On February 21st, St. Croix Economic Development Corporation honored its 2018 business of the year winners at R&D Banquet Hall in New Richmond, Wisconsin. The 2018 winners are St. Croix Blow Molding (Town of Hudson) as Emerging Business of the year; Next Generation Automotive (Village of Baldwin and City of Hudson) as Small Business of the Year; and iMARK Molding, Inc. (Village of Woodville) as Business of the Year.
St. Croix Valley Blow Molding is located in the Town of Hudson and was launched in 2017 by Jim Bradac, who also owns and operates Ceme-Tube and other related companies, also located in the Town of Hudson. Ceme-Tube had a continuous need for a blow molding partner. Bradac founded a new company to bring his blow molding needs in-house. The company became operational in March 2018 and is reportedly the only large part blow molder for 100 miles. A 7-axis robotics system provides options for secondary operations like trimming and drilling.
Each of the honorees received a plaque from the EDC as well as a legislative citation from the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly, and congratulatory letters from Mark Hogan, Chief Executive Officer of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), U.S. Representative Sean Duffy, U.S. Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin, Town of Hudson, City of Hudson, Village of Baldwin, and Village of Woodville.