Parker Hannifin Gears Up For More Jobs, Sales In 2010

Parker Hannifin gears up for
more jobs, sales in 2010
Staff photo by Kevin Sweeney
The Parker Hannifin plant in New Ulm doubled its employment in 2010 over the previous year, thanks to the move of gearhead manufacturing operations from a Port Washington, N.Y. plant to New Ulm in late 2009.
By Kevin Sweeney
Journal Editor
NEW ULM — A year ago, the
Parker Hannifin plant in New Ulm
had a “wedding” celebration to
mark the combination of motor assembly shop in New Ulm with the
gear head production operation
that had just been moved in from
Port Washington, N.Y.
The company had spent the
previous months training in new
employees, shipping 33 trailer
loads of equipment halfway across
the country, and getting set up. On
Feb. 5, last year, the two plants
were “married” into one.
A year later, the honeymoon is
still going. Parker Hannifin’s 110
New Ulm employees are busy producing electric servo motors and
the gear heads that convert their
power into usable force for a wide
variety of machines.
Eric Hendrickson, engineering
manager for Parker Hannifin in
New Ulm, said the company’s
workforce is about twice the size
as it was before.
Before the move, New Ulm
workers’ main job was to assemble
motors from components that were
mostly shipped in from other producers. With the arrival of the gear
head operation, Parker Hannifin
employees make most of the components themselves.
On one side of the Parker Hannifin manufacturing floor, motor
housings and gear assemblies are
machined on site. The gears are cut
from high-grade steel to exacting
specifications, then heated in
plasma chambers to harden their
surface. The gear ratios are set to
meet the needs of customers in a
variety of applications, from aerospace and military vehicles, to utility trucks, to automated and
robotic devices in manufacturing
plants, to electric cars and trucks.
The new union has produced
increases in sales and revenue for
the New Ulm plant, said Hendrickson. The gearhead operation accounts for about 30 percent of the
plant’s revenue, and gearhead sales
have gone up about 20 percent in
the past 12 months.
The company hired most of its
new workers locally, said Hendrickson. Many of them came
from the MCG plant and Caterpillar, so they had the talent and skills
with machining and production.
Some training was done in New
York prior to the move, and it continued here.
In August, the company got a
state grant from the Minnesota Job
Skills Partnership to provide onsite training from Ridgewater College. The training will develop the
technical schools of its design engineers, machinists and operators.
The combined manufacturing
operation has filled the manufacturing space at the Parker Hannifin
building at 2101 N. Broadway. The
company is considering its options
for expansion when the time
comes.
“We have plenty of land, so we
Staff photo by Kevin Sweeney
The manufacturing floor of the Parker Hannifin plant in New Ulm. Pictured here is part of the gear head
operations.
could add on,” said Hendrickson.
There is also a lot of empty office
space on the building’s second
floor. Moving first-floor offices to
the second floor could free up
more room for manufacturing and
the test laboratory the company is
planning to add.
But that may be a while in the
future. Like other manufacturer’s
Parker Hannifin is cautiously optimistic about the economy and
won’t be adding a lot of positions
until it is more sure of growth
trends.
Parker Hannifin was founded
in1918, and has grown into the
world’s leading diversified manufacturer of motion and control
technologies and systems. The
company employs about 52,000
people in 48 countries around the
world, and has annual sales in excess of $10 billion a year.
Staff photo by Kevin Sweeney
Staff photo by Kevin Sweeney
Engineering Manager Eric Hendrickson stands next to one of the larger electric motors made by Parker
Hannifin in New Ulm. This one is built to power a semi tractor.
CNC Machine Operator Tana Schneider measures a newly-cut
gear to make sure it meets specifications.
2CThe Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011
www.nujournal.com
Farmers Co-op adds
towering grain bin
New Ulm bin
holds 700,000
bushels
By Fritz Busch
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — It appears
the timing was favorable last
year when the Farmers Coop of Hanska built a new
700,000 bushel bin at 201
North Water Street.
As the corn futures price
hovered around the $7 mark
a few weeks ago, Farmers
Co-op (FCH) Grain Manager Chad Larson looked out
his office window at the
huge concrete bin.
“There’s $4.5 million
worth of corn in that bin,”
Larson said.
The new bin is a monster.
It’s 90 feet in diameter, and
140 feet tall. The bin and the
tunnels to it took 40,000
yards of concrete to construct, along with 350 tons of
steel reinforcing bar, according to Cooperative president
Randall Rieke.
The contractor, West
Central Construction of
Kerkhoven and Appleton,
took five months to build it,
using large cranes to lift the
forms for the concrete into
place section by section.
The new bin ups FCH’s
New Ulm storage capacity to
3 million bushels. Add that
to 1.5 million bushels in
Hanska and 220,000 bushels
at the New Ulm hilltop location on County Road 25, and
close to 5 million bushels are
enclosed in the co-ops elevators.
Another 3 million bushels
are stored on the ground in
New Ulm and Hanska — 1.7
million bushels in Hanska
and 1.3 million in New Ulm.
The new bin was built to
provide needed extra storage
and create more efficient use
of existing facilities, said
Larson.
Larson said the new bin
doubled FCH’s reclaim and
fill capacity.
"We can dump 45,000
bushels an hour and load
75,000 bushels an hour,"
Larson added.
Product is shipped via rail
to area ethanol plants in
Janesville, Lake Crystal and
Fairmont, or to overseas
markets in Japan, Taiwan
and South Korea.
With its own rail yard,
rail load-out capacity in New
Ulm is 60,000 bushels an
hour. In a day, 110 rail cars
holding 440,000 bushels can
be loaded.
Trucks also haul grain to
markets in Willmar, Fargo,
Montana and Seattle. Truck
load-out capacity in New
Ulm is 15,000 bushels an
hour and 60 trucks a day.
Due to current grain market volatility, FCH advises
producers to get grain marketing advice.
Contract choices include
cash, first and basis fixed.
At full capacity earlier
this winter, FCH began taking limited grain amounts on
Monday, Feb. 14, 2011.
Staff photo by Fritz Busch
Farmers Co-op Photo
Farmers Co-op of Hanska grain manager Chad Larson stands in front of the 140-foot
Large cranes lifted the forms into place and poured the tall grain bin that the cooperative built this past year in New Ulm.
concrete during the construction of the bin.
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NUMC looks to new leadership,
new cancer center in 2011
By Kevin Sweeney
Journal Editor
NEW ULM — The New
Ulm Medical Center entered
2011 with a new leader taking
the president’s office, and a
new capital project to help the
health care facility take even
better care of its patients.
Toby Freier took over as
president of the New Ulm
Medical Center at the beginning of the year.
When Allina Hospitals
and Clinics selected NUMC
President Lori Wightman to
be president at Unity Hospital
in Fridley, it didn’t take long
for the hospital to pick her
successor, Toby Freier, who
has served the past five years
as director of Finance and
Operations at NUMC for the
past five years.
With that kind of experience and knowledge, the administrative transition has
been smooth. But Freier has
not been relying on the past
five years to conduct business
as usual.
Meetings with staff
“I thought about what if I
was brand new taking over as
president here? What would I
be doing in my first 60 to 90
days? One thing I would be
doing is meeting with a lot of
the key stakeholders here. So
why waste that opportunity?
Even though I know all the
physicians here and they
know me, and we’re most of
the time on the same page, if
I was new here I’d b setting
up one-on-ones with the
physicians, finding out what
are the strengths of the organization, what are some of the
challenges ahead from their
perspective, meeting with
other leaders here, what I
should be doing, what our
priorities should be.”
So that’s what he has been
doing, Freier said. He has met
with over 30 of the 40 key
people at the hospital and
clinic.
One thing that has resulted
from these meetings, said
Freier, is a realization of the
importance of setting plans
for five to ten years down the
road. Like many of their fellows in the “Baby Boomer”
generation, many of the
physicians and nurses are
reaching an age where they
are planning for retirement, or
at least cutting back on their
work activities.
“We need to build a sustainable organization here,”
Freier said. That means recruiting new people is becoming increasingly important, even as the job becomes
more challenging.
Freier said he wants to
take the lead on recruitment,
to be more aggressive and
aware. He wants to encourage
prospective new physicians,
even those first-year med students who are four to seven
years out, to start thinking
about the possibilities of an
out-state career, and to think
about New Ulm.
“It’s interesting how much
teaching goes on here in New
Ulm,” said Freier. A lot of
medical students, physician’s
assistants in training and others come to New Ulm for
anywhere from a week to
nine months.
“However long they are
here, I want to start a relationship with them early on,” said
Freier.
Administrative reorganization
One thing Freier is not
doing in the transition is hiring someone for his old position. Instead he is calling on
three current members of the
staff to take on additional responsibilities.
“We have an abundance of
experience here,” said Freier.
“I thought, let s tap into
that.”
Steve Schneider, head of
the Mental Health and Substance Abuse departments, is
becoming director of operations, overseeing more of the
day-to-day operations. His 25
years with the hospital and
his strong connections to the
community make him well
suited for that, said Freier, especially in developing partnerships
within
the
community.
Dr. Joan Krikava, who has
Courtesy of New Ulm Medical Center
This is an artist’s sketch of how the new Cancer Center will look in the basement of the current New Ulm Medical
Center. NUMC is raising funds to convert the former fitness center to a center for its growing oncology program.
been the hospital’s Medical
Director in addition to her
practice, will devote more of
her time to administrative duties involving the medical
staff.
Dalton Huber, who joined
the staff three years ago in the
financial office, is taking the
reins of the financial operations, said Freier.
Cancer Center Project
New Ulm Medical Center
has had two major remodeling projects in the past several
years. This year it is embarking on a third. Five years ago
the Medical Center’s cancer
treatment center moved from
the third floor “closet” it occupied in the hospital to a
roomier area near the hospital
emergency room. But the
program has grown rapidly
and is already cramped for
space.
NUMC is planning to
convert the space in the basement of the clinic once occupied by a fitness center to
become the new home of the
Cancer Center. The project
will provide much more room
for the patients who come and
often spend several hours un-
dergoing chemotherapy treatments.
The new space will include five exam rooms, and
plenty of room for patients to
receive their medications.
From the beginning of the
planning process, patients and
their families were included
on the design committee, said
Freier. They made it clear to
the architects that they
wanted to keep the open areas
that allowed them to connect
and socialize with their fellow patients and staff, instead
of having more private rooms
for infusions.
One special addition will
be the creation of a garden
area just outside the Cancer
Center where patients can receive treatment outside in
good weather. The garden
will be located in the low area
at the corner of clinic and will
provide ample privacy.
NUMC is conducting a
capital campaign to raise
$500,000 — $400,000 toward the cost of the $875,000
building
project,
and
$100,000 for the garden.
NUMC hopes to begin
construction this spring, and
be done in about four months.
Unlike past remodeling and
expansion projects at the hospital, where patient care and
construction went on side by
side, this involves area that is
not being used, said Freier,
which should speed up the
construction time.
viding services,” said Freier.
“As we move to a performance-based system, paying
health care providers for good
results, it will force a lot of
providers to change.”
“I’d rather have us lead
the way into it, rather than be
dragged in kicking and
screaming,” said Freier.
In many ways, New Ulm
Medical Center is a micromodel for the future of health
care, said Freier. It has a unified system, it has the electronic medical records, and it
has a commitment from Allina for the Heart of New Ulm
project, a community-wide
effort to do away with heart
attack deaths and making
partnerships throughout the
community to make people
more healthy.
NUMC will have to face
the challenge of a declining
population, a problem facing
much of rural Minnesota, by
extending its outreach and
providing more services, said
Freier.
Looking to the future
In the coming years the
nation and the state will take
a hard look at how health care
is provided, Freier said. The
“Obamacare” law deals more
with insurance and how to get
more coverage to more people. But the big question is,
“What do we need to do to
build a sustainable health care
system,” said Freier.
Health care will be moving away from treating people
as they become sick to working with the healthy to improve their health and
lifestyle choices.
“Health care today is
based on payments for pro-
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4CThe Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011
www.nujournal.com
Beacon Promotions adds Dri-Mark product line
Product
offerings,
employment
consistently
increasing
By Kremena Spengler
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — On Dec.
10, 2010, Beacon Promotions, Inc., added a new
product line: Dri Mark
highlighters, permanent
markers and pens, President and Chief Operating
Officer Gary Haley reports.
A familiar consumer
brand, Dri Mark decided to
exit the promotional products industry, forming a
long-term exclusive distribution agreement with
Beacon Promotions for its
patented, top-selling line.
As a result, all customer
service, order processing,
sales and imprinting of
highlighters is taking place
at the Beacon facilities in
New Ulm.
Dri Mark is continuing
to manufacture the products.
It’s a “terrific” development for the New Ulm
company, said Haley, increasing the number of
Beacon’s catalogues to
four, with the latest catalogue offering writing instruments.
The Dri Mark agreement has resulted in the
addition of nine pieces of
equipment and the addition
of employees: some immediately, some expected to
be added as imprinting and
sales ramp up during the
first half of 2011.
Sales at Beacon are
strong, showing a consistent year-to-year growth,
Haley indicates.
“We are pleased to have
been able to add employees each year,” he adds.
“Employment’s up, revenue’s up — the key metrics look good.”
The company likes its
base in New Ulm — and
the “good, steady base of
employees” — about 90 in
the New Ulm area, he says.
The increase in investment and capital expenditures, and a growing
workforce, speak to a solid
organization, said Haley.
Trends in the economy
contribute to his “feeling
cautiously optimistic.”
“We are hoping for the
best, guarding against the
worst,” he says.
———
Beacon is a privatelyowned promotional products supplier whose staff
boasts 400+ years of combined promotional experience, says its website. The
company was started in
2003.
Previous acquisitions
include Crowd Specialties,
The Frontier Line, Four
Star Incentives and Ready
Reference Planners.
The company has developed
products
from
scratch.
Beacon catalog names
Brand
are:
Beacon
Builders, Beacon-Ready
Reference Calendar &
Planner Line, Beacon Corporate Gifts and Beacon
Writing Instruments.
The company website
also quotes the following
achievements and recognitions:
• A rating on SAGE
supplier rating system, 5
out of 5 on the ESP rating
system
• 2010 on-time shipping
average 99 percent, with
many orders shipping early
• Winner of PPAI 2011
Supplier Star Service
Award
• Winner of PPAI 2010
Supplier Star Service
Award
Photos courtesy of Beacon
Beacon employees applaud during a company meeting. The company has had a lot to applaud about this past year.
Dawn Schapekahm, Supervisor,
demonstrates
screen printing at a youth job
fair.
Photo courtesy of Beacon
• Winner of PPAI 2008
Supplier Star Award Of
Merit
• Winner of the 2007,
2008, 2009 and 2010
Promo Marketing Supplier
Excellence Award
• Recognized in Best of
Best “Calendars” Corporate Logo.
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By Josh Moniz
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — Industries
in New Ulm are beginning to
recover and see some growth,
but at a very slow rate, said
New Ulm Economic Development Corporation (EDC)
Coordinator Brian Tohal.
“Also, unemployment has
moderated, but it’s still high.
If you’re unemployed, it’s not
a fun time,” said Tohal. “The
numbers are improving, but
we would like for them to improve even more.”
A variety of manufacturers
in New Ulm started hiring
and seeing growth in 2010.
Parker-Hannifin, AMPI and
Firmenich each had a successful year. Tohal said that
Parker-Hannifin in particular
saw huge job growth for their
new product line, more than
doubling their employment.
Tohal also said the EDC
was working with eight
prospective companies that
had an active interest in either
relocating to New Ulm or
looking to expand.
He said a major push by
the EDC to maintain its position was to turn negatives, the
closing of Caterpillar, PGI
and AM-TEC Designs, into
positives by using the empty
buildings as “assets” to attract
prospects
“If you’re someone who
lost their job, it’s hard to see
it as an asset. But from a community standpoint, it’s nice to
have some ‘inventory’ that
makes it easier to sell New
Ulm,” said Tohal. “One of our
prospects is interested in New
Ulm because the Caterpillar
building meets their needs
very well.”
Tohal said there was three
big challenges last year:
moves to eliminate JOBZ,
LGA cuts and the lack of improvement in specific sectors.
The Job Opportunity
Building Zone (JOBZ) initiative is a tax exemption program for qualified companies
that start up or expand in targeted regions of the Greater
Minnesota area.
Tohal
Continued on page 5C
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The Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011 5C
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Culture change at Oak Hills
New model prepares
facility for
the future
By Kremena Spengler
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — Oak Hills
is preparing to care for New
Ulm’s seniors now and into
the future — implementing a
comprehensive, far-reaching
process of culture change.
The effort — including,
but not limited to, a comprehensive, $6 million remodeling project — represents a
deep and significant transition
from a “medical” to a “resident-directed” model of care
— a much more personalized,
and personal, model that reflects current industry trends
and positions the facility to
better meet the evolving
needs of an aging population.
Adding amenities such as
showers, kitchens and locked
medication cabinets in each
resident room in the nursing
home is a part of the process,
notes administrator Carli Lindemann.
“Also, we have a continuum of care by offering assisted living, skilled nursing
care with a unit specializing
in short term rehabilitation
and a Medicare certified
home care agency, and even a
deli and gift shop open to the
public,” remarked Lindemann.
“We also have dreams of
expanding into the area of
wellness programs for seniors
because we believe its never
too late to make improvements in your health or quality of life.”
———
After two years of construction, the physical environment at Oak Hills has
undergone a dramatic change.
The interior has been broken up into smaller, cozy
“households,” with a truer
feel of home. The five households — Meadow View,
Eagle’s Point, Woodland
Park, Whispering Pines and
Deer Haven — have 16 to 22
residents each. Each household has its own dining room,
kitchen and living room. The
large nurses’ stations have
been eliminated, and smaller,
less obvious, stations have
been created in each household area.
Numerous small but significant details contribute to
the home-like atmosphere —
including an open breakfast
cooked to a resident’s specifications, with more food
choices; and a larger number
of private bedrooms.
Residential rooms have
been remodeled, with new
flooring, more electrical outlets, new window treatments;
touches such as tilt mirrors,
additional showers, and increased wheelchair accessibility have been added to
bathrooms.
Locked medicine cabinets
in each room eliminate the
nurse’s medication cart; and
laundry is now done in each
household, to eliminate confusion and losses, as well as
an “institution-like” feel.
The
culture
change
process also includes changes
in staffing, technology and
service systems. With this
model of care, the staff in
each households is dedicated
to the household, and is
trained to empower the residents to make decisions as to
how they want to live their
lives. Caregivers have been
cross-trained to meet residents’ needs, according to the
residents’ personal schedules.
The model has been
proven to improve satisfaction of residents, families and
employees, and eliminates
much of the stigma associated
with moving to a long-term
Tohal From page 4C
Tohal said that challenges
to JOBZ was especially troubling because it is an essential tool to attracting business
to Minnesota.
“When we compete with
other states and other countries that provide significant
tax incentives and cash
grants, we need something to
be competitive,” said Tohal,
“If we don’t have JOBZ, we
don’t even come close. You
can just cross us off the list.”
Tohal said that Medallion
Cabinetry chose to expand
into Minnesota because of
the JOBZ program. He also
said that Beacon Promotions
said they were able to expand and create new jobs so
quickly because of the tax
exemptions.
Additionally, he recounted a number of times
that businesses did not move
to New Ulm, but had considered the city when narrowing
down a list of possible business locations. He said that
without JOBZ, New Ulm
would never would have had
a chance with the companies
to begin with.
“It’s difficult to quantify
the impact of losing JOBZ.
It’s often the unseen things,
like a company that doesn’t
expand, that are the effect,”
said Tohal.
Tohal admitted the struggle over JOBZ had been
going on for a while.
“In a way, it’s a rural versus metro issue. JOBZ cannot be used in the Twin
Cities seven-county metro
area, so metro area legislators don’t think it has any
value,” said Tohal. “The program is set to sunset in 2015.
Companies can’t place a
high value on the tax exemptions if they will only last a
few years.”
Tohal said the second
challenge last year was the
cuts to Local Government
Aid (LGA) funds.
“The state deficit is massive and it will affect everybody for a long, long time,
including economic development organizations that get
funds from a city. New Ulm
gets LGA from the state and
I’ve seen it eroding over the
last few years,” said Tohal.
Tohal said that LGA cuts
forced cities to have to raise
their property taxes or cut
services, both of which limit
the flow of money in a city.
“We talk about Minnesota having a great quality
of life. But, if you having to
hack away at services, suddenly we don’t have such a
nice place to live anymore,”
said Tohal.
Tohal said the last challenge was the fact that, even
though general economic recovery was occurring, some
specific sectors had seen no
improvement. He said that
Staff photo by Steve Muscatello
The Deli at Oak Hills Living Center has been remodeled and is open to the public.
care facility, Oak Hills officials note.
In addition to the households project, Oak Hills
opened the Oak Hills Living
Center deli in the past year. It
offers snacks and lunch, Monday through Friday, and has
been a hit for staff and visitors.
The auxiliary gift shop is
located in this area as well, offering cards, used books and
other gift items.
On the technology end, an
electronic medical record system, with voice activated features, has been introduced,
easing staff’s jobs.
Oak Hills was certified by
the federal Medicare program
as a home care agency, extending the continuum of
care.
The changes have been
Staff photo by Steve Muscatello
funded through a state borOne of the residents’ rooms at Oak Hills. Many of the rooms have been converted to
rowing program, with extra private rooms.
help from community donations and bequests.
Oak Hills Living Center
has fish tanks and bird cages
in common areas for resiconstruction was particularly dents to enjoy.
stagnant with slight decline.
He said that people had
scaled back on their expense,
putting commercial construction into the same category as leisure items, which
few people are willing to
spend on.
Looking forward, Tohal
said he expects trend in increased employment to continue into the next year. He
said the EDC will be pushing
hard to fill the vacant business buildings in New Ulm,
as well as attempting to fill
all vacancies at the airport
industrial park this year.
Tohal said that he was excited for the recent development in the Highway 14
project. He said that it was
the start of the highway
eventually becoming fourlanes all the way to New
Ulm. He said it would be an
economic and safety boon to
the city.
Tohal said his biggest
concern for this next year
will be the potential for severe flooding in the city. He
said that he hopes it will
have minimal impact on
business and residences. He
added that he is interested in
the proposed permanent
levee that will be constructed
along the Minnesota River.
He said he hopes it will bring
long-term stability to the
area.
Staff photo by Steve Muscatello
Check out the
PROGRESS of our
remodeling project
Watch for
our
upcoming
Open
House
GLASER PAINTING & DECORATING
The
Convenient Bank
Left to Right: Tom
Glaser, Jerry Flor, Pat Flor, Tommy Glaser
• RESIDENTIAL - COMMERICAL •
• INTERIOR & EXTERIOR • CUSTOMER TINTING
• WOOD FINISHING • WALLPAPERING
TOM GLASER 354-2591 • JERRY FLOR 354-5296
1311 North German • New Ulm
South Broadway
Downtown
North Broadway
1823 S. Broadway
100 N. Minnesota
2005 N. Garden
507-233-4700
Member FDIC
www.frandsenbank.com
6CThe Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011
www.nujournal.com
Windings reports sales up in 2010
By Fritz Busch
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — While
business in much of the
country continues to sag,
Windings Inc. sales were up
11 percent last year, according to President/CEO Jerry
Kauffman.
With improved sales figures, the company hired a
sales manager last year.
The privately-held, employee-owned firm established in New Ulm in 1965
was enlarged and upgraded
in 1989, 1991 and 2005.
In 1991, Windings partnered with Windtech, Inc. in
Aqua Prieta, Mexico to expand its manufacturing capacity and add pricing and
delivery flexibility of finished products.
Kaufman said many people don’t understand it, but
the Mexican plant doesn’t
take away local jobs.
“We’d be a smaller company with less sales growth
without the Aqua Prieta
plant. It gives us more flexibility to suit client needs,”
Kauffman said.
He added that the New
Ulm plant has 89 highskilled employees who are
cross-trained to do other people’s jobs if needed.
In 1998, Windings Inc.
formed an ESOP (Employee
Stock Ownership Plan) for a
planned purchase and transition of company stock to employees.
Kaufman said the heightened responsibility with employee ownership makes
Windings more responsive to
customer needs and encourages innovation for greater
customer value.
In 2008, Windings became 100 percent employee
owned.
Windings staff includes
customer service and process
support personnel, manufacturing engineers, toolmakers,
machine shop operators and
quality assurance employees.
The firm builds “small
wind” (2kW to 100 kW) generators for companies trying
to get an edge on competition.
Windings turns client de-
signs into manufactured
parts.
If clients don’t have designs, Windings recommends
designers with whom they
have worked.
Windings partners with
medical device manufacturers who need custom motors
for laboratory centrifuges,
surgical tools and other devices.
Other parts are made for
aerospace and avionics, motors and generators for land
vehicle auxiliary power
units, traction motors, jet engines, missile guidance and
radar systems and personnel
protection and vision gear.
Some Windings client’s
systems are used for remote
power generation using natural gas, landfill methane,
compressed gas, fluid dynamics and other sources.
Other parts have been
used for cell phone towers,
truck and bus auxiliary
power units.
Some programs have involved flywheel systems to
capture and store excess energy and release it back to
the power system later.
Windings is working for
Massachusetts-based Beacon
Power, a global leader in the
development and commercialization of flywheel-based
energy storage solutions for
grid-scale services and utility-scale storage applications.
Windings has built prototypes for hybrid car platforms,
high-efficiency
cooling systems for refrigerated trucks, fuel pumps and
motors for steering mechanisms.
Motors and generators
have been built for factory
automation, robotics, motion
control systems including
amusement park rides and
motion simulators for training; robotic hands that simulate human hand movement
and motorized conveyor systems, oil drilling, high speed,
high efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning
compressors, flight simulators, freight maneuvering
systems and credit card manufacturing systems.
Staff photos by Fritz Busch
(Above) Windings Inc.
employee Rose Breitbarth
builds automation motors in
the New Ulm plant.
(At right) Windings Inc.
President/CEO Jerry Kauffman poses with electrical
parts used to control power
loads.
NEW ULM TRACTOR
& EQUIPMENT
YOUR SOURCE FOR:
Kubota Tractors & Lawn Equipment
▼ Land Pride Turf and Material
Handling Equipment
▼ Vicon Disc Mowers and Hay Equipment
▼ Felling Trailers
▼ Berlon Loader Attachments
▼ Westendorf Loaders
▼ Walco Snowblowers
▼ Artsway Stalk Shredders and Grinder
Mixers & Augers
▼ Agri Pac Silage Bags
▼ Roto Press Bagger Rental
▼ Consigned Equipment Sales
▼ Repairs to Ford Tractors
& New Holland Equipment
▼
(left) Windings Inc. employee John Covington
works on surgical tool parts.
NEW ULM TRACTOR & EQUIPMENT
13144 County Road 25 • New Ulm, MN 56073
507-354-3612
Marvin, David, Douglas Grams, Owners
Staff photo by Fritz Busch
NAPA AUTO PARTS
Now in Four Locations
to Better Serve our Clients
NEW ULM
107 South Broadway
507-354-7699
WINTHROP
118 East 2nd St.
Suite C
507-647-5312
SPRINGFIELD
10 East Central
507-723-6220
HUTCHINSON
121 1st Ave. SE
320-587-2722
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Left to Right: Zach, Russ, Peter, Chris, Rick, Gary, Steve
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karla@havemeiercpa.com
Quality Parts, Accessories, Paints, Tools, & Supplies.
Complete line for Cars, Trucks, Imports,
Marine & Farm Equipment.
Mon. - Fri. 7am-8pm
Sat. 7am-5pm • Sun. 10am-3pm
1720 N. Broadway • New Ulm
354-8886
napasouthernminnesota.com
The Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011 7C
www.nujournal.com
AMPI plant sees record butter production year
‘Did not
participate’ in
the recession
By Kremena Spengler
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — The news
at the Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI) butter
plant in New Ulm is another
record production year, according to division manager
Bill Swan.
Production has increased
every single year since a fire
caused major damage to the
facility in 2004 (and the
plant was rebuilt), noted
Swan.
In 2010, production grew
7.3 percent, for a combined
growth over the past five
years of some 40 percent.
“We are quite proud of
that,” Swan said.
Growth has been especially strong in the quarterpound butter line, reported
Swan.
Retail business grew 15
percent in 2010 and is poised
to grow some 10 percent in
2011, estimates Swan.
Any recession-related
softness in the food service
(restaurant) end of the business has been offset by a
strength on retail end, Swan
said.
This development is, of
course, intuitive — while
people may tend to restrict
eating out at restaurants during a recession, they compensate by cooking more at
home.
In that sense, “we did not
participate in the recession,”
Swan said.
The plant has hired about
10 new staff.
Commenting on some
other industry trends, Swan
said that following two or
three years of very low
prices, dairy farmers may
see a price upswing.
In the past few years,
dairy farmers in the United
States have been producing
dairy at an unusually low
cost, he observed.
This in turn has led to an
increase in exports, turning
the United States into a net
exporter, rather than an importer, of dairy products (including milk fat).
While the trend has no direct relevance for the local
butter plant — which caters
to the domestic market —
members of the AMPI cooperative may get more for
their milk.
In yet another development, AMPI is going
through
a
rebranding
process, with a revamped
logo.
The logo had not changed
since the 1970s, observed
Swan.
While the new logo is
similar enough to the old one
for immediate recognition,
the fonts have been updated,
for a more contemporary
feel.
The rebranding process
will be reflected in updated
packaging this summer.
———
According to its website,
Associated Milk Producers
Inc. is a dairy marketing cooperative with 3,200 member farms, 6 billion pounds
of milk and $1.4 billion in
annual sales. Members operate dairy farms located
throughout the Midwest
states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska,
South Dakota and North
Dakota. They own 13 manufacturing plants and market
a full line of consumer-packaged dairy products, including the Cass-Clay® brand.
With a butter plant in
New Ulm, more specifically,
the AMPI cooperative offers
the following butter products: quarters (designed for
direct distribution to retail
markets such as grocery and
convenience stores); solids
(the most economical way to
use butter in cooking and
Photo courtesy of AMPI
The quarter-pound line at the AMPI butter plant has been busy this year. The sale of pounds of butter in quarter-pound
sticks was a real growth area for AMPI.
baking applications); continentals
(individually
wrapped in foil, these portion-controlled servings reduce waste and control cost);
cups (sealed cups offer portion control without waste or
labor; re-servable cups are
perfect for table-top applications; whipped (for easier
spreading and melting, offer
the distinctive taste of butter
in a whipped form); chips
(easy-to-handle, help maintain portion control at a
lower cost, available in several sizes); Compakt Reddies ™ (pre-packaged with a
paper cover and cardboard
base, Reddies are ideal for
self-service and cafeteria
settings; the style saves
space and enhances appearance).
Comcast adds new
H-D channels
Bulk butter is piped through the AMPI plant.
By Fritz Busch
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — Comcast
launched more than 60 new
high-definition (HD) networks for New Ulm,
Madelia, Courtland and
Courtland Township customers last fall.
Service to the Courtland
area began in 2009.
New HD channels included networks like Hallmark, Outdoor Channel,
Biography, Country Music
Television, WGN, truTV,
Lifetime,
Cartoon,
MSNBC, Fox News, CBS
Sports, NHL, Turner Classic Movies, Bravo and
many others.
The new MultiLatino
Tier has 14 new channels
plus Comcast’s existing
Hispanic tier, for a total of
28 Hispanic-based channels.
New networks include
Sorpresa, the nation’s first
and only 24/7 Spanish-language children’s network.
“Most customers can
order new digital equipment at no cost,” said Comcast New Ulm/Madelia
Operations Manager Larry
Hildebrandt.
A new digital enhancement project enabled Comcast to expand its signature
On Demand service offers
On-Demand programming allows viewers
shows at their convenience.
nearly 20,000 entertainment, sports and information programming options
each month.
On Demand programs,
most of which is available
at no extra cost, allows customers to watch programs
at their convenience with
options to pause, fast-forward and rewind.
Hildebrandt said Comcast’s Xfinity service allows customers to watch
many of their TV programs
and movies plus access a
TV guide on iPad mobile
digital devices at home or
on the go.
“We’re the on-demand
to watch
industry leader...it’s like
having a personal video library of new and old material...everything from old
movies, exercise videos,
even karaoke,” Hildebrandt
said.
Two full-time, 3D TV
channels are now offered
— NASCAR and National
Championship Football.
“If someone has a 3D
TV, we’re the people to
see,” Hildebrandt said.
“Comcast is a large corporation, but all our employees are involved with
local events and helping
non-profit organizations,”
he added.
“Someday, all of this will be yours.”
“Wholesale” Building Material Distributor,
serving the 5 state area since 1981.
All of our products are available through your local
lumber dealer. Specify Shelter Products, Inc.
as your wholesale distributor.
Be Sure to Stop by our
SURPLUS STORE
800 North Front • New Ulm
Fridays - 8:00am - 4:00pm • Saturdays 8:00am-Noon
SHELTER
PRODUCTS, INC.
Stadick Body Shop & Custom Muffler Center
Quality Services for over 42 years
The right muffler provides better gas mileage!
The Friendly Shop KNOWYOURRIGHTS!
Don’t let your insurance company tell
you where to take your vehicle!
We at Brown County Recycling are doing
our part to make “2011” and all of our
tomorrows better for you and your families!
We work with ANY insurance company!
1 ' % " 1 , % ' + -1 / -1 , % " ' # % % 4
1 / 4 1 ' + 4 + * 1 / -1 /
" % 4 % 1 , % + + 2 )+ *
1 + 2 ) + % " 1 , % " ' # % % 4 1 / 1 % ' &1 . ' -' 4 % %
1 + / 1 4 -' + * ) 4 % + *
1 , 1 +# &. 1 1 % "+ % 1 +* +4 ' "1 + % 1 !% % 1 + % 4 + % 1 ' --' 4 1 / 1 " " 1 ' -4 2
1 / . -4 % 2 1 ' 1 . 4 / 1 + -1 / + 4 + / % -1 , % ' + -1 1 , % # ) ' -* + *
Most people are aware of what we can do to help keep the
earth intact for the next generation--we can practice waste reduction and pollution . When all is said and done, the health
of the environment is everyone’s responsibility. So please do
your part... we’re all in this together.
BROWN COUNTY RECYCLING
For information regarding reducing,
reusing, recycling, and buying recycled,
and for information on correct disposal
of hazardous waste, call
John Knisley
Brown County Recycling
14 S State St P.O. Box 248
New Ulm MN 56073
1-507-233-6641
Comcast Cares Day is
set for Saturday, April 30
this year.
On previous Comcast
Cares Days, employees
cleaned a dog yard and did
other work for the Brown
County Human Society animal shelter.
Missing Kids On Demand and online has 20
video profiles of missing
child cases across the country.
Viewers can report tips
to the National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children’s by calling 800-THELOST at any time or by
v i s i t i n g
www.missingkids.com
Missing Kids On Demand can be found on Ch.
1, under the “Get Local”
folder.
This is a nice
place to live…
Darren & Mary Marquardt, Tyler Marquardt, Steve Carson & Mel Stadick
5 4 3 2 1 0 / . -1 , + * ) 4 1 4 / 1 ( ' &% 1 0 / . -1 $ % ) + # " %
(/ 1 4 )% 1 ! /
1 ) / 1 0 / . 1 -% % Let’s keep it
that way!
071302h1/2jdh
1719 North Minnesota St. New Ulm • 354-4523
8C
The Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011
www.nujournal.com
Artstone sees upturn in activity in building trades
By Kevin Sweeney
Journal Editor
NEW ULM — In four
years as president of American Artstone, Jennifer
Thompson has seen business
go from a record year in
2008 to a couple of lean
years as the weak economy
pounded the building industry.
But Thompson said this
month that things are starting
to come around again for the
company that specializes in
making custom poured stone
items for the building projects.
“The last couple of years
have been tough, but we
have been holding our own,”
said Thompson. “With the
economy affecting the building industry, the pie has been
getting smaller, but our piece
has been proportionally the
same, or larger. We are starting to see more activity, and
more larger projects.”
Thompson said the company has started receiving
more bid requests, requests
for samples, and more requests for Artstone staff to
visit architects. And that, in
turn, is leading to more projects being approved.
“We got approval for five
or six projects this week
alone,” Thompson said.
Artstone’s business often
comes in “feast or famine”
fashion, said Thompson, but
it usually has about 30 projects in the works at any one
time.
“Fortunately, we’ve been
around a long time, and the
contractors know that we
will give them a quality project. It might not be the least
expensive, but they know it
will be what they want, and
that it will fit, saving them
money and time on installation.”
Artstone’s cast stone is
also an extremely versatile
material. Thompson said it
can be mixed up with a variety of colors, aggregates and
finishes, and can be made to
mimic other building materials. For the Bigelow Chapel
at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, New
Brighton, architects wanted
to use travertine marble.
“But they couldn’t afford
travertine marble. We were
able to make something that
looked like travertine marble,” said Thompson.
The skilled workers at
Artstone know how to mix
colors and create different
surfaces to match many different kinds of building materials. Artstone is often used
on renovation projects or expansions to match older materials and carved details.
They have even taken molds
of gargoyles to make new
ones for a renovation project
in Winona.
In 2009 Artstone contributed significantly to the
TCF Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus.
They made archways for
gates, and the panels that
Photo courtesy of Artstone
name the 87 Minnesota
Artstone, Inc., in New Ulm created the basin for the fountain that is the centerpiece in the Peace Plaza in Rochester.
counties on the outside of the
Artstone received the Cast Stone Institute’s Hardscape Excellence award in 2010 for its work on the Peace Plaza.
stadium.
This past year Artstone
was honored for its work on
two projects. The Cast Stone a large fountain for the plaza.
Artstone has about 25
Institute awarded Artstone
the Architects Choice Award employees, and Thompson
for its work on the St. An- said the company strives to
thony Regional Hospital in keep them all for the wealth
Carroll, Iowa. There, it pro- of experience they bring.
duced a 31-foot tall, 46,000 Sometimes retired workers
…to take you beyond
pound relief statue of St. An- will come back to work partthony that appears to be time on special projects or at
your wish to buying
carved from a natural stone busy times.
or selling your
Artstone produces cuswall. Artstone also received
the CSI’s Hardscape Excel- tom work for special projects
dream home.
lence award for the Peace from small ($5,000) projects
Plaza in Rochester, MN. Art- to large projects worth up to
stone created light poles, a million or more.
Let a Century 21 Agent
planters, railing bollards and
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show you the way.
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home Consultant. Your
internet-listing guru.
And your sign it will
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path HOME.
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507-359-9212
www.krhomes .com
Email: info@krhomes.com
Photo courtesy of Artstone
The St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll, Iowa, was one of Artstone’s award-winning
projects. Artstone produced a number of elements for the building, including the 31-foot
statue of St. Anthony shown above.
Got News?
Submit it to The Journal’s Virtual Newsroom
(www.nujournal.com)
New Ulm To Twin Cities Daily!
Mon.-Fri. Leaving at 7:00 a.m.
Weekends 4 or more by request - also groups
Pick up in towns enroute • Deliver & pick up at airports & residential areas
Same day package pick up and delivery (parts, lab samples, etc.)
MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION ANYWHERE IN TWIN CITIES
Service for non-wheelchair patients. Take companion along to
medical appointment only. No added charge.
J&J Shuttle Service is a licensed medical transportation provider for anyone with
medical assistance transportation benefits through the State of Minnesota Department of Human
Services, Blue Plus, South Country Health Alliance and UCare. We take care of all your
transportation and billing. Don't worry about a thing!
Jerry or Julie Wendinger 507-359-9081 or 507-276-8800
The Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011 9C
www.nujournal.com
3M plant in New Ulm adds product lines
Employment
stable, some
hiring taking
place
By Kremena Spengler
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — The local
3M plant is doing well, with
employment stable, and even
some new hiring taking
place; the plant has added
business, in the shape of new
product lines.
3M manager John Illikman made this assessment
during a recent interview.
Illikman went on to describe some examples of
new products joining an already varied line-up.
One example: 3M is now
making varieties of earplugs.
Used in industries with
exposure to loud noises, they
are molded out of different
types of polymers.
This product fits in well
with other products the local
plant makes, but is brandnew for the local plant. To
set up production, 3M had to
move in about 20 new machines.
Another new item: hard
hats, which the plant has just
started to mold.
The hard hats can be
made in almost any color,
with an added feature: artwork representing a company logo, or another
symbol, explained Illikman.
The machinery that
would enable the printing of
artwork is to arrive in a couple of months.
A third new line for the
plant is a rubber material
called fluoroelastomer.
This is a special purpose
fluorocarbon-based
synthetic rubber.
It has wide chemical resistance and superior performance, especially in high
temperature application in
different media.
The engineered rubber
compound is used in O-rings
and gaskets in industrial
equipment, car engines, etc.
The product, which is
also manufactured in another
3M location, was added to
New Ulm’s line-up as a result of sales growth that necessitated extra capacity,
according to Illikman.
Illikman pointed out that
the new lines have helped
the local plant diversify, contributing to stability through
economic ups and downs.
This includes job stability
— as a result of the new
lines, 3M has hired some
staff despite an overall chal-
lenging job climate nationwide.
Employees work very
hard to contain costs; and “a
better cost structure means
more opportunities available
to us,” Illikman says.
Monthly meetings help
management identify ideas
as to how to make the plant
more productive and increase quality, Illikman adds.
“People here are very
productive,” he says. “They
help us look for ways to control costs.”
“Everything we make
here has competition, either
from within or outside the
U.S. People understand that,
and work really hard to be
competitive.”
Positive trends in the
New Ulm plant parallel developments company-wide,
Illikman indicates.
“3M as a whole is doing
really well; we had a great
year last year, and expect it
to continue,” said Illikman.
He also stressed the community mindset of local emStaff photo by Steve Muscatello
ployees.
Engineer Brian Rathmann (right) looks on as 3M employ3M has a giving team that
holds monthly fundraisers ees Lois Bussler (left) and Tina Bauer work on sorting ear-
Schanus Plbg & Htg Inc.
plugs that are now made at the New Ulm facility.
1326 South Broadway
New Ulm, MN 56073
Phone 507-354-4212
Fax 507-354-8415
Paul Schanus
Mary Ellen Schanus
Lisa Schanus Mack
Staff photo by Steve Muscatello
Front: Rachel Schiro; Stylist, Lisa Lux, Stylist; Melissa Lawson,
Nail Tech/Aesthetician/Owner; Back: Ashlee Haugen, Stylist;
Sara Schmit, Stylist; Trisha Griebel, Stylist/Owner.
John Illikmann, 3M plant manager and engineer Andrew Leitz (right) discuss the hard
hats that 3M now makes in New Ulm.
for various organizations and
causes, manifesting a community spirit that’s hard to
match.
———
A self-described “global
technology company delivering innovative solutions to
life’s everyday needs,” 3M is
a $23 billion diversified
technology company and
one of 30 companies that
make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
It reported worldwide
sales of $26.662 billion and
net income of $4.085 billion
in 2010, says its web site. International sales in 2010 totalled $17.452 billion.
3M has more than 35
business units, organized
into six businesses:
Consumer and Office;
Display and Graphics; Electro and Communications;
Health Care; Industrial and
Transportation; and Safety,
Security and Protection
Services.
It has operations in more
than 65 countries, with 38
international companies with
manufacturing operations,
and 35 with laboratories.
In the United States, it
has operations in 28 states.
3M has 45 technology
platforms, including: Adhesives; Abrasives; Light Management; Microreplication;
Nonwoven Materials; Nanotechnology; and Surface
Modification.
Experience Something More.
We’re an AVEDA Concept Salon, infusing each client
experience with fresh style and soothing
personal touches.
See and feel the difference.
101 North Minnesota Street
New Ulm, Minnesota
507-359-1229
www.penazz.com
NU Telecom grows
By Kevin Sweeney
Journal Editor
NEW ULM — 2010 was
a year of growth for NU
Telecom, with the acquisition of the Glencoe cable TV
system in and around Glencoe.
It has also seen growth of
a different kind, as it continues to convert more of its
digital TV system to an Internet Protocol (IP) platform,
allowing it to offer more
products and channels to its
customers, and increase the
speed of its internet services.
The acquisition of the
Glencoe cable television sys-
tem from Midcontinent
Communications was completed in June, and NU Telecom
has
just
about
completed the conversion of
the system, said NU Telecom
CEO Bill Otis.
Dittrich Specialities SINCE 1982
NU Telecom
Continued on page 10C
2110 North Broadway • New Ulm, MN 56073 • (507) 359-2650
Left to right: Alex Wruck,
Loren Gleisner, John Johnson,
Rick Lentz, Chris Johnson
& Jim Johnson
L to R: Trista Barka, Shelly Boelter, Bob Webb & Holly Ahlness.
Dedicated to meeting the needs of
our employees, our customers
and our community.
YOUR TOTAL TIRE CENTER
“Quality merchandise &
services at affordable
prices.”
! %
$ #" ! %
109 N. Broadway
New Ulm
Phone 354-2436
&% $
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&%
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%%
&%
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!
10CThe Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011
www.nujournal.com
MVTL experiencing a booming year
By Josh Moniz
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories, Inc. (MVTL) in
New Ulm has experienced a
booming year of business in
2010 and is looking to expand, said MVTL’s CEO
Tom Berg.
MVTL is a large and diverse group of analytical
laboratories offering environmental, agricultural, food
safety and energy technology testing. The company
was founded 60 years ago in
New Ulm and maintains its
headquarters here. The company also has facilities in
Nevada, Iowa and Bismarck,
North Dakota. It employs
over 140 people and
processes over 2.2 million
tests.
Berg said that MVTL has
sustained growth for the last
three years and that 2010
was one of their best years
yet.
Berg said the company
was able to resist the downturned economy because it
provides two essential services: testing for government
mandates and cost saving information.
“We do a lot of testing of
utilities and municipalities,”
said Berg, “There are laws
about testing things, like
waste \water discharge, that
apply regardless of the economy. That provides us a degree of stability.”
Conversely, he said that
NU Telecom
this made them partially affected by cuts to Local Government Aid, since the cuts
often resulted in cities performing fewer projects.
However, he said the impact
was minimal.
Berg said that MVTL
also provides critical information for cities to build
projects, like a water treatment plant. He explained
that besides data on regulated factors, they could provide information about soil
composition or water currents.
Berg said the company
also prides itself on being
able to help people save
money.
“For example, soil testing
doesn’t cost a lot. But, it can
save over $10,000 with the
information it provides,”
said Berg.
He said that the company
also saved money by helping
business prevent tainted
food from reaching the
shelves.
Despite stability, Berg attributed the growth of his
business to the dedication,
intelligence and hard-work
of his employees. He said
that he had many employees
with over 10 year of experience, which allowed the
company to provide analysis
along with the data it provides. He said this gave his
business a leg up on competition.
Berg said the company
maintains experienced employees by providing com-
Staff photo by Josh Moniz
Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories, Inc. owner and CEO Tom Berg said the company was very successful last year
despite the economy.
petitive benefits and cutting
edge instrumentation. He
said that employees also
shared in the company’s success.
“I’m the sole owner of
this company. It’s my policy
that when the company does
well, I share that,” said Berg.
He said MVTL employee
received a sizable bonus at
the end of last year.
Berg said the biggest
challenge over the last year
From page 9C
Acquiring Glencoe was a
good fit for the company,
said Otis. NU Telecom provides phone, internet and
digital TV services to Redwood Falls, Springfield,
Sanborn, Hutchinson, Litchfield and Aurelia, Iowa. It is
also 1/3 owner of the Hector
Communications,
which
provides service to Sleepy
Eye and Hanska.
Its service area extend to
Cologne and Mayer, to the
east of Glencoe, so the acquisition offered NU Telecom an opportunity to not
only increase its customer
base, but make use of facilities and staff in nearby
Hutchinson, said Otis.
NU Telecom is able to
offer its Glencoe customers
more channels and products,
and it has expanded its service. Barb Bornhoft, vice
president of NU Telecom.
“Before, the office was open
one hour a day. Now we are
open a full eight hours.”
The company’s conversion to an IP television platform has been going on for
three years, and as it is
phased in, NU Telecom is
expanding its service to customers.
IP television uses the Internet Protocol networking
and architecture to deliver
services, instead of the traditional radio frequency broad-
casting, satellite signal and
cable methods. It allows the
provider to send more data at
greater compression and
higher speeds over a longer
distance, said Otis, which is
a great advantage. “Usually
when we talk about expanding our bandwidth and increasing our speed, we lose
distance. This is really a winwin situation for us,” said
Otis.
The IPTV platform allows NU Telecom to offer
video on demand, digital
video recording, and more
high definition programming, said Kathy Van
Roekel, Customer Relations
Manager with NU Telecom.
It also allows NU Telecom to reach out to customers in rural areas,
offering services that weren’t
available to them before,
said Van Roekel.
One new innovation for
customers is an application
called Dot Daily, which customers can access through
their televisions to get up-todate local weather information, and other community
information like school
lunch menues, sports schedules and so on.
IP television is an example of how technology is
changing the communications industry, and shortening the time for planning.
Three to five years is about
as far out ahead as NU Telecom plans, said Otis.
“We could do a ten-year
plan, but it would be wrong,”
said Otis. “We may know
that we are going to install a
technology like IPTV within
three years, but we don’t
know what equipment we
will be installing or what
company will provide it. We
know we are going to need
more broadband in five
years, but the technology
that is going to provide it
may be on the drawing board
today.”
As technology increases,
NU Telecom is also there to
service it for its customers.
Its Tech Trends store near the
Wal-Mart plaza sells and
services computers, and the
Tech Team is available for
service calls as well.
In the past year Tech
Trends has seen a 33 percent
increase in business, Van
Roekel said, and it looks to
keep climbing.
As technology changes,
and the lines between computers, televisions and
phones keeps blurring, it’s
difficult to know what the
communications technology
of the future will look like
and what it will do. But NU
Telecom plans to be ready to
provide the service customers will want.
was improving the company’s Laboratory Information Management System
(LIMS). The system helps
track and correlate the results of testing so that it can
be analyzed by the customer.
The previous supplier for
MVTL’s LIMS system died
and the company was looking to find a new vender
with a new system. Berg
said that they were unsatisfied with the new system, so
they decide to instead upgrade their current one.
He explained that their
current system is 20 year
old, but it has a strength in
being able to compute many
different types of testing
data. He said that other
LIMS systems typically only
handled one or two types of
testing data.
“In order to have an adequate amount of business,
we have to operate more
than one technology at a
time,” said Berg.
Berg said the company
plans to work on “beefing
up” the system over the
coming year so that it keep
up its growth.
He said the company’s
biggest area of growth this
year was in food testing.
“The food business is
growing in this country a lot,
and we’re growing right
along with it,” said Berg.
Berg attributed the
growth in food testing to increased food safety and increased ethanol production.
He said that more companies are starting to test their
food regularly to make sure
that its safe for the public.
He said there was also more
concern for food safety because tainted food could
reach more places because
of modern distribution.
Berg said the other reason for increased food testing was the use of corn
waste from ethanol production for animal feed. He said
that the material left over
had to be tested to make sure
it was safe to feed to an animal. He said many ethanol
producers were looking into
using the waste material for
feed because it allowed them
to sell an additional product.
Berg said the company
has a variety of projects
planned.
A new laboratory will
finish construction at the
Bismarck branch in the next
two months. It will replace
the previous laboratory.
Berg said the company’s
goal with the LIMS system
is to update it enough that
customers could remotely
access its database from
their computers and move
the information to their own
databases. He said they
were also pushing to make it
more efficient, which he said
was essential in his business.
“For example, farmers
are waiting on our information to begin their work,
which is time sensitive to
when they can plant,” said
Berg, “Another example is
getting meat samples from
companies. They often have
their meat already loaded
into truck that are waiting
for our go ahead. They typically want the results within
a few hours.”
In New Ulm, Berg said
the company is working to
renovate its microbiology
lab to make it more effective. In the longer range, he
said the company would be
looking to build in the city
some time within the next
two years.
Front Row (left to right):
Kathy Hulke, Patrice Scheibel,
Kacie Balbach, Sarah Rotering,
Lynn Mathiowetz
Middle Row (left to right):
Brady Wilhelmi, Michael Krueger,
Alan Ahlrich, Joe Merkel,
Brian Wendinger, Bill Rothmeier,
Pat Schumacher
Back Row (left to right):
Jon Bassett, Jeff Lynn,
John Kissner, Craig Murphy,
Ron Manderfeld, Dennis Schaffer
Chuck Spaeth, Les Haala, Zac Brown, Kathy Spaeth, Scott Reinarts, Mike Carr, Randy Sellner,
Beth Ann Zuhlsdorf, Andy Rieke, Heidi Carr, Sandy Neid, Steph Huiras, Kari Schmidt, Kevin Hardin,
Gary Windschitl, Javan Blekestad, Andy Renner, Tony Fuchs, Ruben Valdez, Rick Hoffmann.
Missing: Heather Hoffman, Jeremy Brazle
The Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011 11C
www.nujournal.com
Palm Beach pontoon demand jumps
By Fritz Busch
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — Business
improved greatly over the
past year at Palm Beach Marine.
“Since March 2010, 180
pontoon boats have been ordered, way up from the previous year,” said Tom
Stevens, President and CEO
at Palm Beach Marinecraft,
Inc., 2137 North Broadway.
“There are people with
money and they’re spending
it,” Stevens added.
“There’s lots of interest in
deluxe boats, which is about
80 percent of our business,
more so than high-powered
ones,” Stevens said.
He said about half of
Palm Beach’s orders come
from the Upper Midwest.
The company has dealers
in 37 states.
Last January, the firm’s
St. Cloud plant that formerly
produced Weeres pontoon
boats closed and consolidated operations to the New
Ulm Palm Beach plant.
Weeres boats were born
in 1951 when Richmond, Mn
welder Ambrose Weeres inStaff photo by Fritz Busch
vented the pontoon boat.
Palm Beach Marinecraft, Inc. President and CEO Tom Stevens stands next to some of the new pontoon boats being built in the New Ulm plant, 2137
He built a platform over N. Broadway. Below, an overhead view shows pontoon boats on the construction floor.
steel tubes to build a boat
“The company is always
with superior comfort, safety
looking at creating new (ponand stability.
Today’s pontoon boats, toon boat) models,” Stevens
some of them 36 feet long, said.
The first Palm Beach ponaren’t the same as your
toon was offered for sale by
grandfather’s.
Common standard fea- the Varner Brothers in Zumtures now include a number brota for $399 in 1957.
In 1960, Nicollet welding
of color combinations.
Options are Flexsteel cap- shop owner Bob Selby
tain’s chairs with adjustable bought the Palm Beach
arm rests, recliner lounge name, product line and
and swivel seats, tilt, no- dealer network from the
feedback steering, navigation Varner Brothers.
His firm, Selby Manufacand bow courtesy lights, up
to four-speaker stereos with turing, built pontoon boats in
AM/FM Stereo CD player, the summer and propane
marine CD receivers with tanks in the winter.
Ray Sandhofner bought
MP3 playback, 16 to 28-foot
pontoons, UV-resistant ma- the business from Selby in
rine designer carpeting, 1976 and renamed it Ginquick-release hardware, elec- Ray Manufacturing.
In 1984, the company was
tro-statically painted aluminum paneling, fuel, sold to Weeres Industries of
voltage, depth and trim St. Cloud and renamed
gauges, hydraulic steering, Nicollet Industries.
The name was changed to
porta-pottys, flip-up changing rooms, triple pontoons, Palm Beach Marinecraft,
front or rear sun decks, mul- Inc. in 1994.
Needing more space, the
tiple live wells, rail-mount
gas grills, mood lighting, factory moved from its origwater bikes, and 8 and 12- inal Nicollet location to New
Ulm in 1999.
square foot swim rafts.
Firmenich enjoyed
expansion last year
By Josh Moniz
Staff Writer
NEW ULM – You might
not know it, but you may
have already enjoyed the
products made by the New
Ulm branch of Firmenich.
It could be in everything
from the soda you drink to
the fast food you eat.
Firmenich is a Swissbased company with locations in 50 countries with
over 5,600 employees. Its
main product is making flavorings in liquid, dried or
powered form. The company has over 500 different
products that it produces.
The New Ulm branch is
one of 22 manufacturing
sites owned by the company. The branch specializes in sweet flavors like
Photo courtesy of Firmenich
The Firmenich plant in New Ulm
caramel, savory flavors like
beef or chicken and cheese
flavorings.
Jim St. Peter, director of
the New Ulm branch, said
the site saw a big upswing
in business last year.
Firmenich
Continued on page 12C
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12CThe Journal, New Ulm, MN Friday, February 25, 2011
www.nujournal.com
Schell’s not slowing down after 150th anniversary
By Josh Moniz
Staff Writer
NEW ULM — Schell’s
Brewery had a very successful year in 2010 on the back
of its 150th anniversary, said
Schell’s owner Ted Marti.
“Overall, I think we’re up
25 percent total volume in
sales,” said Marti. “There
was a lot of hype over our
150th anniversary. It was a
good celebration.”
Marti said that every one
of the events in the anniversary year went well with excellent attendance, though
he did say that he had expected to draw more people.
He said that it was likely the
difficulty of having to travel
to attend the various celebrations may have held back
some attendance. Despite
this, he said that he was very
happy with the outcome of
the anniversary.
Marti said that sales were
up in all of the brewery’s labels, with even higher sales
of the 150th Anniversary varieties and Grain Belt
Nordeast labels.
Marti said that he was
surprised by how well the
Nordeast label sold. He attributed it to a combination
of increased sales because of
the anniversary and the pride
of the people in the
“Nordeast” section of Minneapolis. Marti said that they
are a tight-knit group that
cared about their heritage.
He said that they full embraced the beer that bares
their area’s name.
“It’s a fun beer. The quality of the beer matched the
hype and it’s an easy beer to
drink,” said Marti.
Marti said that the surprise success of sales last
year also resulted in its
biggest challenge: running
out of product.
“We were so successful
(with Nordeast) that we ran
ourselves out of beer for
most of the year,” said Marti,
“We didn’t have enough fermenting capacity, so we had
to cut back on who we sold
it to and how we packaged it
to deal with the problem.”
Marti said that they ordered additional tanks to try
to get capacity up, but the
delivery of the tanks was delayed. He attributed to the
additional problem to Murphy’s Law.
He said that the Nordeast
label was the hardest hit by
the problem.
“We had an early April
release, but by the end of
April we knew we had a
problem. That didn’t help
going into the summer
months,” said Marti, “We
made it through. We had
some unhappy customers
and some distributors were
unhappy, but you have to
deal with a bad situation.
Though, it’s not a bad situation when you’re selling that
much beer.”
Marti said that the brewery was looking forward to
building on the Nordeast
brand in the future.
He also said that on-site
sales had been down that last
year, but he said that was
true across the board. He
said it was evened out by a
slight increase in off-site
sales last year.
“The craft, retro beer didn’t really miss a beat in the
economy. The mega-brands
took the biggest beating,”
said Marti, “The craft beer
consumer typically has more
disposable income and
drinks less but better beer.
That consumer wasn’t affected the same way as Joe
Six-pack.”
Staff photo by Josh Moniz
Bottles of beer speed down the line in the Schell’s Brewery.
Firmenich From page 1A
“We are continuing to
climb. We were able to add
10 fixed full-time employees and expand production
hours on some of our
processes,” said St. Peter,
“The recession is completely gone for us.”
St. Peter said that now
the biggest challenge for the
company is handling higher
order loads and pushing for
faster turnaround times. He
said that the problems are
likely an off-shoot of the
economic climate.
“Everyone is driving
down their inventory.
Nowadays, they’re not ordering a month ahead,
they’re ordering a week
ahead,” said St. Peter.
He said the reason for
this trend is that businesses
only want to buy the minimum amount of ingredients
they need to cut costs. As a
result, they are less likely to
stock any items ahead of
time in case they will not be
able to use them.
St. Peter said one
method the company was
using to increase their speed
of production was the integration of a Systems, Applications, and Productions in
Data Processing (SAP) system.
The SAP system allows
customers
and
other
branches to view all inventory in each of the Firmenich branches. When a
product is purchased or requested with the system, the
inventory is automatically
updated in real-time on all
computers using the system.
He said it was a massive
project took up a great deal
of the branch’s time from
March to October to install.
He said that the branch also
had to dedicate a great deal
of time to increasing its inventory because the system
allows for a much higher
load of orders to be
processed.
“It was a learning curve
for people. It was very hectic and we’re still working
out kinks, but it’s a big benefit,” said St. Peter, “The
bigger challenge was probably building up inventory.
We had to put in a lot of
overtime.”
Going forward, St. Peter
said that the branch would
be wrapping up work on an
expansion to the building.
He said that space was
being added for manufacturing and that other portions of the building were
being renovated to maximize the space. He said this
would allow the branch to
begin producing more flavors, the company’s main
area of growth.
St. Peter also said that he
would be pushing to further
improve safety at the
branch, which was an emphasis for the company. He
said that his belief was that
a safer business was also a
more efficient business.
Two years ago, the branch
gained ISO and OSHA certification.
Finally, St. Peter said
that the branch would continue to learn how to better
maximize use of the SAP
system. He said that better
learning to use the system
would allow the company
to stay competitive with the
growth in demand.
Staff photo by Josh Moniz
Ted Marti is the owner of Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm. He said the brewery’s 150th anniversary was a great success,
but the brewery is not going to slow down in its 151st year.
Marti said the brewery
will not be winding down
after the 150-year celebration, but will instead be
pushing even harder to be
noticed in the field.
“If you slow down in the
beer business, you’re going
backwards. You have to
keep going forward,” said
Marti.
He said the brewery
would be pushing hard into
the sales in Michigan over
the coming year.
He also said they would
be driving hard to be innovative in the field to keep
ahead of competition.
“It’s one of the challenges of the industry now.
You have to be cutting edge
or you’re forgotten,” said
Marti.
Marti said on way they
would continue to innovate
is with more unique, limited
quantity beers, which have
been a successful formula so
far.
At the New Ulm site, the
biggest difference for this
coming year will be the
changes to Bockfest. The
event has been altered to a
21 and up event and the
price of tickets will increase
to $10. Marti said a portion
of the ticket sales will be donated to the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Fund.
In addition, a limited
number of advanced tickets
will be sold at the brewery.
Marti said that he has typically opposed advanced
ticket sales because of challenges in posed in determining
available
space.
However, he said many people had been requesting it, so
he was going to experiment
with the method this year.
He warned that the tickets
would guarantee a space at
the event, but they were not
guaranteed to allow people
to enter the event quicker.
The area the event will be
held will also be expanded.
He said the brewery
would continue to use two
new labels designs intro-
duced at the start of last year.
He said the response to the
new labels, which his son
Jace designed, was positive.
Along with the new labels, the brewery will be getting
new
packaging
equipment this summer and
an upgrade to its tracking
system.
Marti said the only big
concern for the brewery, located on the banks of the
Cottonwood River, this
coming year would be the
severity of the spring flooding. However, he said that he
was confident that he had
found an alternative site that
he could move his product if
the flooding was serious.