Dakota Supply Group - Index

Dakota Supply Group - dakotasupplygroup - Index

WATERWORKS
16
Hitting the open road with his motor home
was something that Jerry Lipovsky always looked
forward to, but never seemed to have the time to
do. He was too busy consulting with engineers,
providing solutions for municipalities and
supervising personnel as branch manager of
DSG Waterworks in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Lipovsky retired from DSG in January of 2008,
and now he’s finally getting his chance to see the
sights and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation as
he travels across the United States.
To Lipovsky, his upcoming travels aren’t about
where the road leads to, but what there is to see
on the way. As Lipovsky prepared to hop into his
motor home with his wife, Linda, to see the
sights of Texas (“It was the closest warm place,”
Lipovsky jokes), he took a look back at his time
spent with DSG.
Lipovsky started working at Plainsco (now
DSG) in 1973. Officially, he first began working
in the warehouse in Rapid City, SD to help pay
for his senior year at the South Dakota School
of Mines and Technology, where he studied
mechanical engineering. When he graduated,
he took a job with Caterpillar (a large
manufacturer of construction and mining
equipment) as a design engineer in Peoria,
Illinois. Not quite a year and a half later, Plainsco
(DSG) called and asked Lipovsky to manage a
new branch that was opening in Sioux Falls, an
offer he gladly accepted. “When I graduated
from college, I really wanted to stay with Plainsco
(DSG), but there just wasn’t anything available at
the time,” says Lipovsky. “So when they asked me
to head up the Sioux Falls Waterworks branch,
I couldn’t have been more excited.”
www.dakotasupplygroup.com
The Open Road Awaits
Lipovsky worked as the Sioux Falls Waterworks
branch manager for more than 35 years. A man
who has always been at his side is current
Waterworks Group Manager Kevin Paulson.
“Kevin and I used to handle the role of
Waterworks group manager together, but as
branch manager, I wasn’t able to take on the
necessary traveling,” says Lipovsky. “So, Kevin
took over that role and would do the prospecting
to find out what our customers needed.
He would then bring those needs to me,
“By teaming up with them [DSG’s Automation
Group], we can integrate pumps with automation
controls to improve our customers’ efficiency,
which is something our competitors can’t do.
”