Minnesota manufacturers are reportedly hiring for highly skilled positions, but they can't find qualified employees-and some say it's because they are not offering high enough salaries.
Manufacturing
Despite escalating costs for all concerned, American Crystal Sugar is operating without 1,300 unionized factory workers locked out six months ago. Upping the ante, the union threatens to pull support for the Farm Bill, which in turn could hurt the entire sugar industry.
Minnesota's unemployment rate dropped another 0.2 percent in December to reach 5.7 percent, as the state added 7,900 jobs.
The Moorhead-based company-which reported a 28 percent decline in net proceeds for its most recent quarter-described a recent union offer as a "publicity stunt."
Due to shortage of skilled manufacturing workers, MPS Technical-a staffing agency that serves the manufacturing industry-saw record revenue growth in 2011.
The local company will be sold by Minneapolis-based private equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison to Pittsburgh-based RTI International Metals.
An estimated 38.9 million tons of iron pellets were produced by the state's mining operations in 2011, up from 35.1 million tons in 2010 and up dramatically from 17.1 million tons in 2009.
Plymouth-based Mosaic reached an out-of-court settlement with Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan; under the terms of the agreement, Mosaic's contract to supply the company with potash will expire at the end of 2012.
Proto Labs is offering discounted prototyping and short-run production services to two companies through its "Cool Idea!" program-one product comes from a local company that hopes to change how the life sciences industry stores tissue samples, the other from a Pennsylvania inventor who designed a sander that vacuums drywall dust.
The Microsoft Corporation co-founder holds 11.4 percent of Ecolab's stock.
Several weeks after an outbreak of salmonella-related illnesses, Cargill has gathered a panel of three experts to review its enhanced food safety programs.
Magnetation, a company with new technology for producing iron from used ore, recently entered a joint venture with Cargill and plans to open its new plant in northern Minnesota in May.
St. Paul-based plastics manufacturer Interplastic Corporation has agreed to pay a $15,000 civil penalty and spend $263,800 on environmental projects and upgrades for alleged environmental violations at its Minneapolis and Vadnais Heights plants.
Minnesota manufacturers want to incorporate sustainable processes and products into their operations, but they need to gain a better understanding of the market opportunities, according to a new report from the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.
Cargill AgHorizons and Agrex, Inc., are launching a 50-50 joint venture called AC Grain, LLC, which will own and operate a Cargill grain elevator in Indiana.
Tony Hayward, the top executive at BP during the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, may be heading to northern Minnesota to oversee safety at the proposed PolyMet mine.
He speaks for the trees—and for their uses.