A manufacturing program has more moving parts than almost anything else we write: your building, your machines, your product after it leaves the dock, your workforce, and the income that stops the day the line stops. Most programs we review handle three or four of those well and quietly fail on the rest.
Four gaps show up on almost every manufacturing policy we read.
None of them are exotic. They are the predictable result of a program that was rated from an application and renewed without anyone looking at the operation again.
The building is insured at pre-2020 construction costs
The business interruption limit is a number somebody guessed once
Equipment breakdown is missing or sublimited to a fraction of the equipment
The general liability policy will not pay to recall the product
Workers comp class codes have not been reviewed in years
Manufacturing concentrates enormous value into a small number of machines with long replacement lead times, then ships a product that keeps generating liability after it leaves the building. That combination needs a program built for it.
How we build the account
✓ Walk the floor and identify what stops the line ✓ Value property and equipment at current replacement cost ✓ Build business interruption from a real worksheet ✓ Quantify product and recall exposure downstream ✓ Review class codes and experience mod
Where Programs Break
The four findings we make most often
Your building is insured at yesterday's construction costs
Commercial construction costs in Minnesota have climbed sharply since 2020 and most policies have not kept up. Because commercial property carries a coinsurance clause, typically 80 or 90 percent, falling short does not just cap a total loss. It reduces a partial loss proportionally, which is the kind of claim you are far more likely to have. A building carried at $3.9M when replacement cost is $5.3M can see a fire claim reduced by roughly a quarter.
Your business interruption limit is a number somebody guessed
The limit needs to reflect current gross earnings, current fixed costs, and a realistic period of restoration. For a manufacturer that means the lead time on replacement equipment, not just the construction schedule. If a piece of your line is an eighteen-month order, a twelve-month period of restoration does not get you back to running. Contingent business interruption is a separate gap where a single supplier can stop your production.
Equipment breakdown is not property coverage
Commercial property covers fire, wind, water, and similar external causes. It excludes damage a machine does to itself: electrical arcing, mechanical breakdown, motor burnout, pressure vessel failure. Equipment breakdown handles that and should also pick up the resulting business interruption and spoilage. On many programs it is missing or endorsed at a limit far below the equipment it is meant to protect.
Your general liability will not pay to recall your product
Products-completed operations responds when your product injures someone or damages property. It does not pay the cost of pulling the product back: notification, freight, warehousing, disposal, replacement, and the lost income while it happens. Product recall expense is separate, and for anyone selling into a supply chain where a customer can compel a recall, its absence is a serious exposure.
Coverage
What a manufacturing program includes
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Commercial Property
Buildings, machinery, stock, and raw materials on a replacement cost basis, with valuations reflecting what it would actually cost to rebuild today, plus ordinance and law coverage for code upgrades a rebuild triggers.
Minnesota winters extend restoration timelines on any loss requiring exterior construction. Build that into the period rather than around it.
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Business Interruption
Lost income and continuing expenses, priced off an actual worksheet, with a period of restoration that accounts for equipment lead times and contingent exposure to single-source suppliers.
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Equipment Breakdown
Mechanical and electrical failure, boiler and pressure vessel, motors, and controls, plus the production loss and spoilage that follow. Covers what the property policy excludes.
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Product Liability & Recall
Defense and damages when your product causes injury or damage, plus the cost of getting it back if a recall is required, including third-party recall for component suppliers.
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Workers Compensation
Statutory coverage with attention to class code assignment and payroll division. Manufacturing and installation carry different codes and getting it wrong is expensive at audit.
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Commercial Auto & Fleet
Delivery vehicles, service trucks, and hired and non-owned exposure when employees run parts in a personal vehicle.
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Inland Marine & Transit
Property in motion or off premises: raw materials inbound, finished goods outbound, tooling at a customer site, and equipment being installed.
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Cyber Liability
Ransomware against connected production systems is a property and income exposure, not just a data one. Includes breach response and business interruption from a cyber event.
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Pollution Liability
Where operations involve solvents, coatings, plating, ammonia, or waste streams. Standard general liability excludes pollution almost entirely.
Industries
Minnesota manufacturing, by sector
Sub-Industries
Find your operation
Each of these carries exposures the others do not. Pick the one closest to what you make.
Four questions for a planning range on a full commercial package. The real number comes from a submission, and we would rather build that properly.
On Your Floor
What we look for when we walk a plant
A walkthrough takes about 45 minutes and produces a written exposure summary you keep, whether or not you ever ask us for a quote. Most brokers quote a manufacturing account off a completed application. You cannot see an exposure that way.
01
The equipment that cannot be replaced quickly
Every plant has a machine that, if it went down, would stop the line. Its lead time drives the business interruption period of restoration.
02
Fire protection relative to what is actually stored
Sprinkler design has to match the commodity classification and rack height. Storage changes over the years. Sprinkler systems do not.
03
Electrical infrastructure age
Panel and wiring condition drive both the equipment breakdown exposure and how underwriters price the property.
04
Dust, solvents, coatings, and finishing
These change the fire rating and determine whether a pollution exclusion matters to you.
05
Shipping and receiving
Where property transitions between policies, and where a lot of coverage gaps live.
06
How the product is used downstream
Product liability exposure depends on what your component ends up inside of, not on what you invoice.
We come see the operation before we quote it. You get a written exposure summary afterward regardless of what you decide to do.
2
Build the Submission Properly
Current values, a real gross earnings worksheet, documented lead times, and your loss control practices presented clearly. A well-built submission produces materially different terms than a bare application.
3
Market It Across Carriers
We compare forms across 50+ carriers rather than comparing premiums across identical forms. If your current program is well placed, we will tell you that.
Frequently Asked Questions
What manufacturers ask us
Annually. Commercial construction and equipment costs have moved enough since 2020 that a valuation set even three years ago is likely short. Because commercial property policies carry a coinsurance clause, falling below the required percentage reduces payment on a partial loss, not just a total one, and partial losses are far more common.
No. Commercial property forms exclude mechanical breakdown and damage from artificially generated electrical current. Equipment breakdown covers the machine failing on its own, along with the resulting production loss and spoilage. It is a separate coverage and is frequently either missing or endorsed at a limit far below the equipment it protects.
No. General liability responds to injury or property damage your product causes to others. It does not pay to notify customers, retrieve product, warehouse it, dispose of it, or replace it. That is product recall expense coverage, purchased separately, and for component suppliers it should include third-party recall.
From a gross earnings worksheet: projected revenue, less cost of goods sold, plus the expenses that continue during a shutdown, over the expected period of restoration. For a manufacturer that period has to reflect equipment lead times rather than construction schedules. If a critical machine is an eighteen-month order, a twelve-month period leaves a gap.
It depends on what the crew actually does, and manufacturers frequently carry a code assigned years ago that no longer matches. Machining, assembly, installation, and delivery can fall under different codes, and payroll division has to be documented to hold at audit. We review classifications on every manufacturing account rather than accepting what was inherited.
Yes. For manufacturing accounts a walkthrough takes about 45 minutes and is where the real information is: which machine stops the line, what its lead time is, how storage compares to the sprinkler design, and where property transitions between policies. You cannot see those things on an application.
Early November at the latest. Underwriters need time to work a manufacturing submission properly, and a rushed file produces worse terms than a well-prepared one. If your renewal is January 1 and it is already December, we can still help, but the leverage is lower.
Premium is driven by payroll, sales, building and equipment values, what you make, where it ends up, construction class, protection, and loss history. A machine shop and a food processor of identical revenue price very differently because the product exposure differs. We compare across 50+ carriers, and if your current program is priced and structured well we will say so.
Related Coverage
The coverages that make up a manufacturing program:
Send us your declarations pages and loss runs. We will read them before we talk about price, and for manufacturers that usually means coming out to see the operation.
Property valuations checked against current replacement cost
Business interruption built from an actual worksheet
Equipment lead times documented and reflected
Product and recall exposure quantified
Workers comp class codes reviewed
Plant walkthrough included, written summary yours to keep
Start your free quote
Fill out the form and an agent will be in touch within one business day.
Most of what I find is a coverage problem, not a price problem.
Valuations, restoration periods, recall exposure, and class codes. These decide what a manufacturing claim pays, and none of them can be assessed from an application.
Featured Agent
Dane Roti, CPIA
Commercial Lines Agent
I read the policy before I quote it, and for manufacturers that means walking the floor. The question I am asking is which machine stops the line and how long a replacement takes, because that one answer sets the equipment limit and the business interruption period at the same time. Most of what I find on manufacturing accounts is not a pricing problem. It is a valuation that went stale or a coverage nobody bought. Send me your dec pages and let me come see the operation. If your program is well placed I will tell you that.
