The Manufacturing Express visited Dakota Bodies’ production facility in Watertown, South Dakota, for the second event of Monday’s doubleheader here in Codington County. A warm afternoon did nothing to diminish the turnout: 150 Dakota Bodies employees, plus appearances from State Senator Lee Schoenbeck and State Representative Hugh Bartels, made for a lively celebration of the equipment manufacturing community.
Dakota Bodies is a young company—twenty-seven years old, for those keeping score at home—which invites questions about how they’ve managed to succeed in such a short time. Alan Stager, General Manager at Dakota, can speak to that: “At Dakota Bodies, custom is our standard.” That’s how they’ve become so well-regarded within the utility vehicle industry: Dakota Bodies entail a level of personalized attention, tailored design, and adaptive manufacturing that allows the folks at Dakota to thoughtfully craft each and every body, for each and everybody.
Founded in 1997 by Jeff Orthaus, Dakota Bodies has grown from a local shop into a nationwide, full-service purveyor of custom-designed and -engineered utility and service truck bodies. Now operating out of this 155,500 square-foot facility here in Watertown, SD (plus another 90,000 square-foot facility in Liberty, MO), Dakota has quickly become a top employer in both cities.
That’s not to say that Dakota doesn’t face its own challenges; there’s plenty of adversity for a local company like this one to overcome. “But we don’t shy away from things that are hard,” Stager said. He noted that workforce scarcity represents a pressing need here in Watertown. That’s a problem, because new people are the lifeblood that drives this growing company forward: “Without new people, things don’t change.” Stager explained. “And things are changing! We’re growing, we’re building a community.”
Looking around the Manufacturing Express event, it was easy to see the kind of community Stager was talking about. The hope, for Stager, is that more people come and see it for themselves: “Watertown is a place people can move to and really make a difference.” Watertown, South Dakota is a city that’s continuing to flourish, in large part owing to the strong job opportunities that local equipment manufacturers like Dakota provide.
The folks at Dakota Bodies are challenging preconceptions everywhere. Their youth, as a company, means they’re flexible and energized. Their bespoke approach to body manufacturing may be complex, but it results in better products for their customers. The influx of new blood in their workforce isn’t just a change; it’s an evolution. But Dakota Bodies doesn’t shy away from representing something new within the equipment manufacturing community—new is what they do best.
