ROGERS, Minn. — Despite it's relatively small size, Rogers is busy with business.
The northwest Twin Cities suburb has a population of about 13,000.
"We're at the crossroads of I-94, State Highway 101 and County Road 81, and that gives our businesses access to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro market as well as greater Minnesota," said Steve Stahmer, Rogers City Administrator.
A former vacant building in the Rogers Industrial Park is now home to two new businesses, including a Bobcat Company assembly plant. The new facility is expected to be up and running in late July.
Bobcat makes skid steer loaders and construction equipment. Mark Gargus is the operations site manager and is busy behind the scenes working in the Rogers facility that will employ over 100 full-time employees.
"We will be assembling the tailgates of our skid steer loader and our compact track loaders. Also, we'll be assembling our cabs for our machines as well in addition to the engine assemblies," said Gargus.
Bobcat's assembled products at the Rogers plant will be shipped to Gwinner, North Dakota for final assembly.
It's going to be a pretty quick turnaround once the plant is up and running.
"We call it tack time, it's basically the amount of time we have to get a product off of our line and it's five minutes," said Gargus, a 14-year Bobcat employee.
"I think that it speaks that we have a thriving industrial park and businesses want to be located to other businesses that are being successful," said Stahmer.
"Bobcat does a great job of partnering with the community. Rogers is a flourishing area right now and it was the right spot to be," Gargus said.
There will be a job fair for Bobcat on Wednesday, May 25 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hampton Inn at 13550 Commerce Blvd. in Rogers. To learn more about Bobcat job opportunities, click on this link.
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