DEMI moves from Cresbard to Aberdeen industrial park

Dakota Equipment Manufacturing Inc., or DEMI, has moved its production 45 miles from Cresbard to the Industrial Park in northeast Aberdeen.

Since DEMI was founded in 2012, the manufacturing company has experienced strong growth in the demand for its mining and aggregate products, so much so that it outgrew its previous space and needed access to more employees.

Since moving to Aberdeen at the beginning of October, the company has hired three employees. It will likely hire three more before the end of the year, said Martha Holmberg, who co-founded the business with her husband, Tim.

The move is a new step for the company in a big way, she said.

“It’ll open up a lot of opportunity for us to be able to do more,” she said. From the Cresbard location, the Holmbergs and one employee would focus on smaller projects, but the new location means a “night and day difference” in production, she said.

Prior to founding DEMI, Tim Holmberg had played an instrumental role in the growth of a mining equipment fabrication company in Arizona beginning in 1989. By the time he left the business to return to South Dakota, he was known as an innovator in the industry and used his contacts to get DEMI off the ground.

DEMI was featured as an American News Business of the Week last December. View that Q&A and archived article on AberdeenNews.com (http://bit.ly/2gAUGBW).

Its products have also featured on the hit TV show “Gold Rush.”

In addition to the equipment developed for “Gold Rush,” DEMI has four patented products including the Grizzly Spring Fingers, Grizzly Rolling Rock Plow, Grizzly Grid and the Caged Nut System with more products in development. Each of them improves the efficiency, safety or ease of use of the giant feeders and other heavy duty equipment for handling materials in the mining process, aggregate and even some farming and agriculture, according to the news release.