Officials with Softee Supreme Diaper Corporation say right now business is great, but they've had a quite a rocky start. At one point employees' checks bounced.
In October of 2009, officials with the SC Department of Commerce announced Softee Supreme would be locating in Mullins.
Workers at Softee Supreme have produced more than 100 million diapers. They make the diapers from start to finish at the facility.
"Business is well. We've been playing catch up since the initial start," said Collin Brown, the company's CEO.
He will admit their initial start wasn't smooth because of financial problems. Brown says the company got money from the state to help renovate the building, but spent about a million dollars of their own to turn it into a diaper manufacturing facility and that was just the beginning.
"One, there was a larger expense to get up and running and fit for business. The second, committment from business partners didn't materialize and then thirdly just happen to be in a very capital intensive manufacturating environment," said Brown.
They've worked through those issues and Brown says their now on solid ground.
Brown adds that Softee Supreme has been awarded a $2.6 million industrial revenue bond. The money will be key in helping them to expand their business to include adult diapers.
"There's a lot of demand for our business and I anticipate we will only grow as we spend more time here," said Brown.
The company is already showing signs of growth by developing new contracts with companies, like IGA of South Carolina. They've also branched out on an internationally.
They're shipping about one million diapers to central South America on a weekly basis.
Brown said, "there were many bumps along the way now there are less bumps."
By this time next year, he plans to double his workforce to 150 people at the plant that is operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
