A (Rare) Abundance of Applicants

I am delighted to announce that Tim Carey has become our new editorial director at Enterprise Minnesota.

With more than 29 years as a news reporter and editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Tim is an experienced journalist who understands the value of storytelling, not just reporting facts. On top of that, recent consulting engagements at Wells Fargo and Thompson Reuters have given him insights into business services. He learned much about writing for websites, social media and TV news through his consulting relationship at KARE 11.

Tim emerged as the top candidate from a lengthy and highly competitive list of experienced and talented writers and editors. The fact that this position attracted 221 applicants may surprise many manufacturers, whose chase for qualified (and even unqualified) potential employees can sometimes share the same frustrations as watching the Twins’ march to the 2021 World Series. We can credit part of our success to how the internet has disrupted the economics and stylistic journalism of traditional print media. The resulting “New Media” (no longer so “new”) typically prioritizes quick-turnaround factoids delivered in ever-shorter news nuggets. Consequently, many web writers today “write” as quickly as they can type, under the light supervision of Mother Grammarly. There is far less demand for writers who care about crafting well-honed sentences and even less need for writers who want to dig into long-form narratives. You remember the old-fashioned magazine story.

Which leads to the other reason this job attracted so much attention. While web-based communications are increasingly vital to how we reach out to manufacturing’s ecosystem, Enterprise Minnesota® magazine remains our differentiator. Print publishing is not dead, as many “experts” would have you believe. Hardly. Niche publications that delve knowledgeably and deeply into specific topics or communities continue to thrive. And Enterprise Minnesota is among them. Our editorial outlook is to celebrate the kind of lengthy feature profiles that share the challenges and successes of Minnesota’s manufacturers through their personal experiences. I have yet to meet a manufacturer who doesn’t have an interesting background story. (We sometimes have to dig deeper for some than others!)

Enterprise Minnesota’s popularity has grown over the years because, first and foremost, we understand manufacturing and manufacturers. Other media, if they cover manufacturing at all, mainly report surface issues that will appeal to a broad mass audience. You won’t read about how manufacturers are creatively deploying Lean or ISO or value stream mapping—or how they are rethinking overall strategy or really rethinking their efforts to recruit and retain workers–topics that matter to other manufacturers.

And the ultimate secret sauce for Enterprise Minnesota is that we always focus on manufacturers—people!– whose real-world experiences will enlighten or inspire those in the same industry. Stories in our upcoming magazine prove my point. Where else will you read about how a Duluth-based entrepreneur transformed a high school-bred obsession with composite materials into a sophisticated company that this week opens a new 40,000 square foot facility? Or what about the farmer in tiny Greenbush, Minnesota, who turned a hobby of making outdoor wood-burning furnaces into a mammoth enterprise that operates out of a 300,000-foot facility? And then there’s the Glencoe-based company that makes equipment for farm ranch and pet products whose sprawling facility today employs 350 people.

It also helps that our writers frequently rely on the experience and opinions of our own staff to bring color and relevance to many of the stories. And sometimes they produce their personal takes on essential topics, as our business growth advisor Steve Haarstad does in our upcoming issue with a timely analysis about how manufacturers need to adapt to customers who vastly prefer digital or self-service transactions.

And we write virtually everything to show how manufacturers support the economies and cultures of their home communities.

I should add, too, that it doesn’t hurt that our art director Scott Buchschacher presents it all in such an inviting and accessible graphic design. I’m biased, but I don’t think there is a better-looking regional business magazine anywhere.

All that said, Tim Carey evolved as the best-of-the-best in a field of exceptionally talented writers and editors. His admiration for long-form storytelling combines well with his appreciation of crisply written, relevant copy for the web. We’re grateful he elected to work with us. We all look forward to working with him.

Read Enterprise Minnesota® magazine on our website, click here.

Events Calendar

August 17 – Developing Your Leaders From Within
Expert Michele Neale talks about the traits of emerging leaders and how to foster a culture of growth and productivity to help you build a plan for future leader development. Online via Zoom  Learn more and register

September 9 – Automate with Purpose
Automation may seem like a straightforward solution, but can often be fraught with challenges and pitfalls. Greg Langfield will demonstrate a systematic approach to help you automate the right way. Online via Zoom  Learn more and register

October 7 – A Model for Manufacturing Excellence Using ISO 9001
ISO certification expert Keith Gadacz will be discussing ways to take your operation from average to excellent using the ISO 9001 business management system. Online via Zoom  Learn more and register

See more upcoming events

Industry News

Cargill forms joint venture to acquire chicken produce Sanderson Farms
The MN-based agribusiness joins Continental Grain to expand its meat empire with $4.5 billion acquisition. August 9, Star Tribune  Read more

Knight Machining, LLC acquired by Biomerics as part of larger merger
Plymouth, MN-based Knight Machining, a metal component and laser processing manufacturer, was purchased as part of the Biomerics’ move to acquire a majority interest in Berg Manufacturing. August 5, med-technews.com  Read more

Starting small for successful manufacturing digitalization
As manufacturing undergoes an accelerated digitalization of processes and production, it is valuable to take small steps in order to make big, successful impacts. August 3, Automation.com  Read more

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