by Tesha M. Christensen
The building at 315 Garfield St. S. in Cambridge’s southeast
industrial park is vacant no longer.
It is now the home of the Canadian-based Ritz Machine Works,
a tube bending and manufacturing services company headquartered in Dauphin,
Manitoba. The Garfield St. building had been empty since the closing of MAPE
USA in 2016.
Ritz Machine was established in 1998 by Rick llnisky and Tom
Zaporzan, and works with companies to engineer and manufacture key bent tube components
for their finished products.
“If it involves bent tubes, we’ve been involved in it,”
explained Adam Teeter, director of U.S. expansion for Ritz Machine Works.
Products include bus frames, air intakes, pollution converter
devices, engine compartments, exhaust assemblies, furnituring fixturing, and
more. The all-metal tubes are made primarily from carbon steel, stainless
steel, and aluminum.
In addition to supplying items in Canada and the United
States, Ritz ships abroad and has existing customers in Easter Europe and
Australia.
“We’re the guys that bend the tricky stuff,” said Teeter.
“We’re the solutions people.”
Ritz prides itself on solving the problems that the standard
out-of-the-box solutions don’t cover.
EXPANDING INTO THE
UNITED STATES
Ritz Machine had planned an expansion in the United States
for several years, explained Teeter. “There’s a lot of opportunity on that side
of the border,” he remarked.
With the push from some of their customers in the United
States to comply with new Build America provisions on federal contracts, Ritz
decided now was the time.
“It was the tipping point,” observed Teeter, who has been
with the company for 10 years.
Six months ago, Ritz began working with a consultant to
pinpoint a good location for their new plant. The initial border-to-border
search was eventually narrowed down to the corridor between Minneapolis and
Fargo.
While there are benefits and challenges to each region in the
United States, Ritz staff decided it made the most sense for them to locate the
new plant along their existing supply route and Canadian headquarters,
explained Teeter.
“Within that area we found our opportunity,” he said.
WHY CAMBRIDGE?
Two companies that Ritz Machine currently sells items to are
New Fire Industries in St. Cloud and Motor Coach Industries in Pembina, N.D.
(along the Minnesota/North Dakota/Manitoba border). Ritz hopes to expand its
current customer base in the United States, and will then expand its Cambridge
plant, as well.
While Ritz had been looking for a 10,000- to
15,000-square-foot building, the Garfield Street South building is 26,000
square feet -- which gives them plenty of space to expand.
Ritz worked with a brokerage company and owners of the
Garfield St. building on a short-term lease so they can begin operations, and
work on buying the building later. The company has invested $1.5 million
between the real estate, equipment and working capital. The city of Cambridge
provided Ritz a $50,000 loan for seven years at a 3 percent interest rate.
Teeter’s first contact in Cambridge was with Economic
Development Director Stan Gustafson. Teeter had heard that Nelson Global
Products (formerly Cambridge Metals and Plastics) was closing its Cambridge
manufacturing facility at the end of 2017 due to a restructuring by the
company, and he saw a potential to hire specialized workers experienced in tube
bending.
“Tube bending is referred to as a bit of a black art,” said
Teeter. “It’s not a standard manufacturing process, and takes skill to do it
well.”
While some workers at Nelson Global Products relocated,
others decided not to move. Ritz hired seven of those local employees to begin
running their United States operation in Cambridge.
“This was certainly a needle in a haystack find for us,”
remarked Teeter. “We found a highly skilled group of employees in their
hometown at the right time in their lives when they were looking for something
new, as well.”
Ritz received many applications, and hopes to hire another
seven people when phase two is implemented in the next one to two years,
according to Teeter.
The second week of March was a big week for the company as
equipment began arriving at the new Cambridge location. “It’s exciting to hit
the ground and get busy,” said Teeter.
Because Ritz is mirroring the process from its Manitoba
headquarters at the Cambridge plant, it will be able to get up and running
quickly. Ritz expects to begin shipping deliveries from Cambridge on June 1.
“We’re eager to start in a
community that, from an economic development standpoint, has opened their doors
and been eager to help,” said Teeter.
Printed in the 2018 Isanti County Community Guide.
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