Daktronics Scores in Minnesota
South Dakota-based scoreboard and digital display manufacturer Daktronics expands its operations in Minnesota
If you’ve attended a college or professional sporting event recently, chances are good that Daktronics designed and manufactured the scoreboard keeping tabs on all the action. Founded in 1968 by two electrical engineering professors at South Dakota State University, Daktronics has grown from its humble beginnings in a garage to a nationally recognized name in digital scoreboard and display technologies. From pharmacy and gas station digital displays to electronic billboards to high-definition stadium screens, Daktronics is lighting up the nation and the world with its customized products.
In Minnesota, you can see the company’s digital scoreboard displays in Target Field, TCF Stadium and Xcel Energy Center, as well as on the Powerball digital billboard on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis and in front of countless local businesses. Daktronics is also the manufacturer behind Target Field’s latest addition, the Twins Tower, a 100-foot tall LED illuminated structure that flashes messages and pictures behind right field.
In 2006, the company was bursting out of its Brookings, South Dakota headquarters, growing between 20 and 40 percent each year. Though it had leased a second location in Sioux Falls, South Dakota months earlier, the expansion still could not keep pace with the company’s tremendous growth, and it went searching for a third building.
At the same time, Emerson Electric Company in Redwood Falls was set to move all of its power supply product manufacturing to the Philippines, leaving about 150 trained manufacturing workers without a job, and the building without a tenant. Daktronics saw the opportunity in the situation, but wasn’t sure if Minnesota’s different tax laws would make it a burden. Minnesota’s Job Opportunity Building Zones (JOBZ) program was the final push Daktronics needed to decide to expand in Redwood Falls. JOBZ provides local and state tax exemptions for businesses that expand in certain regions of Greater Minnesota. In 2007, it opened its third location with many of the same people who had previously worked for Emerson.
Jim Hanson, plant manager and former Emerson employee, says the Daktronics expansion was vital to the Redwood Falls community. “We’re in a very small town and there are not a lot of opportunities to work elsewhere. At the time [of the purchase], we were the number-one employer in the city and we still are today,” he says.
The expansion has been equally beneficial for Daktronics, which was able to bypass the hiring process for its new location and instead get right to work on filling product orders. 2007 and 2008 were boom years for the company in terms of growth. Hanson describes 2009 as an economic “hiccup” for Daktronics, but adds that business was nearly back to normal last summer. Though the country’s widespread winter put a slight damper on sales in recent months, he anticipates up to 10 percent growth this year.
Hanson says one of the company’s main challenges is helping potential customers see the return on investment in spending thousands of dollars for a digital sign, versus hundreds for a traditional one. “Just educating the owner of the business on the value of what that display can do for them [is important],” he says.
The other challenge is changing sign code legislation in local and state governments to allow digital displays. “There are many towns, especially in Minnesota, that want to keep their old nature. They don’t want to turn it into a really flashy place with bright lights,” Hanson explains. “So, we try to educate the city and state governments because we have designed our product to prevent customers from mishandling the display and turning it into something that’s way too flashy. For many customers, once they understand the product, they open up their cities, towns and even states to more of our product.”
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