Over the next decade, there will be approximately 3.5 million manufacturing job openings in the United States (Deloitte 2017). Predictions are that nearly 2 million will go unfilled. As manufacturers, we are already challenged to fill our open positions with skilled employees. To find them now, or in 10 years, we need to continue to be creative and do our part to educate people about...
If everything you try works, you are not trying enough ideas. Naturally, we are inclined to talk about our success stories, rather than our failures. But it can be in our failures where we discover the next great idea. Searching for opportunities to make process improvements is at the heart of what we do at Alexandria Industries. Whether we recommend a new alloy for ease of...
Designing your aluminum-extruded components to get you to your final near-net shape is ideal. When this is not possible and your design requires a curved or bent feature, it is important to understand the critical factors during bending that can affect the quality of your component’s final shape. Whether it is a 20-degree curve or a 180-degree u-shape, work with your extrusion...
Did you know that Alexandria Industries does not have customer service people? What!? Who’s Lavern or Shirley then? Joking aside, the people at Alexandria Industries responsible for daily communication with customers are part of our manufacturing support team. These account specialists do much more than customer service. They are responsible for managing and serving our customer...
Peter, Andrew, James and John were in the middle of a typical day at work when Jesus offered them an invitation that would change their lives. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. (Mark 1:17-18) You can't really follow Jesus without becoming more like him. Because these men were willing to become...
Every day that goes by at Alexandria Industries, we look for opportunities to lead the way in our industry. This happens in every area in our organization. Whether we are researching the latest equipment technology to measure the strength of an aluminum-extruded product, or taking time to learn about disaster preparedness techniques, we set our sights on continuous growth to get us...
Changing the way we do things to help customers address their pain-points is common practice at Alexandria Industries. Especially, when we know the challenges they are facing involve sourcing products and services. With the ongoing shortage of skilled workers, many manufacturers continue to struggle to hire qualified welders. Besides adding new qualified welders to increase capacity...
The best way to get new business is by word of mouth – hook, line and sinker. Recently, a manufacturer’s tool builder told him that it would be impossible to make the plastic-injection mold for his fishing lures to meet the product design’s requirements. After losing an entire season of sales due to the tool builder’s delay in getting the mold to work properly, the...
When the quality of aluminum extruded products go awry, customer satisfaction plummets. Recently, we recognized we were struggling with surface-finish defects on a customer’s product based on the number of returns. These returns were frustrating our customer and eating away any profit. Addressing the problem head-on was critical to improving customer satisfaction, and ultimately,...
At Alexandria Industries, we strive to build meaningful relationships with the youth in our communities. This is crucial for one simple reason…today’s youth represent our future—our future innovators, manufacturers, customers, and even our employees. Last fall, we were approached with the opportunity to work with the Alexandria Area High School’s (AAHS) advanced marketing...
2025 Alexandria Industries. All Rights Reserved.
© 2025 Alexandria Industries. 401 County Road 22 NW, Alexandria, MN 56308. All Rights Reserved.