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r Jt nesses. For instance, MN's government- In addition.MPI recently notified Knipe and livestock products. says Cindy marketing-assistance program is for corn- of a conference to be held in Chicago by Green, AURI's director of comm 'ca- panics interested in selling products or ser- the federal government because MPI offi- tions. AURI provides qualifyin vices to the federal government. cials felt it was pertinent to her business, ents with up to $9,500 to exa -We can really introduce companies to Knipe says. The conference, which she product's market, technical feasibility or • the bidding process, to the language that's attended, taught vendors how to submit both, and up to $100,000 to commercial- involved in submitting bids, either as a bids, proposals and invoices via computer ize the product. prime contractor or as a subcontractor," to the federal government. If the product is successful, provisions Olson says. are in place to require the company to pay One company that took advantage of Small Business Development back the funds advanced to it by AURI.If it that MPI program is Unimed-Midwest, a Center Manufacturing Field Office is not successful,pay-back is not required. medical and dental products distributor in For many states,the strength of their man- Burnsville. ufacturing base is often indicative of the The Minnesota Jobs Skills overall strength of the•economy itself. Partnership Board In keeping with the idea that education is • critical to both building and maintain- Off"ys ing strong businesses, another novel abunda ce ar-1) crs an -he-X.7p cojTh,,-- gram S 3 14-7 .11 '4'4-P °-14(141111gi Unimed-Midwest supplies products to With that in mind. special attention andy 1 71 such clients as nursing homes, state agen- consideration has been paid in Minnesota to ; cies and the federal government. MPI bolstering the state's small and medium- helped the company "understand the sized manufacturing companies. incredible rules and regulations and claus- One averiue these small companies can economic-development program - es that come along with every federal gov- pursue for assistance in marketing sored by the state is the Minnes ernment bid." explains Unimed-Midwest research and analysis will be a Small Skills Partnership Board. The founder Joan Knipe. "They're very good Business Development Center awards grants for cooperative education about helping me make sure that when my Manufacturing Field Office, to be estab- and training projects between Minnesota package leaves here,it's done properly." lished in Minnesota this summer.The field businesses and educational institutions. Unimed-Midwest, which Knipe started office will concentrate on providing assis- and it serves as a catalyst by bringing in January 1992, sells everything from mance to four primary industries: electron- companies with specific education and absorbent padding to needles. The six- ics and computers. nonelectronic machin- training needs together with schools that employee company—which Knipe says ery, metal fabrication and plasticsicom- can design programs to meet those needs. will soon grow to eight people—also pro- posites. The field office will help compa- One company taking advantage of that vides infection-control assistance to emer- nies in these areas with a variety of pro- program is Waters Instruments in gency-servit.e people and dentists by con- jects. such as offering to help identify tar- Rochester. The company recently received ducting seminars on the topic. Infectious- get markets and provide strategic market- a S6I.000 Job Skills Partnership grant for control safety systems are a big issue ing planning,as well as serving as a facili- customized training to be delivered by today. particularly with the spreading of tator for companies that need access to Riverland Technical College. The grant to HIV. and the surfacing of a new strain of Minnesota resources with international the 135-employee company focuses tuberculosis. Knipe says. Unimed- market information. specifically on training for about 100 Midwest supplies, for example. emer- employees who work primarily in manu- gency-protection kits to the Minnesota Agricultural Utilization facturing and assembly departments. Highway Patrol, so that when officers Research Institute according to Scott Morrison. director of come upon an accident in which there is Another key element of Minnesota's eco- quality and regulatory affairs. blood. they have car kits that include nomic base. in addition to manufacturing, "What we're really trying to do is to gloves, a mask and powder to gelatinize is the state's agricultural base. With that in identify the best practices in the company the blood to better control it. mind, another economic-development pro- and standardize them," Morrison explains. MPI helped Unimed-Midwest get its gram focuses on this lucrative section of "That's one of the things that our trai g_ paperwork in line to be registered and cer- the economy. program will help us do." titled as a woman-owned small business in The Agricultural Utilization Research Waters Instruments, which was t the state. Knipe says. Unimed-Midwest Institute, located in St. Paul. helps busi- in 1940. encompasses three divisions: One currently records between 5500.000 and nesses with funding and technical assis- makes electric-fence controllers and acces- S 00.000 in sales and is growing rapidly. tance to develop new products from agri- sories for farm products: another. a cable according to Knipe. cultural commodities. or alternative crop division. subcontracts work for telecommu- 48 Minnesota Ventures July august 1994