Sheets of cardboard arrive at Minnesota Corrugated Box in Albert Lea flat and corrugated. The company then prints them, scores them, cuts them, glues them, bands them and ships them.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar got a firsthand look at the Albert Lea company Friday as part of her Made in America tour. She had toured Austin Packaging Co. earlier in the day.

“It’s good for the economy to have manufacturing jobs,” Klobuchar told the TV cameras that tagged along. She noted how Minnesota’s jobless rate of 5.7 percent is about 2 percentage points better than the national average thanks largely to manufacturing, agriculture and sectors connected to them.

MCB President Tim Krebsbach led the senator through the plant while Albert Lea civic leaders followed: Mayor Vern Rasmussen, Chamber of Commerce Director Randy Kehr, Economic Development Agency Director Dan Dorman, state Sen. Dan Sparks and state Rep. Richard Murray. They were joined by MCB General Manager Mike Moore and few other MCB managers.

About 20 to 25 truckloads arrive at Minnesota Corrugated Box, 2200 Y.H. Hanson Ave., every day, Krebsbach said. And a truckload of scrap cardboard — the leftovers after cutting is performed — is sent to be recycled every day.

The plant has a generator that can keep the entire plant running in the event of a power outage.

Krebsbach said most of MCB customers are in the food-and-beverage industry. The largest one is Hormel, but other familiar names are Bridon Cordage, Mrs. Gerry’s Kitchen, Bushel Boy and Fairmont Foods. He said most of the customers are in the South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, with the farthest one being Omaha Steaks.

He showed machines that MCB has acquired in the past two years that have sped up production by 20 percent. For instance, one of the machines has a seven-minute setup, replacing an old method that took 25. He showed machines that turn and flip entire stacks of boxes for printing, replacing the need to do it by hand.

One work line has a clock that shows an output reading. On Friday, it read 16,600 boxes per minute. It also had a display that explained defective boxes. It showed there had been 70 defective boxes out of the last 63,500 boxes that had gone through the line.

Krebsbach showed items that once had gone to the landfill now enter the recycling market, such as the plastic bands that hold flattened corrugated cardboard together in stacks.

Most of the training for the workers is done at the “MCB school of hard knocks,” he said. For operators and managers, they go to seminars in Germany, where much of the factory’s equipment is made.

He showed Klobuchar how a certain dual-turret rotary die cutter was the only one of its kind in Minnesota.

The group went upstairs to the company’s design room. There, Jerry Olson, design manager, said some customers will supply a design for the packaging while others will rely on MCB to produce a design. The designers employ three-dimensional computer-aided design software — long for 3D CAD software — to make designs on all kinds of shaped boxes. One was a “Got Milk?” stand in the shape of a milk carton.

 

Other issues

Rasmussen, Dorman and others made Klobuchar aware of Albert Lea’s wastewater issues. While many cities shy away from wet industry — such as food processors — because of the great burden it can have on a treatment plant, Albert Lea seeks such companies. The city’s wastewater treatment plant was built to handle waste from the major meatpacking plant that burned down and closed in 2001. It now has the capacity for a large food processor and having one would help offset the expense of operating and maintaining a large plant.

In other words, having more wet industry would bring the cost of the wastewater plant down for Albert Lea ratepayers, not up.

Officials also noted the need for highway repair. Moore said the interstate highways in the region have had attention in recent years but the U.S. highways are lacking.

The Senate and the House, each led by different parties, are working on different versions of surface transportation bills.

So far, House Republicans are proposing to spend five years of surface transportation at $260 billion. Senate Democrats would spend $109 billion over two years.

The Senate on Thursday night passed the STOCK Act, a measure that bans members of Congress from a form of insider trading. Presently, they legally can use secret information they get as part of their jobs to know when to buy or sell stocks. If they learn in advance of the general public, for example, that a company is going to get a federal contract, it has not been illegal for them to purchase stocks in that company.

Klobuchar said it is “absolutely absurd” that they can use that information to enhance their own wealth.

First District Congressman Tim Walz is the major proponent of a bill in the House. That measure is expected to get a vote next week. President Obama has promised to sign it immediately, should it pass.

STOCK stands for Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge.

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