I wish everyone could visit Alexandria, Minn. Not as a stop on the way to the lake, but as a case study in what a manufacturing-anchored community can look like: well-paying jobs with potential for growth, a community where employers and employees are committed to each other, and a future that looks remarkably secure.
With a population of 14,700, the western Minnesota city is home to Aagard, an international manufacturer of highly customized packaging equipment for Fortune 500 companies, and Douglas Machine, a 100% employee-owned manufacturer of packaging equipment that Tom Wosepka, its CEO and CFO, says is the largest private employer between St. Cloud and Fargo. Together, the two companies, both featured in this issue, employ more than 1,000 local workers, and show what jobs, community, and a shared stake in the future look like when manufacturing is done right.
The community is a classic “hinterland hot spot,” a category coined by Fred Zimmerman, the iconic professor emeritus at the University of St. Thomas who we interviewed last fall in this magazine. After studying all 3,142 U.S. counties, Fred discovered areas like the Alexandria region, with no major cities nearby, that have become thriving pockets of prosperity because they have a solid manufacturing base.
It starts with jobs. Aagard has nearly doubled its headcount and revenue over the past five years. Ask its leaders what drives that growth, and they point to their people, and to the town that helps them find and keep those people. Roughly a third of Aagard’s 300-plus employees are engineers, working alongside CNC machinists, assembly teams, and technicians to design and build equipment customized for every client.
Jason Norlien, the company’s vice president of technical sales, says Aagard’s growth “is not constrained by how much we can sell. It’s all about how fast we can recruit, train, and retain key technical talent.” That’s why Aagard invests heavily in the community that supplies its workforce, sponsoring everything from a new splash-pad to a wing at the high school to programs at Alexandria Technical & Community College. Enterprise Minnesota business growth consultant Michele Neale puts it simply: “People in the Alexandria area know the company and want to work there.”
Douglas has equally deep roots in the community. Since converting to a full ESOP in 2007, the company’s revenue has grown seven to eight times. That translates into real retirement wealth for employees. Because the employee-owners live in Alexandria, that wealth tends to stay there rather than flowing to a private equity firm or an out-of-state parent company. Benya Kraus, president and CEO of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, calls this a local multiplier effect: Wealth owned locally gets reinvested in schools, main streets, and other local businesses instead of flowing out to distant shareholders.
Wosepka points to another aspect of that stability. Through the 2008 recession, the pandemic, and recent tariff and inflation pressures, Douglas has never had a layoff.
That’s exactly what Zimmerman says separates thriving manufacturers from struggling ones. Small- and mid-size companies, he told us, “can be quietly sensible and benevolent, and they will hold their employment.”
Douglas and Aagard are two of those quietly sensible companies, and the whole community shows it, with a vibrant technical college partnership, a commitment to community investment, and a culture that nurtures its workforce.
These aren’t coincidences. They’re what it looks like when manufacturers and their hometowns grow together.
Every community can learn from what Alexandria has proved: When manufacturers attract good people, treat them well, and reinvest in the place those people call home, jobs stay, wealth stays, and the town has a bright future to look forward to.
Return to the Fall 2026 issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine.
