Joni Astrup
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, met with Sportech officials and business leaders Tuesday in Elk River.
She spent about an hour at Sportech, touring the company’s facility at 10800 175th Ave. and meeting with Sportech leaders and other business officials.
It was all part of her “Growing Minnesota” tour, in which she met with family farmers and business people to highlight opportunities for economic growth in rural Minnesota, according to a press release from her office. Her other stops that day included farms in Foley and Milaca and at DMP Awnings in Little Falls.
During Klobuchar’s visit in Elk River, Sportech CEO Chris Carlson told her that the company started in the early 1990s with an idea Carlson’s dad had for a snowmobile headlight cover that prevented snow from packing into the headlight and restricting visibility at night.
“We developed it at home, heated the plastic up in the oven and bent it over the vice,” Carlson said.
Klobuchar interjected, “This is better than Medtronic starting in the garage.”
Carlson went on to explain how they sold the first headlight covers out of the back of his pickup truck at a swap meet in Lino Lakes. By the end of the swap meet, every last one had sold.
“That was the genesis of Sportech,” Carlson said. “From there we grew rapidly and introduced more products.”
Today, Sportech manufactures equipment for all-terrain vehicles, side-by-side utility vehicles, motorcycles and other vehicles. The company works primarily with original equipment manufacturers such as Polaris, John Deere and Arctic Cat.
“Largely, we are building cabs, cab enclosures, roofs, windshields, doors and rear panels for vehicles — typically the side-by-side utility vehicles,” Carlson said. The company will build about 400,000 windshields alone this year, he said.
“You see a windshield on a motorcycle, a snowmobile, an ATV or a utility vehicle, chances are it is made right here in Elk River, Minnesota,” Carlson told the senator.
The company moved into a new 100,000-square-foot facility in Elk River in 2008 and plans to break ground on a second facility in Elk River this fall. That one will be 105,000 square feet in size with the capability for further expansion.
“We’re looking at massive job creation,” Carlson said.
Sportech currently has about 200 full-time employees. Carlson said their No. 1 challenge right now is attracting and retaining employees.
Klobuchar said she is interested in workforce training issues and doing what she can to foster apprenticeships and encourage high schools to work with businesses with an eye to developing the work force of the future.
As she wrapped up her visit, Klobuchar told Carlson she was impressed by Sportech.
“Keep up the good work, and let us know how we can help,” she said.