Rockwell Chooses Milwaukee for Headquarters
Rockwell International Corp., the largest U.S. maker of factory automation equipment, said Monday it will move its corporate headquarters to Milwaukee from Costa Mesa to be closer to its core businesses.
The company, which announced last month it was considering moving to Milwaukee or Chicago, said workers would begin moving by early summer and complete the transition by the fall.
“It was a tough decision for us to make, but I can tell you unequivocally, in my mind, we made the right choice,” Chief Executive Don Davis said.
Rockwell said it plans to offer jobs in Wisconsin to as many as 120 of the 165 employees in Costa Mesa. Employees will decide whether they want to relocate by the end of March, officials said.
The remaining staff either will be offered positions in Rockwell’s remaining operations in the area or will be offered assistance finding a new job with another company, officials said.
The company still has about 2,000 employees at its California operations, including the Rockwell Sciences Center in Thousand Oaks, Rockwell Collins Passenger Systems in Pomona and a small corporate unit in Seal Beach.
Automation and avionics have become Rockwell’s primary businesses as part of a broad restructuring in recent years. The move to Milwaukee was expected by many industry watchers, who note that the Midwestern city has been home to Rockwell Automation and its predecessor, Allen-Bradley, for nearly 100 years. The automation unit also has headquarters in Greenville, S.C.
“The people of Wisconsin are very proud that Rockwell has selected Milwaukee for its new corporate home,” Gov. Tommy Thompson said.
Rockwell Automation has 23,000 employees. Rockwell Collins, a manufacturer of commercial avionics and military electronics systems, has 14,000 employees and is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Rockwell moved from Seal Beach to Costa Mesa in September 1997 after selling its aerospace and defense operations to Boeing Co. in 1996.
Rockwell spun off its Newport Beach semiconductor business, Conexant Systems Inc., in December, leaving most of its major operations based in the Midwest.
The headquarters move won’t affect Rockwell’s projected 1999 earnings of $2.90 to $3 a share, company spokesman Terry Francisco said. Analysts expect Rockwell to earn $2.94 a share, according to a First Call survey.
