Safe Life Defense

S afe Life Defense started with CEO Nick Groat designing body armor at his kitchen table. Four years later it was ranked number 282 on the Inc. list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America. “There definitely was no pressure for a while there,” Groat recalls. “But once I started to really get into this project and I became hyper focused on it, it was clear that this wasn’t something that was going to be ‘just for fun’ for very long, that this was really going to be my next business that I started. It’s been a crazy ride and it’s been fantastic so far.” Operations-wise, Safe Life Defense has about 120 employees working from a 140,000-square-foot facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. The firm has its own research and development team that not only refines existing products and comes up with new ones, but also creates its own specialized manufacturing machinery. Efficiency is embedded in the company’s DNA. That’s evident from facility planning – everything from counting steps to determine where SAFE LIFE DEFENSE Changing the body armor industry