An outlet for more than 100 area milk producers, the factory can make more than 40,000 pounds of cheese daily. It can produce a variety of cheese: from large production capacity to small batch specialty.

With this new factory, Shullsburg Creamery has expanded its packaging, distribution and private-label efforts.

Scott Stocker, Shullsburg Creamery president and chief executive officer, said an increasing demand for the company's cheese triggered the return to the production business.

"We've worked hard over the last 10 years," Stocker said. "You don't build unless you have a market. If you market a quality product and the consumer recognizes it, then you have a 'play-safe' marketing format."

The plant features a large observation area where visitors can view production.
"People see that, they relate to the name and you have a customer for life," Stocker said.

The new factory is bright and its state-of-the-art cheese-making machinery sparkles.

"It's one of the cleanest places I have ever worked in," said Barb White, of Shullsburg, who was standing in a refrigerated area stacked high with outgoing cheese shipments. "The people are nice to work for."

The factory sits adjacent to the company's warehousing and distribution facility, completed in 2003, on the city's west side, off Wisconsin 11. The expansion sparked the addition of up to 20 jobs and the construction of its own wastewater management facility.

State Agriculture Secretary Rod Nilsestuen, states that "Wisconsin's dairy industry is on the move and Shullsburg Creamery is leading the way,"

"Today, Shullsburg Creamery is once again procuring milk from local dairy farmers to manufacture an extensive line of high-quality Wisconsin cheeses," he said. The plant, Nilsestuen concluded, proves that Wisconsin's dairy industry can be "green and growing."