Safety products distributor expands

Doubling its warehouse space in Verdi will allow SafeTruck by Ms. Carita, a distributor of safety products for the heavy haul industry, to operate more efficiently and pursue new avenues of business, says Michael Mosby, its president and chief executive officer.

SafeTruck leased an additional 5,000 square feet at 2815 W. U.S. Highway 40 located next door to its current facility. The company, founded in 1972 after Mosby's father received a ticket for an illegal wide-load sign, offers more than 400 products catering to heavy haul truckers. Last year it sold more than 100,00 wide load signs and more than 750,000 red warning flags.

Mosby says 2009 was a flat year, but in the last eight years SafeTruck's revenues increased by more than 300 percent. That growth led to cramped working conditions at the Verdi facility, as workers often were required to shuffle products or equipment around the small facility in order to complete orders.

"We are packed into the seams, and now is right time to (expand)," Mosby says. "It will help us add additional products by giving us space to warehouse and shelf products, and increase our opportunities not only for safety but also by not having to move equipment around. Instead of 20 steps it now will take 10. It will definitely improve throughput, and we are hoping to gain our return on investment on that as well as tap into several new markets across the U.S."

SafeTruck currently sells to more than 1,600 warehouse distributors and is pursuing entry into the retail truck stop market. The company expects to add an additional 24 products this year.

Carole Brill of Miller Industrial Properties represented the landlord, Brenner White LLC, as well as SafeTruck, in the lease negations.