Daktronics Investing $25M In 2022 To Boost LED Display Production, Meet Market Demands

March 21, 2022 by Dave Haynes

South Dakota LED display manufacturer Daktronics is evidently seeing enough current and future demand for indoor and outdoor LED that it is in the process of spending millions to expand production capabilities in several factories and double production of Surface Mount Device (SMD) LEDs, which are the most common type of tighter resolution displays.

The expansion work has been budgeted at $25 million for this year and should be done by summer, boosting production at the main plant in Brookings by 90,000 sq. ft. and add jobs in the US, Ireland and China.

“We are excited to see such high demand for the solutions we provide to our customers,” says Daktronics President and CEO Reece Kurtenbach. “Meeting customer demand is a function of both our internal capabilities in manufacturing and the ability for the global parts supply chain to remain stable. We are taking steps now to address our manufacturing capacity by adding floor space, machines and labor. While the supply chain for display components remains dynamic and volatile, our teams continue to work very hard to collaborate with existing and new vendors to obtain the parts we need to meet customer expectations.”

Says the PR:

In Sioux Falls, SD, and Redwood Falls, MN, Daktronics is creating and bolstering indoor and outdoor SMD product lines to meet the increasing demand for LED solutions using this technology.

The Brookings factory is expanding its sheet metal processes with the addition of four new machines to laser punch and cut, bend, and laser weld. These improvements double the current display housing output for NPP product lines.

Additionally, Daktronics factories in Ennistymon, Ireland, and Shanghai, China, will expand their production capabilities for SMD LED product lines as the company looks to serve customers in markets around the globe.

“We’re looking forward to the future of audiovisual systems growing and our continued investment in providing the best possible solutions for our customers,” adds Kurtenbach. “As such, we’re expecting our total capital expenditures to be approximately $25 million for fiscal 2022, including the manufacturing expenses for enhanced production and capacity, as well as investments in quality and reliability equipment and continued information infrastructure investments.”

SMD LED is the most common type of tight or fine pitch LED being sold on the market, while much of the lower-pitch stuff for outdoor applications uses older, needle-like through hole LEDs. The newer tech coming on the market is Chip On Board (COB) and the super-fine but also super pricey (for now) microLED.