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  • Thin Film Technologies CEO Tom Lietha (left) shows Rep. Tim Walz one of the tiny circuit boards the North Mankato company makes. Behind Lietha is Steve Suri, CFO, and Rick Lowenberg (right) of Minnesota Elevator Inc., which invested in the management buyout of Thin Film last year. John Cross

    WalzAtThinFilm

July 6, 2010

Walz touts small business as growth engines

Firm hiring workers needs taxes held, policies changed

By Tim Krohn Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Thin Film Technology is doing what many people think can’t be done in the United States.

“We have manufacturing jobs located here and they’re exporting to China,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, who visited the North Mankato firm Tuesday.

CEO Tom Lietha said 30 percent of the company’s electronic components are sold in China and another 20 percent in other Asian nations.

“Our employees can compete globally,” Lietha said.

But to continue doing that, he said taxes must be held and policies need to ensure a level playing field with global competition.

Chris Sturm, human resource manager, said complex immigration policies hamper the firm’s need to attract top engineers.

He said many of their engineers come through the immigration system, “But we have to hire immigration lawyers because it’s so complex.”

Thin Film is in a rebuilding after the firm’s Japanese parent company last year announced it was going to close Thin Film, which led the local management team to successfully buy the plant.

Lietha said Thin Film is on track for 16 percent sales growth this year and expects similar growth in coming years. “That growth will translate into jobs.”

He said the firm’s ability to do everything from concept and design to manufacturing gives it an edge in the market. The company has developed many of its own processes and built specialized equipment to make the tiny, thin electronic components used in things like OnStar, Honeywell Controls, the Patriot missile system and the Apple Mac Book Pro.

“Our local small businesses power our economic engine and as we move forward with our economic recovery, we have to make sure they have the tools they need to succeed,” said Walz., D-Mankato.

He said changes are needed to make it easier to hire highly skilled workers from other countries and touted his support to re-authorize the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurial development programs, tax credits for small businesses and the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act that provides payroll tax breaks for business that hire unemployed workers.

Thin Film was founded in 1979 by Japanese owners who wanted to tap into the engineering innovation they saw in the United States. The management buyout late last year was assisted by the city of North Mankato and investors, including Minnesota Elevator Inc. of rural Mankato.

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