PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Contact: Noel LaBine 763-477-3086

Advanced Processing Technologies host tour of
their state of the art manufacturing facility in Cokato MN.

 

Several community leaders attended a tour of the State-of-the-art Stainless Steel manufacturing facility in Cokato on Friday March 21st. Advanced Process Technologies, Inc. started building their Cokato facility in 2000 with a 12,000 square foot building. Since then they have added on two times and now have a 30,000 square foot plant and 8,000 square feet of office space. This partnership of talent includes owners Russ Scherping of Kingston , Craig Campbell of Waverly, Melvin Briggs of Lester Prairie, and David Kupka of Orono.

The Advanced Process Technologies plant is a steel fabrication plant that builds custom-built integrated systems out of aluminum or stainless steel for the food and dairy industry. They do the design and fabrication of the handling system and the design and fabrication of the electronic control systems, and install the equipment. They hold several patents and are an Original Equipment Manufacturer (O.E.M.). They also own another company, Crow River , which makes transport carriers for dogs from portable dog boxes, to pickup dog toppers, to custom-built dog trailers.

Their customers are from all over the lower 48 states and include California Dairy, Del Monte, Kraft, and Sue Honey. They also have built some equipment for the ethanol industry. For instance, they built some PLC programming equipment for the ethanol plant in Atwater . Another specialty project was an impingement freezer for a machine that freezes food with liquid nitrogen. Still another special project is an animal blood plasma dryer that is used to dry blood from slaughter houses so that it can be incorporated into pet food products. (see accompanying photo). Advanced Process Technologies, Inc. continues to grow with last year being their best year ever, and this year starting out well.

Currently, they have 50 employees, which include many skilled workers from welders to electrical and mechanical engineers. They are progressive in their recruitment of welders and do frequent visits and make donations of stainless steel material to the Ridgedale Technical Colleges in Hutchinson and Willmar . They have a competitive benefit package for their employees and the starting pay is $12 an hour with several step levels that bring experienced help with seniority into the $20 an hour range.

The Partnership exists to enhance the business climate of Wright County and to help create more jobs in Wright County . The strategies the Partnership uses to achieve its mission include being an information resource and finding technical assistance; aiding business development through Business Retention & Expansion visits, providing financing resources, and providing business information and training through seminars and workshops. Also, the Partnership markets Wright County to business site locators, and maintains an excellent website, which includes a listing of commercial and industrial property available in Wright County (see www.wrightpartnership.org ). The Partnership also assists with Workforce Development and has gathered economic statistical information, which is available on its website