Rhoden touts growing manufacturing sector in South Dakota, industry members weigh in

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Gov. Larry Rhoden is touting South Dakota’s growing manufacturing sector.

Rhoden, in a recent letter, highlighted that South Dakota is one of the only states where manufacturing is growing. Rhoden touched on manufacturing businesses he visited, including RPM and Associates in Rapid City which makes large metal components for mining companies and power plants.

While Erik Hendrickson, sales and marketing manager for the company says he struggles to get workforce volume, he says manufacturing is alive and well in Rapid City.

“I’ve spent an entire career in manufacturing without actually ever leaving Rapid City. So there’s a lot of industry over here. I know East River tends to get the focus on that. There’s a few more people there, a few bigger companies, but there are actually a lot of companies doing things you wouldn’t expect.”

Hendrickson credits South Dakota’s economy, education and central location with the industry growth.

RPM Innovations in Rapid City was also mentioned which makes 3d printers, software, aerospace and defense components. The company is able to use its technology to make many of its parts faster than other manufacturing processes.

“One of the coolest parts is talking to people around the world having no idea that we actually have all of this rooted in South Dakota. Most of the things that we see and do are targeted toward flying or defense and really one of our founding pieces is trying to give our government and American people an unfair advantage so that everyone goes home to their own family,” said Tyler Blumenthal, technical sales manager.

Defense is also at the center of VRC Metal Systems in Box Elder, which designs equipment that can remotely fix military products saving the department of defense millions of dollars. The company’s CEO, Robert Hrabe, says new manufacturing technologies have primed western South Dakota for growth.

“All these different new technologies, a lot of which were partly developed by School of Mines and SDSU and so forth, and I think that gives you the opportunity to do manufacturing at a remote location that didn’t...previously, we were not able to do,” said Hrabe.

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