Bobcat Company's vice president of global operations provided the Bismarck city commission with an update on the state's largest manufacturer, which is based in Bismarck and Gwinner.

"It's our 50th anniversary," announced Bobcat's Dennis Schneider at Tuesday's city commission meeting. "This also marks our second year of operation of the manufacturing support center at the Northern Plains Commerce Centre."

Schneider said the support center was the answer to Bobcat's logistical problems as it expanded to a global market. It allowed the company to synchronize the materials with which it builds its product with distribution to its dealers and customers. Bobcat can now deliver its equipment more reliably and quicker than ever before.

"Through the MSC (manufacturing supply center), we ship throughout the Americas. We have 400 different dealers in North America who we are shipping to every day," Schneider said. "Four years ago, we were shipping from our individual plants in North Dakota to the customers. It made no sense, and we needed to look at our plants in North Dakota as a single entity. The MSC let us merge our transportation needs. It allowed us to lower our costs and improve customer service. Dealers love it."

The logistics to deliver the mini-excavators Bobcat manufactures costs the company more than what it pays for labor, Schneider said. So it is important to work as efficiently as possible. He talked about how the company would sell units, but instead of being able to put them on a full truck headed for their destination, they would often be put on a partial load. Truckers would then look for ways to fill the load, which took time and cost money.

"We used to ship right from the factory and paid some high costs for delivery. There was also damage to equipment and lost freight. We no longer do it that way with the MSC,"Schneider said. "Speed works for us, making us competitive. We're not the biggest manufacturer of this equipment, but we feel we are the fastest."

The MSC, built in Bismarck, is going to become a model for Bobcat as it expands globally, Schneider said. The Bismarck facility is actually three facilities within a facility. In one area, engines arriving from Japan are assembled for their specific uses. Another area stores all the parts and products used on the assembly line. They are arranged in the sequence that equipment is put together. The final area allows warehousing of equipment brought in through intermodal delivery.

Bobcat parts shipped from Japan are never touched, other than when they are unloaded from the rail cars at the NPCC. Previously, parts had been stored in Tacoma until they were needed. Now, they come directly to the MSC.

"Every time someone touched our equipment, it cost us money. Now it's loaded in Japan and not touched until it comes to the MSC,"Schneider said.

With construction of the MSC, Bobcat was able to hire 99 new employees, and soon that number will grow, Schneider said.

Those employees wouldn't have been out there if it weren't for what the city has done with the commerce center, providing rail and truck transportation to serve the MSC, Schneider said. The MSC also makes sure that the jobs at the Gwinner and Bismarck manufacturing plants stay put, he added.

"If we weren't competitive, over the long term, those jobs would be at risk," Schneider said. "We knew by being the anchor tenant of the NPCC, there would be some risks. But we're proud to be out there."

The MSC serves the western half of North America, Schneider said. There are plans for three to four more of the centers to be built worldwide.

Mayor John Warford called the creation of the manufacturing support center and Northern Plains Commerce Centre a team effort.

"Bobcat is the state's largest manufacturer, and it is important for the state to support you," Warford said.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@bismarcktribune.com.)