Years ago, someone asked how Enterprise Minnesota magazine could possibly maintain its pace of profiling successful small and medium manufacturers. Wouldn’t we run out of companies to feature in these pages? The answer could not be further from the truth.
We have an endless source of outstanding companies to showcase. Minnesota manufacturing remains robust because industry leaders keep developing new products and processes as they remain focused on employee skill development. It’s a powerful combination reflected in this issue’s featured visionary companies: Niron Magnetics, Wells Technology, and Hansen & Co. Woodworks.
Niron Magnetics, a Minneapolis company born from University of Minnesota research in 2013, is on the verge of commercializing something the rest of the world hasn’t managed: a powerful permanent magnet made entirely without rare-earth minerals. That matters because China controls roughly 95% of the global rare-earth supply, a vulnerability that touches every industry that uses motors and electronics.
Niron’s iron nitride magnets, made from abundant iron and nitrogen, sidestep that risk entirely. The company has attracted more than $400 million in investments from partners including General Motors and Stellantis. It is building its first full-scale facility in Sartell, set to open in 2027, with capacity to produce around 100 million magnets a year. Niron’s story offers a master class in deliberate, partnership-driven growth — from a rigorous community engagement process in selecting Sartell, to building workforce pipelines with St. Cloud Technical & Community College, to treating its pilot plant as a blueprint to replicate.
A very different kind of growth story is unfolding in Bemidji, home of Wells Technology. Founder Andy Wells, Sr. grew up in poverty on the Red Lake Reservation. After high school, he majored in physics at Bemidji State University, then played key roles in manufacturing, including working as a designer at Polaris.
At age 45, he started a precision CNC manufacturing company in a two-car garage with his wife and young son comprising his team. Wells Technology now employs 54 people who manufacture highly complex components for aerospace, medical device, automotive, and defense customers.
Wells’ backstory isn’t just inspiring. It drives how he operates the business today. What sets the company apart is its commitment to hiring people other employers often pass over: those without diplomas, single mothers, individuals with histories of addiction or incarceration, and workers from local Native American reservations.
Wells Academy, the nonprofit training program formalized in 2004, involves 2,000 hours of CNC training and pays participants as they learn. Students also tour other manufacturers, get paired with mentors, and receive help with everything from childcare to transportation. Those who don’t end up working at Wells Technology take their well-honed skills with them as they strengthen the broader workforce. For Wells, investing in people isn’t a workforce strategy. It’s a moral one.
Adam Hansen shares that commitment to employees. Over the past decade, the founder of St. Joseph cabinet-maker Hansen & Co. Woodworks (HCo) visited nearly 200 factories around the world as he contemplated the future of American manufacturing. Armed with the knowledge he gathered, Hansen built a groundbreaking production facility with two objectives in mind: bringing the most advanced manufacturing practices to the United States and driving employee engagement and productivity.
In February 2026, his company brought online the new 92,000-square-foot facility that is, by his account, the most fully automated frameless cabinet line in North America. The $25 million plant can produce up to 500 cabinets a day, more than tripling HCo’s previous output, with only a modest increase in its 55-person workforce.
At HCo, employees focus on high level assignments, leaving the mundane to machines. Automation can handle repetitive, physically demanding work, freeing the workforce to focus on reasoning, problem-solving, and quality oversight. And they earn top wages doing it.
The common thread running through all three of these companies isn’t just technology or investment, though both play critical roles. It is the conviction that manufacturing done right is transformative — for workers, for communities, for Minnesota, and for the country.
Countless manufacturers like Niron, Wells Technology, and Hansen & Co. operate across the state. Manufacturing leaders are humble and oftentimes do not toot their own horns. That’s why we’re pleased to share their stories.
Return to the Summer 2026 issue of Enterprise Minnesota® magazine.
