Sioux Falls-based Direct Companies has a new office in Aberdeen and is steadily growing its presence in northeast South Dakota.
“This has always been a strategic area for our business – we have a lot of customers in the area – and we saw a chance to grow thanks to some opportune hiring,” founder and CEO Paul Zweifel said.
When Banner Engineering closed its Aberdeen plant earlier this year, approximately 300 employees had to figure out their next steps.
That became a fit for team members such as Daniel Shine, an automation engineer who joined Direct Companies after being at Banner for two years. Originally from Redfield, he earned a robotics degree from Lake Area Technical College and worked at a robotic welding company before joining Banner.
“One of my co-workers found out about Direct Companies and learned they were looking for applicants with engineering skills,” he said. “When we learned more about what the company does and how they’re planning to grow their office here, the stars aligned for us.”
Direct Companies is a family of businesses that largely are tech-focused, including:
- Process and machine automation.
- Custom software and data management.
- Phone systems.
- Managed IT.
- Security system services.
“The people we were able to hire from Banner mostly support our automation division – industrial plant automation supported by engineers and technicians,” Zweifel said. “We’re hired five already, and the idea is to grow more.”
Direct Automation already assists the city of Aberdeen in its water and wastewater – a relationship that began in 2016 when Direct Automation helped migrate the city’s water reclamation facility from a DCS system to an Emerson Delta V system.
“The new automation platform improved functionality and operational controls across multiple process areas of the treatment facility. We’ve had a very positive experience working with Direct Automations and Direct Companies over the past eight years,” said Amanda Fischer, superintendent of the city of Aberdeen’s water reclamation facility.
“As our process areas and equipment have expanded, Direct Automation has seamlessly integrated new equipment controls, including a soda ash feed system and the biosolids dewatering process on the plant’s SCADA system. Direct Companies’ integrators and IT support have always been very responsive when situations arise that need attention. It’s been nice having a local representative for the past couple of years and we look forward to Direct Companies expanding their offices to Aberdeen.”
Other clients in the area include Glacial Lakes Ethanol.
For new team members such as Shine, the work is rewarding, he said.
“Many of us have transitioned from production and manufacturing to more of an office job, so that’s been a steep transition, but it’s been great, and we’ve been loving the ride,” he said.
“We’ve mostly worked from home the last few months, so now it feels really good to be in the office and have many of our old gang back together and be part of a growing team. I am absolutely loving it, and I can speak for my colleagues from Banner that we’ve been loving it a lot.”
For Direct Companies, “we have pent-up positions we’re trying to hire for, so we’re interested in seizing opportunities when quality talent is displaced,” Zweifel said. “The Banner employees all had opportunities to go to Minneapolis or other places, but many didn’t want to.”
Direct Companies also anticipates growing its managed IT services in the Aberdeen market, Zweifel said.
“We see the opportunity to add more people and better support our customers in northern South Dakota and into North Dakota from that office,” he said. “We’re renting space in downtown Aberdeen for now, but the goal is to grow and find something larger down the road.”