MDI wins new postal contracts

January 17, 2006

By Scott Carlson

"Neither snow nor sleet nor rain" can stop Minnesota Diversified Industries Inc. from working for the U.S. Postal Service.

The St. Paul-based nonprofit said Monday it has won new contracts to produce 6 million bulk-mail trays and 4 million letter-mail trays for the Postal Service’s mail-handling operations. The contracts are valued at more than $35 million, a 40 percent increase over the previous year’s pacts. That total represents more than half of MDI’s projected 2006 revenue of about $60 million, Chief Executive Officer Mark de Naray said in an interview.

In a statement, de Naray said postal tray production has been a major part of MDI’s business for more than 12 years. MDI’s partnership with the Postal Service is a key contributor to the nonprofit’s plastics business, which employs more than 350 workers at its Hibbing and Grand Rapids, Minn., plants, he said.

Last year, MDI’s trays enabled the postal service to deliver more than 212 billion pieces of mail to more than 134 million delivery addresses. MDI has produced more than 60 million trays for the Postal Service since 1993.

Founded in 1964, MDI offers jobs to people with disabilities. Besides plants in Grand Rapids and Hibbing, MDI provides packaging, assembly and fulfillment services at its St. Paul site. Its total work force is more than 600.

Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press