Like a true business perfectionist, the only grade that satisfies Dan Gentile is an ‘A.’ No consumer report score lower than a nine or 10 rating will do for “Save”ty Yellow Products’ founder owner and president. If the rating isn’t a nine or 10 in each category, Gentile requests the customer call him personally. He gets on average two to three calls per year out of thousands of orders.
Gentile considers the grades customers place on their “Save”ty order and delivery his West Chicago-based forklift safety equipment company’s credit score. And Gentile has zero interest in having his company being regarded as a ‘B’ or ‘C’ grade operation.
Ten years after its founding, Gentile’s pride and joy is making top grades with his customers and serving as a safeguard for numerous companies, their employees and clients.
Safety is, well, “Save”ty Yellow Products’ first name.
The company’s broad product output includes guardrails, handrails, driveway gates, overhead door track protection, end of aisle and rack protection, work and maintenance platforms, protective barriers including floor mounted machine guards and steel bollards, and exterior dock lights and barricades. Ahead of the safety curve in a cutting edge industry, Gentile is always looking to develop the safety products of tomorrow today. Sometimes his customers double as his research department.
The objective of the work here is simple: Prevent injury, damage, lost work time and lost money. “Save”ty Yellow Products’ name comes with its own insurance policy. New inventory such as Collision Awareness Look Outs, which feature motion sensors and warnings for operators and pedestrians, are keeping warehouses with heavy forklift traffic safe and alert. “Save”ty Yellow Products building column protectors and mezzanine safety gates protect inventory. SYP rails (which are available in sizes up to 10 feet) are so strong their lite duty rails are rated at 5,000 pounds, standard duty rate at 10,000 pounds and heavy duty SYP rails rate at 12,000 pounds at 5 mph.
As Gentile puts it, he wants “Save”ty to be a feel-good company. “Save”ty’s reach extends throughout the Greater Chicagoland area and beyond. Its Rockford, IL., factory produces and ships nationwide and to Canada. In the Windy City and suburbs, “Save”ty Yellow Products installs its own products. In the forklift industry, “Save”ty is fast-tracking up the charts as one of the country’s fastest growing companies with double digit percentage sales growth in both 2012 and 2013. After outgrowing its own manufacturing facility, the company built a 10,000 square foot West Chicago distribution center in 2012.
With over 25 employees, “Save”ty has made the transition from startup to proven industry player in just a decade. And most importantly, “Save”ty Yellow Products is making the forklift industry safer for its people and customers.
Clete Campbell is a freelance journalist with 16 years of daily newspaper experience. E-mail editorial@mhwmg.com to contact Clete.
