Written by Kristin D’Agostino Produced by Stephen Marino
Established in 1992, Handling Systems and Conveyors, Inc. (HSC) began as a business that specialized in conveyors and soon expanded into a manufacturing firm that designs and installs cranes and heavy industrial conveyor systems. In the years since, it has carved out a niche in the automotive and heavy manufacturing industries making custom material handling systems that transport materials ranging in weight from a few pounds to several tons.
HSC’s head office is in Little Rock, Arkansas and it also has branches in Fort Worth and Houston, Texas; Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
HSC specializes in creating heavy industrial conveyor systems and overhead crane systems. The majority of its projects are custombuilt for clients’ needs, though it also has a pair of trademarked products called “Smarthoist” and “Smartcrane”, which are fully automated systems that work without human operator control.
Popular conveyor products HSC offers include power and free conveyors, slat conveyors and towline conveyors. Crane offerings include box girder cranes, gantry cranes, work station cranes, tank line cranes and jib cranes. Many
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“We are dependable. If we tell you the end of the year, we’re going end up waiting a lot of times for costs us money, but still, it’s important
- President AndrewHandling Systems and Conveyers,
components, such as switches and drives are completely built in-house with relatively low overhead cost so are offered at a more competitive rate than other equipment manufacturers.
In addition to manufacturing machinery, HSC can deliver and install cranes and conveyors anywhere in North or South America with superintendents and field crews ready to install systems almost anywhere.
Of their many projects, a few stand out. “We built a conveyor system over a mile long for Boeing in Long Beach, California that was an assembly line for the 717 aircraft. It had up to 14 aircrafts in line at various stages of assembly,” says Andrew Everett, the company’s president.
The majority of customers are based in the United States although HSC has also worked with clients in Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Everett attributes HSC’s success in large part to the fact it has a strong base of loyal employees, about 100 of them including 20 engineers, many of whom have been with the company for fifteen years or more. “We have great engineers who regularly solve difficult design challenges using
you we’re going to deliver before going to deliver… Consequently, we for other people to catch up so it important to deliver on time.”
Andrew Everett
AutoCAD 3D software and they have enough common sense that you can actually efficiently manufacture the machines they design. We have about 30 highly skilled exceptional maintenance technicians, responsive sales people and skilled installation crews. Our projects require skilled people in every phase to successfully complete.”
By forging strong long-term relationships with vendors, HSC has helped build a reputation for quality and dependability. “If we put in our name on it you can count on it,” says Everett. “It takes a team effort, dependable vendors, good design, and quality
installations. We at HSC trust our vendors to meet the needs of our customers. We pride ourselves on being dependable because many of the systems we install are critical to our customers production. We must perform so they can produce their product.”
Special Projects
HSC’s clients include Toyota, General Motors, Ford, SpaceX, Harley Davidson and a mix of military and government contractors. Peterbilt Motor, one of HSC’s largest clients, HSC crafted a variety of systems including storage and retrieval systems, shuttle cranes, monorails and many
types of conveyors. “They spend a lot of money to make sure they get the very best equipment,” Everett says. “We make sure they do! To support them we have three people working there fulltime to inspect and maintain these systems. HSC has built redundancy into many of the products. If something fails, they can quickly switch over to back up systems then continue to run their production. They count on us so they are able to operate 24 hours a day 7 days a week.”
For one of its defense contractor customers HSC created two customized pieces of equipment: The “Smartcrane” and “Smarthoist” systems where operations are fully automated in X, Y, and Z axis to provide a greater level of safety. “These systems are fully programmable Everett explains. “The operator simply starts the process then is separated from the operation for his safety, and to prevent operator error. It’s not robotic but it’s not far from that.
Five years ago, HSC completed the entire material handling system for Spirit Aerospace in Charleston, SC, handling the fuselage parts for Airbus and Boeing jumbo jets. “The product is long and very flimsy. HSC designed the system and illustrated the process in a simulation such that Spirit could
Handling Systems and Conveyers, Inc.
see exactly how the product would be conveyed. Our engineering department sold the concept with this simulation.
HSC has also done a considerable amount of work for SpaceX, which Everett describes as a very aggressive and fast-growing company. “We have multiple systems valued in millions of dollars They are a very particular company with normally short deadlines.” he says. “They verified HSC capabilities and reputation through Lockheed, Peterbilt and Boeing and are very comfortable giving us orders with tight delivery schedules.”
Overcoming Challenges
Having recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, HSC has been up against many challenges in recent times including the pandemic and labor shortages. Through it all HSC has remained dedicated to its mission of dependability. Everett points out that having a strong customer base proved crucial during the pandemic. “We kept working through it even with a number of people sick. We never really shut down or even slowed down.”
The greatest challenge has been attracting new talent in a time of
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labor shortage. Finding workers with strong technical skills that embody HSC’s core values of dependability, quality and professionalism, a sense of loyalty has at times proved difficult. Still, Everett remains optimistic, citing the company’s strong customer base that supported them through the pandemic. An industry pro who began in the
crane manufacturing industry in 1975, Everett has weathered many changes since he started at HSC as one of the original founders in 1992. One thing has stayed the same: The company’s mission to deliver quality service and products to its customers.
“We are dependable. If we tell you we’re going to deliver before the end of the year, we’re going to deliver… Consequently, we end up waiting a lot of times for other people to catch up so it costs us money, but still, it’s important to deliver on time.”
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