AMFA May Meeting

AMFA Luncheon Meeting on May 10 in Tower; tour Lamppa Manufacturing 

Topic: Workforce Grants and Partnerships - Who and How to Connect (Due to changes this presentation will be virtual). In Addition an In-Person presentation from Heath Boe ( Minnesota North College-Customized training Solutions) will be given on their work and local funding options. 

Shayla Drake will share an overview of grants and partnership opportunities for businesses throughout the arrowhead to train, upskill, and retain their workforce. From manufacturers, small to large, there might be a resource for you!

Speaker: Shayla Drake, MN DEED

Shayla Drake is the Northeast Workforce Strategy Consultant for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Her work focuses on developing innovative workforce solutions by aligning resources, facilitating collaboration, and leveraging expertise in targeted industry sectors to drive economic equity and growth. She does this by supporting employers with building recruiting and retention strategies, collaborating with regional partners and educators to help develop talent pipelines, and working systematically to remove barriers to employment. 


TOUR: Lamppa Manufacturing (Kumma wood burning stoves and saunas) 

The Lamppa Manufacturing Story

Prior to the tour, learn about Lamppa's company history, product line, industries served, future outlook, and more.  

“In the early 1900s, during the depression, my father, and grandfather of my son (Richard Lamppa), worked as a blacksmith for the WPA work program. He started making sauna stoves for the early Finnish settlers who lived in the country. They were very fond of traditional Finnish saunas. He usually made the stoves out of used 30-gallon oil drums. He would cut an opening on one end of the barrel for loading wood into the stove barrel. He purchased a cast iron frame and door, which was bolted to the end that had the opening. He also attached a cast iron smoke collar on the top side of the barrel that lay sideways.

I remember clearly how many hours I had to stand there cranking the handle of the blower of the coal-fired forge. He had straps of iron that had to be heated till they were red-hot so he could then hammer them in the shape needed to form the legs of the stove.

My father made many beneficial modifications to our stoves over the years, and in the late 1970s, my son Daryl and I took over the family business and started to make wood-burning furnaces along with Kuuma sauna stoves.

We have since made numerous improvements to our product lines, including using a patented wood burning process called gasification that allows for increased burning efficiency and lowered smoke and creosote build-up.

We are a small family-owned company and believe that we must always make the best units we know-how and continue striving to make them BETTER and SAFER. We look forward to serving your furnace and sauna stove needs.”