Summer Fishing Contest (2013)

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Catch & Release Contest

SJF just announced the start of the summer 2013 fishing contest.  All employees and their immediate families are invited to participate in this catch & release contest.  The contest runs from May – October and will feature monthly as well as overall contest winners.

Winners will be determined using a point system based on the length & species of fish caught per month and over the entire time period.  In other words, you may not win a specific month, however you can still win by having the most points at the end of the contest.

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Featured Client: Kelly-Moss Motorsports

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Kelly-Moss Motorsports Racking

Kelly-Moss Motorsports offers maintenance, performance tuning and enhancement, parts sales and much more to race teams all across the USA.  Kelly-Moss is a complete full service auto facility, working on both customer race cars and general automotive maintenance in their street shop.  The complex also houses the Level Five Motorsports racing team. With over 22 years of experience with all major car brands, Kelly-Moss is proud to make racers’ dreams come true.

Kelly-Moss utilizes SJF’s pallet racking to store and organize cars for clients, keeping them professionally maintained in their new 50,000 square foot facility, located just hours from Chicago and Milwaukee.

Additional Photos

SJF is honored to help Kelly-Moss store these beautiful cars safely and efficiently.

SJF Among 100 Best Companies to Work for in MN

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MN Business 100 Best Businesses to Work For in 2013

SJF is honored to be named on the 100 Best Companies to Work for in MN for 2013.  This list is compiled by Minnesota Business Magazine based out of Minneapolis, MN.

About the Nomination (From MN Business Magazine)

[this award salutes] Minnesota organizations setting the standard for employee well-being. The 100 Best are chosen using data gathered from an anonymous employee satisfaction survey administered by an independent research group. Only the top Minnesotan companies, as judged in areas such as work environment, employee benefits, employee happiness, and leadership, are selected for inclusion in the list.

There will be an award ceremony to honor all of the companies on the list on Thursday, June 6th.

Thanks, MN Business Magazine and thank you SJF employees for making this possible!

You can view the full list of nominees here.

Material Handling Myths, Monsters & Secrets

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In my time in direct sales, I have uncovered 2 simple truths. The first one, I had to learn. The second is a truth that I’d like my customers to learn.

First and foremost though, project sales is harder than it looks. And by hard, I mean time consuming. Don’t get me wrong, the lead opportunities are great at SJF. There’s no shortage of customer interest & quote requests. Whether it’s by phone or email, when I do speak with customers they don’t always know how to put into words what they envision in their minds. The back and forth translation of needs & wants takes a lot of time. There are days where I feel like a child on an Easter egg hunt with an eye patch and a broken hip. It’s not that we don’t have the equipment, (we have loads of equipment!) it’s just that with used equipment, having the exact material at the exact time a customer needs it can be a challenge.

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Featured Client: Modern Molding

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Custom Blue Pallet Racking

Modern Molding, Inc. (MMI) of Delano, Minnesota, provides custom-made thermoplastic injection molded parts to the worldwide market with complete solutions for engineers, project managers, and purchasing agents. With unsurpassed technical support, Modern Molding helps manufacturers and engineers find the right solutions for any injection molding or tooling need.

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Featured Client: Tetra Pak

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Vertical Carousels

Tetra Pak is a multinational food packaging and food processing company of Swedish origin. Operating in more than 170 countries and with over 22,000 employees, Tetra Pak is currently the largest food packaging company in the world (measured in sales). The companies head offices are in Lund, Sweden and Lausanne, Switzerland.

Tetra Pak offers packaging solutions including  filling machines and processing solutions for dairy, beverages, cheese, ice-cream and prepared food.It’s products line include accumulators, cap applicators, conveyors, crate packers, film wrappers, line controllers, straw applicators and more.

Tetra Pak currently has 2 divisions in Winsted, MN. where they manufacture equipment for the company’s food processing operations. SJF has worked closely with Tetra Pak from it’s early days in the Winsted area. Over the years SJF has provided Tetra Pak with a wide range of equipment ranging from static cantilever & pallet racking to automated carousels, controls & automation software.

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The Great SJF Chili Cook-Off (November 2012)

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Chili

The SJF chili competition was a big success!  We had three entrants this time around.  Lori Foster brought a red chili made with mostly home-grown ingredients.  Vance Haugen entered a delicious red chili, and Craig Fasching brought another small pot of excellent red.  Kent Powell brought home-made corn bread to compliment all of the entries.  ‘Fixins were provided by SJF.

Vance
The Triumphant Winner

After all of the chili was tasted, the final vote count was as follows:

Vance Haugen: 9
Lori Foster: 4
Craig Fasching: 3

Making Vance the winner (…this time).

Congratulations Vance.

An Addendum: There were to be four entries in the contest this year, however one of the entries made it only as far as the front door of SJF.  A certain owner of the company (his first name rhymes with Tank) forgot about the tupperware bowl full of chili in his briefcase.  As he entered the building, briefcase in hand, he wondered aloud what smelled like chili before realizing that it was the entire contents of his bag.

Top 5 Buying Secrets Industry Insiders Don’t Want You To Know

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The material handling industry, as discussed in this article, represents a whopping 50-billion dollar/year business in the U.S. alone. Even so, very few people know everything necessary to make optimal buying decisions. Some people in the industry like it this way, but in this article, I’ll reveal some of the secrets these dealers don’t want you to know. I have been in this industry for over 30 years and I have learned many things that I think you, the customer, ought to know. Though I wont tell you what decision to make, I’ll give you the tools to make the right decision.

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