About Rexnord Corporation Milwaukee Plant Milwaukee Wisconsin
History: From Falk Corporation to Rexnord Industrial Operations
The Milwaukee industrial complex associated with the Rexnord name has deep roots in Wisconsin manufacturing history:
- Founded as Falk Corporation in 1892 on Milwaukee’s west side near Menomonee Valley — a corridor that made Milwaukee one of the great industrial cities of the Midwest
- Major producer of geared drives, fluid couplings, and mechanical power equipment serving mining, steel, pulp and paper, and marine industries across the Great Lakes region
- Acquired by Rexnord Incorporated in 1977 — an industrial conglomerate producing chain, conveyor components, and industrial machinery
- Operated under various corporate ownership structures, including periods under Invensys
- Employed thousands of Milwaukee workers until 2016–2017, when Rexnord relocated manufacturing jobs to Indiana — a relocation that drew national attention and political controversy
The Rexnord/Falk plant was part of a dense cluster of heavy industrial employers in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley and west side corridor. Nearby contemporaries included Allis-Chalmers in West Allis, A.O. Smith on Milwaukee’s north side, and Allen-Bradley in Milwaukee — meaning many workers moved between these facilities over the course of careers, and asbestos-containing materials from the same manufacturers and suppliers may have allegedly appeared across all of them.
For occupational asbestos exposure purposes, the critical window spans approximately the 1940s through the 1980s — the decades when asbestos-containing materials were most extensively used in American industrial facilities of this type.
What the Plant Manufactured and Where Workers Faced Exposure Risk
The Milwaukee facility encompassed multiple operational areas where asbestos-containing materials are alleged to have been present:
- Gear manufacturing and assembly with heavy machine tools, lathes, milling machines, and grinding equipment
- Chain manufacturing and sprocket production lines with high-heat industrial processes
- Foundry and casting operations associated with Falk-era gear production
- Boiler rooms and steam systems serving large manufacturing floor areas
- Extensive pipe networks distributing steam, compressed air, and process fluids throughout the plant
- Electrical substations and switchgear rooms
- Maintenance shops where insulators, pipefitters, and boilermakers performed ongoing repair work
- Construction and renovation areas spanning multiple decades
Each of these operational zones reportedly created conditions where asbestos-containing materials may have been present and workers of multiple trades may have been exposed.
General Equipment at Rexnord Corporation Milwaukee Plant Milwaukee Wisconsin
The equipment below represents the systems and infrastructure documented or typically present at this facility during the era when asbestos-containing materials were specified in industrial construction. This is general facility-equipment reference — not a legal attribution of any specific product, manufacturer, or exposure event to this facility. Material-category and manufacturer information is addressed in the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk linked under the records table below.
Documented Asbestos Evidence — Wisconsin
The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (Wisconsin DNR) was notified under federal NESHAP rules, the work was logged, and the asbestos-containing material was confirmed and removed under regulated conditions. These are not allegations or estimates — they are paper records tying documented asbestos-containing material to this specific site.
No Wisconsin DNR NESHAP abatement notifications have been identified for this facility in current public records. Per the framing above, absence of state-agency documentation should not be read as absence of asbestos — only as absence of a formal, regulated abatement event meeting reporting thresholds. Workers who recall encountering pipe insulation, block insulation, gaskets, or other asbestos-era construction materials at this facility may still have viable claims regardless of whether a state record exists.
Material Categories in Documented Records
The materials documented above (and similar asbestos-containing materials commonly encountered in records of this type) appear in the AsbestosIndex catalog with historical manufacturer and trust-fund information. Click a category to view manufacturers historically associated with that material:
Wisconsin — Filing Deadline & Next Steps
Wisconsin law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 3 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Wis. Stat. § 893.54). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 3 years from the date of death (Wis. Stat. § 893.54). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.
The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.
Practical first steps
- Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
- Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
- Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
- Speak with an asbestos attorney with Wisconsin experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.
Asbestos-Related Diseases — Wisconsin
Asbestos fiber exposure can cause several specific diseases that typically appear decades after the original exposure. The latency period — the gap between exposure and diagnosis — usually runs 20 to 50 years. That's why workers exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are receiving diagnoses today.
Mesothelioma
A rare, aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), abdomen (peritoneal), or heart (pericardial). Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, which is why a mesothelioma diagnosis often points directly to historical workplace exposure. Average latency from first exposure to diagnosis is 30-50 years.
Asbestosis
A chronic, non-cancerous scarring of lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibers. Asbestosis causes progressive shortness of breath, persistent cough, and reduced lung function. It does not improve with treatment, and it is a recognized basis for compensation under most trust schedules and civil claims.
Lung Cancer
Asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly when combined with a history of smoking. Asbestos-related lung cancer is compensable under the same trust schedules and civil claim avenues as mesothelioma.
Other Recognized Diseases
Pleural plaques, pleural thickening, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer, and certain gastrointestinal cancers are also recognized as asbestos-related under various trust schedules and case-law authorities, though eligibility and proof requirements vary by claim type.
If you have any of these diagnoses and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or were exposed in any documented capacity, you may have a claim worth pursuing. Speak with an attorney before assuming you don't qualify.
Data Sources — Wisconsin
Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:
- EPA ECHO Facility Compliance Database — enforcement and compliance records for industrial facilities
- OSHA Establishment Search — federal workplace inspection history
- EIA Form 860 Plant Data — power-plant equipment and ownership records (where applicable)
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources NESHAP asbestos abatement notification records
- Published asbestos trial and trust fund records (publicly filed court documents)
- AsbestosIndex Product & Manufacturer Crosswalk — historical asbestos-containing product schedules linked to manufacturers
If specific equipment or product claims in this article are sourced from a non-public database, the source is identified parenthetically within the text above.