Prairie Business January 2012

PRAIRIE BUSINESS MAGAZINE PO BOX 6008 GRAND FORKS, ND 58206-6008

www.prairiebizmag.com PRSRT STD U.S. Postage Paid Fargo, ND Permit #684

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Turning the Corner Be prepared for 2012!

Huron, SD January 2012

CONTENTS

Volume 13 No. 1

6

From the Editor’s Desk

8

Matthew Mohr

10

Prairie News

14

Prairie People

16

Economic Development General observations of rural economic development

18

Money - Being prepared for 2012

20

Technology - How technology attracts more technology

22

Leadership/ Management Chamber as a community leader

24

Company Spotlight: Running a 50-year-old business in a small community Running the day-to-day operations in a small community has its challenges, but also has its rewards

26

NDSU Innovation Week Meeting future entrepreneurs

28

Unique innovation keeps candles burning

30 34 36 44 48

Cover Story: Energy Region packed with energy potential Energy sources are abundant in the three state region of North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota.

Cover Story: Biotech More biotech activity occurring in the region Healing, feeding and fueling the world.

No one knows for certain what will happen in the next 2 years

Community Spotlight: Huron, SD Turning the corner

41

South Dakota couple develops solar energy trailer

Western North Dakota is finding that those who have ties and a love of North Dakota are investing back into their home state.

A Trent, S. D. truck-driving couple is using solar energy to assist in cooling their trailer as they travel across the country.

When Dakota Provisions came to Huron, S.D., in 2005, many business leaders will say that was the turning point for the community.

Precision Agriculture Summit South Dakota: PHIT All about improving health care

54

Investing back into Western North Dakota

Cover Story: One thing is certain about health care exchanges

Highlighting agricultural innovation

52

38

Western North Dakota Business incubator provides valuable resources for area entrepreneurs

58

Viewpoint

62

By the Numbers

4 Prairie Business

January 2012

Next Month In the February issue of Prairie Business magazine with the new wave of marketing ideas floating in the region, we will be asking the question: "Are traditional business marketing techniques becoming obsolete?" Also, an effort is being made to provide broadband to rural areas around the region. Prairie Business will look at the impact this has on economic development. Finally, it has been more than six months since the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau opened to promote fairness and transparency for mortgages, credit cards and other consumer financial products. Our cover story will ask experts how the bureau is impacting the financial industry.

On the air Join Prairie Business magazine Editor Alan Van Ormer and host Merrill Piepkorn on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 3 p.m. on any Prairie Public radio station to hear more about the upcoming Precision Agriculture Summit and NDSU Innovation Week.

To listen to Prairie Public, visit www.prairiepublic.org/radio/hear-it-now.

From the Editor’s Desk

For daily business news visit prairiebizmag.com

An SBA Award Winning Publication

An ‘innovative’ New Year As Prairie Business moves into 2012, the staff would like to wish everyone that has been supportive of this magazine and those who we have met in our travels around the region the best in the coming New Year.

s I said in one of my past columns there is a lot of excitement brewing for this business magazine that has always thrived to be a catalyst for growth in the Northern Plains. In fact, in this month’s issue we have a couple of special sections: one focusing on a Precision Ag Summit being held in Jamestown, N. D. later this month, and another focusing on NDSU’s Innovation Week, also later this month.

In another innovation, readers will start to see various employers utilizing Prairie Business beginning with the January issue to reach their high end professional audience and take advantage of trying to entice those who are already employed to make a career change. An estimated 76 percent of people aren’t looking for a new job but have said they would consider it if the right opportunity was put in front of them. Prairie Business is a great opportunity for many of our employers to get in front of these highly skilled professionals reading the magazine each month. This is a very desirable audience for them.

And also in 2012, I hope to focus each month on 50-year-old companies that have survived over the years.. My hope is to have four companies featured from each of the states throughout the year. The first one in this issue details M&M Manufacturing, a small manufacturing company in the small community of Viborg, S. D. If you would like to submit an idea for a story on a 50-yearold company, please send it to me at avanormer@prairiebizmag.com. Please make sure it is either incorporated in 1962 or started in 1962. I am focusing specifically on 50-year-old companies, not 51 nor 49.

And of course, this issue has three cover stories. The main cover story focuses on energy: in particular, coal in North Dakota, wind in western Minnesota, and ethanol in South Dakota. The other two discuss health care exchanges and biotechnology.

So we all hope you enjoy this issue of Prairie Business magazine. And from all of us,

A

Happy New Year!

Mike Jacobs, Publisher Alan Van Ormer, Editor Zach Ahrens, General Manager Tina Fetsch, Production Manager Beth Bohlman, Circulation Manager Jen Braaten, Marketing Manager Joe Greenwood, Multi-Media Consultant Kris Wolff, Layout Design, Ad Design

GENERAL MANAGER:

Zach Ahrens zahrens@prairiebizmag.com

701.780.1162

SALES:

Brad Boyd bboyd@prairiebizmag.com

800.641.0683 western ND/western SD

John Fetsch jfetsch@prairiebizmag.com

701.212.1026 eastern ND/MN/eastern SD

EDITOR: Alan Van Ormer avanormer@prairiebizmag.com Editorial Advisors:

Dwaine Chapel, Executive Director, Lake Area Improvement Corporation; Bruce Gjovig, Director, Center for Innovation; Lisa Gulland-Nelson, Communications Coordinator, Greater Fargo Moorhead EDC; Dave Haan, Director of Public Relations and Digital Development at Lawrence & Schiller; Dusty Johnson, Chief of Staff for South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s office; Brekka Kramer, General Manager of Odney; Matthew Mohr, President/CEO, Dacotah Paper Company; Nancy Straw, President, West Central Initiative Prairie Business magazine is published monthly by the Grand Forks Herald and Forum Communications Company with offices at 375 2nd Avenue North, Grand Forks, ND 58203. Qualifying subscriptions are available free of charge. Back issue quantities are limited and subject to availability ($2/copy prepaid). The opinions of writers featured in Prairie Business are their own. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork are encouraged but will not be returned without a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Subscription requests: Free subscriptions are available online to qualified requestors at www.prairiebizmag.com.

Address corrections: Prairie Business magazine PO Box 6008 Grand Forks, ND 58206-6008 Beth Bohlman: bbohlman@prairiebizmag.com

Online: www.prairiebizmag.com 6 Prairie Business

January 2012

701.371.9578

Odney.com

Website content management systems just got smarter. Introducing SmartAdmin by Odney. SmartAdmin gives you simple and powerful tools for adding pages and updating content. But that’s just the beginning. Casey King is ready to show you more on how SmartAdmin is the smart choice. Email cking@odney.com for an amazing demonstration. 888-500-8721 • Bismarck • Minot • Fargo • Coeur d’Alene, ID

Business Advice

GAME PLAN?

MATTHEW D. MOHR CEO, Dacotah Paper Company mmohr@dacotahpaper.com

With the start of each year, most business leaders create a plan for success. mployee goals, customer needs, product offerings, selling prices, as well as expected profitability are just a few components of a good plan.

One year I was approached to commit to selling a new broad line of products from a very energetic seller. Realizing we had a potential opportunity we met with the seller to review products and talk about how we could go to market. The enthusiastic seller presented us with a bunch of really good stuff which he thought we could sell for him, but he had no plan. We decided to not sell these products as a result of the lack of cohesive plan presented to us. Really good stuff is available anywhere, but a warehouse full of stuff, regardless of how good it is, doesn’t insure success.

The plan of attack a business owner chooses is based on what the expectations are in regards to competition, the economy in general, employee expectations, and the needs of the business. It is very hard trying to figure out how to be the most successful over time in a competitive environment. Monday morning quarterbacks always seem to tell what plays should have been called, but making the plan and calls during the action is tough.

Like an athletic coach, a business owner needs to go into “the game” with a plan of attack which is geared to success for the New Year. No professional sporting team would go into a season without a strong commitment from all players to their coach’s plan of attack.

Likewise, a coach would not survive the scrutiny of the team owners if a specific approach for winning could not be articulated. PB

E

Offices in: Bismarck Dickinson

Residential | Commercial Statewide Services Killdeer Mandan Minot

Abstracting

1031 Exchange Services

Loan Closing

Title Insurance

Mohall Watford City Williston 8 Prairie Business

Oil, Gas and Mineral Title Services

www.thetitleteam.com January 2012

Prairie News

Press releases and photos about business news and events in North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota can be e-mailed to avanormer@prairiebizmag.com for consideration

SDN COMMUNICATIONS OPENING DATA CENTER SDN Communications is opening a multimillion dollar data center on 65 acres along South Dakota’s two major Interstates in 2012.

The building will serve as a switch site location, co-location facility, data center, disaster recovery site, and point of presence.

The 25,000-square-foot facility will consist of 10,000 square feet of data space. Features of this high-tech data vault include: redundant power feeds, concrete facility with 12 inch walls built to withstand tornadic conditions and other weather hazards, temperature-controlled environment that will be monitored 24-7, battery back-up and generator power, access to SDN’s network and Internet service, superior redundancy and selfhealing circuitry and state-of-the-art fire protection.

AWARD-WINNING RAPID CITY REGIONAL HOSPITAL Rapid City Regional Hospital (Rapid City, S. D.) has earned awards in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Premier health care alliance value-based purchasing (VBP) project that rewards hospitals for delivering high quality care in six clinical areas.

Based on year six results from the Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration™ (HQID) project, RCRH received four Attainment Awards in the clinical areas of: acute myocardial infarction; heart failure; pneumonia; and surgical care improvement project Attainment Awards are given to hospitals that attain or exceed median level composite quality score (CQS) performance. The attainment median benchmark is the median level CQS from year four of the project. The CQS is adjusted to compare only measures that were effective in both years.

$1.5 MILLION GRANT ASSISTING WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded a $1.5 million grant to assist western North Dakota communities with housing and infrastructure development.

The Sustainable Communities Regional Planning grant was awarded to the Rural Economic Area Partnership Investment Fund.

The HUD grant program supports planning efforts that integrate housing, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with funds appropriated

by Congress.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held opening the SDN Communications Data Center.

ARVIG COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS (ACS) SIMPLIFIES NAME AS GROWTH CONTINUES Arvig Communication Systems has changed its company name to Arvig. The name change allows for easier name recall and positions the company for continued expansion including services into Minnesota metro areas, increasing services to current communities, and growth into other commerce.

While the name is changing, there has been no change in ownership or management; and Arvig will continue to provide the same high-quality products and services customers have come to expect from the company.

The transition to Arvig, including an updated logo and corresponding materials, will take place over the course of the coming year in all Arvig markets. This includes changing the name of Arvigowned Diversicom and Home Telephone to Arvig. Diversicom’s offices and dedicated employees in Melrose and Sauk Centre will continue to provide great local service to the customers in that area. Likewise, Home Telephone’s offices and local employees in Grand Meadow will continue to provide the same great local service to the customers in that area.

EIDE BAILLY RELEASES MOBILE APP FOR IPAD Eide Bailly LLP, a regional certified public accounting and business advisory firm in Fargo, N. D., announced the availability of its Eide Bailly Mobile App for the Apple iPad. The app is free and offers insights and updates, calculators and learning events.

The Eide Bailly Mobile App provides the latest updates on general business insights, as well as industry-specific data. Its limited graphics and text-based format make accessing information fast and convenient. The Firm regularly publishes updates from the IRS and also tracks legislation important to taxpayers and businesses – which are available through the app. Financial planning calculators are built into the app for at-your-fingertip reference. Additionally, the app features announcements of the Firm’s public seminars and other learning events.

MEDCENTER ONE MANDAN LIVING CENTER EARNS NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD The Medcenter One Mandan Living Center (Bismarck, N. D.) was recently awarded a 2011 National Quality Award from the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living.

The award recognizes facilities in the long-term healthcare sector that have met rigorous criteria as a result of focusing on quality service while encouraging continuous learning and development to achieve performance excellence.

Wade Peterson, Medcenter One Mandan Living Center administrator, holds the 2011 National Quality Award the living center earned from the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living.

10 Prairie Business

January 2012

H igh- Q uallit y, High-Quality, Personalized, P ersonalizz ed , A Affordable ff or dab ble H lth C Health Care a e ar !

PEN O W NO

HORIZ HORI Z N Care, Health Car aree, Inc.

James V Valley alley a Community Health Center '& '+% ")+##) "/ 2 1(+-., "0 $!'$*

605.554.1015 605.554.101 15 www.horizonhealthcare.org www w.horizonhealthcar . re.org

Wee offer W discounted prices disc ounteed pric ount es $2 $41 $41## 9:<:;< 62/ <#!9:1#< <#!9:1#<

with our Sliding Fee Fee P Program. rrogr gra am.

W accept ,*,8) 8862"$!/) Wee accept 62"$!/) .9#!6 .

9#!6 62/ most health insura insur insurance. ance. &&65:7%-#/:1:2# 65:7%-#/:1:2# +(#/:6;!:1*6!# +( (##/:6;! ; :1*6!!#

Answers you can trust - From people who care

800-323-7583 '5#!=#21%*6!# '5#! != =#211%%*6!!# + 0638 0638#!9:1#< 8#!9:1#<

www.dacotahpaper.com prairiebizmag.com

11

Prairie News

Press releases and photos about business news and events in North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota can be e-mailed to avanormer@prairiebizmag.com for consideration

DAKOTA RETAIL TECHNOLOGIES EXPANDS TO NEW SIOUX FALLS LOCATION Dakota Retail Technologies, a provider and integrator of retail software and technology solutions, has graduated from the South Dakota Technology Business Center (SDTBC) and expanded to a new location in Sioux Falls, S. D. Along with their new 1,500 square feet. location, nearly twice as large as their previous office, Dakota Retail will hire an additional technician to help support customers as the company continues to grow.

THE RTLS+ VALUE ANALYSIS PROVIDES ROADMAP Intelligent InSites Inc., (Fargo, N. D.) the leading provider of enterprise RTLS software helping hospitals improve patient satisfaction and operational performance while supporting multiple RFID and RTLS technologies, has announced a new consulting service aimed to help healthcare organizations identify the impact of Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) and related technologies on their core processes and workflows.

The goal of the RTLS+ Value Analysis is to understand the specific challenges facing the organization and put a quantifiable value on how RFID and RTLS technologies might help each specific department or workflow. Through deep interviews and extensive data analysis, Intelligent InSites’ healthcare solution consultants discover high-impact areas across the healthcare organization for improved processes, improved care, reduced costs, and increased patient and staff satisfaction.

NDSCS MOBILE LAUNCHES FOR BLACKBERRY® DEVICES North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton, N. D.) announced the launch of NDSCS Mobile, a smart phone application, for BlackBerry® users.

The BlackBerry app, now part of the NDSCS mobile suite that also includes apps for the Android™, iPhone®, iPod touch® and iPad®, offers instant mobile access to campus maps, the latest news, event calendars and more.

In addition to the BlackBerry version, NDSCS recently updated the iOS (iPod®, iPad® and iPhone®) version to include a robust tours feature. Users can take a self-guided interactive tour of campus with videos, photos, maps and audio.

CAPITAL ONE TO ADD 400 NEW JOBS IN SIOUX FALLS Capital One Financial Corporation, a diversified bank and Fortune 500 company, has announced plans to maintain 400 jobs as part of the proposed acquisition of HSBC's domestic credit card business in Sioux Falls, S. D. and will add 400 new jobs in 2012.

In August, Capital One announced its plans to acquire HSBC’s domestic credit card business. HSBC currently employs 400 people at its domestic card facility in Sioux Falls. On receipt of regulatory approval and completion of the acquisition, the 400 HSBC employees will become Capital One associates. The 400 new positions announced are in addition to HSBC’s existing Sioux Falls team members.

12 Prairie Business

January 2012

AVERA PRAIRIE CENTER IN SIOUX FALLS RECEIVES DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AWARD Conceived to promote healing through grace and technology, Avera Prairie Center designed by Saint Paul-based BWBR received the award for Best Project in health care from ENR Mountain States magazine, covering Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. Industry professionals representing both contractors and the design profession judged projects for their design and construction excellence.

Avera Prairie Center, housing Avera Cancer Institute and Avera McKennan Hospital’s day surgery center, is a five-story, 260,000square-foot building designed to serve the needs of residents in the Upper Midwest in a center that connects nature with the healing environment and captures the characteristics of the South Dakota’s landscape. The building includes indoor water features with running waterfalls; planters crafted and painted to emulate the rock formations in the Black Hills; and columns and 30-foot-long curved wood beams designed to look like blades of prairie grass.

The building exterior also offers distinct features, such as groupings of 20- to 30-foot aluminum “grass reeds” set in front of a prairie grass silk screen pattern on the building’s windows and a waterfall in front of Prairie Center modeling a specific section of the falls at Falls Park, which gives Sioux Falls its name.

INTERNET RETAIL COMPANY, LEIKAS GROUP LANDS IN FARGO Leikas Group, parent firm of several e-commerce based companies that retail a wide variety of products from basketball hoops to binoculars, is moving operations to Fargo, N. D. The $200,000 expansion will add 10 jobs to the region over the next two years.

The Leikas Group recently acquired dozens of premium domain names that fit within the company’s business model. The company will use the domain names to create user-friendly sites around specific target industries.

The company has spent the last several months developing the architecture and business processes that support the front-end and back-end needs of each site. Current sites include TopHoops.com and NightVisionGoggles.com. Several others are expected to launch this upcoming year.

prairiebizmag.com

13

Prairie People

Please e-mail photos and press release announcements of hirings, promotions, awards and distinctions received by business leaders in North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota to avanormer@prairiebizmag.com for consideration.

BORDER STATES ELECTRIC NAMES NEW CFO

JEREMY WELSAND

Jeremy Welsand has been named chief financial officer (CFO) at Border States Electric (BSE) (Fargo, N. D.) and appointed to the company’s Executive Council. As the CFO and a member of the Executive Council, he will assist the company’s Board of Directors in long-term planning, setting priorities and enhancing communications across the management structure of the company.

Welsand was an audit partner in the Minneapolis, Minn., office of Grant Thornton, LLP. As an audit partner, he led client relationships for annual audits, due diligence and transactional engagements for private and public companies. He was also responsible for providing U.S. and international accounting expertise for a variety of assurance engagements while serving as the U.S. resident specialist for Grant Thornton UK LLP from 2005 to 2007.

LAKEWOOD HEALTH SYSTEM WELCOMES NEW DIRECTOR OF NURSING

DEBRA KEARNS

Debra Kearns is the clinic director of nursing at Lakewood Health System in Staples, Minn.

Kearns received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Jamestown College in Jamestown, N. D. She has been a Director of Nursing for the past five years, where she has been a direct supervisor to staff in a multi-disciplinary clinic. Kearns has been involved with Quality Improvement and Minnesota Community Measures. She has worked in Public Health for 14 years.

Did you Know…

A flexible workplace initiative improved employees’ health behavior and well-being, including a rise in the amount and quality of sleep and better health management, according to a new study.

-Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52(4), December 2011

MILLER NAMED MARKET PRESIDENT FOR SIOUX FALLS, CLARK NAMED SOUTH DAKOTA MARKET MANAGER FOR REGIONAL COMMERCIAL BANKING

WAYNE MILLER

Wells Fargo (Sioux Falls, S. D.) announced that Wayne Miller has been named business banking manager and market president for Sioux Falls.

Cathy Clark, formerly the Sioux Falls market president, has been named South Dakota market manager for Regional Commercial Banking. In her new role, Clark will provide credit, treasury management, investment products and financial services to middle-market companies with revenues greater than $20 million.

CATHY CLARK

STARION FINANCIAL EMPLOYEES ADD SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

JAY FEIL

14 Prairie Business

Jay Feil will oversee presidents of five Starion Financial markets in addition to his responsibilities as Mandan, N. D. market president, and senior vice president Jeff Weiler will lead the personal banking, financial services and marketing teams in addition to his current oversight of mortgage, compliance and audit, and risk management.

Feil will supervise the presidents of banks in Oakes, Ellendale, Dunseith, Rolla and Bottineau, including assisting in providing commercial and agricultural lending and bank services in those markets. He continues to serve as market president in Mandan.

Weiler will oversee the senior vice presidents of retail banking, including personal deposits and loans; and financial services, including insurance and investments. He will also oversee the marketing and communications department. He will continue to supervise mortgage banking, compliance and internal audit, and risk management. Aligning these responsibilities under Weiler helps Starion Financial better coordinate marketing, sales and customer service throughout the organization.

January 2012

JEFF WEILER

...for a FREE link to videos on the marvelous real estate values just minutes from Greater Phoenix and Tucson.

Call now and get your customized property listings.

Shelly Tchida 602-363-5420

North Dakotaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coal industry creates jobs and No ke keeps the cost of living low. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the power of coal.

Affordable power supply keeps the cost of living low.

Coal provides 27,000 jobs in the state.

Each year, coal provides $3 billion in total business activity.

The coal industry pays $90 million in state taxes each year.

To learn more how coal keeps North Dakota strong, please visit powerofcoal.com.

prairiebizmag.com

15

Economic Development

General observations of rural economic development Economic development efforts in rural communities are not a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;one size fits allâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; process.

MIKE MCDOWELL hat works and is appropriate depends on a number of factors unique to each community. I serve on the governing board of the local development agency for Madison and the surrounding area known generally as the Lakes Area. As is common, this agency is a private/public partnership to support creation and expansion of jobs and wealth. Much of the support for these agencies, including the one I have volunteered to serve, comes from private donations from local businesses and individuals. For example, in addition to our support of Madison, Heartland provides support for similar efforts in all of the communities we serve in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.

There are a number of factors that impact local development efforts. These factors include, but are not limited to: 1) proximity to an urban area; 2) location on or near an Interstate or other multilane highway; 3) adequate water, sewer, and energy infrastructure; 4) educational facilities, including a university or college; 5) housing choices for employees of new or expanding local businesses; 6) public access to recreational facilities such as parks, hiking trails, and community centers for all ages; 8) broad band communication technology infrastructure; and 9) cultural and retail amenities commensurate with all of the above. Many of these factors require local commitment and support if they are to be useful tools for development.

Omitted from the above list are various incentives offered nearly everywhere as recruitment and/or expansion tools used by local development agencies. These incentives are a necessary part of the local development tool box in order to compete with surrounding communities and states with similar incentives.

However, without the existence of the quality of life factors listed above these incentives have a limited impact.

The 800 pound gorilla in every community is the performance of the national economy. Although each community will have its

W

16 Prairie Business

January 2012

own specific impacts, a faltering national economy leaves no place immune from its effects.

The local Madison/Lakes Area development agency is coming to the end of its first five year funding program aimed at creation of jobs and wealth. The collapse of the national economy in late 2007 was a major contributing factor in moving some of our goals beyond reach. We did some things well, some things not so well, and missed on some things that needed attention. Our recent efforts assisting the expansion of four local businesses and one new business resulted in adding 100 new jobs in the past year. On the other hand, growth of the total local job numbers from five years ago did not occur. Although we pursued new retail growth in lodging, clothing, and restaurant business, that also did not occur.

The core area of Madison has declined in recent years and we intend to address that decline in the next five year program.

We spent a good deal of time last fall seeking out business and community leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; views as well as their suggestions for the next five years. The results of those conversations are being assimilated and a second five year funding effort will begin in early 2012 based on revised goals and objectives coming from those conversations.

Local development agencies earn and keep support and trust by building on successes and learning from failures, as well as demonstrating a willingness to revise goals and objectives based on feedback from community and business leaders. It is often easier said than done to seek this feedback and then act on it, but a commitment to improved quality of life and broad based creation of wealth trumps ease. Economic development is often two steps forward and one step back. The key is to keep moving. PB Mike McDowell is the General Manager and CEO of Heartland Consumers Power District in Madison, S.D. He can be reached at mmcdow@hcpd.com.

prairiebizmag.com

17

Money

Being Prepared for 2012 When I was asked to write an article for the January issue of Prairie Business magazine, my first thought was, “How am I going to write an article about taxes without putting the readers to sleep?” could bore you with a lot of details of tax law changes, but will touch only briefly on that subject later on. The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) is a huge volume of tax laws that have been enacted

by Congress. If you have trouble sleeping at night, print off a section of the IRC and start reading. This will induce sleep as fast as anything that I have tried.

A visit to the IRS web site (www.irs.gov) will lead you to a link to the IRC. The IRC is a section of the U.S Code that lists all of the laws of the United States, not just the tax laws. The tax code has grown so large that the version posted on the IRS web site is current only through the second session of the 110th Congress convened in 2008. To find the most current version of the laws, you have to check the U.S. Code Classification Tables published by the U.S. House of Representatives to verify that there have been no amendments since that session of Congress. Are you confused yet? I

I

18 Prairie Business

January 2012

point all this out so you can see how complex our tax code really is, and how big that our federal government has gotten. It is no wonder that politicians like to talk about tax simplification every time an election year comes around.

The tax laws change constantly when Congress is in session. The “final” tax laws for 2011 are not all passed yet, and may not be until close to Christmas. This makes it hard to do all of your end-of-the-year planning for tax purposes. We used to see most of the changes get done by October, but it seems to happen later and later each year. One of the biggest changes that most people will see this year is that withholding for Social Security tax is set at 4.2 percent, down from 6.2 percent. If you get a pay check, it has been 2 percent higher all year than it was last year if you had no other changes to your pay status. If you are self employed, you will see the extra 2 percent when you file your 2011 tax return during tax season 2012. For a lot of people who qualified for the Making Work Pay Credit (MWPC) in 2010, this 2 percent will be offset by higher withholding since that credit expired at the end of 2010. The MWPC was a refundable credit of up to $400 ($800 MFJ) per qualified tax payer.

The standard deduction amounts and the amount you receive for each dependent exemption have been indexed for inflation, so those amounts will be slightly higher than last year. As I stated earlier, Congress can still make changes in the tax laws up until the end of the year so keep checking your local media for updates. PB Matt Fitting was raised in North Dakota and now resides in Rapid City, S.D. He owns and operates four H&R Block tax offices in the Rapid City area, and has been in the tax business for 22 years. Before buying the H&R Block franchise in Rapid City, Fitting held several management positions around the country with H&R Block, Inc. Fitting holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. He can be contacted at mfitting@rushmore.com.

MATT FITTING

Thursday, January 12 8 to 9:30 a.m.

Hilton Garden Inn Fargo Mayor Chad Olson, City of Dilworth Mayor Dennis Walaker, City of Fargo Mayor Mark Voxland, City of Moorhead Mayor Rich Mattern, City of West Fargo

Register FMWFChamber.com 218.233.1100 Presented by...

prairiebizmag.com

19

Technology

How technology attracts more technology Have you ever considered the magic of cake? variety of ingredients – some of them not particularly appealing on their own - are measured and mixed and poured in a pan. With the addition of the right amount of heat for the right amount of time, magic occurs and a delicious cake emerges – not similar to any of the individual ingredients.

Throughout American history, there have been many examples of dynamic technology clusters that have formed because crucial ingredients have been available in sufficient quantities. When mixed with abundant levels of commitment and energy and forged by emerging opportunity, amazing examples of technological advances and economic development have emerged.

One such example is Microsoft Corporation and its influence on the city of Redmond, Wash. and the State of Washington. When the company moved from New Mexico in 1979 it was a 30-

A

employee $3 million company. Today, it employs 91,000 people worldwide and has revenues of $60 billion. In addition to the direct employment by Microsoft, more than 260,000 jobs in Washington State have been due to the presence and growth of the company. Its phenomenal growth resulted from the convergence of factors – the availability of an educated workforce, the brilliance of Bill Gates and Paul Allen and the emergence of demand for software.

Silicon Valley grew into a powerhouse of technology innovation and development because of the mixture of Stanford University’s research in solid state electronics, a pool of highly educated engineers and scientists, Department of Defense contracts, a network of venture capital firms and the opportunity provided by the emergence of demands for computer technology.

Today, there may be a similar opportunity and availability of the

RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY COMMEMORATES COMMITMENT TO MINOT At a ribbon cutting ceremony in Minot, N.D. recently, Eid Passport® President and COO Jim Robell says the company is ahead of its hiring schedule and pleased with the dedication, skill, and quality of the Minot workforce.

“With my roots here in Minot, North Dakota, it is a great pleasure to be actively involved in the City and to have the opportunity to witness the incredible work ethic of our Minot employees despite the incredible challenges they have faced over the past year,” says Steve Larson, Chairman and CEO of Eid Passport.

Not only is Eid Passport bringing high tech jobs to Minot, it is renovating the historic five-story St. Leo’s Community Center (formerly the Minot YMCA).

Once the renovation is complete the building will house four new businesses. General Manager of Eid Passport’s Minot location, Steve Carrigan, says he is excited to see Minot’s downtown district beginning to thrive. “It’s great for our community, it’s great for Minot and I’m happy we are a big part of it.”

Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman notes that the City of Minot’s confidence in Eid Passport continues to grow as the city develops a long term relationship together. “Eid Passport has exceeded the expectations of our city” he says.

Jay Fisher, Chairman of the Board for the Minot Area Development Corporation adds, “Eid Passport is a wonderful example of how the city of Minot and the state of North Dakota can partner with industry to create jobs and opportunities for the citizens of Minot.”

EID PASSPORT Eid Passport, Inc. (www.eidpassport.com) integrates leading-edge products and services into solutions that combine identity authentication, background screening and access management. Eid Passport’s products and services make facilities, assets, and people safer and more secure. By using Eid Passport’s RAPIDGate® Information System, highly secure facilities — such as military installations, government buildings, federal agencies, manufacturing and distribution sites, ports and commercial buildings — can increase security and streamline access for a variety of authorized personnel.

RAPIDGate and Eid Passport are registered trademarks of Eid Passport, Inc. 20 Prairie Business

January 2012

“right” ingredients in the Upper Red River Valley.

Unmanned Aerial Systems provides a unique evolving opportunity. Particularly, as this technology emerges from military applications to civilian and commercial applications, the potential for growth is immense. The crucial ingredients include: The new mission for Grand Forks Air Force Base is the Global Hawk, the largest unmanned aerial vehicle, developed by Northrop Grumman and used for high altitude surveillance.

The University of North Dakota’s School of Aerospace Science has been a leader in preparing aerospace professionals for many years and has recently created The Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research, Education and Training, with generous funding from the State of North Dakota.

In Minnesota, Northland Community and Technical College has been awarded two Department of Labor grants totaling nearly $10 million to develop the nation’s first training programs for UAS maintenance and imagery analysis.

The Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corporation has invested in a UAS business development specialist to work with businesses and industries eager to locate into this vibrant crucible for innovation and development. To date, several businesses and 147 employees are working on UAS initiatives in the Greater Grand Forks economic development area.

Two necessary ingredients have yet to be added to the mix. The Federal Aviation Administration is developing rules to allow for the co-mingling of unmanned and manned vehicles in the National Airspace. And, by the end of 2012, Congress intends to designate 4-5 regions of the country as test sites for integration,

research, and development. The Upper Red River Valley is working diligently and aggressively to acquire this designation.

All the right ingredients are available in abundance. Now, we wait for the magic to occur. PB Anne Temte is the president of Northland Community and Technical College, with campuses in East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls, Minn.

Northland is one of 31 institutions of higher education that comprise the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.

She is an active member of the Board of Directors of the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corp. and the Leadership Team of ANNE TEMTE IMPACT 2020, a Northwest Minnesota organization dedicated to increasing economic development opportunities. She can be reached at Anne.temte@northlandcollege.edu.

Liberty

For Business

Copiers & MFPs Printers Wide Format

Managed Print Services Bottleless Water

S ince 1986 when we opened our doors, Liberty Business Systems, Inc. has been providing high quality document imaging equipment, technology solutions and award winning service to business customers.

-*. !332'/+!'% 2$)(% 1.2&*(+!'!+" ,24*+!23, !3(.%/,% %$)(!%3("0 ,/'!3# time and money for our customers.

800-998-7519 LibertyBusiness.com Fargo l Grand Forks l Bismarck l Minot l Fergus Falls prairiebizmag.com

21

Leadership/Management

Chamber as a community leader Leadership is not a one-day thing.

It is a constant commitment to excellence, a habit . . . a daily practice.

- John F. Kennedy

WHY SHOULD CHAMBER BE A LEADER? hambers represent business interests in your community and leaders are needed in every community. A chamber can provide leadership for the continued development of a viable economic and environmental climate. In order to compete and thrive in a worldwide economy, communities need welleducated and well-trained workers. The chamber is able to develop leaders to gain appreciation of history in its communities, network with political and community leaders, learn how governmental issues impact our communities, hear from a variety of industries and learn how to make a difference in your community. The chamber is able to help you gain the knowledge needed to be a strong leader. The purpose of chamber leadership is to identify, generate and perpetuate a feeling of involvement within existing and potential community leaders. According to The Chamber of Fargo Moorhead West Fargo, “The Chamber has the ability to connect and develop leaders who greatly impact the community through dedication and service”.

C

LEADERSHIP 101: HOW A CHAMBER DEVELOPS LEADERS. alent is our natural resource and strong leadership is vital to drive economic growth, build a better community and ultimately make it a better place to live and work. In order for a chamber to develop leaders they must first engage their membership. An active chamber is a viable chamber and it will in turn benefit the business community. The Chamber of Commerce of Fargo Moorhead West Fargo’s website pointedly says it best with its program overview. The leadership program has given its graduates the opportunity to build a diverse network of like minded people with a shared commitment to the community and personal growth. It fosters the development of an elite network of engaged and well-informed leaders.

Leadership Fargo Moorhead West Fargo (LFMWF) is centered on

T

KRISTI ULRICH creating leaders through community training and leadership development. The program is designed to expose emerging and existing community leaders to the issues that face our region while challenging and engaging participants to strengthen the community through service and leadership.

As a result of chamber leadership programs, its graduates will develop long lasting relationships with other leaders, discover the inner workings of their community and the challenges facing their region as well as defining their individual role and responsibility as a leader within their community. PB Kristi Ulrich has been general manager for the Moorhead Center Mall in Moorhead, Minn., since 2002. After serving as a Chamber of Commerce of Fargo-Moorhead Ambassador for several years and as Chair of the Ambassador Committee, Kristi joined the Board of Directors in 2006 becoming Board Chair for the Fargo-Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce in September 2011. She can be reached at kristi@moorheadcentermall.com.

Did you Know…

A new research study co-authored by an Indiana University professor suggests that interactive applications for mobile phones such as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android may be some of the most powerful forms of advertising yet developed. The study confirms that using branded mobile phone apps increases a consumer's general interest in product categories and improves the attitude that they may have toward the sponsoring brand.

-Journal of Interactive Marketing—Indiana University 22 Prairie Business

January 2012

Company Spotlight

M&M Manufacturing

Running a 50-year-old business in a small community A second-generation owner of M&M Manufacturing, a family-owned business in Viborg, S.D. is finding that running the day-to-day operations in a small community has its challenges, but also has its rewards.

“

rofit margins are less because of the competition and the economy,” states Mike McIlvenna, the owner of the small manufacturing company. “The end user doesn’t have that type of money.”

Throughout 2012 Prairie Business is featuring 50-year-old companies that continue to thrive and grow throughout the three-state region. M&M Manufacturing was incorporated in January 1962 by McIlvenna’s father, Patrick, and uncles John and Milford Bickett, as well as a good friend, Merle Tweet.

The company started in Beresford, S. D., making pressure washer components and space heaters. Mike McIlvenna has been working with the company for at least 30 years and has been the owner for the past 15 years. Today, M&M Manufacturing employs anywhere from six to 15 people in its building in the industrial park.

M&M Manufacturing manufactures steel components and supplies them to manufacturers. The manufacturers in turn assemble the product and sell that end product to the customer.

The company is involved in various product lines including: coils, coil modules, complete frames, vertical and horizontal oil fired units, self-contained skid units, gas fired units, cold water pump bases, and units ranging from below 2 gallons per minute to more than 20 gallons per minute.

P

24 Prairie Business

January 2012

In addition, M&M Manufacturing provides replacement coils for all brands, as well as being capable of fabricating any coil size up to 48 inches in diameter. The company can design and produce products to a customer’s need. M&M Manufacturing also does general metal fabrication and powder painting.

M&M Manufacturing’s products have been developed for agriculture, cooling and heating, automotive and construction.

Specific products that have been designed include cold water carts, fire pits, hot boxes, vertical oil fired and vertical gas units, and frames and skids.

Although at the start, M&M Manufacturing focused on space heaters and pressure washer components, it has always focused on working with coils. M&M Manufacturing was one of the pioneers of the high pressure washer industry, McIlvenna states. High pressure washers can be used for car

washes, to wash off decks, as well as farmers using pressure washers for different aspects of the farm economy.

Originally, the company was located in Beresford, S .D. and manufactured various different products including replacement parts for farm equipment.

“We made anything we could to make money,” McIlvenna notes.

Then six years ago, a building opened up in the industrial park in Viborg and M&M Manufacturing moved to the 20,000 square foot building on 4.5 acres in the industrial park on the east side of Viborg. There were several expansions throughout the year, but the company continued to revamp its coiling operations to make it more efficient.

“The last 10 years we found a niche in coils and stuck more with that,” McIlvenna explains.

Today, M&M Manufacturing averages 2,000-2,500 units on an average year. A couple of years ago the company manufactured more than 5,000 units. The products are shipped to other parts of the United States and exported around the world.

McIlvenna estimates that over the past 20 years 75 percent of the sales have been exported around the world.

He also notes that the pressure washer industry is trending toward more mid-size units (3.5 to 4 gallons and 2,000 plus pressure pounds per square inch.) Another challenge is the advertising part of the business.

“In the past we relied on word of mouth to sell our products,” McIlvenna states. “Now we have to invest in marketing.”

Then there is the difficulty of finding the right personnel.

McIlvenna believes that Viborg is a good town to do business in and looks forward to continued success in the future. PB Alan Van Ormer avanormer@prairiebizmag.com

Technology at center of partnership Chenega Logistics, LLC in Sioux Falls is partnering with Dakota State University to conduct cyber security assurance research that will provide global benefits to Internet clients.

The partnership will be funded with $80,000 awarded to DSU through a special performance improvement fund created by state lawmakers during their last legislative session. That fund allocated $920,000 for improving research capacity at six South Dakota public universities.

A matching $80,000 fund (for a total of $160,000 from the two sources) provided by Chenega Logistics will support two post-doctoral researchers who will split their time between Chenega Logistics in Sioux Falls and DSU in Madison.

“We just placed advertisement for the post-doctoral positions,” Dr. Douglas Knowlton, DSU President, says. “Once we make the hires we’ll work with our staff to finalize details of the research projects.”

The Chenega Logistics/DSU partnership is a “natural fit” for both entities since technology is at the center of their activities. DSU has been recognized regionally and nationally as a leader in the integration of technology in the learning experiences of all their students. In every area of study learning is enhanced by access to cutting-edge information.

DSU offers six masters and one doctoral program. Approximately 1,000 DSU undergrads are involved in technology related majors. Other DSU programs are heavily infused with technology.

“Dakota State is South Dakota’s ‘New University for a New Era and we take this role very seriously,” Knowlton notes. “Information assurance is a strong focus for us. We’ve been designated as the lead institution in South Dakota’s implementation of electronic health records in the state, which fits with our focus on health information technology. We’re also a leader in computer game design. Partnering with Chenega Logistics is important to them. It’s also important to us as a major connection to private enterprise.”

Dan Hindbjorgen, Director of Commercial Solutions at Chenega Logistics says DSU’s recognition as a nationwide leader in information assurance and cyber security research provides his company with a highly valuable resource.

“We eventually hope to gain business activity out of this partnership,” Hindbjorgen states. “DSU hopes to gain opportunity for students to stay in the state and work in good paying technology jobs. All in all, it’s a good partnership.”

Established in 2006, Chenega Logistics, LLC was founded with the purpose of – and has remained committed to – bringing information technology careers and opportunities to the Sioux Falls region. Chenega Logistics, LLC (CL), started as a joint-venture between Chenega Corporation and Horizon Lines in 2006. Since May 2010, CL has been wholly-owned by Chenega and today is a fully compliant, certified 8(a) company, offering services in a wide range of core competencies, including information technology, software development, systems integration, intelligence, and cyber solutions.

Chenega Corporation is an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) founded in 1974 in accordance with the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act (ANCSA), which allows special provisions for tribally-owned corporations.

Chenega Logistics is headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD with additional locations in the Washington, D.C. metro area, Tampa, FL and Anchorage, AK. PB Loretta Sorensen, Owner, Prairie Hearth Publishing, LLC. sorensenlms@gmail.com. prairiebizmag.com

25

Innovation Week

New frontiers for economic development Innovation is a vital cornerstone of economic development. New concepts push the frontiers of knowledge and bring positive results.

J. BRUCE RAFERT NDSU PROVOST 26 Prairie Business

January 2012

hat important ingredient to business success will be celebrated at the third annual Innovation Week at North Dakota State University Jan. 23-27. It’s an opportunity to emphasize the value of innovation and technology to our business community.

“Innovation Week showcases our activities at NDSU and allows us to bring in people with new ideas to brainstorm and share,” explains NDSU Provost J. Bruce Rafert, noting innovation and leading research are high priorities at NDSU. The Carnegie Foundation lists the institution among the top 108 research universities in the nation.

A main feature of Innovation Week is the “Innovation Challenge ’12” competition.

Teams of NDSU students compete for cash prizes as they present creative research and development projects underway on campus and at the NDSU Research and Technology Park.

In addition, renowned businessman Tom Walter will present the keynote address. A serial entrepreneur from the Chicago area, Walter has started 29 ventures and acquired three more. He is a member of the Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

“We live in a global knowledge economy and higher education is on the front lines,” Rafert says. “At NDSU, innovation is everywhere.”

Rafert, who joined NDSU in July, is a nationally recognized astrophysicist and former vice provost at Clemson University, Clemson, S.C. He suggests a fourth mission is evolving for land-grant universities, with economic development joining the traditional missions of teaching, research and service. According to Rafert, higher education has moved from being seen as a “public good” to an enabler that helps the United States maintain its prominence in the world.

He sees Innovation Week as a chance to put the spotlight on outstanding, innovative students at NDSU. “Our students continue to be thought leaders and global citizens,” Rafert states. “We land-grant universities have been innovating for 100 years. In a world where food, energy and health are becoming major issues, it’s a great and exciting time to be in North Dakota and at NDSU.” For a schedule of Innovation Week activities, visit http://www.ndsuresearchpark.com/about/Pages/Events.aspx.

NDSU Provost Bruce Rafert is the former vice provost at Clemson University. A professor of physics and astronomy, he has a research portfolio of more than $9 million in multidisciplinary research activities, spanning industry, state and federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Park Service, United States Air Force and the private sector.

Rafert also was chief scientist at the U.S. Air Force Malabar Test Facility and was the founding director of the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy Observatory, located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

He earned his bachelor’s degree at Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, and doctorate in astronomy at the University of Florida, Gainesville. PB

T

Meeting future entrepreneurs Future entrepreneurs will be meeting other future entrepreneurs at the third annual Innovation Week on the North Dakota State University campus in Fargo, N. D. on Jan. 23-27. he #1 thing entrepreneurs seek when starting a new company is not lawyers, accountants, or even finances….its other entrepreneurs,” states James Burgum, co-founder of Arthur Ventures, a venture capital firm located in Fargo, N.D. Burgum’s experience includes angel investing, venture capital, government policy, international trade, agribusiness and entrepreneurship. “Creating the right environment will help foster an entrepreneurial culture and it’s great to see NDSU working to facilitate that.”

Another innovator, Howard Dahl, President and CEO of Amity Technology in Fargo, believes one of the greatness of America is the passion to make thing better, innovate and create. “For us, if we don’t continue to innovate, we will get run over and lose out in the long turn,” says Dahl, whose Amity Technology is a fourth generation company that follows in the proud tradition of a family that has been involved in the manufacturing business in North Dakota for more than 60 years. Howard and Brian Dahl, the founders of Amity, are grandsons of E. G. Melroe, the founder of the Melroe Company, which developed the Bobcat Loader. “You have to have continuous innovation to succeed.”

This year, Innovation Week is being expanded to include an innovation competition, Innovation Challenge 12. Student teams will compete on the innovative work being done on campus. Students will prepare poster and oral presentation for judging. Criteria for both the poster and presentation will focus on the attached areas of innovation. Three prizes will also be awarded: First Prize - $5,000, Second Prize - $2,500, Third Prize - $1,000.

Tom Walter, the Chief Culture Officer (CEO) of Tasty Catering, a corporate catering company based out of Chicago, Ill., will address the students. He notes that innovation and technology is critically important because market place changes drastically. “You have to stay on top of innovation and technology,” says Walter, who has been in business for 40 years. The company is now being directed by younger employees who understand market change, technology and innovation and bring it into the workplace, Walter comments.

Because of his involvement with young entrepreneurs, including mentoring young people, Walter’s talk will focus on different aspects of entrepreneurship.

He also says that innovation and technology means survivability and sustainability for business. “If you don’t understand technology and innovation within your market and how to apply technology to your product and organization, you will not survive,” he says.

Dahl believes the week-long event will allow students to “rub shoulders” with business people who have been innovative in their business. “This really gives some inspiration to students. I think it can provide encouragement for them to see that they can do this too,” Dahl adds. “The biggest value to the students is inspiration.”

Burgum agrees that businesses need to stay on the forefront of innovation and technology. “Technology can disrupt, it can enable, and it can be a major competitive advantage for businesses. Because of that, innovation and technology needs to be front and center as part of business strategies,” he states. PB

T

TOM WALTER CEO, TASTY CATERING

Schedule of events ➤ Tuesday, Jan. 24: A kick-off Breakfast with President Dean Bresciani will be held at Richard H. Barry Hall. During the breakfast, the innovation teams will be available to discuss their projects and answer questions. Some members of the innovation teams will also be interviewed during a morning radio show.

➤ Wednesday, Jan. 25: Oral presentations for Innovation Challenge 12 will be held from 10 a.m. to noon in the Century Theatre in the Memorial Union. The entire campus and the public are invited to attend the oral presentations.

➤ Wednesday, Jan. 25: Poster judging will take place between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Prairie Rose room in the Memorial Union. The entire campus and public are invited view the posters.

➤ Thursday, Jan. 26: The awards ceremony and keynote speaker will be held in the Great Room in the Memorial Union beginning at 4 p.m. The keynote speaker is Tom Walter. Walter is the CEO of Chicagoarea Tasty Catering and is a serial entrepreneur. He has been a business owner for over 40 years and has started 29 companies and acquired three. Walter is a national speaker on topics that include leadership, employee engagement, entrepreneurship and brand image. After the keynote speaker, the awards ceremony will conclude the activities for the week.

The entire campus and public is invited to attend the awards ceremony.

For additional information on Innovation Week 2012, go to: http://www.ndsuresearchpark.com/about/Pages/events.aspx

prairiebizmag.com

27

Innovation

Unique innovation keeps candles burning

Driving through Arkansas, Aaron and Sara McWilliams stopped at a winery and noticed wax taking shape around bottles. As the family continued their travels, Aaron McWilliams started to hypothesize about how to control the flow of wax to make the wax take any shape it would need to take. hat started the McWilliams conducting several tests before finding the right ingredient for starting Spiral Light Candle, a candle with a twist, in their garage in Hillsboro, ND. “After trial and error, we came up with the spiral candle,” Aaron McWilliams states. “It took awhile to repeat that success.”

Sara and Aaron McWilliams have developed Spiral Light self-filling candles out of their Spiral Light self-filling candles when first lit uses the garage in Hillsboro, ND. (Photo by Alan Van Ormer) horizontal wick on the upper edge. The candle burns around the hollow center with the wooden wick allowing the wax to drain gearing up for the tradeshow season in the first quarter of 2012. inward, filling the center. The horizontal spiraling wick self McWilliams notes that a 10,000 square foot facility with rail extinguishes when the inside wax level reaches the top of the spiral access in Hillsboro has been located. The plan is to move to that to prevent any spilling. It then creates a solid pillar candle. location in May. “This space will give us the capacity to offer 20-30 The spiral candle is patent-pending. Earlier this year, the first full time jobs in the summer and make our products available 600 small candles were delivered to a trade show in Philadelphia, internationally,” he states.

PA, where 15 clients took a chance on the product. The spiral Development of a new website is also underway. candles are now in more than 45 stores across the country. The “If we manufacture in Hillsboro, our overhead goes down candles are available in two styles, eight colors, and six different because there is less cost being in North Dakota,” he explains. “It is scents including lavender, hot apple pie, lemon grass, frankincense, also more stable.” scandal wood, and cinnamon.

The major challenge in producing the candles is managing McWilliams focuses on the Christian market, as well as shipping growth and knowing how fast and when to grow. “The demand for to pharmacies and flower shops. Sixty percent of those who the product isn’t a problem and selling the product isn’t a problem,” purchase the candles are independent Christian retailers, according he explains. “We’ve overcome so many hurdles in manufacturing.” to the McWilliams.

PB “What we have noticed is that they selling out very quickly,” "Editor's Note: The article entitled 'Unique innovation keeps McWilliams states. “It is not something they have seen before.” candles burning' is being reprinted in its entirety because the photo of In their garage space on an acreage west of Hillsboro, three the candles pertaining to our December story in the Red River Valley employees are able to make 25 candles a day. Currently, the section are not the type of candles that Spirit Light Candle provides its production has increased to more than 100 products per day. The customers." Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag.com company is also looking for two more employees to expand capacity

T

28 Prairie Business

January 2012

CS

Energy

Region packed with

energy potential

Energy sources are abundant in the three state region of North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota. hile all three states dabble in many different parts of the energy industries, South Dakota is developing an ethanol industry, North Dakota has a strength in coal, and western Minnesota is using its wind to develop that resource.

In Minnesota, at the start of last year, the state had almost 2,200 megawatts installed of wind energy capacity, according to the Minnesota wind facts website. The current wind energy capacity under construction is an estimated 297 megawatts and the total wind potential is 657 billions of kWh per year.

The impact of the recession has affected wind developers and turbine equipment manufacturers with low energy prices and low demand for new energy capacity. Due to the buyer’s market,

W

30 Prairie Business

January 2012

the cost of new wind power is competitive with conventional fossil fuel energy generation and can be an attractive way for utilities to hedge their energy costs.

A big issue is the Federal Production Tax Credit and whether or not it will be extended or allowed to lapse. Another challenge in Minnesota is addressing strengthening the capacity and reliability of the transmission grid to bring wind-generated power to needed areas.

SOUTH DAKOTA’S ETHANOL INDUSTRY When Hunter Roberts, South Dakota’s Director of Energy Policy came on board 4 ½ years ago, ethanol was in the boon and new plants were being constructed. But then, in 2009 during

330 sunshine-filled days 200 area golf courses 5-star resorts & spas 1 great lifestyle 0 snow shovels

Let’s find your place in the “Valley of the Sun.” Call or e-mail me today!

Jim O’Radnik, UND, ‘66 Your Arizona Realtor Jim@AzJim.com www.AzJim.com

1.800.820.7644 Toll Free

prairiebizmag.com

31

CS

Energy

the economic downturn, the price of ethanol dropped and corn was expensive, during plant production.

“The downturn caused the industry to take a more conservative focused approach. It caused numerous consolidations and acquisitions ultimately making many of our ethanol plants stronger and more viable.”

Today, Roberts notes that the ethanol industry directly employs 900 people in South Dakota, with many working in rural jobs in smaller communities that add another value to those towns.

“The ethanol industry is creating opportunities and wealth.

This is especially important in rural agriculture communities,” Roberts states. “The industry is helping create competition for producer products, giving producers more leeway to invest in the ethanol industry and other business ventures which in turn creates more jobs.”

It is estimated that 25 percent of those jobs are tied to POET in Sioux Falls, S. D. “It is a nice feather in our hat for the state to have POET as one of our companies,” Roberts says. “POET is the world’s largest ethanol producer and is widely regarded as a progressive company that is leading technological advances in the industry.”

Trends show that at least near-term the ethanol industry should remain profitable, Roberts notes, adding that South Dakota is focusing on how to increase demand for ethanol products. The state is also looking at ways to make people aware of ethanol and support ethanol.

The major challenge is federal policy, as well as volatility in commodity markets that provides concerns for those in the ethanol industry.

“The ethanol industry is certainly large and important to South Dakota,” Roberts says. “The state supports ethanol, and reasonable regulations, but believes strongly in staying out of the way of private enterprise. To that end, state efforts are focused on incentivizing infrastructure build out to help meet the growing demand for ethanol products.”

The state is nearing the launch of an expanded program to increase blender pump availability in South Dakota.

Roberts says the next important phase for the ethanol industry is cellulosic. “POET has a pilot plant in Scotland but that needs to be fully developed to provide more of an energy boom to the Midwest,” he says. “The other part is bio-products. There is a great research opportunity to identify how ethanol products can be used more diversely – especially in product development for other industries.”

NORTH DAKOTA’S COAL INDUSTRY North Dakota’s four lignite mines produce about 30 million tons of coal every year. About 80 percent is used to generate electricity and the other 20 percent is used to make synthetic natural gas and other valuable byproducts such as fertilizer. The electricity serves about two million customers in North Dakota and surrounding states. More than 50 percent of the electricity generated in North Dakota is used in Minnesota.

The state of North Dakota is one of 11 "clean air" states, which means it meets all of the federal government's clean air standards.

32 Prairie Business

January 2012

The state receives more than $90 million in tax revenues every year from the lignite industry, and the mines and plants represent some of the best paying jobs in the state with salaries averaging about $80,000.

“Both the mines and the power plants are constantly working at being cleaner and more efficient. For the mines, this means improving production levels based on employee levels,” states Steve Van Dyke, Vice President – Communications for the Lignite Energy Council. “Some of the lignite today is buried deeper than lignite that was mined 10 or 20 years ago, so the mines need to increase their efficiency to keep production and reclamation levels equal to or better than in years past.”

One major challenge is that the lignite industry is heavily regulated by a number of different federal, state and local entities.

“Keeping up with changing regulations is a major challenge.

Regulations are a cost of doing business so the mines work to ensure that all the regulations are met as a regular part of everyday mining activities,” Van Dyke explains.

The state of North Dakota and the lignite industry formed a research and development partnership in the late 1980s that is helping the industry operate more cleanly, efficiently and economically. The state money comes from a tax on each ton of coal produced. This money is leveraged with investments from other sources, including the utilities and mining companies, to solve challenges facing the industry. Since 1987, the state has invested more than $60 million in lignite research funds. Total industry investment for the 150-plus R&D projects is in excess of $570 million. The continuation of the R&D partnership is critical as the industry faces new regulatory challenges.

The lignite industry also continues to provide an annual teachers seminar every June that provides educators in North Dakota and surrounding states with information about the industry that can be taken back into the classroom to provide real life educational opportunities for their students. Approximately 130 teachers take part in the seminars every year.

“The lignite industry has helped diversify the state's economy.

The industry provides direct employment to about 4,000 people and indirect employment to about 23,000,” Van Dyke says.

“Generation and Transmission Cooperatives (Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Minnkota Power Cooperative and Great River Energy) account for about 90 percent of the lignite-based generation in the state. So the vast majority of the electricity generated by lignite is used by rural electric cooperatives who serve farms and ranches in the Upper Midwest.”

Van Dyke notes that compared to the vagaries of agriculture and oil and gas production, the lignite industry has been the "Old Faithful" of the North Dakota economy. “The coal production has been fairly stable since 1988. The number of jobs and the wages has boosted the state's economy along with annual taxes paid by the mines and plants,” he says. “Finally, the industry continues to produce affordable and reliable electricity in an environmentally compatible manner. The reclamation at the mines has won several national awards and the plants meet all federal ambient air quality standards.” PB Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag.com

CS

Biotech

More biotech activity occurring in the region For some who are investing in biotechnology, it is all about healing, feeding, and fueling the world. And that is what is happening with several companies in North Dakota, South Dakota and western Minnesota. “

here is good momentum and more and more biotech activity,” states Michael Chambers, President and CEO of Aldevron in Fargo, N. D. “Small companies are growing up and there are 100s of small biotech companies looking for new homes.”

And many believe that biotech activity can occur right here in this region. This is the reason that the North Dakota State University Center for Biopharmaceutical Research and Production has been started in Fargo, N. D. The major goals are to create biotech jobs in North Dakota, foster business development, provide support for companies and initiate workforce development programs.

“We’re building a group and trying to develop an economic engine of creating biotechnology jobs,” says A. Satish Menon, Associate Director and Research Professor for NDSU Center for Biopharmaceutical Research and Production. “In North Dakota, there are very few biotechnology companies. This area can be developed because North Dakota has a strong agricultural sector. Agriculture can drive biotechnology.”

T

ALDEVRON DEVELOPING VACCINES Aldevron was one of the very first biotechnology companies in North Dakota.

The company‘s DNA technology is used to engineer new organisms or design new medicine or plants. Aldevron is known for manufacturing the world’s first DNA vaccine for West Nile Virus. Since then Aldevron has worked with other companies to develop novel drugs. The largest part of the business involves health care.

“Relative to other industries biotechnology is small, but it is growing,” Chambers says. “We can have a much larger impact in the coming years and North Dakota can play a major role in the field.”

It could take as many as 8-10 years to develop a new drug and the companies must go through various processes including discovery, the pre-clinical phase, toxicology phase and three other phases before the drug is developed.

And in order for biotechnology to flourish in this region, Chambers believes it takes the right people and giving them a platform where they can do good science.

And the Center in Fargo is one of those platforms.

Chambers notes there are at least two challenges. One is that North Dakota has a perceived quality of life that is different than other parts of the country. Second, there is a challenge in getting the story out and making sure people know that biotechnology companies can have great success in the state.

There are also strengths. First, there is a network that people can tap into.

“Companies moving to our state can find critical resources,” Chambers says. “For instance, there are regional investment groups that are interested in biotech. People can find capital here.”

Chambers notes the most important factor is the extremely high quality of employees to be found in places like Fargo. This is due in large part to the regional universities.

A pond filter canister employed as an anaerobic fermentation chamber.

34 Prairie Business

January 2012

EPITOPIX FOCUSES ON VACCINES FOR ANIMALS Epitopix is an affiliate of Life-Science innovations. The company started as the laboratory and R&D division of Willmar Poultry Company, a large, family-owned turkey breeding and hatchery operation founded in Willmar in the 1950’s. The SRP® vaccine technology was originally developed to help reduce or eliminate salmonella and E. coli in turkeys. In 2002, the company separated the biotech functions into a new company in order to branch out into vaccines for cattle and other species of food animals.

The Epitopix SRP technology was developed by an agriculture company for “feeding” purposes, but a spin-off biotech company (Syntiron) was started to develop a technology for making human vaccines (“healing”).

“We have a special interest in vaccines which contribute to human food safety, but we are also working on multiple vaccines to fight animal diseases, improving health and well-being, and reducing reliance on antibiotics in food production,” states Jim Sandstrom, General Manager, Epitopix. “For example, our cattle vaccine against salmonella reduces sickness especially in dairy cattle, and also reduces environmental contamination by one of the most important bacterial species causing food-borne illness in humans. Epitopix has invested tens of millions of dollars into developing these SRP vaccines and as a result the company has grown to 50 employees even during a difficult economic period.”

Epitopix has entered a business partnership with Pfizer Animal Health to market the E. coli-SRP vaccine. “It takes a company with the resources, expertise, and relationships of Pfizer to complete the investment began by Willmar Poultry,” Sandstrom notes. “The beef industry includes a complex chain of independent and sophisticated business interests, which will require coordination before wide-spread adoption of this biotechnology is possible.”

Sandstrom believes that 10 years into the future, food safety through biotechnology will become commonplace and broadly accepted, possibly even demanded, by producers, consumers, and even by federal regulatory agencies.

“New biotech products will reduce the risk of food borne pathogens and antibiotic resistance, and will increase food animal well-being which is a huge concern to the average urbanite these days,” he says.

“Biotech applications in animal genetics will improve food quality and production efficiency, allowing more food to be produced with less impact on the environment.”

refineries” will permit decentralization of fuel production. “The decentralization of fuel and biochemicals production may lead to the proliferation of networks of “cottage industries” and expand opportunities for self-employment,” he states.

Butanol, a valuable industrial solvent, is a four-carbon alcohol that is superior to ethanol as a replacement for gasoline, or as a supplement to gasoline or diesel fuel. It can be mixed in any ratio with gasoline, without significant engine modification, and its energy content is closer to gasoline, Butler notes. Butanol is less flammable than ethanol, having a lower vapor pressure and a higher flash point than ethanol. Butanol has less affinity for water than ethanol, which allows it to be shipped and stored via existing infrastructures (tanks and pipelines) that are used for gasoline.

GAEA, Inc. (Genetic Architecture, Education, and Analysis) was established in 1995 to focus on the isolation and engineering of microbes to meet energy requirements. Butler started work on energy-efficient microbial systems in order to develop a distributed system of local fuel and chemical production. He has discovered a continuous system for butanol production and other high value products, according to the GAEA Biofuels website.

GAEA also provides molecular biology services to plant and animal scientists around the world. PB Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag.com

GAEA BIOFUELS DEVELOPING BUTANOL PRODUCTION SYSTEM In Brookings, S. D., Eugene Butler is developing a butanol production system from a laboratory scale (2 liter culture volume) to a 200 liter culture volume in order to demonstrate its utility for production of practical amounts of biofuel.

Butler, President of GAEA, believes that the development of small-scale “bioprairiebizmag.com

35

CS

Health Care

No one is sure what will happen with health care exchanges One thing is certain about health care exchanges.

For example, Minnesota has started health exchange o one in the industry knows for sure what will happen technical work groups that are looking at such things as in the next two years. governance, financing and IT and operations. Minnesota has “It remains to be seen what will be happening in 2012,” also set up a website providing information about health states Cindy Morrison, Vice President of Public Policy at Sanford insurance exchanges.

Health. “Almost three quarters of the states have taken first steps In addition, South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard appointed and laid the cornerstones to be prepared for state exchanges.” the South Dakota Health Insurance Exchange Task Force – If there are no changes to the Health Care Law, states are comprised legislators, state officials, individuals from key private required to have something in place or something available to agencies – to prepare a recommendation on state health citizens by 2014. They must be certified for operation by the exchange. The task force has yet to United States Department of Health and determine if they would recommend Human Services by Jan. 1, 2013 and the state developing an exchange. fully operational by Jan. 1, 2014.

The America’s Health Insurance A health care exchange provides a If there are no Plans (AHIP) supports creating a market place for consumers to shop for seamless, simplified system of and purchase insurance. changes to the coordinated eligibility and enrollment Darla Pollman-Rogers, who is an in Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) and attorney and contract lobbyist for Health Care Law, insurance affordability programs several health insurance groups, out of including advanced payments of the her Riter Rogers Wattier and Northrup states are required premium tax credit, cost-sharing in Pierre, S. D., says it is impossible to to have something reductions, Medicaid, the Children’s predict how health care exchanges will Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and change the way business will be in place or any State-established Basic Health conducted.

Program, if applicable, according to a “If we would implement an something available letter drafted in October. exchange, there would be a potential for to citizens by 2014.

In the letter, among the concerns some changes how business is done,” she the AHIP address are workability of says. “One of our instructions from the eligibility determinations; ensure governor was that if we had an exchange smooth transitions between coverage it would not take the place of private programs through the use of marketplace, rather the goal would structured eligibility determinations and redeterminations; and provide more exchange options for consumers. There would be designing an eligibility determination and redetermination opportunity for different products within an exchange.” process that does not increase costs for consumers and At its simplest form, Morrison says that a health care purchasers. exchange is a marketplace for consumers to shop for and Pollman-Rogers also asks how can you begin to look at purchase insurance. “They would compare policies by different development of a plan inside the exchange if you don’t know companies,” she states. “The benefits will be standardized so what the essential benefits are going to be. “That hasn’t been consumers can easily compare cost and quality.” determined yet,” she states. “Another big issue is the cost with The law allows the states to design their own health care establishing an exchange.” PB exchanges. An estimated 48 states have received 1 million dollar planning grants to look at creation of statewide exchange. States Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag.com have also started planning.

N

36 Prairie Business

January 2012

Investing back into western North Dakota Western North Dakota is finding that those who have ties and a love of North Dakota are investing back into their home state.

t is a good investment,” states George Gaukler, President of Valley Realty in Valley City, N. D. “In order to grow the economy we need to put money back into North Dakota.”

Gaukler has been in the construction development business since 1964 and does a lot of development throughout Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. He was born in Lidgerwood, N. D., attended Valley City State Jim and Shawn Lund University (graduating in 1962), got his real estate license development in Ray N. D., WeDak is constructing a 100-unit and opened offices in Fargo and Valley City. He built his first mobile home park. apartment houses 35 years ago. Today, he manages more than Lund was born and raised in Minot, N. D. His parents’ family 3,000 apartment houses and commercial properties. are all from the Williston area, so he spent time there as a child.

In western North Dakota he constructed 48 units in 1984 and “With family still living in the area, I’ve stayed in touch still operates them. He will have built 360 units by next spring. throughout the years, making trips back to visit. I moved to Fargo These include 1-3 bedrooms, 36-plex housing units. Gaukler and went into the transportation industry, which I sold out of works with the city of Williston renting units to them for housing. about 12 years ago,” he states. “I then began my successful real “It is a business transaction,” he explains. “They do need estate career in residential sales. Over time, The Jim Lund Team housing and we are able to provide housing. We put the first ones has developed into a up there when no one else was doing it.” team of buyers As for the future, Gaukler states that what people don’t agents with me and understand that is if you take drilling out of the equation, it takes my wife, Shawn, as five people to service the life of that well. “They will be drilling the listing agents.” over 1,000 wells in the Williston trade area this year,” he explains.

His father was an “That means 5,000 new employees will be needed. That doesn’t independent oil count the other supply people. The wells will run from 25-50 producer and died in years, so this is long term growth.

1984 from a stress “This is not going to come and go,” he adds. “We will manage related heart attack 500 units in Williston by next spring.” at 57. “After Jim Lund, who was born in western North Dakota, but now becoming asset rich lives in Fargo, N. D., has a love for his western roots. “The people and cash poor from are survivors – they get knocked down and get back up again with the last crash in the a smile on their faces,” he says. “oil patch”, he told It was five years ago when Lund ventured into two different me then “the oil is entities, C.A.M., LLC (Combined Asset Management) and WeDak, there and no cheaper LLC. C.A.M. consists of approximately 90 single family dwellings place to store it.” in the Fargo-Moorhead area and WeDak was birthed when he Now that daily purchased an abandoned 225 unit mobile home park in Williston. consumption of oil One and a half years later the company purchased a 70-unit park is up, plus in Tioga. C.A.M. currently has lots with infrastructure in the technology to find following areas: approximately 150 lots in Williston, Dickinson, oil is so much better, Belfield and currently constructing a 58-unit single family

I

George Gaukler

38 Prairie Business Energy

January 2012

but he felt it would be a good investment.

As for North Dakotans investing back into western North Dakota, Lund says in the 1980s, the voting population was on the eastern side of the state and North Dakota was so quick to vote in taxes on the oil companies. “I feel all of the publicity the western side gets now is very important to make all of us realize what it contributes,” he explains. “Just look at our state’s financial status!”

Another North Dakota native, Jeff Stockert, who along with his partner, Ron Rivett, have been hotel developers, owners and operators since 1993, is investing in western North Dakota. They are developing 64-unit extend-stay suite hotels in Dickinson, Minot and Williston. MyPlace, the newly-launched economy extended-stay brand, is slated to open first in Dickinson in February.

“There is clearly a demand for quality, consistent lodging in these three vibrant communities experiencing tremendous growth today and into the foreseeable future,” Stockert says.

Stockert grew up in Dickinson and moved to Aberdeen, S. D. in 1986. “I still have family in Dickinson, so it is kind of neat to go back to invest in my home town,” he says. “We’ve done hotel projects in Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Utah, Arizona and California which makes it interesting to note that none of those prominent states are experiencing the economic success that North Dakota is.”

Jeff Stockert

40 Prairie Business Energy

January 2012

e have permanently placed solar slim film to the roof of the trailer. The underbelly of the trailer hosts the necessary components to transform the solar power to AC electric power to run the compressor that cools the trailer,” explains Kathy Baty, who along with her husband, Larry, have been driving truck together over the road for the past 6 ½ years. “With the use of solar electric power, there are no emissions released into the air. Clean Air!” The Batys have developed a platform technology for utilizing solar energy to power over the road refrigerated trailers. Currently, the refrigerated trucking industry uses diesel powered refrigerated systems.

The platform technology enables the creation of products that support present or future development. “We are expecting our invention of the solar electric power to assist in transforming the trucking industry by using less foreign oil and also helping with the elimination of emissions into the air,” Kathy Baty says.

Baty notes that this is the same compressor that is run by the diesel motor. It enables the reefer unit to properly cool from solar the same as from diesel. The front of the trailer hosts a soft start component to help with the starting of the electric motor.

South Dakota W couple develops solar energy trailer “

A Trent, S. D. truck-driving couple is using solar energy to assist in cooling their trailer as they travel across the country.

S SHAPING HAPI NG IDEAS. I DEAS. ENGINEERING RESULTS. E NG I N E E R I NG R ESU LTS. S Civil Design Inc. is the rregion’s egion’s pr premiere emiere civil engineering design and land surveying surveying firm.

Our dedicated team of professionals professionals has the knowledge and expertise to see your your project project through thr ough from from concept to completion, while consistently exceeding your your expectations. expectations.

ENGINEERS & S ENGINEERS SURVEYORS U RVEYO R S SShaping h a p i n g Ideas.

I d e a s . Engineering E n g i n e e r i n g Results.

Results.

In the September 2011 issue of Construction Digital, CDI was named fifth in a list of the ten best engineering firms worldwide.

c i v i l d e s . c om Brookings Br ookings | 605 605 6696 96 3200 Sioux Falls | 605 605 33 3366 33087 087

TTransportation ranspor r tation

|

W Wastewater astewater

|

Athletics

|

Bridges

|

Storm Water Water

|

Municipal prairiebizmag.com

41

The process allows solar to create electricity and an electric motor will run the compressor to cool the reefer unit the same as the diesel unit does.

Diesel has always been the way of refrigeration for the trucking industry, Baty says. The cost of the diesel is now at $4$5 a gallon. On an average, a trailer use 20-30 gallons of diesel a week, depending on the load.

“By adding 50’ x 8’ of solar panels to the top of a reefer trailer, it will take in enough energy to run the compressor on the reefer unit for up to one half of the time the trailer is being cooled,” Baty explains. “I believe that in the future, this solar energy on the roof of the trailer can be implemented to usage on the tractor attached to it for cooling and heating the tractor from an electrical source run from solar.”

Baty notes that the solar industry in California and throughout the United States has exploded in the past few years.

“This industry is exploding because of the large pushes from Washington to make our country less dependent on foreign oils and to improve our air qualities,” Baty says.

Larry Baty has been driving for more than 30 years. Kathy Baty joined him 6 ½ years ago. The couple has four grown daughters with families of their own, so Kathy Baty left her office job to join her husband on the road.

“I personally have always been fascinated with solar energy,” Baty says. “I have watched the solar industry growth along the freeways, from billboards lit by solar to solar fields to generate additional electricity for communities.”

The Batys had a regular pickup for produce at a business in Los Angeles. “At their dock, there was a trailer plugged into electricity. As Larry did investigating into this trailer, it had its diesel motor along with an electric motor,” she says. “On our way home that trip, as I was putting in some windshield time, and a thought crossed my mind as why wouldn’t solar run the electric motor that was on that semi trailer. With the ever changing industry, we have had to do many emission upgrades.

“As you drive along the freeways, there are numerous truck stops that you see the tops of trailers baking in the sun, if they had solar panels on them, they would be collecting a lot of sun power,” she continues. “This would implement green energy, lesser usage of foreign oils, eliminate emissions, and help to

create jobs.”

Using her laptop, Baty started investigating into the solar industry and if this quest would be possible. “After many weeks of research, I learned that yes it would be possible. I became very passionate about the idea,” she says. “We asked around to some of our friends, and they all thought it was a great idea.”

The Batys then took the idea to the Enterprise Institute at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S. D. The Batys also approached shareholders, who provided the start up funding. The Batys then started Be Solar, because as Kathy Baty states, “I just wanted something simple and to the point.”

The Batys have just one

North Dakota Minnesota Michigan Missouri Alberta

Barr’s 500 engineers, scientists, and technical specialists provide engineering and environmental consulting services to clients in industries such as power, mining, refining, and manufacturing, as well as with government agencies, attorneys, and natural-resourcemanagement organizations.

resourceful. naturally.

800.632.2277 www.barr.com 701.255.5460

42 Prairie Business Energy

January 2012

unit in operation, so have not made that large of an industry in the solar industry. “The possibilities of impact on the solar industry are tremendous. There are approximately three million trailers on the roads, in shipyards, and at docks,” Baty says. “If each of these trailers were equipped with our solar innovation, the solar industry would create many jobs as the demand of solar panels would increase tremendously, not to mention these trailers are replaced on a regular basis.”

Baty says at this time the product is working wonderfully and has great potential for this country. “My husband and I have researched, developed, tested this product and have a patent pending,” she says. “We have taken an idea and created a very valuable product. Our challenge at this time is to find an investor or partner to take Be Solar to its fullest potential.”

As for trends, Baty states there are all kinds of lighting by solar energy, from street lights to yard decor lights and to the larger scale, from bill board lighting to Solar Electric Generating fields just outside of Barstow California, Primm, Nevada and Bakersfield, California. “We are seeing more and more of the solar products all around us.

“Be Solar is a 100 percent American Company. Everything was designed and developed locally. Be Solar has what Washington has been shouting for,” she adds. “Our Innovation is currently patent pending and we are in search for Investor Angels to take our company to its fullest potential.”

Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag.com

prairiebizmag.com

43

Community Spotlight

Huron, SD

Turning the corner When Dakota Provisions came to Huron, S.D., in 2005, many business leaders will say that was the turning point for the community.

HURON STATE FAIR “It has generated excitement,” states Jim Borszich, Executive Director of the Greater Huron Development Corporation.

Since the 1980s, Huron had seen a decline in its population.

However, that changed after the 2010 Census when the community, located in central South Dakota, saw almost a 6 percent increase in population to almost 12,600 people.

In the late 1990s, Huron had a major layoff and loss of jobs.

However, the community, which has a history with the meat packing industry, turned it around when Dakota Provisions opened its facility east of Huron on Highway 14.

Borszich says this new industry revitalized Huron. For example, the city of Huron took the former Huron University and Si Tanka University campus and is putting together a $15 million project to build a large aquatic park. Community members have raised more than $4 million of that sum. In addition, the community is using buildings on the former campus for enhancing higher education opportunities.

“We’re becoming more revitalized (a community) that has a changing of the guard,” Borszich explains. “People are a lot more active. There are more risks being taken than you used to see.”

The main goal is retaining and recruiting a workforce.

And Dakota Provisions has been one of the leaders in retaining jobs and recruiting people to Huron. The turkey-processing plant has more than 800 employees, processes 100,000 head of turkeys per week and produces 1.2 million pounds a week of Ready to Eat product. A 70,000 square foot expansion is slated for 2012 which would push Ready to Eat production to 3 million pounds per week 44 Prairie Business

January 2012

and add an additional 225 employees.

“I don’t think Huron has experienced the serious economic issues that the rest of the country has,” says Kenneth R. Rutledge, President and CEO of Dakota Provisions. Rutledge is concerned about a housing shortage in the community. “We have formed James Valley Housing and are looking at finding ways to bring lower cost housing into Huron. It is a major issue, but it is fixing itself. People are beginning to step up and are seeing the need for additional housing.”

NEWCOMERS SUPPORTING THE AG COMMUNITY The seven-year-old Lankota Group is a privately-owned company with distinctive product lines, each with a distinctive market.

“Growth has been phenomenal,” says co-owner Marvie Tschetter, adding that the company’s success is based on providing a quality product, not being overly priced, and providing the product when the customer wants it. “We’re blessed to be in the ag market.

Prices for crops are very good.”

Lankota provides a line of agricultural products, primarily for the combine, through a dealership network throughout the United States and Canada. In 2008, the Red Devil Snow Blower product line was added. The snow blower was designed for tractors and skid steers. Another new product is the Lankota Hydro-Boom that is operated via a wireless hand held remote control device. Lankota Industrial Cabs builds the custom cabs for one of a kind application. Lankota Custom Truck & Trailer will customize and

install truck bodies and trailers to meet the customer’s specifications.

Tschetter says that there is a noticeable lack of skilled labor in manufacturing. “I think the fabrication manufacturing companies are struggling to grow because of the lack of skilled labor that is needed to meet the requirements for the job,” Tschetter says.

AgSense is another company that is in business because of what is happening in the agriculture sector. The ag technology company has technology equipment that monitors and controls such items as temperature inside the grain bin and monitors and controls irrigation pivots.

“The technology cuts expenses, increases efficiency, and allows farmers to deploy their workers in a more efficient manner, and helps increase productivity,” says Terry Schiltz, President of AgSense. “South Dakota is an ag state, so therefore even though a technical company, our design and software engineers and technical people understand farming. That gives us a better insight in developing software.”

Schiltz says it helps that Huron is becoming a progressive community with a lot of growth, making it relatively easy to recruit technical people. “Many of our technical people are born in South Dakota and have ties to the community,” Schiltz explains.

The company has seen its growth double each year since 2008. “The biggest thing that I have noticed is that producers are technology savvy and the younger generation is coming back, which means more business for us,” Schiltz says.

TERRY SCHILTZ PRESIDENT, AGSENSE

HEALTH CARE STILL ONE OF THE PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY Huron Regional Medical Center has seen significant changes over the past five years. Five physicians have joined the medical staff. To prepare for these new physicians, HRMC engaged in several construction projects to build or remodel clinic space.

Other significant projects over the last five years include the addition of advanced technology in the medical imaging department including a 64-slice Volume CT scanner in 2007 and a complete software upgrade in June 2010.

Jim White, Chairman of the Hospital Board, says quality health care is a basic need for each person in the community whether it is for routine, preventative care, illness treatment, diagnosis or emergency care. “Health care reform will continue to change the way healthcare is delivered. HRMC is well-positioned to respond to the changes and is focused on staying abreast of the changes and how they impact the organization, and more importantly, the patient,” White states.

Horizon Health Care is opening a new facility in Huron to assist the health care systems with serving the medical underserved and under insured population or those who have no medical service at all.

Currently, there are three exam rooms and two providers, but within the next six to eight months, the new facility will increase to 13 exam rooms, 4-5 providers, two RNs and nursing staff. Horizon Health Care received a grant for more than $200,000 to open up the clinic to serve the underserved population.

“We are a good fit because we bring affordable health care to communities with populations that don’t have access to it. Huron has a population that needs medical care,” states Kristi Atkinson, Marketing Coordinator for Horizon Health Care. “That is where Horizon comes in by focusing on a phase of the population that doesn’t have access to quality health care they can afford.”

JIM BORSZICH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GREATER HURON DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

CHANGES AND CHALLENGES INTO THE FUTURE Many business leaders believe that Huron is experiencing growth and many attribute much of it to Dakota Provisions.

Borszich says when a community brings in a big company like

KENNETH R. RUTLEDGE PRESIDENT/CEO, DAKOTA PROVISIONS prairiebizmag.com

45

Dakota Provisions it generates excitement, but also brings in concerns about handling large growth with a single company. “The community has become very adaptable to the various cultures that are out there,” he notes. “The community as a whole has done a phenomenal job in embracing them and making them part of our community. It has provided revitalization for our overall economy.”

In addition Dakota Provisions has provided other economic development including spin-off companies like Unisource, a packaging company that supplies Dakota Provisions. In addition, Butler Machinery is building a multi-million dollar retail outlet for Caterpillar and TrueNorth Steel has a new growth and vision.

While housing still remains an issue, the Pheasant Run Apartment Complex is being constructed and the James Valley Housing has raised seed money and is working with the Governor’s housing program. To date, seven houses have been built in Huron and at least another five are under construction.

“There are a number of locations for development, but the challenge is finding developers,” Borszich notes. “Developers today who have survived the recession are focused in on where they are at.”

In addition, with the ag industry still doing well, Borszich says it has reflected on Huron’s main street. Gross sales tax is up more than 8 percent. In September alone, sales tax was up 17 percent over a year ago.

“Economically we are doing well,” he states. “The major issue is that we don’t have enough people to fill jobs.”

To help with recruiting employees, Huron has joined Aberdeen, Yankton and Mitchell, as well as other communities, to form the James Valley Initiative Group. The main focus is job retention and

in particular working with companies already in the community so they can remain in the community. In addition, Huron has posts company jobs on the worldwide web.

Schiltz has been in the community since 2004 and notices that culturally, Huron is more diverse than when he first arrived. The population growth is noticeable,” he says. “The business climate seems to be improving with the growth in retail you see going on.”

Overall, Borszich says there has been a significant change in people’s attitudes. “There is a lot of excitement in Huron. We’re cycling through new leadership, young people coming up, and the general feeling of Huron is much stronger and better than has been in many years,” he says. “Therefore, I think people are more excited about investing and living here.” PB Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag.com

HURON EVENT CENTER

Trinity Health offers an experienced, physician-based program for your business including: ! Drug Screening ! Pre-Work Screenings ! Respiratory Clearance ! Ergonomics

! Employment Physicals - DOT - FAA Class 1, 2 and 3 - Travel

! Work Injury Conditioning and Rehabilitation ! Vaccinations ! Sleep Apnea Screening and Testing

Trinity Health’s network of providers features locations across the region positioned conveniently for employees and employers.

Trinity Health Occupational Medicine is ready to work for your company today!

Call 701-857-7830 for more information or go to our website at www.trinityhealth.org/occmed

Howard Reeve, MD

46 Prairie Business

January 2012

" " " " "

It’s hard to identify one specific thing that has called attention to this rural South Dakota community – but only because there are so many to talk about! While most communities across the country have experienced some of the toughest economic times in generations during the past half-decade, Huron has been quietly beating the odds. In the past five years alone the community has witnessed: 10% population growth 33% growth in retail sales An double-digit increase in home values and the housing market Expansion in university and vocational educational opportunities The addition of over 1000 jobs in the private sector

There is no question there’s something special about Huron. If you’re still not convinced, here’s another staggering statistic. In 2011 Huron experienced the largest percentage growth of retail sales of all first class cities in South Dakota. And, the outlook for the future continues to look bright. Developments already underway for 2012 include: " $18 million city-center redevelopment that includes a new water park, a community education and recreation center, and the building of South Dakota’s premier city park " New construction and expansion of multiple agri-business companies " Continued growth in the construction of new single and multi-family housing units " Expanding business climate with 500 additional jobs coming on line in 2012-2013

Whether you are an individual in search of a new career opportunity, a family looking for a place to call home, a small business start-up, or a company looking to expand or relocate - you best take a look at Huron. There’s just something special about this place!

For more information contact the Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau or Greater Huron Development at 800-487-6673 or check us out at www.huronsd.com. prairiebizmag.com

47

Precision Agriculture Action Summit

Highlighting agricultural innovation Agricultural innovation will be one of the highlights at the inaugural Precision Ag Summit on Jan. 16-17 at the North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU) Conference Center in Jamestown, N. D.

his is a very unique event, arguably, the first of its kind in the nation. The focus is specific with all sessions targeted toward agricultural producers,” states Dr. Paul Gunderson, President of the Dakota Precision Agriculture Center located on the Lake Region State College campus in Devils Lake, N. D. “Other meetings have been held that have gathered engineers, soil scientists, human factor ergonomists, etc., however this meeting provides a singular opportunity for producers from the Midwest and high plains to explore these technologies and their potential application within agricultural enterprises. “ Lanny Faleide, President of Agri ImaGIS Technologies in central North Dakota, will emphasis the future of agriculture adapting technology through a mobile environment. “We’re waiting for the ag industry to embrace the mobile phenomenon,” he says. “I am not sure that growers understand where it is going. It will be an interesting change.”

Faleide started Agri ImaGIS Technologies almost 18 years ago. The company’s main focus has been remote sensing, in particular, accessing imagery from satellites and aerial sensors to take images of a farm field to evaluate the growth potential of crops and what is going in that field throughout the year.

“Precision ag is about targeting the different areas in the field by using technology managing areas in most efficient role that you can,” he states.

Dr. Gunderson has had a long career conducting research into the human health impacts of North American agriculture.

He has held tenured faculty posts at Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana) and the School of Public Health within the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Other faculty engagements include The University of WisconsinMadison, and Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. He is currently conducting research into the movement of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and antimicrobials within calcareous high plains soil into groundwater, and the fiscal, environmental, and human health impacts of adoption of precision agriculture technologies within agricultural enterprises.

The Center was established under North Dakota’s Center of Excellence initiative to foster high quality research, respond to private-sector need for product-related research and development, and contribute to a quality environment for

T

“

48 Prairie Business

January 2012

technological job development with North Dakota.

His research suggests DR. PAUL that precision agriculture GUNDERSON technologies, when systematically implemented, can contribute positively to the functioning bottom line of high plains agricultural enterprises, precision agriculture technologies could reduce North Dakota agricultural producer’s use of nitrogen fertilizer by as much as 16 percent, depending on soil, crop, and management conditions, thereby lessening the environmental impact of nitrate movement into our nation’s streams, lakes, and rivers, and precision agriculture technologies hold the promise of reducing fatigue, spinal exposure, and stress associated with day-to-day operation of agricultural equipment (and trucks) within crop field conditions.

Another extension specialist, John Nowatzki, a North Dakota State University Agricultural Machine Systems Specialist, notes that technologies are catching on quickly because of the savings. “Precision ag has an impact on society,” he states. “The impact for farmers is either more profit or convenience. There is also an environmental protection for society.

As an extension specialist, Nowatzki takes the research to the farming community. More than two-thirds of his work is specifically related to agriculture machinery, in particular, focusing on the applications of fertilizers, section control and nozzle control on sprayers for farmers in the field.

“The summit is a good idea. Farmers will attend as long as the information shared is something they don’t already know,” Nowatzki states. “Secondly, they will look at the presenters and see if they are experts in the field. I think that is important because these farmers are well educated and technologically advanced.” PB Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag.com

First-ever

Precision Ag Summit The first ever Red River Valley Research Corridor Precision Agriculture Summit is being co-organized by the Red River Valley Research Corridor, North Dakota Farmers Union, and Lake Region State Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dakota Precision Ag Center and NDSU's Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

Attendees will hear from experts and presenters on a number of topics, including the state of precision agriculture, upcoming trends, technological applications, and opportunities for successful implementation. Attending the summit offers hands on and technical demonstrations of precision agriculture technologies and applications and explanations of applications, procedure and tools designed to lower producer cost and create a more efficient environment for farm production.

Precision agriculture consists of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;artâ&#x20AC;? of exploring options and implementing agronomic practices that are required by a plant species to attain its yield potential in accordance with the spatial and temporal conditions of the field where it is grown. Hence, precision agriculture is not merely about strapping a satellite signal receiving globe on the top of a tractor or combine and coupling that to a microprocessor in the operator station/cab. Rather, precision agriculture is a methodology that, if implemented successfully, integrates three key elements: (1) grower/agronomist information and insight about her/his crop fields and plant species, (2) technology and (3) management practice capable of integrating findings and implementing decisions. The emphasis should not singularly focus upon the technology, but should represent upon the overall methodology.

This event is open to the public and agriculture producers, researchers, agronomists, manufacturers, business leaders, economic developers, and students who are interested in hearing from experts, exchanging ideas, and learning more about precision agriculture technology, methods, and practices are encouraged to attend. PB

prairiebizmag.com

49

Precision Agriculture Action Summit NORTH DAKOTA FARMERS UNION & THE RED RIVER VALLEY RESEARCH CORRIDOR JANUARY 16 & 17, 2012 FARMERS UNION CONFERENCE CENTER - JAMESTOWN

Day 1 8:45 – 9:30

Registration and continental breakfast (in exhibit area)

9:30 – 9:50

Welcome and Opening RemarksDr. Delore Zimmerman, Woody Barth, Dr. Paul Gunderson, Dr. Sreekala Gopalapillai Bajwa

9:50 – 10:45

Keynote Speaker-Lowell Catlett

10:45 – 11:00 Networking Break (in exhibit area) 11:00 – 12:00 Industry Solutions in Telematics: Communication from Office to Equipment Moderator – John Nowatzki, Shannon Cameron, Denton Schwiesow, Marlin Melander 12:00 – 1:00

Lunch (In Exhibition Area)

1:00 – 1:10

Remarks and Introduction of Keynote speaker - Mark Watne

1:10 – 1:45

Keynote Speech:Food Security and Implications on Agriculture Colonel Stephen J. Lynch, JCS, J5 SIAD, DoD Pentagon

1:45 – 2:45

Equipment for Precision Applications (Sprayers, Planters, Moderator – Dr. Scott Shearer, Darryl Justesen, Denton Schwiesow, Guy Swanson)

2:45 – 3:00

Networking Break

3:00 – 3:30

Featured Speaker – Future development in Precision, Geospatial, and Remote Sensing Technologies Moving to Mobile!! Tracking your Farm on the Phone Lanny Faleide

3:30 – 4:30

Critical Challenges and Obstacles to Mapping Moderator: Dale Enerson, Shawn Kasperick, Kelly Sharpe, Paul Overby, Shannon Cameron

4:30 – 5:15

GPS and Guidance technologies Moderator: Paul Aakre, Aaron Seifert, John Pointon, Shannon Cameron

5:15 – 6:30

Networking Social (In Exhibit area)

Day 2 – Technical Session 8:15 – 9:00

Registration and continental breakfast (in exhibit area)

9:00 – 9:15

Welcome and Opening Remarks - Jasper Schneider, Doug Goehring

9:15 – 10:00

Featured Speaker – The Economics of Precision Agriculture Terry Griffin

10:00 – 10:15 Networking Break 10:15 – 11:30 Producer and Practitioner panel (Moderator – Melinda Martin) Eric Halverson, Gary Wagner, Paul Overby, Paul Backstrom 11:30 – 12:45 Lunch (In Exhibition Area) 12:45 – 1:45

Remote Sensing Applications Satellite - Aerial - UAV - ISS Ground based - LIDAR (Moderator – Doug McDonald ) Maynard Herting, Bob Nutsch, Doug Olsen, John Nowatzki

1:45 – 2:45

Near Earth Sensors John Nowatzki with NDSU

2:45 – 3:00

Closing session – Where do we go from here?

Dr. Paul Gunderson

50 Prairie Business

January 2012

Precision Agriculture Summit provides evolution of agronomic practices The increasing use of technology in production agriculture will be the topic of the first-ever Precision Agriculture Action Summit scheduled for Jan. 16-17 in Jamestown, ND at the North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU) Conference Center. griculture has, and always will be, a driving force of our regional economy,” explains Delore Zimmerman, executive director of the Red River Valley Research Corridor. “Precision Agriculture is an evolution in agronomic practices, and it is fitting that we find so many companies and researchers in our region leading the movement. This summit is designed to highlight developments and provide producers with hands-on exposure and information that they can take home and integrate into their operations.”

Every aspect of precision agriculture is based on the Global Positioning System (GPS). A decision by farmers to increase adaption to this high tech agriculture is increasingly determined by impacts on increased productivity and profitability for their individual operations.

NDFU President Woody Barth adds, “Agriculture continues to change and our farmers are interested in new and emerging technology. As an organization that puts a

A

“

high priority on education, we’re proud to be a co-host of the Precision Ag Summit and to be a leader in bringing new ideas, technology and information to our members and friends.”

Subjects covered at the summit will include the state of precision agriculture, emerging trends, technological applications and demonstrations for successful implementation. Attendees can expect hands-on demonstrations of precision agriculture technologies, applications, procedures and tools designed to lower producer cost and increase farm efficiency.

The summit will feature keynote speakers Lowell Catlett, Futurist and Dean of Agriculture at New Mexico State University, who will discuss trends that could drive both producers and consumers toward new technology. Col. Stephen Lynch from the Department of Defense, will speak to the increasing role of food security as it relates to national security.

Session panelists include industry experts, producers, practitioners and technology developers. An exhibition area will feature demonstrations of products and techniques by industry leaders in telematics, precision applications, software, seed and other areas of the industry.

Support for the summit is being provided by event coorganizers North Dakota Farmers Union, Red River Valley Research Corridor, the Dakota Precision Ag Center at Lake Region State College and North Dakota State University’s Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. PB

A full agenda and event registration can be found at www.theresearchcorridor.com or by calling the Red River Valley Research Corridor Coordinating Center at (701) 499-6994.

NDFU PRESIDENT WOODY BARTH

Proudly Serving our Community since 1955 Butler Machinery is a family-owned dealer, serving both the ag and construction industries. (%&!"-! .$ !%,"' !% #&, %.! +)"! +* -"& do for you!

12 locations across North & South Dakota VISIT WWW.BUTLERMACHINERY.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION prairiebizmag.com

51

It’s all about South Dakota

PHIT: All about improving health care In an effort to improve health care in rural South Dakota, Horizon Health Care, Inc., headquartered in Howard, S. D., has been awarded a three-year, $900,000 Health Information Technology Grant.

he grant will fund the Prairie Health Information Technology (PHIT) Network Project which includes not only Horizon’s 17 medical and dental clinic locations but also two other rural FQHC organizations for a total of 24 rural medical and dental sites across the state. Prairie Community Health, Inc. with clinics in central and northwest South Dakota and allPoints Health Services, with clinics in southeast South Dakota, will also participate in the PHIT Network.

The grant will allow the three organizations to share electronic medical record resources among its members as well as provide professional development for clinical staff associated with the health care systems.

The PHIT Network is partnering with Dakota State University in Madison, S.D., HealthPOINT, also located in Madison, and South Dakota’s eHealth Collaborative to achieve its project goals. DSU’s Health IT Workforce Development program will provide customized training for PHIT Network staff to help with new knowledge and skills in Health IT. The training will be delivered across the state using various technologies used by the Network.

HealthPOINT, South Dakota’s Regional Extension Center, offers measureable and sustainable solutions to aid healthcare providers achieve meaningful use and will play a pivotal role in helping the PHIT Network achieve its goals. In addition, working with the state’s Health Information Exchange initiative known as the eHealth Collaborative, PHIT Network members will exchange health information electronically with hospitals and other specialty healthcare clinics in the larger, urban health systems.

“The hope and desire is that we can learn from those who have run into barriers and make the process smoother,” states Mike Knutson, who is the PHIT network director. He will be working on the education component that applies directly to electronic health care records. “My role is to identify resources for health care professionals to help them use electronic health records in a meaningful manner by capturing data that can be used to improve the quality of care. We will also be able to share that information and best practices with other health centers in the state.”

Meaningful use means providers need to show they are using EMR technology in ways that can be measured significantly in quality and

T

52 Prairie Business South Dakota

January 2012

quantity. This means including electronic prescribing of prescriptions, exchanging health information electronically among other health care providers and submitting clinical quality and other measures to show improvement in quality of care.

Horizon Health Care was awarded the Health Information Technology Grant through the HRSA’s office of Rural Health Policy. For more than 30 years, Horizon has been providing personalized, affordable, high-quality primary health care through a rural, community-based network of 17 medical and dental clinics in the state.

Horizon serves more than 63,000 patients in medically underserved areas of South Dakota.

The grant is a three-year project and is in its early stages of adoption. The network is working toward achieving meaningful use in 2012.

Prairie Community Health, located in Isabel, S.D., consists of clinic sites in Bison, Eagle Butte, Faith, Isabel, and McIntosh in the northwest region of South Dakota. allPOINTS Health Services, with sites in Elk Point and Alcester, provides comprehensive medical and mental health care and has recently added state-of-the-art radiology equipment to enhance the care provided at the clinics.

The technology grant will help the three organizations by identifying gaps in their use of the EMR , as well as identify additional resources that can benefit individual health care providers and establish connections between the health care systems.

Scott Weatherill, Chief Information Officer for Horizon Healthcare, helped draft the grant and will be overseeing the technical aspects of the project.

“This is about using information technology and leveraging existing resources to help providers improve the quality of care in rural South Dakota,” he notes.

Weatherill believes the technology grant will help the health care sites meet its meaningful use commitment, as well as help with technology needs at the Prairie Community Health and allPOINTS Health Service sites.

Weatherill also notes there is an education component. “We can identify resources and technologies to help educate clinic staff and providers on health info technology in the workplace,” he says. SDPB Alan Van Ormer - avanormer@prairiebizmag,.com

Business incubator provides valuable resources for area entrepreneurs “The Strom Center played an integral role in the launch of our company. They are a onestop shop for any kind of business start-up.”

STEVE GLASSER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STROM CENTER

- Kyle Thiel, Frontrunner Technologies ince its inception in 2006, the Strom Center (Dickinson, ND) has focused on making a difference in the small business communities of southwestern North Dakota. They are a Center of Excellence with a mission to serve aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses by inspiring leadership, developing businesses, and advancing the business community as a whole.

“Starting out is scary,” Executive Director Steve Glasser says.

“Entrepreneurs have to take risks by digging into their life savings or borrowing money to start up. Having access to coaches who have been in their shoes is invaluable.”

The Strom Center is a part of Dickinson State University and was the vision of Jerry Strom and his late wife, Rosie. In 2010 the center was granted support by the Economic Development Administration through their University Center program. This support is what led to the launch of the recent Business Incubation Program specifically designed to enhance regional entrepreneurship. The Incubator focuses on four main areas: - Business coaching - Virtual Resource Library - Training seminars - Consulting services The business coaching part of the program is designed to pair new business owners with experienced coaches and mentors in the business community. Coaches are there to listen and give ideas to new entrepreneurs.

“The Incubator Program placed me into a mentorship relationship that assisted my expansion into the business world,” explains Cheryl Planert of Dakota Lights Center for Human Development. “Their coaching helped me with languaging and took me from a soft wellness approach to a more structured business wording for my marketing. It kept me motivated with literature and linked me to both the Human Resource and the Safety Manager Associations in order to educate and market the Yoga/Movement aspect of Dakota Lights Stress Reduction Consulting Services.”

On Nov. 3, 2011 the website for the Virtual Resource Library was launched. The website, designed for clients and coaches, is a onestop resource that includes articles and website links to tips on taxes,

S

54 Prairie Business Western North Dakota

January 2012

accounting, HR, marketing, financials, and training opportunities.

“They have provided ingenious online resources such as training and software for business plans,” says Thiel, owner of Frontrunner Technologies, a company that provides web and mobile app development services for Western North Dakota and beyond.

Training Seminars are an integral part of the Incubation program as well. Local experts teach on various business subjects such as QuickBooks, marketing, website development, social networking, and diversity in the workplace. They are currently working with Stephen MR Covey’s office in regards to bringing Stephen MR to Dickinson for the Strom Entrepreneurship Conference scheduled for April 17, 2012. This annual conference is a full day event that draws in hundreds of people from the business and college community.

In addition to business coaching, the resource library, and training opportunities, the Strom Center offers consulting services to assist business owners with marketing, website development and business support.

“The Incubator program afforded me the excellent advantage of Clay Kraby’s marketing services. He guided my website presence and gave numerous tips to transform it to a more operational format still in progress,” describes Planert. Kraby is the Marketing Specialist for the Strom Center.

The knowledge and support that the Strom Center gives to each client is an important piece of the growing economic puzzle that is building in Western North Dakota.

Planert notes that Strom Center personnel and services have been invaluable in developing his business. His goal was to move his personal motivation groups and his yoga classes to Beach, Medora, Belfield, Dickinson, and Bismarck (all in North Dakota) within four years.

“I accomplished this and am now in the next phase of development, bringing Dakota Lights Stress Reduction Consulting Services to the corporate world,” Planert continues. “If you incorporate their guidance into your business plan it will be nothing but a win-win situation. No Dickinson region start-up should be without this service. It will help your business prosper - the rest is up to you.” WNDPB Mandy Anderson is a Bismarck, ND-based freelance writer. She can be reached at mandy@mandybanderson.com.

It’s all about Western North Dakota

United Pulse Trading Inc. expands to Minot United Pulse Trading Inc. (“UPT”), a North Dakota based pulse processor and exporter focused on the buying, processing and export of lentils, beans, chickpeas and peas, will be expanding into the Minot, ND Value-Added Agricultural Complex.

nited Pulse is a perfect fit for Minot and its Value-Added Ag Complex. The strategic advantage provided through the services of BNSF Railway and the infrastructure provided in the Ag Park area will provide United Pulse a great opportunity to reach its customer base worldwide,” says Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman.

United Pulse Trading, has indicated that the planned facility will include the installation of pulse processing equipment for beans, chickpeas, peas and lentils to augment its U.S. processing capacity at its Williston, ND production facility. The new facility in Minot will also add additional capacity for valueadded pulses production of food ingredient pulses flours, proteins, starches and fibres. It is expected by United Pulse Trading that the new facility, once commissioned in August 2012, will feature an annual capacity of approximately 100,000 mt per year and

U

“

prairiebizmag.com

55

It’s all ab provide origination reach into central and eastern North Dakota, which is a region of substantial acreage of beans, peas and pulses.

The planned United Pulse Trading facility will be located at Minot’s Value-Added Agricultural Complex, which features North Dakota Port Services Inc. (“NDPS”) as an anchor tenant. NDPS provides, through Burlington Northern Santa Fe (“BNSF”) Logistics and BNSF’s Northern Tier Intermodal line, container services to the complex through its facility adjacent to BNSF’s main-line switch yard featuring daily service and four-lane highway access.

This expansion into Minot brings our company a tremendous amount of opportunity not only due to the city’s strategic location within a strong production area for pulse crops, but also because Minot is an important regional transportation hub,” says Murad AlKatib, President and CEO of United Pulse Trading. “The recent development of the container yard at the Port of North Dakota provides tremendous opportunity to efficiently distribute our products globally, with a focus on food ingredient and value-added pulses for the U.S. domestic market, as well as for European shipments. The fact that the building is already built, the storage is constructed and the equipment is ready for installation gives us a timing advantage and means it will be ready for the 2012 harvest season.”

Al-Katib adds that with this expansion in Minot, along with our presence in Williston, we feel we are well positioned to effectively carry out its mandate of taking value-added food products from ‘Producer to the World’.” WNDPB

MINOT VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURAL COMPLEX The Minot Value-Added Agricultural Complex encompasses approximately 800 acres with accessible rail, water, and sewer. The Port of North Dakota, Minot’s intermodal transportation hub, transports westbound agricultural commodities on Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s (BNSF) dedicated rail line.

UNITED PULSE TRADING INC. PROFILE United Pulse Trading Inc. is a subsidiary of Alliance Grain Traders Inc. (AGT) a value-added pulse, staple food and ingredient processor for export and domestic markets. United Pulse Trading is a leading pulse processor in the U.S. processing and exporting lentils, beans, chickpeas and peas from its’ facilities in Williston and Minot, ND, the heart of the U.S. pulse growing region. AGT offices and processing facilities are located in some of the best agricultural growing regions in Canada, the U.S., Turkey, China, Australia and South Africa and merchandising and sales offices in the U.K., the Netherlands and Spain, AGT produces a full range of pulses and specialty crops including lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans and canary seed as well as food ingredients such as pulses flours, proteins, starches and fibres. Through its subsidiaries in Turkey, the Arbel Group, AGT also produces staple foods such as Arbella Pasta, rice, and milled wheat products, including bulgur and semolina.

• More Time for Your Business • Less Time on Paperwork-Garnishments, Government Regulations & Compliance, Payroll Forms and Accounting • More Time for Your Staff to do More Profitable Tasks • Less Time on Payroll, Payroll Tax Deadlines, Quarterly Tax Filing and W-2’s • Save money by avoiding Payroll Tax Errors and Penalties • Save Money with Direct Deposit for EmployeesNo lost checks, No Stop Payment Fees • Save Money for Your Employees with Our Flexible Benefit Plan

Outsourcing...

A Better Way Of Doing Business.

4007 State Street, Bismarck, ND 58503 1-800-258-9848 • (701)258-9848 fpspayroll.com 56 Prairie Business Western North Dakota

January 2012

bout Western North Dakota NORTH DAKOTA PORT SERVICES INC. North Dakota Port Services, Inc. (NDPS) is a privately-owned, intermodal service company located in Minot, ND, linking the world’s marketplace to and from North Dakota and its neighboring states and provinces. Located in the region’s agricultural and energy sector, NDPS will serve all areas 250 miles or more around Minot — including eastern Montana, northern South Dakota, northwestern Minnesota, southern Manitoba, and southeastern Saskatchewan. NDPS is serviced by BNSF’s Northern Tier Intermodal Line, and is adjacent to BNSF’s mainline switch yard with daily service and four-lane highway access. NDPS also has more than 140 acres conducive to expansion and storage facilities.

BMDA Highlights Bismarck MSA maintains #2 national ranking as “best performing city” - The nationally recognized Milken Institute released its annual national ranking of Small and Large Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). The Bismarck MSA is included in the Small Metro category (which includes 179 cities) and Bismark MSA retained its position as #2 which was achieved in 2010 also. Fargo had been #1 in 2010 but dropped to #7 in 2011.

Grand Forks was ranked #25 in 2010 and rose to #24 in 2011. prairiebizmag.com

57

ViewPoint

Economics, financial education good investment to strengthen economy and bolster communities As I watch the news I am bombarded with a host of concepts that just a few years ago were limited to college economics classes. e are reminded that the sluggish economy still has issues from the housing market meltdown. The world and our economy are more complex than ever. It is essential that we provide future generations with the skills to function in a global economy.

2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota Council on Economic Education. The Council along with its affiliated Centers for Economic Education has been assisting high school teachers in Minnesota and North Dakota to educate our children about economics and personal finance. Their goal needs to be trumpeted loudly.

Economics and financial education are the best investments to strengthen the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy and to bolster our local communities.

While economic literacy and personal finance do not receive the same attention as reading literacy or STEM initiatives, we need to elevate its importance.

Young people cannot function in our economy without at least a rudimentary understanding of how it works.

Expecting young adults to be able to navigate student loans and 401Ks without providing personal finance training is unreasonable.

The Centers for Economic Education are the frontline for providing quality standards-based education materials to our local high schools. Each Center houses a library that holds K-12 economics and personal finance lesson plans. The highlight for the best high school economics students is the chance to participate in one of the Economics Challenges. Our region has fared well in these and has sent representatives to regional and national competitions. We have won the national competition on multiple occasions.

The prairie states have been leaders in economic education, but state budgets are tight. We need to be vigilant and be willing to sacrifice to provide for future generations. I encourage you to volunteer your time and skills or donate to support these causes. Contact your

W

58 Prairie Business

January 2012

local school, community college, or university. Many are looking for mentors and guest speakers. Most importantly, teach your own kids. The news may be scary, but their future can be even better than our own. PB Gregory W. Stutes is the Director for the Center for Economic Education at Minnesota State University in Moorhead, Minn. He can be reached at stutes@mnstate.edu.

GREGORY W. STUTES

prairiebizmag.com

59

The premier business resource for the Northern Plains

701.780.1150 or classifieds@prairiebizmag.com

Classifieds EMPLOYMENT: 888.514.HIRE (4473) or jobs@jobshq.com

Titan Machinery operates one of the largest networks of full service CaseIH, Case & New Holland agricultural and construction equipment stores in North America. Our 91 stores across an the upper Midwest, !" !#!$%&'&()*! #)+!(&,)-&./&'0 )123%2 '34&1.$#% 21%).$&'$(&1.$#2,! & products. We are a very dynamic and progressive organization.

We are always searching for great people to become part of !"# $%&'# ()# $*%# + ,, -().# /&"%%"# 0%,123 Management / Sales Trainees, Accounting, HR, Marketing, IT, Sales, Parts Sales, Parts Management, Service Management, Service Technicians, Store Management, Sales Management, Truck Technicians, GPS/Laser Products Specialist, Machine Control Equipment Specialists & Rental Equipment Support.

4($&)#5&/*()%"6# ++%"2#."%&$#7%)%0$2#$ #()/,!1%8 5&6,"3.7!!&8!'3%9&'$(&:!$%'3&;$#2 '$1!

5&<)/!&=:&>&:&<.$0&?! ,&:)#'@)3)%7&;$#2 '$1!

5&ABCD&E)%9&,'%19& 5&F3!-&G"!$()$0&=11.2$% 5&6-1!33!$%&H.,"!$#'%).$& 5&I')(&?),!&J// 5&K'1'%).$ !"#$%&!'#"()#"*+,-"!%%!'(.,/(/#0"+,1"2#,#3(0"()+(" /(+,"4+5)/,#'-" has to offer, please visit our website ---3$($&)'&/*()%"63/ ' #*%&!-*#,(6(/(+,*+5)/,#'-75!*

Titan Machinery is an EEO/AA EMPLOYER

Reach 57,000

Potential buyers, renters and job seekers with the Prairie Business Classifieds Read by: Engineers • Marketing Directors • Investors • Business Owners Bankers • Consultants • Federal/State/Community Leaders Company Presidents & CEOs • Site Selectors and more High Traffic Location Distribution: Hotels • Chambers • Banks • Airports • Universities Convention and Visitor Bureaus • Hospitals • Golf Courses Economic Development Offices and more

The premier business resource for the Northern Plains A division of Forum Communications Company

60 Prairie Business

January 2012

Classifieds

Call today to reach your target audience 701-780-1150 • classifieds@prairiebizmag.com

Prairie Business to Business

To Advertise:

John Fetsch: 701.238.9574 or jfetsch@prairiebizmag.com Brad Boyd: 1.800.641.0683 or bboyd@prairiebizmag.com prairiebizmag.com

61

By the Numbers EMPLOYMENT

(NOT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE Dec. 2011 North Dakota 2.6% Fargo MSA 3.1 Bismarck MSA 2.4 Grand Forks MSA 3.8 Minot MiSA 2.7 Dickinson MiSA 1.5 Williston MiSA 0.9 Jamestown MiSA 2.7 Wahpeton MiSA 2.8 South Dakota 4.0 Sioux Falls MSA 3.9 Rapid City MSA 4.1 Aberdeen MiSA 3.1 Brookings MiSA 3.3 Watertown MiSA 3.4 Spearfish MiSA 4.0 Mitchell MiSA 3.2 Pierre MiSA 2.9 Yankton MiSA 3.9 Huron MiSA 2.9 Vermillion MiSA 3.4 Minnesota 5.4 Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA 5.4 Brainerd MiSA 6.5 Winona MiSA 4.9 Fergus Falls MiSA 4.8 Red Wing MiSA 5.0 Willmar MiSA 4.3 Bemidji MiSA 6.7 Alexandria MiSA 4.6 Hutchinson MiSA 6.3 Marshall MiSA 4.2 New Ulm MiSA 4.4 Worthington MiSA 4.2 Fairmont MiSA 5.3

Dec. 2010 2.9% 3.3 2.8 3.3 2.6 1.8 1.3 3.1 3.4 4.1 4.3 4.4 3.1 3.5 3.8 3.7 3.4 2.9 4.1 3.3 3.4 6.4 6.5 7.7 6.0 5.6 6.0 5.2 6.8 5.3 7.8 4.6 5.3 4.7 6.0

EMPLOYMENT Dec. 2011 Dec. 2010 369,040 358,958 115,654 114,735 59,475 61,084 53,848 55,213 32,242 32,497 17,943 16,232 23,646 18,255 10,627 11,125 23,646 12,061 433,145 427,095 124,640 122,625 64,570 63,585 22,930 22,765 18,830 18,560 18,830 18,245 12,830 13,020 13,065 12,755 12,270 12,120 11,355 11,165 9,775 9,510 7,705 7,555 2,809,538 2,780,196 1,749, 726 1,726,852 44,716 43,734 27,986 26,924 29,218 28,999 25,076 24,533 23,341 22,862 21,291 19,944 19,408 19,341 18,859 18,909 14,280 14,388 14,281 14,097 10,878 11,169 10,878 11,052

MSA — Metropolitan Statistical Area MiSA — Micropolitan Statistical Area Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Job Service North Dakota, South Dakota Department of Labor

CANADIAN BORDER CROSSINGS AUTOMOBILES MINNESOTA

Intl Falls-Rainer Grand Portage Baudette Warroad Roseau

TRUCKS

OCT 2011

% CHANGE /OCT 2010

OCT % CHANGE 2011 /OCT 2010

39571 27079 14067 11664 3913

0.90% 13.56 - 19.03 3.63 4.07

1769 1496 566 948 927

0.11% - 4.41 3.10 - 13.19 37.74

27602 8227 4237 5394 3644 3117

- 9.02 - 3.76 - 0.31 3.21 - 5.79 10.14

18508 7759 682 2215 946 535

7.69 27.89 - 39.05 8.68 -13.19 73.14

NORTH DAKOTA

Pembina Portal Neche Dunseith Walhalla Noonan

Source: US Customs and Border Protection

62 Prairie Business

January 2012

PB

NORTH DAKOTA OIL ACTIVITY Sweet Crude Price/BBL

Production Oil-BBL/day

$81.38 $80.71 $68.52 $66.78

464,100 446,100 341,400 328,000

SEPT 2011 AUG 2011 SEPT 2010 AUG 2010

SEPT 2011 AUG 2011 SEPT 2010 AUG 2010

Drilling Permits 176 207 167 138

Producing Wells 6,071 5,951 5,197 5,115

Rig Count 197 192 143 140

Source: NDOMB &NDIC

OCTOBER AIRLINE BOARDINGS BOARDINGS

Minneapolis-St. Paul Fargo Sioux Falls Rapid City Bismarck Duluth Grand Forks Minot Pierre

% CHANGE/2010-2011

1,392,840 27216 40836 22355 18001 12677 10231 14543 1860

4.26 - 3.33% 23.40 - 5.50 6.63 - 1.83 0.78 52.59 -00.16

Source: US Customs and Border Protection

CANADIAN EXCHANGE RATE 11/25/10

11/25/11

10/25/11

U.S. to Canadian Dollar-

$1.0191 or $0.9813

$0.9942 or $1.0058

$1.0487 or $0.9536

U.S. to Euro

$0.7552 or $1.3242

$0.7057 or $1.4171

$0.7551 or $1.3243

U.S. to Chinese Yuan

$6.6695 or $0.1499

$6.3608 or $0.1572

$6.3828 or $0.1567

U.S. to Japanese Yen

$84.0842 or $0.0119

$75.84 or $0.1319 $77.6815 or $0.1287

U.S. to Mexican Peso

$12.56 or $0.07958

$13.17 or $0.7591 $14.2525 or $0.0702

Source: Bank of Canada

Data provided by Kingsbury Applied Economics