JUNEAU, Wis. — It was 2008 when a new company here hired Dan Wegener to fix some lights in an old building that had been used to make wooden pallets.
"It just baffles my mind. I don't think the community ever anticipated this" said Wegener, a life-long resident."It's been nothing but a positive for the city of Juneau. I see a lot of people retiring here. This will be the last place they ever work." "This is just a really cool product in terms of getting rid of a job that nobody likes to do," said Mike Lodl, senior director of operations for Whisker, but who has worked for GE Health Care and Trek Bicycle."It allows you to be with your pets, enjoy your time together and not begrudge the job of scooping poop, which is not a fun thing to do."
Baxter ultimately began looking at other automated litter boxes, none of which met his needs, before he found a patent that appeared to do the job and would be the basis for today's Litter-Robot. Baxter reached out to the inventor, they got along and within a few months the two agreed to a licensing agreement with Baxter working in a basement in Pontiac, Michigan. In April 2000, Baxter was showing off his first product at a show in California but had no money for mass production.
But expansion hasn't been limited to Juneau. Whisker's corporate offices are in Auburn Hills, Michigan, where Baxter just completed a stint as the city's mayor. In January 2023, Whisker completed a $3 million renovation of its headquarters which included a new 8,000-square-foot research and development space, a new atrium and more pet-friendly areas.
Employees at Whisker come from about a 30 mile radius, said Mike Marks, the company's production manager, who runs the first and second shifts at the plant that is air conditioned in the summer and remarkably clean and quiet year round.