Agenda Packets - 1995/12/04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The key to understanding this section is to recognize local firms are purchasing various services from firms from throughout the region, the metro area, and far beyond. Working Group Question and Comments Should this line of inquiry be omitted from future surveys? Should we attempt to refine this data by focusing on the responses of a more targeted subsection of the overall business population? Can this data be used to serve as the basis of a prospective tenant search for new multi-tenant office buildings in the region? • The consensus was that the data was worth collecting, but that future efforts should attempt to be more focused in terms of industries queried about their supply needs and the specific types of services examined. • Opinions were mixed_as o whether this data_cauld_b_e_used to_fi-ncLspec-if ctenants for office buildings, but that it may serve as information of interest to possible developers for their own market studies. Heat/Metal Treatment The most frequently mentioned service needed but not adequately present in the North metro market was metal treaters. Thirty-nine percent of the major components used by local manufacturers are imported to the region from outside the Twin Cities. Further data, and or data from a wider area may lead to the identification of one or more distributors or manufacturers who have enough local customers to consider a branch operation in the region. Such firms may have even more customers in other parts of the Twin Cities area, but may be attracted to the area by outreach efforts using existing local firms as allies in the marketing effort. By recruiting such firms to the North Metro area (instead of Bloomington or Apple Valley), the North Metro regions infrastructure is strengthened. This could assist in maintaining existing manufacturers. While this goes beyond retention, successful efforts could result in both new and retained industry. Working Group Question and Comments Should the Commission establish an experimental project for 1996 that explores the demand and potential recruitment of a heat/metal treatment facility for the region? • "Seeking a metal/heat treater may not be the best focus. Maybe we should refine more what is needed by the firms who asked for such a service to be sure what it is they want and need and what seeking it would entail." • "Maybe not just metal treatment, but spend more time looking at other unmet needs." • "If there is such a facility in Minneapolis, would we be stealing it from them? Are we looking to regional cooperation, or is this an issue of who is within the `Commission' borders and who is not." 11