TUE AM News: Ashley Furniture deploying machine developed by UW-Stout student engineers; Bill aims to keep data center energy costs from being passed to other customers

January 6, 2026

— Ashley Furniture Industries is deploying a pallet stacking machine designed by UW-Stout engineering students, with plans to build six more.

The student team created the machine for a Senior Design Experience II capstone course, and presented it last month during a showcase for faculty and representatives of the Arcadia-based furniture business. That includes Erik Kramer, a manufacturing engineer with the company and the team’s project manager.

“The UW-Stout team built a better system, a better product for us,” he said in a statement. “And with a final product price of about $25,000, their solution offers us a cost reduction of about 60%.”

Ashley Furniture had previously bought a different machine for this purpose, but Kramer and others at the company weren’t satisfied with it, according to the university’s release.

The design project, which took place over two semesters, started with a site visit at the company last spring. After the students created schematics in SolidWorks modeling software and a small-scale model, they gave an initial presentation in May. The company then bought the materials needed to create the prototype and full-scale machine.

The team was asked to build a machine that can lift and hold six-foot-long, 100-pound pallets and collect a stack of a dozen while holding them off the ground. Students also had to use electrical power for the mechanism, instead of pneumatic or hydraulic systems, to make it easier to deploy. The final product can carry 1,800 pounds, which is above the company’s requested maximum weight of 1,400 pounds. It can be operated by a single person.

Students will now submit the 10-foot-long machine and related documentation to the company to be integrated into its operations, according to the university. Kramer says the company’s automation team will use these materials to build the other stackers.

The team included: Luke Mertens, a double major in manufacturing and mechanical engineering; Zachary Morgan, a manufacturing engineering major; and Chase Rodewald and Riley Stiehl, both mechanical engineering majors.

While Mertens led controls and instrumentation, Morgan acted as the CNC machinist for the project and also handled documentation and recordkeeping. Meanwhile, Rodewald and Stiehl did the manual assembly, machining and welding needed for the project.

“We’re no different than a real engineering team,” Mertens said. “Everyone is working together, but we each have niche roles based on our strengths.”

See more on the project here.

Listen to an earlier podcast with Ron Wanek, Ashley Furniture’s founder and chairman.

— Two GOP members of the Joint Finance Committee are circulating legislation that would ensure energy costs associated with coming data centers wouldn’t be passed onto other customers.

Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Birchwood, and Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, wrote in their co-sponsorship memo yesterday that the legislation was drafted to make sure data center operators would be barred from “passing their electricity costs onto residential consumers. Simply put, private industrial development must pay its own way.”

The bill would direct the Public Service Commission to ensure in its rate-making orders that no costs associated with the construction or extension of infrastructure primarily serving a data center is passed onto other customers.

We Energies in November announced plans to add 3 gigawatts of new energy capacity to the state’s power grid to serve the coming demand of data centers and other customers. The utility said residential and business customers wouldn’t subsidize the power needs of data centers, which would “pay the full share of the power they consume,” along with costs for infrastructure to serve them.

Microsoft is currently building a data center in Mount Pleasant, while another has been approved in Port Washington, both of which would be served by We Energies.

There have also been data centers proposed for Beaver Dam, Dane County, Janesville, Kenosha and Menomonie.

The proposed legislation also addresses other concerns that have been raised about coming data centers. That includes a requirement that any water used to cool a project would be contained in a closed-loop cooling system that would rely on a fixed volume of water that’s continually recycled.

Data center operators would also have to annually report their water usage to the Department of Natural Resources.

— Generac is expanding its manufacturing operations with a new Sussex facility, citing rising demand for its generators driven by data center development.

The Waukesha-based company yesterday announced it has acquired the building for its commercial and industrial operations. Once it opens in the fourth quarter of this year, the facility is expected to create more than 100 new jobs, according to the announcement.

Aaron Jagdfeld, president and CEO of Generac, says the company has the potential to double its sales of products in this segment within three to five years.

“With global demand for data center capacity projected to more than triple by 2030 … the rapid expansion of data centers is creating unprecedented demand for reliable and scalable power solutions,” Jagdfeld said, adding Generac is “positioned to meet that challenge.”

The company reports “significant customer interest” from the data center market after adding large-scale generators to its product lineup. In an earnings call late last year, the company said its order backlog had doubled thanks to this activity.

See the release.

— DATCP has designated three new agricultural enterprise areas, giving qualifying local landowners the opportunity to claim a farmland preservation tax credit.

The agency yesterday announced the new designations covering 96,000 acres in Monroe, Shawano and Sheboygan counties, noting landowners in these areas can now enter into voluntary farmland preservation agreements. By committing some or all of their land to ag use while upholding soil and water conservation standards, they can potentially claim the annual tax credit.

Including the new AEAs, Wisconsin now has 54 such designated areas totalling nearly 1.74 million acres. They span parts of 33 counties, 147 towns and the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin. DATCP says it can authorize up to 2 million acres of AEAs in total.

The new zones include:

*The Lemonweir River Cranberry Region AEA, with more than 64,000 acres. The petition included local governments as well as 60 landowners, citing a desire to protect natural resources needed for cranberry and dairy production.

*The Town of Lessor Ag First AEA, with more than 22,000 acres. The petition for this zone included 10 landowners, and DATCP says petitioners aim to protect ag land with farmer-led education, nutrient management plans and more.

*The Town of Plymouth AEA, which has more than 9,000 acres. Petitioners — including seven landowners — say they want to support those in the area facing “increased development pressure,” the release shows.

See the release.

— The Department of Health Services is now projecting Medicaid general purpose revenue spending to come in $213.2 million higher than projected when the 2025-27 budget was signed six months ago.

In a letter to the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee, DHS Secretary Kirsten Johnson attributed the projected shortfall to several factors. That includes unanticipated higher costs for prescription drugs, Medicare buy-in programs, and fee-for-service mental health and substance use disorder services.

The state budgeted nearly $9.7 billion in general purpose revenue for Medicaid over the 2025-27 biennium with an overall cost for the program of nearly $36.2 billion with federal funds factored in. The projected $213.2 million GPR shortfall amounts to 2.2% of budgeted costs.

Three months ago, DHS was projecting a $144.1 million GPR shortfall in the program.

The factors Johnson cited last week for the higher-than-expected costs include:

$76 million for the higher costs for prescription drugs, buy-in programs, and fee-for-service mental health and substance use disorder services.
$45 million due to higher-than-expected enrollment in Family Care, which provides services for older adults and adults with disabilities. Johnson wrote the budget adopted lower enrollment trends than what DHS had recommended. So far this biennium, the trend suggests enrollment will be even higher than what the agency had expected prior to passage of the budget.
$59 million for nursing home expenditures and $38 million for Children’s Long Term Supports programs due to higher-than-expected utilization.

Johnson wrote some of those higher costs have been offset by savings elsewhere in the program.

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