SixAxis named "Operational Team of the Year"

ANDREWS, S.C., June 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- SixAxis, LLC — the parent company of industrial safety brands SafeRack, ErectaStep, and Upside Innovations — has been named Operational Team of the Year by MiddleGround Capital, the firm's most prestigious portfolio-wide honor. Presented at MiddleGround's 2026 Operations Conference, the award recognizes SixAxis's 2025 performance across safety, quality, on-time delivery, gross margin, and labor efficiency — benchmarked against every operating company in MiddleGround's portfolio of roughly 18 businesses and 190+ plants worldwide.

MiddleGround Capital is the middle-market private equity firm whose go-to-market strategy is built on operational excellence. Out of every leadership team in the portfolio, SixAxis's operations group — running the Andrews, S.C. and West Chester, OH facilities — posted the highest combined marks.

What it means for customers

For operations, safety, maintenance, and engineering teams, the award translates into measurable, third-party-validated reliability. SixAxis's performance against industry benchmarks:

• TRIR: 0.00 vs. an industry standard of 3.10 — among the safest manufacturing environments in the U.S.
• On-time delivery: 97.3% vs. an industry standard near 83% for build-to-order manufacturing (95%+ is considered world-class).
• 98% domestic sourcing with built-in redundancy — zero raw-material "brown-outs" in several years.

Both production facilities are ISO 14001 and SHARP certified. Andrews, S.C. is also ISO 9001 certified.

"We practice what we preach as a leading provider of safety solutions. Our own safety record demonstrates our dedication to achieving world-class operational safety in U.S. manufacturing. That's not marketing — that's continuous improvement as a mindset, every department, every day." — Doug Odum, Chief Operating Officer, SixAxis

"SixAxis was recognized as Operational Team of the Year for turning continuous improvement into action. Through sustained results, employee-driven Kaizen, and the successful standardization of best practices across the organization, they set the benchmark for operational excellence." — Alicia Motomura, Operations Director, MiddleGround Capital

How SixAxis got here

The results are driven by the SixAxis Production System (SPS) — a proprietary operational playbook built on safety, quality, and morale, with continuous improvement as a company-wide mindset. Every department completes at least one Kaizen project per month, governed by a dedicated continuous-improvement team formed in 2022.

Production runs out of two American facilities — Andrews, S.C. (240,000 sq. ft.) and West Chester, OH (110,000 sq. ft.) — both at roughly 50% capacity, leaving significant room for growth.
American plants. American suppliers. American jobs.

About SixAxis, LLC

Founded in 2002 in Andrews, S.C., SixAxis designs and manufactures U.S.-made, compliance-driven safety and access solutions — loading racks, fall protection, and industrial stairs — under brands including SafeRack, ErectaStep, and Upside Innovations, trusted by Fortune 500 leaders worldwide. sixaxisllc.com

About MiddleGround Capital

MiddleGround Capital is a Lexington, Kentucky–based private equity firm with over $4.1 billion in assets under management, making control investments in middle-market B2B industrial and specialty distribution businesses. The firm creates value through a hands-on operational approach. Learn more at middleground.com.

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SOURCE SixAxis LLC