Ingenuity Frontier - Manufacturing and Engineering At Work in Northwest Minnesota

BEMIDJI, MN – The IDEA Competition announced its five 2010 winners on Wednesday, May 5 in Bemidji at an awards banquet held on the Bemidji State University campus. The five winners are Insect Inferno, LaValley Industries LLC, Mac-Attach Inc, sf(x) Engineering Inc, and Trophy Head Shot. Each winner will receive $10,000 in cash to advance their business idea, plus up to an additional $10,000 of specialized technical assistance.

Insect Inferno, owned by Corey and Sue Westrum, and Jason Vant Hul, Leonard, MN, is a mobile unit that uses heat to kill insects and their eggs. Originally designed for bedbugs, the unit can be used to eliminate other insects as well. It raises the core temperature of beds, couches, chairs and other household furniture to a temperature that will kill bugs and their eggs—without the use of harmful chemicals and without damaging furniture.

LaValley Industries LLC, owned by Jason and Roger LaValley, Bemidji, MN, has developed and is manufacturing an excavator attachment called the DECKHAND for the pipeline industry. The DECKHAND automates the manipulation of various types of pipe. It allows a single operator to manipulate pipe with total control, thereby minimizing labor and job-site liability while increasing efficiency.

Mac-Attach Inc., owned by Scott Gustafson, McIntosh, MN, has invented a chemical applicator called the Mac-Attach Articulator. They have two models—one that mounts on a three-point hitch and a smaller unit that can be used with an all-terrain vehicle. The innovative design allows the unit to be used in between plants as well as in between rows. It can be used with either a pre-emergent sprayer or a post-emergent sponge applicator. The units are specially designed for shelterbelt, vineyard, custom growers, and orchard row crop applications.

sf(x) Engineering, Inc, owned by Nancy Fisher and Stephen Fisher, Warroad, MN, has designed an innovative play product for children called Highway My-Way. The paper product features realistic-looking asphalt roads, complete with curves, on a self-stick, easy on/easy off paper. The paper roadways can safely be used on a number of surfaces including tables and floors. Each Highway My-Way road is designed to fit two Hot Wheels size cars, side by side.

Trophy Head Shot, owned by Tim Sargent, Ada, MN, is a new product designed for hunters who want an easier way to take a photo of a trophy game animal. The product is ideal for outfitters, guides, and hunters—anyone who wants to take a photo or shoot a video of his/her trophy to share with clients, friends and family.

Project Coordinator Michelle Landsverk was very pleased with the results of the competition. “To have winners of this caliber is very rewarding to those of us who have taken this competition from concept to reality,” Landsverk said. “The 2010 competition may be over, but the 2011 competition opens in September of this year. We encourage Northwest Minnesota innovators to consider entering the next round of competition.”

The IDEA Competition is a project of Ingenuity Frontier, a collaboration of partners joined by a common purpose — to grow the economy of Northwest Minnesota by outfitting the next generation of homegrown innovators for success in the global marketplace. IDEA sponsors are Bremer Banks of Crookston and Warren, Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation, the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, University of Minnesota, Crookston, 360º Center for Manufacturing and Applied Engineering Center of Excellence, and the Northwest Regional Small Business Development Center. IDEA was made possible through a generous grant from the Blandin Foundation.