CROOKSTON, MN – May 18, 2011 -- The IDEA Competition announced its four 2011 winners on Tuesday, May 17 in Crookston at an awards banquet held on the University of Minnesota, Crookston campus. Two of the winners – Craft Night Out and Grand Steer – are located in Thief River Falls. The other two winners – EquipAll GrappleHoe and LaValley Industries LLC – are located in Bemidji. Each winner will receive $10,000 in cash to advance their business idea, plus additional specialized technical assistance.
Craft Night Out (CNO) is owned by Kristine Goddard-Anderson and Elizabeth Petersen. Their innovative business model brings the joy of crafting to the home-party setting, turning the home-party sales model on its head. It eliminates in-home sales and instead, creates a pre-party, web-based sales model. Complete craft kits, pre-selected by each guest, will be shipped direct to the party hostess with all the supplies needed to create the projects together at the craft party. Kits can also be purchased for individual use. Craft Night Out takes the focus off the sales pitch and gives women more time for fun, creativity and connection with friends.
Grand Steer owners Fred Hartmann, Chuck Odegaard, and Al Aaseby have developed the Turn@bout, an add-on piece of equipment for pallet jacks that greatly enhances their function and maneuverability. On its own, a pallet jack can be difficult and time consuming to maneuver into position without kicking or lifting the front of the jack, but with a set of Turn@bout’s installed, the turning radius is cut in half, eliminating most handling difficulties, wasted time and safety issues.
The EquipAll GrappleHoe, owned by Jeff Sullivan and Arnold Kleinsasser, is described as very likely the most useful multi-purpose tool you can put on a skidsteer. The EquipAll GrappleHoe offers a unique combination of two of the most common attachments: the grapple for grabbing & carrying, and the backhoe for digging and trenching. This single, unique tool can be used for stump removal, septic systems, demolition, burn piles, log handling, rocks, concrete & asphalt chunks, grub rake, fence post removal, hay bales, rip-rap, water lines, foundation footings, trenching electric cables, water lines to eight feet deep, and much more.
LaValley Industries LLC, owned by Jason LaValley, Jorge Prince and Roger LaValley, has designed the PIPEMATE, which will work in conjunction with an automatic welding unit to dramatically improve both the speed and safety of the tie-in welding process for the pipeline industry. It is anticipated that the automated process of the PIPEMATE will cut the time spent on the tie-in process by 75%, while removing all field personnel from the dangerous work in the trenches. It is also expected to lower labor costs by reducing the need for at least two field workers in any tie-in process.
The IDEA Hall of Fame added two Northwest Minnesota innovators: Glen Brazier, founder of MATTRACKS, and Dennis Brazier, founder of Central Boiler, were inducted at the banquet. The IDEA Hall of Fame was established to recognize the accomplishments of the region’s legacy innovators—those within the region who have inspired others with their entrepreneurial vision, leadership and achievement.
The next IDEA competition opens in September, 2011. Northwest Minnesota innovators are encouraged to consider entering the next round of competition. For more information, visit the IDEA website: www.ideacompetition.org.
