alloys – that have been developed in-house for extreme-duty applications,” he said. “Our on-time delivery and quality is second to none. It’s world-class. Our customers have recognized us for that, and it’s something that we feel is very valuable.”
Founded in 1977 by the Dickinson family, Alden Spencer – director of sales operations – said Winsert understands and appreciates its long-standing place in the Greater Marinette area.
“There’s family that’s worked here or is working here side by side,” he said. “We have respect for that, and it is something we put a lot of emphasis on – making sure we’re doing our part in the community as well, whether that’s through supporting local groups, local teams or different organizations.”
As the company evolved over its four decades of family ownership, Coduti said the time eventually came for the Dickinsons to decide what their future with Winsert looked like.
“Part of that evolution was them understanding as well that long-term, we needed to do something with this business, and it was either going to require significant reinvestment on their side, or it was time – for the betterment of everybody – to step back, and that’s ultimately what happened,” he said. “We (came) under the ownership of an investment group that has been certainly supportive in terms of growth.”
Winsert, Anderson said, was nominated for Manufacturer of the Year – an annual award presented by Baker Tilly, Michael Best and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce association – in its medium-size category, as the company employs roughly 165 people between its headquarters in Marinette and other facilities in Michigan, Germany and Japan.
Anderson said Winsert has applied for and won the award two other times in 2018 and 2021.
“It’s something that we take a great amount of pride in, in terms of the growth trajectory that Winsert is on right now,” he said.
Over the next couple of years, Anderson said Winsert expects substantial growth among its Wisconsin-based operations.
“We have secured contracts that are going to grow this facility in Marinette, upward of 50%,” he said. “So, this is really a big deal for us, and we highlight this with our employees quite a bit. The secured contracts that we have in place are really going to take Winsert to levels that this company has never seen before.”
In addition, Coduti said the company has also successfully acquired additional assets to assist in fulfilling those contracts.
“We have one acquisition under our belt right now, and I would fully expect we would have another acquisition under our belt here in 2025,” he said. “The capital that it’s going to take to grow in terms of what we have under contract already is something that we’re diligently working on with our sponsorship group already, because we have to start spending it today in order to be ready for it over the next year (to) two and a half years. So, as we talk about that evolution, it really is from the small family home business to… what is going to end up being a much larger, more complex business.”
A foundation for growth
Between 2011 and 2018, Anderson said Winsert applied for Manufacturer of the Year a “majority of those years” prior to winning the award for the first time.
Following its 2018 win, Coduti said the “market came down” causing a bit of a decline in company revenue and overall performance – so they decided to sit the awards out until 2021.
“Not to say that it wasn’t good in those years, it just wasn’t at the bar we had set,” he said. “We (had) to really correct some of those things and get back to where we were as a truly high-performing organization. And that’s what we did coming through the pandemic and coming out, which obviously led to that next award.”
Since then, Coduti said Winsert has hit the ground running to capitalize on its success.
“We’re (firing) on all cylinders from a performance standpoint, but long-term, this is something we know we’re going to have to evolve,” he said. “What has been coined our 2.0 strategy was in (its) infancy at that stage… and so we started marching down the path to get there.”
Anderson said Winsert doesn’t apply for Manufacturer of the Year every year – only doing so when it feels like they’ve done the work to earn it.
“We know we have a compelling story and a compelling reason and a good chance to win because of what we’ve accomplished in 2024,” he said.
Winsert, Anderson said, decided to throw its hat in the ring for the award again this year after maximizing its opportunities for growth in 2025 through the “very challenging macroeconomic conditions” it and many other companies faced in 2024.
“We did a lot of good things in a very challenging year,” he said. “In 2024, as a company, we set the foundation for our growth that we are securing in terms of getting the right people in-house. We have the right team that we’re excited about and expanding that team to support the growth, and then really just setting ourselves up to handle the incoming production that is going to be taking place.”
Coduti said Winsert was able to set a foundation for this year’s growth after another slow period within the company last year.
“We did experience a slowdown last year, which (was a) blessing in disguise in a lot of ways, because we truly can get a lot of things accomplished when you do have more time and availability for that,” he said. “So where we are positioned today, I think, is just in the early stages of what is going to be greatness into the future, but it’s there… We have the pieces in place to really kind of step to that next level.”
Wisconsin pride
Though he is unable to share specifics of the opportunities that lie ahead, Spencer said the company’s “optimistic view of the future” grew from the hard work put in by every employee at Winsert in 2024 as they prepared for this year’s anticipated growth.
“Nobody ever wishes to be slow, but we did need a little bit of breathing room to get ready, because we know what’s coming,” he said. “We certainly have a lot of work and a lot of opportunities in front of us.”
Winsert’s employees, Anderson said, are the “backbone” of everything the company has been able to accomplish leading up to being named a finalist for Manufacturer of the Year.
“I don’t care what department you’re talking about, whether within the manufacturing space, the foundry, within the engineering department or within the sales department – we are one cohesive unit,” he said. “We figure things out together. We pull our weight together, and know what we need to do to really take this company to the next level.”
As a Wisconsin-grown company, Anderson said Winsert takes its responsibility very seriously regarding the opportunities it provides to the Marinette community and beyond.
“We take great pride in being in Wisconsin and growing our company and our employees in a Wisconsin-based facility,” he said. “We don’t take that lightly. So, being able to add Wisconsin jobs, and also being able to add revenue, from a global perspective, coming into the State of Wisconsin, we are very excited and looking forward to making it happen.”
