Dakota Supply Group - Index

Dakota Supply Group - dakotasupplygroup - Index

Successful Projects Come
From Great Relationships
Have you heard the one about the successful
dairy that came out of nowhere? It goes something
like this: Two dairy owners walk onto a bare, 15-acre
plot in Sherman, South Dakota. One dairy owner,
Scott Helmer, says to the other, Lynne Boadwine,
“I want to build a dairy, and I need a partner.
Can you help?” Boadwine replies, “No problem,
and I have just the guy to wire it up,” and calls
Will Hubers, owner of Hubers Electric. Hubers
happily agrees and says, “I know just where to get
the supplies,” and calls Kelly Hooker, account
manager at DSG’s Sioux Falls electrical branch.
And so, Helmer Dairy was born. If you’re looking
for a punch line, though, there isn’t one. Just the
opposite. Helmer Dairy has been a wonderful
success, and its growth has been no joke.
Helmer Dairy started construction in March of
2007. With seven-day work weeks and a crew of
just four (when you would typically use at least
eight), Hubers Electric completed the automation
and wiring of the Helmer Dairy parlor in a little
more than ten months. It was a project that was
made successful through a strong relationship
between Boadwine and Hubers Electric, one built
upon mutual respect and a shared dedication to
success. The relationship between Hubers Electric
and DSG was also important, as was the good, oldfashioned
electrical know-how of Will Hubers.
Hubers didn’t always own his own business, and
he wasn’t always an electrician. In fact, he drove
semis as an owner-operator for more than 15
years before he went on to attend Minnesota West
Technical and Community College in Jackson,
Minnesota to earn a degree in electric construction.
After much consideration, the decision to become
an electrician was a simple one for Hubers. “The
trade was very appealing to me,” Hubers says. “For
one thing, there’s a lot of work out there, so I knew
I would always have a job.”
Hubers worked with a couple of contractors in
Sioux Falls, SD, until he decided to try things on
his own in 1999 and established Hubers Electric.
It was a one-man shop for only a short time,
when Will’s son, Clinton, joined the crew. Clinton
started working after school and Saturdays (while
he wasn’t in Iraq with the National Guard) and
then joined full time in 2000. Will’s second son,
Tim, graduated from high school and followed in
the family’s footsteps by joining the team in 2008.
continued on page 40
LEFT: The main control panel in the sand-separator
room links to four remote start/stop stations that control
augers throughout the sand-separation process.
BELOW: Kelly Hooker (left) and Will Hubers (right) first
met at DSG’s Sioux Falls city desk in 1999.
AUTOMATION
Fall 2008 CONNECTIONS 39