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TechTrends e-Newsletter I March 2003 Page 2 of 6 support those companies and the citizens who rely on them. In a March 24th article in the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Darrin Grubb, a senior manager at Sunrise Machine and Tool, summed up the value of MTI: "It's a good program that's more important Greater Minnesota. We don't have access to new talent or new ideas like theydo to in the larger cities. If we're not exposed, we're going to get lost in the dust." [Tech Nc,tes Technology business news from around Minnesota. Duluth, Ga.-based AGCO Corp. recently announced that it will close its DeKalb, Ill., facility and move the production of its line of Challenger track tractors to its AGCO/Ag-Chem facility in Jackson. Production is expected to begin in July, and the move is expected to add nearly 150 jobs to the Jackson site, with the possibility for future additions, according to the company. Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, through his Cascade Investment vehicle, has increased his stake in Fergus Falls-based Otter Tail Corp. to 5.9 percent, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Cascade is the Otter Tail's largest institutional stockholder. Duluth-based electrical contractors Lakehead and Thompson Electric recently announced that they are merging operations to form a new entity, APi Electric. Both firms are owned by the APi Group Inc. of St. Paul. The merger will create the largest commercial electrical contracting firm in the Duluth area. International Steel Group Inc. (ISG) recently signed a $1.5 billion purchase • agreement to acquire the bankrupt Bethlehem Steel Corp. As part of the deal, ISG would acquire Hibbing Taconite Co. of Hibbing, which had been owned by Bethlehem. The deal, which is still subject to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court review in late April, would transform ISG into the nation's largest integrated steel producer. Sun Patio Inc., the corporate parent of Warrior Boats, recently completed a new 22,000-square-foot boat trailer production area at its Maple Lake boat factory. The new facility replaces space that the company had leased in Annandale. The Aggregate and Ready-Mix Association of Minnesota, Burnsville, and the American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich., recently awarded Northshore Mining Co. of Silver Bay with their 2002 Environmental Excellence Award. The award recognizes a Northshore ash management program that turns flyash, a coal burning byproduct that is typically dumped into landfills, into a concrete enhancer. Nordic Aseptic Packaging, an Alexandria soymilk packaging firm, reports that its sales have quadrupled in the last year. The company, which is a division of Hope, Minn.-based Sunrich Food Group, produces and packages a variety of food products primarily for private labels. Missota Paper Co. of Brainerd recently purchased the closed Brainerd mill formerly owned by Potlatch Corp. of Spokane, Wash. The deal included a $2 million loan from the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development (DTED). Missota planned to start paper production in March. • MMSI Inc., a for-profit subsidiary of the Rochester-based Mayo Foundation, has been awarded a contract by the state of Arkansas to provide a smoking cessation helpline for the state's residents. The contract is the second such agreement for the http://www.minnesotatechnology.org/publications/techtrends/2003/March/printVersion.asp 4/7/2003