George, Iowa — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds was in northwest Iowa on Thursday as part of her annual 99-county tour.
Reynolds visited Dur-A-Lift near George where she heard about innovations at that company and co-located sister company Sudenga Industries. Reynolds did not speak from a prepared speech but rather did a lot of listening and finding out what people there had to say.
Dur-A-Lift and sister company Sudenga Industries make up Diversified Technologies, Incorporated (DTI). Diversified Technologies President Chuck Sjogren says that they recently received two “Manufacturing 4.0 Workforce Innovation Grants,” meant to address workforce issues exacerbated by COVID-19. Sjogren tells us about the grants.
He says they are computerizing all areas of their company. Among other advantages, he says it helps to keep everyone on the same page. Working with paper copies and from memory causes issues that are solved by everyone accessing the same information.
Governor Reynolds says she’s happy to hear how well Diversified Technologies is doing, and how well the grants are being used.
She tells us that at these 99-county tour stops, she keeps hearing the same kinds of good news, with some concerns as well.
The governor says there are still some supply chain issues to work out, and inflation is becoming an issue, but she says she continues to hear from companies how successful the past year has been. She says the demand is still there, and if they can figure out a way to meet that demand, it will be good for the economy and good for Iowa in general.
