Tuesday, September 15, 2015 11:30 am

SUSSEX, Wisconsin (From the Journal Sentinel) - Quad/Graphics Inc., which won a major new magazine printing contract this year, plans to create 500 more jobs in Wisconsin in the next few years.

The company will be eligible to earn $15.7 million in state tax credits from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. as part of the planned expansion.

Quad/Graphics, the biggest printer of magazines and catalogs in North America, has 75 facilities in 25 states, including 15 plants in Wisconsin. The company, based in Sussex, employs 25,000 people worldwide, including 7,700 people full time and part time in the state.

Earlier this year, Quad won a long-term contract from Hearst Magazines to print 20 of its 21 titles, including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire and Good Housekeeping. It also won a contract to print additional titles for Time Inc.

The company had many options on where to print those magazines and decided to expand in Wisconsin, said Patrick Henderson, director of government affairs for Quad.

To receive the state tax credits, the company must meet certain benchmarks for jobs, investment in new equipment and job training. It has until 2020 to hire the additional workers, but Henderson said the company expects they will be hired much sooner than that.