In-plant Aids Print Company After Devastating Fire
After watching a fire burn down Knutson Printing Company’s facility in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Troy Ahonen, print production supervisor at Minnkota Power Cooperative’s nearby in-plant, knew he had to do something to help. So he reached out to owners Jay and Phil Knutson with more than just sympathy; he offered them access to the in-plant’s equipment so they could continue serving their customers while they figured out their next steps.
Minnkota’s Troy Ahonen (left) and Jay Knutson work together on a paper folding machine inside Minnkota’s print shop. | Credit: Minnkota/Michael Hoeft
“I felt horrible for Jay and Phil,” Ahonen said in an article in the company’s Minnkota Current newsletter. “I consider them good friends and colleagues in the business. We have a really good working relationship. There was no question that we were going to help and do our part to keep a family-run business alive when they were going through a tough time.”
In the weeks that followed, the shop ran two operations side by side, allowing the Knutsons to produce dozens of print jobs using Minnkota’s equipment. Their business remained operational and their customers continued getting served.
Read the full article about this in-plant’s incredible generosity here.
- Categories:
- Business Management - Disaster Recovery
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited 200 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.
