IT and Media Solutions and Sharp Packing new Sussex location

— Sussex-based Sharp Packaging Systems is in the process of moving the majority of its operations into a newly built 160,000-square-foot plant at its headquarters at N59 W22387 Silver Spring Drive.

Bob Goehner – Vice President of Construction – Briohn –

“I had the pleasure of working with Joel Berrettini during the construction of Sharp Packaging’s new office and manufacturing facility in Sussex, WI.

While Joel’s contractual relationship was directly with Sharp, he made every effort to communicate directly with me during our general construction of the building itself. The Sharp project was a fast track Design/Build project and required a very high degree of communication between all parties on the site. Joel’s commitment to this project and to staying actively involved in following all the areas where work was either on-going or about to occur, allowed him to continually stay a step or two ahead of the game. He worked well with the other trades on the site and his workmanship and attention to detail was exceptional.

The systems that Joel laid out for the Client’s and then designed and installed are all highly technical in nature. As the building construction rapidly came to a close, the pace on the job site ramped up considerably. As the start of the IT and tele/data systems came on-line, Joel’s capabilities really began to shine and the results of his systems design work became evident. He is technically extremely capable, communicates well, results driven and not at all afraid to put in the hours needed to get the job done. I do look forward to working with Joel again in the future.”

IT and Media Solutions deployed over 400 CAT6 cables, 96 fiber optic terminations, four switch stacks, 31 WAPs, 16 node VoIP paging system, AV for a 75 seat training room and AV/Content sharing management system for 6 meeting rooms.

Sharp president Mike Menz said, ‘The way we’re made up is that through the years we added a lot of different buildings. Right now we have three buildings on adjacent properties, and one of our challenges is the inefficiency of traveling between buildings.’

Although the company makes products for a variety of different industries such as bags for packaged foods and medical aids, its production is similar enough that it doesn’t make much sense to house the divisions in three different buildings.

Also, Menz said the company’s business has continued to grow significantly over the past five years, especially in mail order fulfillment packaging as more and more businesses have gone away from brick and mortar stores to online, necessitating more mailing supplies.

So, in order to house expanded production more efficiently, Sharp decided to build the new plant where, eventually, the whole company’s operations will be based. That includes moving the machinery division back from Pewaukee, which has already been completed.

Menz said, ‘Our goal is to have everything under one roof, to have a flow of all operations where they work together.’

Sharp executives appreciated the opportunity to proactively design a building to fit the company’s needs rather than just play building catch-up to address the company’s inevitable changes.

Menz said, ‘We really had to add on more space, so we had to decide whether to add on another building or bring everything back together into one space. We’ve been able to draw out exactly how we wanted our facility laid out to make it more efficient, safer, and to have increased productivity.’

The 35 employees in the machinery division that had been in Pewaukee have relocated into the new Sussex plant, and Sharp has stopped leasing the Pewaukee building. Menz said one of the Sussex buildings is vacant and up for sale, and the company plans to sell the other two buildings once the move to the new plant is finished next year. As for how Sharp’s success affects Sussex, Menz said the 35 jobs that have been outside the Sussex area for the past few years are now back, and they are actively recruiting new employees.