Everyone driving down Interstate 29 near Watertown, South Dakota this morning was treated to an impressive sight: a massive American flag, waving in the summer breeze, suspended from two Terex aerial bucket trucks; the red-white-and-blue Manufacturing Express; and a crowd of over 400 Terex manufacturing workers gathered to celebrate the achievements of the local manufacturing community. Terex Utilities is making America, and our electrical infrastructure, stronger and more resilient—all from right here in eastern South Dakota.
As the Manufacturing Express pulled into place in front of Terex’s state-of-the-art Watertown facility (built in 2020), it was remarkable to see how much this all-American company has grown. The Euclid Company, the forerunner of Terex, was founded in 1933 as a builder of hauling dump trucks supplying the Midwest; now, nearly a century later, Terex has become an international titan of the equipment manufacturing industry, and its Utilities division has become the gold standard for bucket trucks, digger derricks, and augur components.
As Terex Utilities General Manager Eric Kluver explained, elevating people isn’t just the goal of their products (or, at least, their aerial bucket trucks); Terex makes a point to elevate their employees and to celebrate them for their work. “We wanted to honor them,” Kluver said, “and the Manufacturing Express was the perfect opportunity.”
In this tight-knit community, things get done when people come together. That mentality is how Terex and Watertown have come to lift each other up toward prosperity. Terex has invested heavily in eastern South Dakota: that brand-new 450,000 square-foot facility in Watertown, plus an expansion to the Huron plant a few towns over. At the same time, Watertown has become a sort of promised land for well-paying, high-quality equipment manufacturing jobs at Terex. “I just moved here from Milbank,” said new Terex employee Isaac Cordell, “but I’m happy to be here.”
The Manufacturing Express was happy to be there too. Terex hosted the entire facility for a celebration lunch—and sitting there, shoulder to shoulder with the hard-working folks of Watertown, it was evident the lengths to which Terex goes to treat its employees as the essential drivers of American manufacturing that they are. Terex hasn’t just helped build America; it’s helped build this South Dakota community, one piece at a time.
Here at Terex, they aren’t shy about it showing off the work they do—they’re proud of it. If you ask Brad Sanders, assembler, he’d tell you: “There’s a lot more care and patience put into this equipment than people know.” That’s for sure. The gleaming white bucket trucks out front, American flag billowing, are evidence of the pride that these Americans have for their products. As they say here at Terex, they don’t just build; they’re built different. What’s also clear: this equipment manufacturing community is built to last.
