Manufacturer credits sheltered workshop for success

Jaimie Foster runs the packaging heat sealer for "Slap Shot." (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A McCook, Nebraska, company celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and its owner credits much of his company's success to the workforce he hires.

Jerry Honeycutt, the creator of a livestock vaccinator system called "Slap-Shot," has nothing but praise for the clients of Southwest Nebraska Area Training Services -- SWATS -- who assemble his Slap-Shot vaccinators. "I need these folks. The dedication of the SWATS clients and the training by SWATS staff are two reasons my products are so successful," Honeycutt said. "SWATS staff's training is a cut above the rest."

Honeycutt hired SWATS in late 1991 to assemble the parts of a vaccinator system he designed to ease stress on livestock and livestock handlers at vaccination time. Honeycutt said the business arrangement with SWATS is "a win-win situation ... for my small business and for these folks."

Jerry Honeycutt, owner of "Slap-Shot," looks on as SWATS client Michael Havlicek cut tubing and attach the ends of the flexible vaccinator that Honeycutt invented 20 years ago. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

The SWATS workshop in McCook employs adult individuals with intellectual disabilities to complete contracts that SWATS maintains with businesses like Jerry Honeycutt's Slap-Shot.

SWATS personnel provides customized hands-on training that allows SWATS clients to fulfill contracts with: Willow Creek Meats, applying labels on packaging; Industrial Fasteners, packaging nuts and bolts and boxing them for shipment; and folding boxes for orthotics sold by Burns Podiatric Laboratory.

Robert Sink chats with Jerry Honeycutt at the SWATS workshop. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

SWATS crews also clean the Strunk Memorial Rest Area east of McCook and McCook Public Schools' Weiland Football Field; and maintain the McCook Chamber of Commerce's "Welcome to McCook" sign at Norris Avenue and B street.

Jerry delivers his raw materials to SWATS clients -- this crew includes Robert Sink, Michael Havlicek and Margaret Hanna -- trained to use the specially-designed equipment that measures and cuts the long flexible tubing, and snaps on ends and secures then tightly in place. Jaimie Foster operates the packaging heat sealer.

SWATS staff member Heidi Cheney, right, and Margaret Hanna look over completed tubing. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

All the equipment is designed with operator safety in mind, said Kris Snare, SWATS employment service director, with no sharp ends or hot coils exposed. Only the heat sealer uses electricity, said Heidi Cheney, SWATS vocational direct support staff person.

The process has been modified to now also allow for the new pet and small animal "oral doser" that requires much shorter, one-inch-long tubing.

All of the Slap-Shot's products are made in the USA," Jerry said. "Including this crew," he chuckled. "We're very proud of that," he said.

A hog producer uses a slap-shot. (Courtesy photo)

For more information on Slap-Shot, contact Honeycutt at (308) 345-2520; or go to

www.slapshot-flex-vac.com Ordering information and a list of retailers is available on the website.

The company's e-mail address is info@slapshot-flex-vac.com