On one hand, you have the manufacturers of industrial springs. On the other, doting pet owners. Common sense seems to tell you that springs have nothing in common with springer spaniels. Blaine entrepreneur Dave Larson begs to differ.
“You have to make constant adjustments in both businesses to succeed, and be able to see where the customers are going,” he says.
Larson began his first business, Blaine-based Larson Systems, Inc., in a North Minneapolis garage in the late 1970s. The company has two components. One is the production of devices that measure the resilience in all the different kinds of industrial springs. Larson’s instruments can measure precisely the force it takes to compress or extend springs, which is vital in making springs that rely on an exact level of “springiness” to do their jobs. These range from the springs used in computer keyboards (each key has to bounce back just right), to fuel injector springs in vehicles (which control exactly how much gas is fed into the engine), to huge industrial springs, several feet in length, placed at the bottoms of elevator shafts.
Larson Systems’ other component is a machining job shop, where several advanced computer numerical control (CNC) machines can cut complex, three-dimensional patterns into hunks of metal on all four sides, much of it automatically from computer-assisted design specifications. Among the custom items the company has produced is cast-aluminum housing for a laser measurement device, with very precise “windows” through which the laser beams project. All told, Larson Systems is a $3 million company.
Then there’s Larson’s other business, the Stone Mountain Pet Lodge, a $4 million dog hotel in Blaine that opened in 2005.
Stone Mountain features state-of-the-art, heated-floor, indoor-outdoor dog enclosures (some with four-poster mini-beds), walking trail, and spacious outdoor training field. The dog-loving Larson recently added a “doggie daycare” to the hotel’s offerings. Prices range from $15 per day for a basic day lodging to $49 for luxury overnight stays.
What his pet lodge represents is the same thing his latest CNC machine tool shows at the shop: A willingness to get out in front of the curve. In the machining business, the new high-tech milling machines allow their users to get out of the low-end jobs and address higher-value markets by making more complex parts. In the kennel business, customers want their companions to get out of the cage and romp in an enclosed space.
Like many manufacturers, Larson believes that most of the cheap work has been shipped overseas; the U.S. needs to move to a European model in which manufacturers concentrate on high-end niches and international customers.
He’s found a niche for canines, too.
