2023 and projected to reach $4 billion by 2030, most manufacturers restricted sales exclusively to law enforcement, leaving first responders dangerously exposed. “We originally started specifically to create high quality body armor for security and EMS, which at the time had zero options available to them,” Groat explains. “Most armor manufacturers were very private and would only sell to law enforcement. So, a lot of the people that were actually on scene first were out there without any protection.” Recognizing this market void, Groat developed products specifically designed for these underserved professionals. The focused approach proved transformative. “Both security and EMS now routinely wear armor, and if you see them, it’s almost always us,” he notes. The company’s growth trajectory earned it the #282 spot on Inc. Magazine’s list of America’s 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in 2020, with revenue growth approaching 1,600%. From that initial focus on non-law enforcement markets, Safe Life Defense expanded into law enforcement and developed an entirely new product line for special forces and military applications. The company now employs between 120 and 200 people and has had six facility relocations to accommodate explosive demand. THE FOUNDATION OF OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE Safe Life Defense’s operational efficiency stems from an unconventional approach in an industry that typically relies on third-party vendors. The company manufactures nearly everything in-house, from ballistic panels to specialized machinery, giving it control over quality and production timelines that competitors struggle to match. “We’re incredibly vertically integrated,” Groat says. “Instead of relying on vendors and third parties that we’re constantly trying to handle projects, we do almost all of that. We have a fantastic but small engineering department. We create a lot of our own machinery; we create a lot of our own automations.” This self-reliance runs throughout the Henderson facility, where all ballistic inserts are constructed and tested on-site, including batch testing in their own ballistic laboratory alongside NIJ certification at Oregon Ballistics Lab. Managing such breadth comes with challenges.The company experimented with multiple third-party customer relationship management systems but found them prohibitively expensive and difficult to customize for their complex manufacturing processes. The solution came from an unexpected direction. “We’ve been developing our own sort of software system using publicly available software,” Groat explains.“Through its capabilities we are able 151 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 13, ISSUE 01 SAFE LIFE DEFENSE
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