Dustin Williams, plant manager at the Manitou Americas Madison facility, was quizzed Tuesday morning about his company's current operation at S.W. 7th Street on the western edge of town.
"What's your biggest challenge right now?"
The answer from Williams came without hesitation: "Finding people."
The question was asked by South Dakota's current U.S. representative, Kristi Noem. She spent about 90 minutes at the plant before heading off to lunch with the Madison Kiwanis Club.
Noem's morning at the plant included a tour of the manufacturing floor, chatting with line workers along the way about their jobs, and wrapping up with a conference room session attended by Williams and other plant employees.
But her visit began with a meeting with Williams, when she peppered him with questions about how the operation works and what his challenges are.
The answer to the "greatest challenge" question might have been guessed from the sign posted on Highland Avenue (a/k/a the SD-34 bypass) outside the factory. It reads: "PAID EVERY WEEK / APPLY INSIDE / $1,000 SIGN ON / 1ST AND 2ND SHIFT."
Williams told Noem that for many of the positions, he was not looking for workers with a specific skill set or training.
"I just need able-bodied people who are willing to work and willing to try and show up," he said.
The plant is currently turning out an average of 15 skid loaders a day, Williams said. The year started with a target of around 12, but by the end of January they were shooting for 14 or 15. The factory line itself can handle more than twice that output -- which it did back before the recession.
Right now, Williams said, capacity is all "people dependent."
Noem asked why some workers weren't able to stick with a job at the factory.
"Factory life is not for everyone," he ventured.
Williams didn't think it was necessarily a case of those people preferring welfare programs over work. He seemed more inclined to chalk it up to a generational difference.
"It's just the younger generation...They're not working summer jobs like we used to do..." he said.
Noem wondered if automation was a strategy the company was pursuing in order to address workforce issues. Williams indicated that some processes had been automated, but that there's a certain degree of customization that the company can provide, which is a barrier to some types of automation.
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In addition to the workforce challenge, the conversation between Noem and Williams included some insight into how Madison's facility fits into Manitou as a global company. Williams told Noem they shipped to more than 50 countries.
"Just about every day of the week we are shipping something overseas," he said.
Noem wanted to know how that worked: "They leave here on trucks and then go where?"
Williams explained that the containers come in from Minneapolis, get loaded and sealed, then driven back up to Minneapolis, then go by rail up to Montreal.
Williams said about 50 percent of what the Madison facility manufactures is exported.