Last Updated on 10/13/2008

Published on 5/4/2008
Written by Tommy Howard

Quietly and with little fanfare, SafeRack has more than doubled its workforce.

The company's manufacturing plant is the first tenant in the 500-acre Georgetown County Business Center near Andrews. It bought a 40,000-square-foot building there two years ago and is at capacity in that structure.

Rob Honeycutt, one of the partners in SafeRack along with Fred Harmon, said last year the company grew 284 percent. So far in 2008, the company has grown another 104 percent.

"We can't hire enough people," he said. SafeRack started a second shift in January since the company was already at full capacity on its first shift.

Headquartered in Sumter, about 75 miles from its Andrews manufacturing plant, SafeRack is now in construction on an 8,000-square-foot corporate office there.

Honeycutt lives in Pawleys Island and his partner Harmon lives in Sumter.

Racks and other equipment the company builds and sells are used for loading and unloading trucks and rail cars. That sounds deceptively simple. A visit to the company's Web site, www.saferack.com, shows an extensive list of racks, gangways, platforms, specialty items including spill collection and fall protection.

Cement plants, fuel delivery and gangways for loading and unloading goods are some of the businesses and services where SafeRack products are used. They even help out at the Kennedy Space Center by providing racks for fueling the space shuttle.

Honeycutt said the company purchased a robot a few months ago. When it's delivered it will be used for laser welding.

"We're talking about building another factory right behind here," he says of the concrete building that sits near the Andrews overpass along U.S. Highway 521.

"When we first came here we promised we would hire 50 people within five years," Honeycutt said.

Within two years the company had 110 employees, 63 of whom work at the Andrews plant, which sits on about five acres of land.

Also, when SafeRack bought the building from Georgetown County only the office area had a paved floor. That was done on purpose. Since the county didn't know who would buy the building, it was a shell so it could be configured to the buyer's specifications.

"When we first started," Honeycutt said, "we just poured the first two bays. We expanded as needed."

He expects the new factory would be between 40,000 and 60,000 square feet in size.

By adding another factory, employment would likely double, he said.

Products to be manufactured would not be more of the same, but would be complementary. Because of that, he said, a second factory doesn't have to be at Andrews. It could be built at Sumter near the new corporate headquarters.

Thanks to employees

"Our turnover is next to none," Honeycutt said. After an initial 90-day period, turnover is less than 10 percent.

A small item, but one that is important to employees, is providing them with free coffee, soft drinks and juices and bottle water. "That's a thank-you to employees for the work they do."

Each quarter, the company grills out for a meal and puts employees' names on a large display board in the factory. "When we started, there were only six people," Honeycutt said.

A large percentage of employees' family insurance is paid for by the company.

Salaries are quite nice, too.

Honeycutt and chief financial officer David Raines said the average "floor worker" salary is around $45,000 per year. Annual pay for supervisors averages about $73,000.

"We buy the best of everything we can," Honeycutt said. In the factory, high bay fluorescent lights are used. "Better lighting gives better working conditions," he said.

Also, he said, the company uses local shops and vendors whenever possible to outsource work.

He's pleased with his employees.

"The people here have a really good work ethic," Honeycutt said. "It's a real treat to work with folks in this area."

Terrific job

"We have been in talks with them," Director Wayne Gregory said Thursday. "We would love to have them build a second factory here in Georgetown."

"We are very appreciative of SafeRack. They were the first tenant of the industrial park. We will never forget that."

"I've been here three years in August," Gregory continued. "When I drive by, I see the cars there. They have grown from virtually nothing to 63 employees.

"Rob Honeycutt has done a terrific job in getting the company up and growing. It's very impressive. The manufacturing floor is full of equipment."

"I've really seen that building grown and develop and become utilized. I have seen it grow from its infancy to be full-developed. He's done a great job with everything there," Gregory said.

He added that the county is quite supportive of its existing industry. If a company invests $5 million or more it is eligible for a Fee In Lieu of Taxes (FILOT) agreement that gives it breaks on taxes for a specified period of time.

Lowcountry Paver

Gregory said that the park's second tenant, Lowcountry Paver, is getting closer to building its facility. Plans for that facility were announced in December 2007.

Site work for Lowcountry Paver has already started, and their building plan is close to completion. That company based in Hardeeville will open a plant on about 30 acres of land near where SafeRack is located.

"That will be a big help for the park," Gregory said.

"We will have not just one, but two companies there. Once that work is done, we will begin working on another spec building for the park."