Planet To Plate 2020-2021
The MSOE University Scholars Honors program partnered with the Planet to Plate to help reach the company's goal of designing and building an urban farm in downtown Milwaukee.
​
​
"The focus for Planet to Plate is to revitalize underserved urban areas through the power of food."
Chris Corkery (CEO)
Our Mission
Planet to Plate is an ethical for-profit company designing and building a state of the art indoor farm in downtown Milwaukee. They bring people and sustainably minded businesses together to increase access to healthy food and encourage conversations around food to create healthier communities. Their goal is to reconnect planet and plate to empower individuals, strengthen communities, and build a brighter future for our cities. Check out their website below to learn more!
Placemaking In the Century City
Humble Beginnings
In 1874, a small family company was created in Milwaukee as a baby carriage and bicycle parts manufacturer. Despite these humble beginnings, by 1895 this company was the largest bicycle parts manufacturer. However, in the upcoming century, the A.O. Smith company would explode into one of the largest employers in Milwaukee (employing over 8,000) and expand to 86 acres as the city grew around it.
Site of Innovation and Hope
-
1899 - World’s first pressed steel vehicle frame
-
1906 - Ford standardizes car frames prompting A.O. Smith to producing 10,000 /month
-
WWI - Developed cutting-edge arc welding techniques and became the largest bomb manufacturer in the US
-
Great Depression - A.O. Smith produced steel barrels for local breweries
-
WWII - 74th most in value from military contracts
-
1970 - Producting "in excess of 93 million passenger car frames, over 33 million truck frames and more than 63 million sets of wheel suspension control arms”
-
39% of passenger cars frames and 36% of all truck frames manufactured in North America
-
-
Named Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark
Deindustrialization and Disrepair
During the 1970s the A.O. Smith Company had employed over 8,000 workers (2nd most in Milwaukee)--most of which were African-American, as A.O. Smith was reknown for providing better wages and standards of living. But this company was a victim of deindustrialization and the outsourcing of manufacturing overseas. By 1997 A.O. Smith had sold the site to Tower Automotive and only employed 500. Even this was short lived, as Tower Automotive was bankrupt by 2005 and closed the plant officially in 2009.
Lasting Environmental Damage
In 2009, the City of Milwaukee purchased the 82 acres originally owned by the A.O. Smith company, spending $34.6M on the purchase and ensuing clean-up. This project was extremely expensive and time-consuming as much of the work done by A.O. Smith was still under military classification and there had to be a waste management system installed as unknown chemical tanks within the ground had begun deteriorating. Many buildings had to be demolished, (2.5M sq. ft. were razed) as the roofs were collapsing and the water lines were rupturing after not being maintained for many years. In the remaining buildings, 15M had to be spent remediating asbestos contamination. Additionally, the City of Milwaukee constructed the Department of Public Works on the land which is now known as The Century City.
The Century City is a complex development area that is hoping to be revitalized and with our job being in light manufacturing--growing healthy greens year-round within a controlled environment--we think that we could be a catalyst or a seed for that focus.
Chris Corkery, CEO
Planet to Plate's Connection with MSOE
​
"It's been a great partnership from the get go in knowing Professor Carriere and the folks he's introduced us to because there's so many different aspects of our model that require the benefits of engineering whether it's a structural mechanical side, more traditional or more abstract with respect to social planning and urban planning."​ - Chris Corkery
​
Industrial Engineering
Planet to Plate has been collaborating with MSOE students studying Industrial Engineering through senior design projects to develop their vertical hydroponic system and optimize their operational structure.
Placemaking
The course of this project has changed many times since the beginning of the year. Our goal as a team was to help Planet to Plate by using our knowledge and connections as Milwaukee residents. One way we did this was by creating a list of local restaurants and businesses to which Planet to Plate could potentially sell their product. We also aimed to leverage their position as ethical for profit institution to have a longer lasting and more connected impact than a Tacical Urbanism while preventing the process of gentrification. Our group interviewed Planet to Plate CEO Chris Corkery to create a podcast discussing the goals of the company. We also worked to develop Planet to Plate’s narrative as it relates to the historical significance of the Century City location their prototype location is being built at. Through this, Planet to Plate will be able to more effectively connect and engage the community through top-down and bottom-up methodologies and be more conscious of producing a human-centered end product. In this manner, we connected and applied the core themes of this honors course while significantly strengthening Planet to Plate’s ability to refine and share their mission of placemaking with the local and greater community of Milwaukee.
FutUre InvolvementWith MSOE
"Once you set something up and it's operating, it could always operate better and it all comes down to the data. Whether it's the data of food science or the customers or the data around the community impact and sustainability. That's really the hope--that this can blossom into as a platform for MSOE to continue working on with us to optimize the overall model and allow for it to be an ongoing case study. Not just for the Century City neighborhood, but for the entire city, so that more of these farms can in fact be open and just continue to drive positive impact."
​
- Chris Corkery
Meet the Team
Everen Wegner
BioMolecular Engineering
Theresa Bueckers
Electrical Engineering