A Winnipeg-based maker of magnetic resonance imaging machines will move its headquarters to Minnetonka, bringing about 130 jobs with it.

Imris Inc.'s research, customer service, manufacturing and administration groups will relocate from Winnipeg to a new facility in Minnetonka by 2013's third quarter, Imris CEO David Graves told stock analysts in a recent conference call.

"We will have a single integrated location from which to achieve our goals," Graves said. "We will have access to a large pool of talented personnel in the Twin Cities region, access to a qualified ecosystem of suppliers ... and we will be right in the middle of our largest customer market."

Imris already has an office in Chanhassen where about 15 employees work in marketing, sales and regulatory affairs.

The company, founded in 2005, makes MRI systems that allow doctors to take body images during an operation; the patient need not be moved to a separate room.

"They have a unique system," said Alan Ridgeway, an analyst at Paradigm Capital. "Nobody moves the [MRI] scanner. Everybody else moves the patient."

Brad Woods, an Imris spokesman, said Imris' customers include Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and United Hospital in St. Paul. Imris is expected to have about $55 million in sales this year, though it has yet to turn an annual profit.

The company's roughly 130 positions in Winnipeg will be shifted to the new Minnetonka location, Woods said. Imris is applying for Minnesota government aid to assist with the move, but Woods said he didn't have details on the application.

The company's stock is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq.

Mike Hughlett • 612-673-7003