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Snowblower Production Way Up for Toro Plant in Minn.

Source: KEYC TV, Mankato, Minn.

North Mankato, Minn (Jan. 11, 2009) —  Recent snow has caused headaches for public works crews and travelers, but there is one area business that loves all the white stuff. But it might be good for business.

Two big snowstorms in a short amount of time caught some homeowners unprepared to clear the snow from their driveways and sidewalks. And the people that make those snow blowers were unprepared as well.

Ron Gray of Toro Co. says, "We had some early snowstorms come through the Midwest and East Coast which is two of our bigger markets and we used up a lot of our annual inventory and had to go in and build some more."

Toro thought production of their winter equipment could safely end in December without their assembly line having to be restarted. But the line recently got back to work, with demand going up by the thousands.

Not only is the company having to increase production, their employees are enjoying a little bit more job security during the snowy winter. "We've been really fortunate because of the snow product, where a lot of plants have seen layoffs and people have been out of work, we've actually been able to keep everybody employed and we're actually hiring," says Barry Voxland of Toro Co.

Gray adds, "We're not only building the snow products, but we've actually started building some of our lawn product, too. So we have plenty of enough work to keep everybody busy here."

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