March 8, 2001

Carrington Company Gets Help From NDSU Institute for Business And Industry Development

Back in 1996, BUZ Manufacturing of Carrington was heavily involved with manufacturing parts for agriculturally based businesses. But as the agricultural economy slowed, Chris Beach, president of BUZ Manufacturing, felt it was time to find other markets.

"My wife read an article about the North Dakota State University Institute for Business and Industry Development, so we decided to give them a call," said Beach. "Within a few weeks they took a tour of our facility and discussed ideas on how to expand our market."

IBID provides one-on-one consulting to identify and solve business and technical problems. IBID performs te role of "matchmaker" finding the needs of urban manufacturers and then matching those needs with the capabilities of suppliers, particularly those in the more rural areas of the state.

"In this case, we knew that Global Electric MotorCars (GEM) of Fargo was looking for a company to powder coat (paint) some of their parts," said Reuben Tschritter, engineering specialist with IBID. "We knew that BUZ Manufacturing was doing quality work that GEM was looking for."

"At that time GEM was setting up their plant in Fargo and looking for North Dakota manufacturers to produce as many of the component parts as possible," noted Tschritter.

Global Electric MotorCars produces electric vehicles that can be licensed for use on public roads. GEM is now the largest producer of such vehicles and was recently purchased by Daimler-Chrysler.

Beach discussed the powder coating possibilities with GEM officials but then started noticing some of the framework and other parts that go into building the car. "I told them we could manufacture and powder coat some of their parts," said Beach. "They gave us a shot at bidding and we were successful. We now supply them with numerous components for the vehicle and it amounts to a large portion of our business."

IBID also matched BUZ Manufacturing with DS GreenTips to powder coat and assemble a divot repair tool for golfers. It looks like a putter but has a prong on one end for repairing divots or ball marks. It’s 33 inches long so a golfer does not have to bend over to do the work.

"We were working with the GreenTips people and put them in contact with BUZ Manufacturing after we saw the quality of work they were doing with GEM," said Tschritter. BUZ recently made its first delivery of divot repair tools to GreenTips.

The Institute for Business and Industry Development has been in business for 10 years according to Tschritter. IBID works, on average, with 150 to 200 clients a year.

Anyone involved with business and industry that has a problem can contact the IBID office at (701) 231-1001, e-mail at ibid@ndsuext.nodak.edu or on the Web at: www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ibid/

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Source: Reuben Tschritter, (701) 231-9494, rtschrit@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Roy Goodin (701) 231-1005, rgoodin@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, Richard_Mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu