Milwaukee's Master Lock prepares for a presidential visit



MILWAUKEE -- The moment Master Lock was mentioned in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, company executives had to have a sense a presidential visit was a possibility. It will be on Wednesday.

President Obama will tour the Master Lock plant and speak to workers. He'll commend the company for bringing jobs back to this country from China.

Master Lock CEO John Heppner says he never expected the attention his company is gaining.

"Absolutely not. It's been great to have that type of notoriety," said Heppner. "We just wanted to deliver for our employees because they're the ones that worked so hard to make this plant more competitive and that's something we'll continue through 2012 this year and again into 2013."

Heppner says big things are planned for Master Lock in the coming years. What exactly that will be is still under lock and key.

Three shifts of workers are ticketed to attend the President's visit. That's 412 workers plus 250 more from the corporate office in Oak Creek. About 100 to 150 state and local officials will be at the ceremony by invitation of the White House.

Air Force One plans to arrive in Milwaukee a little before noon, and as expected security will be tight. Starting at 9:15 a.m. people can get their Secret Service passes, but they won't be let in until 10:30 a.m.