Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Two local engineers flourish in the manufacturing, design business



Two local men are doing well in the manufacturing business,
Craig Campbell of Waverly, and Melvin Briggs of Lester Prairie.

The two are part owners of Advanced Process Technologies,
Inc., which recently relocated from downtown Winsted to Cokato.

Other owners include Kevin Rolfes of Kimball, Russ Scherping
of Cokato, and Dave Kupka of Orono.

Campbell and Briggs are process engineers for the company.

APT is expanding at a good rate, with 33 employees currently
employed, and a new 22,000 square foot facility a quarter-mile north of
Highway 12 in Cokato.

The company employs drafters, welders, metal finishers,
process engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers.

Previously, the business was divided into separate locations,
of which one was the Winsted office where nine employees worked. The work
performed there was primarily process design, which involved a lot of computer
work, Campbell said.

Another location associated with APT is Crow River Fabricating,
which still exists as a company, but whose former Cokato plant building,
about 5,250 square feet, is for sale now, Campbell said.

Crow River Fabricating specializes in custom fabricating
related to items such as custom dog kennels and the like, Campbell said.
It continues to sell these items since they are so popular.

APT designs and manufactures processing systems for the
food and beverage industry across the nation.

“We design processes that take it (raw materials such
as milk) through processing, up until the item is packaged into its final
product (such as cream cheese),” Campbell said.

Companies such as Kraft or Coca Cola call APT when they
need someone to conceive, design, and build a system needed to process their
products, Campbell said.

APT could design an entire cheese plant, if need be, although
they usually design specific units within the plant, he said.

The systems include a complex array of electronic monitors,
pipes, valves and any number of other components needed to process products.

APT must also keep track of individual standards set by
each state for the food industry.

In addition, food processing plants normally operate 24
hours a day, seven days a week; which means time is money in every sense
of the word, he said.

There are three components of APT, stainless steel fabricating,
process design, and installation, Campbell said.

The installation part of the business involves one of three
APT crews, working nine-day shifts, that travels across the nation, setting
up and installing the system.

The key to its success is that APT controls the entire
process, from beginning to end – construction, design and installation of
their products – making them more quality oriented and efficient, Campbell
said.

Steel fabrication caught Campbell’s eye at Scherping’s
in Winsted when he graduated in 1985 from Holy Trinity.

From there, Campbell attended school in St. Cloud.

Briggs is a senior process engineer and moved to Lester
Prairie in 1989.

The best part? Campbell likes the challenge of trying
to fulfill the customers’ needs, he said.

“I like tweaking things,” he said.

Briggs likes to travel, and the change of pace, he said.
He is originally from Wisconsin.

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