Sealevel Recognized with South Carolina Transformation and Operational Excellence Award

Sealevel Systems received the Transformation and Operational Excellence Award at the 2022 South Carolina Manufacturing Conference and Expo.

The award recognizes a company that demonstrates bottom-line results through the adoption of continuous improvement and/or operational excellence tools and techniques. Rick Jenkins, Group Publisher for SC Biz News, presented the award and shared, “In early 2020, Sealevel had a management team of seven members. Today, 13 professionals serve on the management team with leadership at the director, vice president, and C-suite levels. Together, the team embraces dynamic communication strategies to foster a current product roadmap that capitalizes on core strengths. This approach has resulted in a 10% increase in profitability and will power a staggering 89% increase in sales by the end of 2022. Sealevel products are deployed in military & aerospace, public safety, and automation markets and in 2021, Sealevel earned a design win that is the largest energy contract in company history.”

To support this unprecedented growth, since 2020 Sealevel:

• Made a $1.5 million+ multi-year investment to consolidate and improve their technology ecosystem with the ERP system at its core
• Hardened their IT environment by implementing cybersecurity standards for conformance with CMMC and NIST 800-171
• Onboarded 27 employees to further quality, compliance, inventory, manufacturing, security, and engineering capabilities (an employment increase of 42%) with 10+ new positions planned to fulfill this calendar year
• Expanded in-house equipment  through an $800K+ investment to include (2) additional SMT machines and a cutting-edge oscilloscope
• Invested $900K+ to renovate business offices, applications support lab, and engineering labs
• Expanded the manufacturing floor for improved receiving and quality flow and dedicated custom projects space security, tremendously impacting efficiency
• Spent $5.4 million+ on qualified R&D expenses
• Invested $1 million+ in the Sealevel team (beyond wages):
  • Tuition reimbursements
  • Absorption of benefit cost increases
  • Training, seminars, and certification courses
  • Onsite wellness initiatives

Susan O’Hanlan, Sealevel President, accepted the award on behalf of the entire Sealevel team. When reflecting on the celebration, O’Hanlan said, “We received the award today but, as a team, we earn it every day with grace, resilience, and a dedication to continual improvement.”