MANUFACTURING

Threats to MEP funding could reshape Minnesota's rural manufacturing landscape

TJ Rhodes — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 18:59:07 GMT

Minnesota's rural manufacturing landscape could take a hit heading into 2026.

The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, both overseen by the Trump Administration, announced that it would not renew 10 expiring Manufacturing Extension Partnership program contracts on April 1.

Manufacturers nationwide criticized the decision.

Following this, the NIST announced on April 15 that it would reinstate the 10 contracts and extend each by six months, creating a pseudo-evaluation period of the MEP program.

The two abrupt decisions were seen as surprising and confusing.

"Administration at the federal level is talking about, 'We need to bring manufacturing back,' but they're defunding an organization nationally that's the heart and soul of helping small manufacturers (that) do this reshoring," said Bob Kill, Enterprise Minnesota's President and CEO. "It's kind of an ironic twist."

Enterprise Minnesota is a state and federally affiliated consulting agency and Minnesota's sole MEP representative, operating from the Twin Cities area for 30 years.

Each state and Puerto Rico has a sole consulting agency to utilize an MEP reimbursement of 50% to support small and medium manufacturing operations statewide.

Services provided support job creation and employee retention by offering aid surrounding leadership training, expansion, hiring practices, networking, certifications and more.

Enterprise Minnesota was not affected by the two decisions; however, the future of the MEP program is now up in the air.

Minnesota's manufacturing landscape

Minnesota houses a diverse field of roughly 8,600 manufacturers. Manufacturing employees earned an average of $76,950, 10% higher than the average for private sector jobs, according to Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry statistics from 2022. Overall, manufacturers contributed $58.7 billion to Minnesota's economy in 2022.

The NIST estimates suggest the MEP program is a positive force, aiding the manufacturing field with $15 billion worth of new and retained sales, $2.6 billion saved by manufacturers and more than 108,000 jobs created in 2024, nationwide.

If the NIST decides to terminate the MEP program, the manufacturing field would lose a reliable partner.

And this could occur quickly.

All 51 MEP contracts are set to expire by April 2026 — 37 in 2025, including North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa, and 14 in 2026, including Wisconsin and South Dakota. Enterprise Minnesota's contract would cease on Jan. 1, 2026.

Consulting agencies would still be able to offer services, however, agencies would struggle to efficiently offer the same amount of services.

"We work in every corner of the state," Kill said. "(This decision makes it) very challenging to serve as a statewide organization again. We'd reinvent ourselves, but it would be a different organization."

The agencies would likely need to downsize and raise prices to compensate for lost funding.

"I can say that rural Minnesota manufacturers will be the most heavily penalized," Kill explained. "Bemidji would be an example. The further we drive, the more expenses we incur. Without this federal help, all of a sudden, our costs would go up significantly. If the client couldn't pay their significantly higher fees, we just wouldn't be able to serve them."

According to Kill, 85% of Minnesota manufacturers operate with 50 employees or fewer and a large number operate with 10 employees or fewer. Manufacturers with smaller operations are more likely to be based in Greater Minnesota.

These are the manufacturers that Kill and others are worried about.

Local impact

North Central Door Company is a Bemidji-based, regional manufacturer of overhead garage doors. NCDC designs and assembles garage door sections at its Bemidji facility before shipping its product within a dealership network of midwestern and western states.

NCDC President and CEO Steve Palmer experienced the benefits of the MEP program firsthand while working in Brainerd.

He moved to Bemidji, opened NCDC and immediately formed a connection with Enterprise Minnesota. Palmer even spent time on the Enterprise Minnesota Board of Directors.

TEAM Industries, a Bagley-based engineering and manufacturing company that focuses on the power sports vehicle market, has also benefited from Enterprise Minnesota services.

TEAM has faced numerous challenges since it was established in 1967, including expansion throughout northern Minnesota, North Carolina and Mexico.

Now, TEAM is facing a new challenge.

TEAM Industries President and CEO Micah Ricke explained that the power sports market has slowed down since the COVID-19 pandemic. He believes TEAM must diversify to stay competitive. Thus, TEAM has reached out to Enterprise Minnesota to receive consulting help.

Both companies are actively seeking help from Enterprise Minnesota. If the MEP program is cut, both would be negatively impacted, which in turn could indirectly affect their communities.

This goes against what rural manufacturers strive to accomplish.

Generally, rural manufacturers contribute to the state and local economy, offer ample employment opportunities and are sometimes the best-paying local jobs.

"Manufacturing can really spread out and positively impact a community," said Palmer, "as far as job growth, the relationship between different businesses in town, the community and vice versa. It (shows) just how vital manufacturing is for a thriving community."

Rural manufacturers give folks a chance to earn more while still having a small-town experience.

"My grandfather (who started TEAM), he was a Bagley boy," Ricke explained. "Nobody was hiring mechanical engineers in Clearwater County back then, so starting his own company was sort of a means to the end, which was to live where he wanted to live.

"We choose to be in rural areas because of that. It was one of the founding missions to provide good-paying careers for people who wanted to live in rural areas, because my grandfather just hated living in big cities. We've held to that and it's been, typically, pretty good."

Palmer believes that location can make the difference.

"I know where communities are successful with manufacturing," Palmer began, "there's (typically) a strong relationship between local tech schools, trade schools, community colleges, universities that support the manufacturers."

These positives do have limits.

Ricke explained that rural areas eventually run out of hires, and drawing folks from one small community to another can be a challenge. Thus, rural manufacturers must plan accordingly.

"We're not expecting to build a plant in Bagley and employ 1,000 people," Ricke said. "The drawback is you hit a certain point in a certain community, and a lot of times, you saturate it. You can only get so many people from an area."

Community outreach

Kill, Ricke and Palmer each individually expressed that all of these tidbits suggest that the MEP program is worth saving.

"I'm just speculating, but my gut would tell me (the MEP program) was definitely worth the investment, and I know I find value in it," Ricke said. "I'd hate to see those (smaller companies) get priced out of (receiving services), if that's what it comes to."

Kill noted that the MEP program has historically operated as bipartisan and should remain as such. However, with the recent Trump Administration decisions, he feels that conservative members of Congress are lagging behind those on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor side of the aisle.

"Right now, obviously, the Republicans (have) to speak a little quieter," Kill said. "Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been a huge fan over the years and has helped us a number of times. She's rallied all the Democratic side."

Kill shared that folks should reach out to local representatives to express concern about and support for the MEP program to preserve it. Anyone interested or involved in the manufacturing field could do this.

"We're asking our clients to reach out and express concerns," Kill stated. "That's our No. 1 focus, along with continuing to work with our clients. Right now, the need that we're seeing from our smaller clients is more than it's ever been with the tariff agony and things like that going on."

The market is ever-changing, something the MEP program strives to assist with. Without MEP funding, the Minnesota manufacturing landscape could fundamentally change, with rural manufacturers left in the dust.

The next batch of MEP contracts is set to expire on July 1. The Trump Administration's next decision could likely determine the fate of the MEP program.

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Slowdown in machinery sales offers challenges and reason to refocus tech

Michael Johnson — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 13:00:00 GMT

Depressed commodity prices, high interest rates and a host of uncertainties about the year ahead mean new tractors and equipment are not flying off lots at speeds seen just a few years ago during times of better crop prices.

While 2024 was below the five-year average of sales, 2025 is continuing a downward trend in U.S. tractor sales. January 2025 showed a 15.8% decrease in sales over January 2024. The hit is even worse for large tractors over 100 horsepower, according to U.S. data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Manufacturers saw a 26.8% drop in those tractor purchases. Four-wheel drive tractor sales dropped by half compared to a year ago.

Deere & Company’s quarterly revenue slumped 35% and missed analysts' expectations on Thursday, Feb. 13, as more farmers retained their aging equipment or switched to rentals owing to weak incomes and high borrowing costs, according to Reuters. This is now coupled with President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, driving up the price for industrial metals.

Likewise, CNH Industrial expects sales to be lower year-over-year in both agriculture and industrial in 2025. They expect the industry to start bottoming out in 2025 and see demand increase in 2026, according to Reuters.

A slowdown in sales can lead to a slowdown in manufacturing. The outcome there being situations like CNH Industrial America announcing in February that it will permanently lay off 175 individuals employed at its Benson facility on April 11, according to an email sent to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development's Rapid Response Team.

While a machinery downturn is felt throughout the entire agriculture industry, Dan Dufner, vice president of large and compact tractors for CNH Industrial, calls the slowdown a necessary evil that comes in cycles. He views that through his 30 years in the industry.

“It helps us focus on what is core to our business,” Dufner said during a panel discussion at the Northern Corn and Soybean Expo in West Fargo, North Dakota, in February.

Dufner said he looks at tractor manufacturing from the lens that farmers are not buying a tractor to “go tractoring.” They are buying it to plow, plant, cultivate, fertilize, harvest and more. If they buy a new tractor, they expect to do those things better than the older model.

“It’s about what you do with the tractor. It’s about how to get the job done better,” he said to a crowd of corn and soybean enthusiasts, alongside others in machinery manufacturing.

Getting the job done better recently landed CNH in the top 5% of S&P Global’s 2025 Sustainability Yearbook. Their efforts toward more sustainable machines include increased automation and sensor technology that works to reduce grain loss and fuel consumption, prevent excessive soil compaction and increase crop residue distribution.

Dufner said that lean times push the industry to fine-tune the way they do their work in ways that make them and their customers more productive.

“Especially in times when commodity prices are down where they are, the amount of dispensable income is a lot less, so people may not be buying the machines like they usually are,” Dufner said. “When they do, that machine needs to work.”

“Yes, we are living through a cycle of ag, but it will be better,” he added.

What will be better?

Having your back up against the wall forces you to act in ways you may not normally act, Dufner went on to say. As producers navigate lean times, machinery manufacturers are looking forward to the ever evolving world of technology and how it will reshape agriculture’s future.

One important aspect of manufacturing that is at the front of mind for Dufner is weighing the size of machines with the value to the grower.

“Some of these large machines and the trade values that we’re getting, there’s a discrepancy there,” Dufner said.

He said work continues with growers to determine how quickly machinery should grow to meet their needs.

“As we continue to look for, to be more productive, which has to happen, because farmers are continuing to merge, to expand, we need to get economies of scale and productivity — that can only come from going faster, going wider or being smarter with every pass,” he said. “So solving those problems is what gets everybody out of bed every day.”

Other panel speakers noted that the COVID-19 pandemic worked to get people to embrace technology at rates never seen before. That adoption of technology continues and Dufner said it’s necessary as manufacturing seeks to continue to evolve.

While a downturn in the economy is one obstacle, a lacking workforce is another. That’s why Todd Pringle, advanced engineering manager at John Deere, said he’s excited about how autonomy in machinery continues to make new machinery important.

“Autonomy is not about eliminating the human, it’s about scaling the human. It’s about allowing you to operate your vehicle or what you are trying to do with your implement wherever, whenever, in any way,” Pringle said.

Pringle said it’s not the self-driving tractor that is hard to achieve, it’s that the human driver is focused on, he estimates, up to 60 different things while they drive. How to get artificial intelligence to focus on at least the most key things that a human farmer focuses on is what is difficult. How to relieve the workforce shortage through autonomy is something he looks forward to seeing as a solution in agriculture.

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Food scientist with Minnesota roots created Cool Whip, Pop Rocks and Tang

Tom Cherveny — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 14:08:00 GMT

RAYMOND, Minn. — No Christmas meal is complete without dessert, and in many homes, it’s virtually become a tradition of its own to top the holiday pies and treats with Cool Whip.

It may surprise many to know that the food scientist who invented the popular whipped topping started life as a child in Raymond, Minnesota. He had a big role in developing the quick-setting, modern version of Jell-O we know today, which is certainly another holiday favorite for many Midwesterners.

The late William A. Mitchell was a prolific inventor of many popular convenience foods and treats. Cool Whip, Tang and Pop Rocks candy are the best-known among them. He invented powdered egg whites, which can be found on grocery shelves today under many labels.

He is often praised as one of the most prolific inventors during his career with General Foods in New York.

His first product of some renown was called “Mitchell Mud” by U.S. infantrymen in World War II. He developed the tapioca substitute due to the disruption of cassava supplies during the war, according to accounts of Mitchell’s career.

His career with General Foods spanned 35 years and coincided with America’s growing love for convenience foods. His best-known inventions became part of popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mitchell was born Oct. 21, 1911, in Raymond to William and Florence (Fletter) Mitchell. It’s believed he was born on a farm in Woods Township, Chippewa County, according to research by Bob Larson at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society.

Larson said he could not find any records indicating what brought the family to rural Minnesota. Nor could he find any records indicating that other relatives were living in the area, or other family who may have stayed.

The family shows up in census data as living in Colorado in 1920, although they may have moved years earlier.

It may be just an urban legend, but some in the Raymond area believe William Mitchell was no more than 3 months old when the family moved, according to Diane Macht of Raymond, who helped found the Raymond Museum. She said it is difficult to find much information about the Mitchell family’s local roots.

Unfortunately, she said many are probably not aware of Mitchell or his ties to the area. The community of Raymond has not really made a point of celebrating him as a native son, she said.

“For us at the museum, it’s a bit of an oddity,” she said. “I’d love to have more information.”

Accounts of Mitchell’s life describe his childhood years in Colorado as the most formative in his later career. Magazine and newspaper stories of his life describe him as a hard-working youth. As a teenager, he ran the sugar crystallization tanks at the American Sugar Beet Company in Colorado, according to a Wikipedia page on Mitchell.

The young Mitchell hopped a train to get to Cotner College in Lincoln, Nebraska, to begin his college studies, according to an account of his life in the Smithsonian magazine by author Emily Matchar. He earned a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Nebraska. He went to work at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Lincoln, where he was badly burned in a lab explosion, according to Matchar’s article in the Smithsonian.

Mitchell and his wife of 60 years, Ruth, were parents to two daughters and five sons. Their youngest daughter, Cheryl Mitchell, also became a food scientist and is well-known for developing plant-based milks.

Mitchell invented Pop Rocks while working as a research chemist at General Foods, according to his obituary, which described the carbonated treat as “the hit candy craze of the ’70s.” He held more than 70 patents, but Pop Rocks “gave him a measure of fame and was the most personally satisfying,” the obituary reads.

Pop Rocks candy was invented in 1956 and patented in 1961. Mitchell was looking for a way to make instant carbonated soda by somehow trapping carbon dioxide into candy tablets, according to the website of the current Pop Rocks brand. That experiment did not turn out, and the formula was shelved for 20 years. According to the company, another chemist came across the formula, reworked it a little and turned it into Pop Rocks.

For the uninitiated, the Pop Rocks company describes the candy as “small pieces of hard candy that have been gasified with carbon dioxide under superatmospheric pressure. When these gasified sugar granules come in contact with moisture, in someone’s mouth or in water, milk, soft drinks, etc., the candy dissolves and the gas retained inside the carbon dioxide bubbles is released, causing characteristic crackling and fizzing sound.”

Startling but not dangerous, the popping candy became the subject of “exploded kid” rumors as early as 1979, four years after the product went to market, according to the Pop Rocks website.

General Foods took out ads, wrote letters to schools and sent Mitchell on the road in a publicity tour to explain that Pop Rocks “generate less gas than half a can of soda and ingesting them could induce nothing worse in the human body than a hearty, non-life-threatening belch,” the Pop Rocks FAQ web page reads.

A full-page ad in the form of a letter from Mitchell to parents, including a photo of him surrounded by children, was published in dozens of newspapers on Feb. 4, 1979. In it, Mitchell notes that with seven children and 14 grandchildren of his own, safety is a real concern of his.

“My seven kids grew up with Pop Rocks. I invented it in 1956 and I would make a little bit of it every once in a while to have it around the house for birthday parties and other fun occasions,” the letter reads in part. “I became very popular around our neighborhood!”

Within a year, the candy had disappeared, according to an Arizona Republic story.

“General Foods withdrew (Pop Rocks) from the market because it didn’t fit in with the long-term corporate strategy,” Paul Steidler, an account executive for Clarke & Company, said in the Arizona Republic account by Linda Helser.

The story published March 5, 1987, was written about the limited reintroduction of the candy in Arizona. Clarke & Company was the public relations firm promoting the candy at that time.

According to Helser’s account, the candy had disappeared in 1980, and a Buffalo, New York, company in April 1985 obtained the rights to produce and distribute Pop Rocks.

The Arizona Republic story published March 5, 1987, about Pop Rocks by West Central Tribune on Scribd

According to the Pop Rocks website, the candy was briefly discontinued in the mid-1980s. It is again a national brand, and Pop Rocks Inc. today is based in Atlanta.

Mitchell also developed the flavored drink known as Tang in 1957, but it was not a commercial success at its start. That came later, after NASA sent Tang into orbit in 1962 with astronaut John Glenn aboard a Mercury spacecraft.

It was in 1967, or five years after Glenn’s historic space flight, that Mitchell patented a quick-set form of Jell-O, according to “How Stuff Works.” The new Jell-O could be made with cold water instead of hot water.

Not all of his products met with fame. A coffee substitute known as Dacopa, made from dahlia tubers, did not find success.

Mitchell died at age 92 on July 26, 2004, in Stockton, California. His wife, Ruth, preceded him in death on June 2, 1999, at age 85.

Feb. 4, 1979, Pop Rocks ad by West Central Tribune on Scribd

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Karlstad-based Mattracks marks 30 years of business and innovation

Brad Dokken — Sat, 18 May 2024 11:50:00 GMT

KARLSTAD, Minn. — When Matt Brazier started doodling in class one day as an 11-year-old who was “bored in school,” it would have been hard to imagine that his sketch of a pickup truck with tracks would blaze the trail for one of the most successful companies in northwest Minnesota.

That would be Mattracks, the Karlstad-based company that specializes in manufacturing rubber track conversion systems for vehicles.

Name a vehicle, whether for work, play or somewhere in between, and Mattracks has probably made tracks for it. The company also makes non-driven tracks for trailers and similar implements. Founded by Matt’s dad, owner and CEO Glen Brazier, based on his son’s long-ago doodling, Mattracks this year marks its 30th anniversary.

As business stories go, they don’t get much more colorful than that.

“I used to play with a lot of Legos, and build things, and my dad was always building things,” Matt Brazier, now 43, said. “I drew a pickup with tracks, he saw it and away we went.

“The rest is history.”

Glen Brazier, who owned and operated National Transmission stores in Thief River Falls and Bemidji at the time, spent the next few years engineering and developing prototypes before gaining a patent. The first Mattracks — named, of course, after Matt — went on sale to the public in 1994. The company started in Thief River Falls, Matt Brazier said, before moving to a small shop in Greenbush, Minnesota, and relocating to Karlstad in 1995.

“My dad was a mechanic and fixed transmissions,” Brazier said. “He’s built gyrocopters, airplanes ... you name it.”

Expanding lineup

The first Mattracks products targeted the recreation market, but the company today has expanded its product line to more commercial and even military applications, said Michelle Gjerde, Mattracks marketing manager. Mattracks is “constantly innovating new products” to stay ahead of the competition, Gjerde said.

“Some of our newest tracks are for tractors, skid steers, sprayers, we’ve got some new row crop tracks — so whatever innovations have been on the ag side,” she said. “But we do have some new tracks for ATVs and UTVs that are in prototype mode right now.”

Mattracks products can be installed on most vehicles in an hour, Gjerde said, compared with up to 15 man-hours to install some of the competitors’ products on large farm implements.

“Ours is designed to be as easy as changing a tire,” she said.

The sheer number of products also sets Mattracks apart, Brazier says.

“Most of the competitors have two models,” he said. “We have 178 different models. We build tracks for absolutely anything. Custom, you name it.”

Quite a ride

Brazier’s doodling has taken him on quite a ride over the past three decades. After graduating from Greenbush High �� in 1999, he attended a short course in Akron, Ohio, to learn how to mold and ply rubber before going to work in the family business.

That’s where the real learning occurred.

“What I learned in those years I don’t know if I would have ever learned in school,” Brazier said. “I had a great opportunity. I was 17-18 years old and went to California to trade shows. You learn a lot.”

Mattracks today employs about 50 people between the 150,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Karlstad and another facility a few hundred yards to the north where the rubber tracks are made, a process that was off-limits to a Herald reporter during a recent visit. A third building even farther north is used for maintenance, shipping, receiving and storage.

As the company’s Field Operations Coordinator, Matt Brazier has traveled the world to places such as China, the Middle East and Europe.

“I do lots of traveling,” he said. “We were just in Oman in August (2023) doing some stuff for the border patrol over there, so I wear many different hats.

“I would say 40% of our sales are overseas,” Brazier said. “Lots to South America – Brazil – Russia, Germany. We just shipped a bunch of stuff to Greenland and New Zealand. The only killer there is shipping costs.”

Mattracks also has a small sales force that works out of an office in Shanghai, Brazier says. Mattracks in 2004, along with a Chinese partner, built a new 300,000 square-foot factory in China to build Mattracks Powerboards — basically snowboards with tracks. In 2010, after the recession, Glen Brazier sold the factory to his partner but kept his best people and started an office in downtown Shanghai, from which Mattracks sells its product across China, other parts of Asia and the Middle East.

“We ship them tracks, they put them on their vehicles,” Matt Brazier said. “They can do that out of there versus me flying over there doing a show or something. They speak the language, they understand it.”

Movie appearances

Mattracks products have also been featured on the big screen. The company designed the lower drive unit of the T-1 Robot featured in 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” under contract with Stan Winston, a renowned special effects artist, makeup artist and film director. Winston, who died in 2008, is known for his work on such movies as “Aliens,” “Jurassic Park” and “Predator 2,” in addition to the “Terminator” series.

Five of the robot units were made for “Terminator 3,” and one is on display in the Mattracks museum in Karlstad, a work in progress featuring some of Glen Brazier’s inventions and products the company has made over the years, ranging from military vehicles to a 7-Up machine on tracks.

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage from the TV series “Mythbusters” built two Mattracks-equipped 7-Up machines for a commercial that aired nationally during the Super Bowl and throughout the year in 2003.

The museum is open to the public by appointment.

“It excites me when I get to go into the museum and think back and remember what we did back then,” Matt Brazier said. “We’re just doing so many different, cool things.”

When “Terminator 3” came out, the company rented three limos and took all of its employees to see the movie in Grand Forks, Brazier says. They did the same thing when “Fast & Furious 8,” a 2017 film starring Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, among others, was released. That film also included Mattracks products.

“With our business and what we do, things change so fast that I bet most people in town here don’t know that we’re making stuff for movies,” Brazier said. “And we do so much of it you can’t even enjoy what you’re doing.

“We have the coolest products there are to market,” he added. “We have so many different products that we can just go crazy with marketing. And a lot of our customers do that for us – they put all kinds of cool videos online.”

In that context, the company has developed “sort of a cult-like following,” said Gjerde, the marketing manager.

“We’ll see things on YouTube or something all the time,” Gjerde said. “The sky’s the limit on visualizing applications and hearing about things, so it’s never a dull day.”

All of the company’s marketing, advertising and graphic design is done in-house.

Looking ahead

A major focus for the next few weeks is on Kick’n Up Kountry, a four-day music festival set for June 12-15 at Wagon Wheel Ridge, an events center situated on 360 acres just west of Karlstad on state Highway 11. This year’s lineup includes rock acts such as Firehouse, Lita Ford and Warrant, along with country artists such as the Kentucky Headhunters, Diamond Rio and Lady A.

Glen Brazier owns Wagon Wheel Ridge and Kick’n Up Country. In addition to the music festival, Wagon Wheel Ridge hosts an annual “Max’s Bash Biker Rally,” weddings and other special events.

“On top of everything we do at Mattracks, we have this, as well,” Matt Brazier said of Kick’n Up Country. “For the crew that we have, everybody’s got a lot of stuff going on.”

At this point, the company doesn’t have any special plans to mark Mattracks’ 30th anniversary, Brazier says. “A huge celebration” isn’t beyond the realm of possibility sometime down the road, he says.

“It’s kind of undecided, and we’re more focused on the business right now,” Brazier said. “And even if we had to wait a year, I mean, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got lots and lots of stuff in the works.”

On the web:

www.mattracks.co

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Bemidji State University to receive $750,000 for workforce development

Pioneer Staff Report — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:55:00 GMT

ST. PAUL – Gov. Tim Walz recently announced grant recipients sharing in nearly $20 million to grow Minnesota’s Drive for Five Workforce initiative — a new effort to prepare more Minnesotans for high-demand jobs in five occupational categories: technology, the trades, caring professions, manufacturing and education.

Among the recipients is Bemidji State University, which houses the Minnesota State Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence, receiving $750,000.

“We’re partnering with organizations across the state to expand job training programs and grow the workforce for the future,” Walz said in a release. “By investing in career training, we’re helping businesses find the skilled workers they need while helping Minnesotans find fulfilling careers and earn family-sustaining wages. This is good for our workers, our businesses and our economy.”

According to the release, grant recipients will train and place an estimated 1,200 Minnesotans over the next 15 months in high-demand jobs, benefiting an estimated 3,000 Minnesota businesses.

The industries selected to be part of Drive for Five are projected to be high-growth in the years ahead and provide family-sustaining wages for workers, defined as having a median hourly wage at or above $19.46.

“We’re excited to announce this great slate of Drive for Five grantees,” DEED Deputy Commissioner for Workforce Development Marc Majors said in the release. “I’m looking forward to the work we’ll do together over the coming years.”

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Minnesota manufacturing industry doesn't anticipate growth in coming year

Brielle Bredsten — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:00:00 GMT

DULUTH —More than 500 manufacturing executives in Minnesota were interviewed in 2023 about their perception of business trends, conditions and the future of the industry.

The results from the 15th annual "State of Manufacturing" survey were presented by Enterprise Minnesota President and CEO Bob Kill on Feb. 13 at Minnesota Power / Allete. The survey was conducted by Meeting Street Insights founder Rob Autry.

The survey found that 16% of respondents believed 2023 would be a year of economic expansion, marking the lowest level since the rock-bottom 8% recorded during the 2008 Great Recession, according to the Enterprise Minnesota website. This prospect rose slightly with 22% of those surveyed feeling 2024 would be a year of economic expansion.

Employment laws

The last legislative session enacted several employment laws that have many manufacturers concerned, Kill said. These changes include expanded paid leave requirements, a new employer-funded paid leave program and legalization of cannabis, along with new workplace drug testing policies.

"All these guidelines that came out of our legislative session affect any business. It's not manufacturing alone," Kill said.

Overall, 43% of those surveyed expressed concern over increasing health care costs. This was a rising concern, especially among smaller manufacturers that already struggle to compete with larger companies.

Implementing these new mandates also requires additional time spent on payroll, which poses another burden to smaller manufacturers with limited resources, Kill said.

Like businesses across the state, manufacturers are also evaluating and reworking employee drug policies.

"There was a lot of excitement about the cannabis when it first came out, but the fact of the matter is, it's about performance," Kill said. "In some cases, that's going to drive some manufacturers to have to think more about how they build better performance metrics and standards inside of their organizations."

Workforce remains a top concern

Although the survey indicated the fears of a recession are subsiding a bit, economic stagnation is anticipated by the industry soon. This is driving executive's decisions about hiring and investing in their companies.

The Northland Foundation found that 56% of manufacturers it represents in Northeastern Minnesota are concerned about attracting workers. Meanwhile, survey data shows this concern has dropped 9% since 2022.

"(Workforce) still is, without a doubt, the No. 1 issue that will limit or drive growth for manufacturers and all the related businesses that are connected to them," Kill said.

However, he found it surprising that half of the manufacturing businesses surveyed don't have any open positions.

"Half the companies are trying to hire, and others are saying, well, we're just going to sit flat and wait to see how this turns out," Kill said.

Workforce challenges, such as attracting and retaining quality employees, also have some manufacturers exploring the integration of automation systems to keep up with product demand.

Marketing

Marketing is typically outside of a manufacturing company's wheelhouse, Kill said.

"Manufacturing companies don't grow up being marketers. They grow up being process people and engineers and manufacturing people. So now they have to think about how we're going to really market ourselves to compete on a global basis because their competitors are not next door to them," Kill said.

Pine Technical Community College has recognized as it prepares its students to enter the manufacturing workforce that there are not more people moving into Minnesota or people who are graduating from Minnesota high schools.

Expanding the workforce will require attracting people who historically haven't participated in manufacturing, Pine Tech President Joe Malford said in a video played during the presentation.

Duluth Workforce Development is working to connect more job seekers, particularly women and people of color, to quality manufacturing jobs that offer good wages, benefits and opportunities for growth and advancement.

Additionally, Duluth participates in the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy to connect local educational institutions and manufacturing employers to offer broader access to career pathways.

Future planning

Organizational strategic planning is down to its lowest level in manufacturing since 2016, the survey indicated. Further, fewer than half of manufacturers reported having a formal vision and core values.

Kill noted that for three years during the pandemic, manufacturers built operating plans instead of strategic plans because of the unpredictable economic climate.

Nearly half of those surveyed have a succession plan, and smaller manufacturers were less likely to develop them.

According to Kill, succession or exit planning should be thought of organizationally whether a business owner is selling, becoming an employee stock ownership plan or merging with another company.

"An exit plan doesn't mean you're leaving tomorrow. It just means you know how to manage against that crisis that might develop," Kill said.

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Minnesota manufacturers are optimistic for 2024, new DEED report says

Nicole Ki / MPR News — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 13:12:00 GMT

ST. PAUL — A report by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development finds Minnesota manufacturing businesses are "cautiously optimistic" about 2024.

The report surveyed a random sample of 1,000 manufacturing establishments and received around 250 responses. DEED Economic analysis director Neal Young said there are some good indicators for optimism, but it's not across the board.

“Respondents indicated that they see modest expansion in profits, number of orders, productivity and production levels. There are, of course, some areas of concern, labor availability remains a concern,” Young said. “Although the outlook does show a little bit of improvement compared to their performance in 2023.”

Young says the report finds exports and employment levels are also expected to be slightly higher than last year.

He also says manufacturers have adjusted to deal with supply chain issues.

“Seventy-seven percent expect profits to be the same or higher in 2024. Seventy-one percent, expect number of orders to be higher in 2024,” he said. “Eighty-three percent expect production levels to be the same or higher in 2024. And 86 percent expect productivity to be the same or higher in 2024."

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All 30 MLB ballparks will feature Minnesota company's souvenir mini-bats

Theodore Tollefson — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 19:00:00 GMT

WINONA, Minn. — Heading to Target Field or any other Major League Baseball ballpark this summer?

There's a good chance you can bring a piece of Minnesota home with you once that last out is recorded.

Pillbox Bat Company in Winona will its their handcrafted bats in all 30 MLB ballparks for the 2023 season. The most common type of Pillbox bat in every ballpark this season are the company's new souvenir mini-bats with designs based on their mural series.

“We can't help ourselves but come out with more unique ideas and things, like how to interpret, whether it be the artwork or the product itself,” said Dan Watson, co-founder of Pillbox. “Fans are definitely used to souvenir bats like when I grew up going to Twins games in the Metrodome. You'd walk out with a navy blue bat with maybe a red Twins logo on it and that was the extent of it.”

The designs incorporate all 30 MLB teams primary logos at the lower end of the bat with a secondary logo of the team on the barrel of the mini-bat.

Watson and the other members of the Pillbox crew learned last October during the MLB postseason that they would be getting the license rights to make souvenir bats for MLB. To Watson and company, it came as a surprise.

“We've been scrambling to put together a Major League Baseball catalog, and one of the things that the industry of Major League teams has been clamoring for is a new supplier for mini-bats. So we jumped on that, and now you have a new take on mini-bats,” Watson said.

Watson and the others at Pillbox attribute a great deal of the help to get them their bat-licensing deal with MLB to their longest running Major League partner: the Minnesota Twins. Watson said Twins President and CEO Dave St. Peter helped expedited their time frame of landing the bats licensing rights.

In a letter of recommendation to MLB on Pillbox's behalf, St. Peter wrote, “Fans are looking for something more handcrafted.”

“That was his reason for wanting us to get licensing,” Watson said. “The industry and sports fans in general have been kind of gravitating towards that art more."

That movement can be seen in the Twin's unveiling this off-season of new uniforms where the team wanted to incorporate the whole state in their designs with the North Star included in their new road uniform.

Pillbox is currently working to get orders completed from all 30 MLB teams for these souvenir bats so they can be ready and available for Opening Day on Thursday, March 30. For many fans across Major League Baseball, these new souvenir mini-bats at their favorite team’s ballpark will be their first exposure to Pillbox.

“Nobody's done art like we do on baseball bats and carried them in all Major League Baseball parks for an entire season," Watson said. "From the consumer standpoint, it is really cool. From our standpoint, it is really cool as well, so I think everybody's just kind of waiting to see what happens. It comes down to what are the fans going to be drawn to.”

The souvenir mini-bats will also be available on Pillbox’s website — pillboxbatco.com — for purchase come Opening Day.

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Grand Rapids manufacturer plans to expand, hire 100-200 workers

Peter Passi — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 23:34:00 GMT

GRAND RAPIDS — Yanmar Compact Equipment North America announced Monday it will break ground this spring on a 32,000-square-foot expansion of its existing plant, with hopes to hire 100-200 more workers in the next five years.

The company, which acquired ASV, a maker of tracked equipment in 2019, currently employs about 240 people in Grand Rapids. The expansion likely will take a year to complete.

The company already is in hiring mode, according to Ben Karkela, a communications specialist for ASV Holdings Inc.

"We are currently looking to fill a number of positions. It's been tricky to get people to move up to this area up here," he said of ongoing recruiting efforts. The size of the Japanese company's Grand Rapids workforce has grown by more than one-third in the past three years.

Part of the project will involve the installation of a new high-capacity powder coat system to replace liquid paint operations. This will free up space for new robotic weld cells and cutting tables that are expected to improve product flow.

"We received a lot of support through the investment of Yanmar Co. Ltd. and several city, county and state grants and loans," Tate Johnson, president of Yanmar CE NA, said in a news release. "The expansion will improve efficiency, allowing us to better serve our customers as we continue to grow as a leader in compact equipment."

Yanmar Compact Equipment North America, based in Grand Rapids, manufactures compact excavators, tracked carriers and wheel loaders and the ASV line of Posi-Track compact track loaders.

Yanmar Co. Ltd., headquartered in Osaka, Japan, was founded in 1912, and grew in large part due it its development of an innovative practical small diesel engine in 1933. The company now has a global footprint, serving a number of industries, including the agriculture, construction and marine markets.

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Local leaders discuss state of manufacturing in northwest Minnesota

Nicole Ronchetti — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 18:11:44 GMT

BEMIDJI — Despite national concerns over inflation and a potential recession, Minnesota manufacturers remain confident in their ability to withstand hard times, according to a statewide survey conducted by Enterprise Minnesota.

Even among smaller manufacturers in northwest Minnesota and the Bemidji area, most feel that they will be able to weather any hardships the future might bring.

“Despite the challenges, despite the concerns about recession and inflation, 85% (of manufacturers) are confident,” said Bob Kill, president and CEO of Enterprise Minnesota.

Kill presented the results of his organization’s survey at the Hampton Inn in Bemidji on Tuesday, Jan. 10, to a room full of local leaders, manufacturers and business owners as a part of the 14th annual State of Manufacturing Tour, a series of events that takes him across Minnesota.

Using the results of the survey and the feedback received during the tour, Enterprise Minnesota works to advocate for and support the manufacturing industry at the state level, something Kill considers incredibly important.

“We feel (manufacturers) really need a voice at the state level,” Kill said, “manufacturers want to be heard.”

This year’s survey showed a surprising amount of confidence from Minnesota manufacturers about the future, even as they face considerable challenges related to inflation and supply chains.

Even though their confidence is high, however, it still hasn’t returned to the levels it had been prior to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“(Manufacturers) are confident, but it’s not returned to what it was in 2016, 2017 or 2018,” Kill explained. “Still, it’s pretty strong, despite not being back to where it totally was.”

Smaller manufacturers, which Kill defined as making less than $1 million annually and noted make up most of Minnesota’s over 7,200 manufacturers, also have a slightly lower confidence in their ability to withstand a recession than their larger counterparts.

When including manufacturers of all sizes, the total confidence level was 85%, but this number decreased to 75% when looking at just smaller manufacturers.

“The confidence level is much higher in larger companies than it is in the smaller companies,” Kill shared, “That’s why we try to break the data down.”

Specific challenges

As for the specific challenges that manufacturers are concerned about, the survey found that the most pressing was overall inflation, which 55% of manufacturers marked as a concern, and difficulty in attracting qualified workers, 53%.

“It’s no surprise that overall inflation and attracting workers are on the top,” Kill said. “Finding new workers is absolutely still the most important factor for growth and 84% are finding (hiring) very difficult.”

Regionally, however, manufacturers in northwest Minnesota were more concerned with a recession than they were about finding employees.

While overall inflation was still the top concern, with 72% of regional manufacturers citing it as a worry, fears of a recession and its effects took the second highest spot at 63%.

Kill noted that these different concerns also impact manufacturers in Greater Minnesota differently than those in the metropolitan area.

“Inflation affects Greater Minnesota more, because of things like housing, child care and things that (metropolitan manufacturers) almost don’t think about because they have resources available,” Kill said.

Because of these different challenges, however, Kill also believes that manufacturing outside of the Twin Cities area is more energized and advanced.

“The further I get away from the metro area, the more energized communities are,” Kill shared. “You’ve had to do things that if you’re sitting close to the metropolitan area you don’t have to do. You have to embrace different strategies.”

According to Kill, even the number of attendees at Tuesday’s event in Bemidji demonstrated the energy backing manufacturing in the region.

“The energy here behind (manufacturing) is more than other communities,” Kill said. “That says there’s a really strong interest in manufacturing here.”

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