Friday Five: A special conversation with the 2026 Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota winner

By Doug Loon
President and CEO
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce

Doug Loon (DL): Welcome back to this week's Minnesota Business Podcast. Another great week at the Chamber. We celebrated manufacturing, all those innovators and employers across the state who make amazing products. And during our Manufacturers' Summit this week, we named the Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota.

We've talked about this on previous programs; how important it is that we celebrate manufacturers because they bring great jobs to build great communities all across the state. And I'm so thrilled to announce that the Bair Hugger warming system by Solventum won this year's Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota.

So it is the coolest thing this year in Minnesota, made by Solventum, based right here in the Twin Cities. So with me today is Doug Bartlett. He's the president of the business unit responsible for the Bair Hugger. And first, Doug, thank you for being with us.

Doug Bartlett (DB): Thank you. It's an honor.

DL: And congratulations for this award. We just stepped out of the program, and we had a huge amount of voting this year, and it was very close. So congratulations on a narrow win, but an important win for you guys.

First, tell us a little bit about yourself here in Minnesota and what you do, and then I'm going to ask you to tell us some more about the Bair Hugger product itself. Why does it exist, and why is it so cool?

DB: No, thank you so much for the opportunity. You know, Solventum is a global med device company. It's only two years old, but our origins come from 3M Healthcare, so obviously very deeply tied to the state of Minnesota.

We have about 25,000 people around the world. About 2,000 of them live here in Minnesota. Most of the folks on my team are engineers. Our manufacturing, marketing, a lot of them are here based in our Eagan facility. One of three locations that we're proud to have in Minnesota.

And they were all represented today. The Eden Prairie factory, where Bair Hugger was born and is still made to this day, as well as our Oakdale service facility.

DL: Fantastic. Yeah. So tell us about the product and what it provides to patients who come in contact with it.

DB: So when you have a general anesthetic as a patient, and especially if you're very sick going into the surgery, it's very important that you maintain your body temperature as normal as possible, as close to 98.6 as you can.

Operating rooms are very cold and anesthetic makes you colder. So by keeping a patient what we call normothermic during the course of a surgery, it is shown to have the patient recover much faster, have lower rates of infection, a lot of clinically proven things.

So, you know, over the last 20 years, it's become a major standard of care. And today, Bair Hugger is sold all around the world.

DL: So it's like a coat, a vest, and it's filled with warm air.

DB: It is either a blanket or a gown that is amazingly comfortable. But yes, it's filled with nice, warm air. The clinician can warm it even more as necessary. And we have many different shapes and sizes for all types of specialty surgeries.

DL: And how long has it been made in Minnesota?

DB: It has been made in Minnesota, in one form or fashion, since 1988 was when it was released. Today's product is very different and, you know, as an example, we've launched a brand new underbody line this year.

So we've continued to innovate and manufacture in Minnesota throughout many generations of the product.

DL: So a wonderful innovation started right here in Minnesota, and it's distributed globally.

DB: It is, to almost 100 countries. I think we're around 96.

DL: Fantastic. Great, great story. Yeah. So, congratulations again. So what does this recognition mean to Solventum and you?

DB: I'll tell you, it means a lot. Again, the team has deep Minnesota roots. You know, I've only lived here for a few months as a resident, but you feel the pride.

I think that the legacy and the history, we have a lot of folks in that plant that have worked their entire career there. So to win something like this and to hang a trophy up that's as beautiful as the one you gave us, I have to say, is really special.

DL: Well, you can check it out online. We featured some photos this week about the award ceremony and the award itself.

It was the third year in a row we've been doing this program. So congratulations on being the third in the line. In fact, you should know, 3M Magic Scotch Tape, I saw that was the first winner. And then last year it was Polaris with their RZR.

So we have these wonderful stories in Minnesota to tell. We want to also recognize the other finalists as well as all 64 products that entered.

And for those folks that want to be interested in this into the future, check it out next year. We're going to do it again, and we will roll it out a year from now for the next Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota.

So congratulations again, Doug, for the success at Solventum and for this recognition. And thank you for making such a cool thing here in Minnesota.

DB: Thank you for having us. Such an amazing event. It was really special.

DL: Great. Thank you for being with us once again. We hope you have a great weekend, and we'll catch up with you next week on the Minnesota Business Podcast. Have a great weekend!