Building The Future Together

Representatives from Hunzinger attended the grand opening of the recently completed customer experience center for Brown Deer-based Badger Meter, Inc. at its corporate headquarters at 4545 W. Brown Deer Road.

Hunzinger served as General Contractor for this interior renovation that creates a customer experience product showcase within their existing facility. Hunzinger crews self-performed demolition, carpentry, masonry and concrete work that includes an auditorium/multipurpose room that offers state of the art audio and visuals and flexibility for events. The project includes a Wellness Center with men’s and women’s locker rooms, a catering room, yoga room, a massage room, an education center and the focus of the renovation, the Innovation Station that will highlight Badger Meter’s products.

The 38,000-square-foot facility showcases the company’s technology, flow measurement product line and commitment to sustainability. The project includes the largest indoor flowmeter testing facility in North America, a 300-seat auditorium and several training and conference rooms. There are also interactive touch-screen and video stations to describe the company’s products and tell its story. The project was designed by Plunkett Raysich Architects of Milwaukee with KJWW serving as MEP designers and Professional Audio Designs providing the extensive audio visual design.

“We want customers to see how our products are made and tested and why they are the best in the market,” said Richard Meeusen, Badger Meter chairman, president and chief executive officer. Meeusen acknowledged that as Badger Meter has transformed into a more high-tech company in recent years, its headquarters haven’t kept pace. The company moved into the facility in the 1950s and while it has been expanded and upgraded over the years, one customer described it as “like visiting his grandmother’s attic,” Meeusen said.

At the event, Meeusen thanked PRA and Hunzinger for their hard work and showed an engaging video about how a water meter is made. Meeusen said customers needed to walk away from a visit to the Badger Meter facility with a sense of the high-tech work the company does. The center will be used for customer meetings, training sessions, conferences, employee meetings, tours and local events. The renovation of existing space for the new facility also included creating a fitness center for company employees.