Minnesota Industrial MachineX repairs food processing lines, fabrication equipment, CNC machines, robots and plant controls in southwest Minnesota, for plants in Marshall, Worthington, Redwood Falls, Pipestone, Windom, Jackson, Luverne and Granite Falls. Every tech we send is Minnesota-based and has mechanical engineers to call on, and for a machine that’s hard down we can usually respond the same day. The number is (651) 386-6553.
Southwest Minnesota is the one region in the state where manufacturing is still the largest employer. DEED counted 31,276 manufacturing jobs at 623 establishments in 2023, 18.1 percent of all jobs in the region. Three kinds of plants carry most of it, per DEED’s Southwest Minnesota manufacturing overview:
| Manufacturing sector | Jobs in 2023 | What that means on the floor |
|---|---|---|
| Food manufacturing | 11,331 | Meat and poultry lines, dairy, frozen food, conveyors and packaging |
| Machinery | 3,673 | Mostly ag, construction and mining machinery: lasers, brakes, welding cells |
| Printing and related | 2,217 | Conveyors, packaging lines and plant equipment |
This page is built around those plants.
Food Processing Equipment Repair: Meat, Turkey, Frozen Food and Dairy
Of those 11,331 food jobs, 6,318 are in animal slaughtering and processing and 1,449 in dairy. The two biggest food towns on our list:
- Worthington, at I-90 and State Highway 60, lists a large meat processing plant among its major employers, along with a packaging manufacturer, a vaccine maker and a manufactured housing builder. The city has a Bio-Science Industrial Park and 130 acres available along I-90.
- Marshall counts frozen food production and turkey processing among its largest employers, plus an agricultural processing plant, according to the city’s workforce page.
Food lines usually stop for reasons that have nothing to do with the product. Washdown water gets into a junction box and a proximity sensor starts dropping out, a conveyor gearmotor overheats, or a case sealer loses timing and starts crushing boxes. Our conveyor, packaging line and plant equipment repair handles the mechanical side, and when the fault is in the cabinet, PLC and electrical repair covers Siemens, Modicon and AutomationDirect processors, failed I/O modules and ladder logic that needs a fix after a sensor or valve was swapped.
Palletizing and case packing robots go down on collision alarms, encoder battery faults and lost mastering, and we handle Fanuc, Motoman, ABB and Kuka cells through our robot and automation repair.
Food plants also run a lot of guarding. If a light curtain keeps tripping or a door interlock has been jumpered out to keep a line running, our machine safety and interlock repair puts the circuit back the way it should work and notes any missing or bypassed guarding we find.
Ag Equipment and Machinery Manufacturing Repair
Of the 3,673 machinery jobs in the region, 2,891 are in agriculture, construction and mining machinery. That work is steel that gets cut, bent, welded and painted.
Redwood Falls and Redwood County are a good example. The Redwood Area Development Corporation reports that county manufacturing jobs grew 44.3 percent from 2011 to 2021 while total jobs in the county fell, with food and machinery adding the most. The county also makes wood products, chemicals, fabricated metal, farm equipment, medical supplies and electronic signboards.
In an ag equipment plant, the cutting table sets the pace for everything behind it. When a fiber laser starts leaving heavy dross on the bottom edge, check nozzle centering, focus and assist gas pressure first, then the chiller. Our laser cutter repair covers fiber and CO2 machines, and for thicker plate, plasma table repair takes in torch height control, bevel and cut quality problems.
From the table, parts go to the brake and then the welding cell. A hitch or frame bracket that comes off the brake a degree open won’t fit the weld fixture, so the welder ends up forcing it. We chase that back to its source, whether it’s the ram, the backgauge or worn tooling, so the fixture fits again without a hammer.
Southwest Minnesota Towns We Cover
| Town | What we verified |
|---|---|
| Marshall | Frozen food, turkey processing and ag processing among the largest employers |
| Worthington | I-90 and Highway 60; meat processing; Bio-Science Industrial Park with 130 acres on I-90 |
| Redwood Falls | Redwood County manufacturing up 44.3 percent from 2011 to 2021 |
| Luverne | Industrial park in the southwest quadrant of town with I-90 frontage, U.S. 75 access and rail service on the Ellis and Eastern |
| Jackson | The chamber's manufacturing list runs heavily to agriculture, from equipment to feed |
| Granite Falls | Industrial park run through the city's EDA |
| Windom | Covered |
| Pipestone | Covered |
Travel to Southwest Minnesota
Our techs travel throughout Minnesota every day. Travel out here runs longer than it does in the metro, and it’s shorter when a tech is already working nearby. Call (651) 386-6553 and we’ll give you a real estimate on travel and arrival time based on where our techs are right now.
Because the drive is longer, calling first matters more here than anywhere. Our remote troubleshooting works through alarms by phone and video, and even when it doesn’t fix the problem, it tells the tech what parts to bring.
Here’s how the billing works, as an example only. Say the nearest tech is three hours out and the repair takes four hours on site. You’d be billed 3 hours of travel one way plus 4 hours on site, so multiply those by the current rates on our rates page and add parts, which are quoted before we order them.
Monthly Maintenance Service in Southwest Minnesota
Out here, one planned trip a month usually beats waiting on a breakdown and then a long drive. With our monthly maintenance program, a Minnesota tech comes on a set schedule to work the PM checklist and your repair list and keep critical spares in order, so a call between visits starts with someone who already knows the line. Meat, turkey and dairy plants in Worthington and Marshall can plan visits around sanitation shifts, and ag equipment builders can use them to check laser nozzles, chillers and brake hydraulics before the cutting table slows down. The checklist behind each visit is on our preventive maintenance page, and we line up visits with other work in the area whenever we can.
FAQ
Will a repair tech actually drive to Marshall or Worthington?
Yes. Our techs travel the whole state, including Marshall, Worthington, Luverne, Pipestone, Jackson, Windom, Redwood Falls and Granite Falls. We send whichever tech is closest.
How long is the drive to a plant in southwest Minnesota?
Our techs travel throughout Minnesota every day. Travel out here runs longer than it does in the metro, and it’s shorter when a tech is already working nearby. Call (651) 386-6553 and we’ll give you a real estimate on travel and arrival time based on where our techs are right now.
How is travel billed for a long drive?
Travel is billed by the hour, one way only, figured from wherever our nearest tech is, and on-site time is billed by the hour as well. Parts are quoted before we order them. Current rates are on our rates page.
Can a tech visit our Marshall or Worthington plant on a regular schedule?
Yes. Our techs visit on a set schedule, most plants starting monthly, to work the PM checklist and your repair list and keep your critical spares stocked. Each program is quoted per plant after a walk-through, and visits are planned to cover as much as possible in one trip.
Do you repair food processing and packaging equipment?
Yes. We repair conveyors, packaging machines, robots, hydraulics and the PLCs and sensors that run food lines, along with CNC and fabrication equipment.
Can you fix a laser that is leaving dross on the cut?
Usually. Dross most often comes from nozzle centering, focus, assist gas pressure or a chiller problem. We check those first and work back to the source.
Can you help over the phone before driving out?
Yes. Call with the alarm number, a short video and a photo of the data plate. Some problems get solved on the call, and the rest tell us what to bring.