‘We all have one focus’: Employees serve community through work

For Orangeburg-area industrial employers, this national holiday is a time to salute labor and recognize what an asset local workers are to the economic success of their companies and to the T&D Region as a whole.

Super-Sod Farm Retail Manager Webb Porter has been employed at the company for the past five years and works to ensure customer orders are harvested, brought up to the store and safely loaded.

Flexibility and attention to detail are skill sets Porter brings to the position.

“Working on a farm, you have to be flexible and able to deal with multiple tasks that might be outside the scope of what you normally do,” Porter said. “It’s a working farm and all hands are needed to get the work done.”

“I’ve run forklifts in the field to make sure we get orders to customers,” Porter continued. “The main focus for me each day is to help customers. Give them the knowledge we have and help make their landscape become the best it can be. It’s not just them needing grass. There is so much more to it than that.”

The farm is quite busy. It harvests about 60 million to 70 million square feet of sod each year. Last year it harvested about 67 million square feet.

Porter says he enjoys his job and the people he works alongside.

“The office staff is one big family,” Porter said. “We work well as a team. Not to say just like a family there aren’t differences, but at the end of the day we all have one focus when it comes down to it.”

The office of six where he works has almost 100 years of experience, he said.

“That level of dedication is not heard of in today’s workforce,” he said.

“Also, I can’t speak highly enough about my boss, Ley Pickens,” Porter continued. “You can tell he cares about you not only as an employee, but also as an individual. From family life to work life, he is always there to talk. Rarely do you find that in a supervisor, and it makes coming to work all the better.”

Porter describes working for Super-Sod as unique.

“No day is the same and that is where flexibility comes into play,” Porter said. “Sometimes it’s customer service oriented and some days it is hands-on labor.”

“We are in agriculture and a very niche facet of ag at that,” Porter continues. “To see the farm and how it works and moves is amazing.”

“I talk about it being a very complex machine. From harvesters, to forklifts, to trucks, to tractors reworking the fields to prepare the next crop, it’s a movement unlike anything else I have had the opportunity to be around,” he said. “To be a small part of that mechanism that helps get sod to customers to improve their homes is satisfying.”

Dana Fogle has been with Super-Sod for about 7-1/2 years and works as an independent driver pay, inside and online sales.

She brings to the job an “ability to understand customer needs as well as communication and product knowledge.”

“When coming to work, I always try to maintain a positive and proactive mindset,” Fogle said, echoing Porter that her coworkers are the best part of working at Super-Sod.

“We are very family-oriented,” she said. “Super-Sod is a great place to work. I enjoy coming in every day and working together as a team. We strive to always exceed our customers’ expectations, and I think we do a pretty great job at it!”

Orangeburg Farm Business Manager Ley Pickens has worked at Super-Sod for nearly 30 years.

He was introduced to Super-Sod during a time when he was teaching and coaching at Orangeburg Preparatory Schools and was looking for a summer job.

Jim Roquemore, Super-Sod’s CEO at the time, offered Pickens a part-time job and then a full-time job working with the company.

Pickens started out mowing grass. He later moved into the Orangeburg office and worked with dispatching trucks, answering phones, talking with customers, taking orders and overseeing payroll. He then moved to Perry, Georgia, where he became the office manager at that farm.

While in Georgia for about 12 years, he also got involved with the company’s warm season grass seed and Zenith Zoysia grass seed.

About 14 years ago, Pickens came back to the Orangeburg office and has worked with accounts receivable and the company’s seed division.

He currently oversees the Orangeburg office business operations and remains involved with the company’s seed division.

Pickens cited Roquemore, Ben Copeland and the Copeland family (leaders of Super-Sod) as one of the reasons he enjoys working for the company.

“It is feeling like you are really part of a family in that everybody works together,” Pickens said. “You are appreciated not just for what you do. We all have our duties and responsibilities, work-related, but you are really appreciated for who you are first and foremost.”

On average, there are between 40 and 50 people who work on the farm year round.

Pickens said Super-Sod prides itself on meeting customers’ needs on a daily basis.

He most enjoys the interaction with his colleagues and fellow employees.

“They make my job so much easier,” he said. “They manage all the daily operations and I am here just to make sure they’ve got what they need.”

“I have made so many good friends in the company,” he said. “It is not just working relationships that we have, but friendships that we have built over the years where we really understand each others’ families.”

Zeus Senior Director of Human Resources Melvilyn Edwards said many of the company’s employees are from Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties.

“When Mr. and Mrs. (Frank) Tourville decided to move to South Carolina, they saw the value and opportunity our surrounding counties had to offer,” Edwards said. “Orangeburg is the location of our headquarters, and we’ve expanded throughout the region, where we house our largest population of employees.”

“This company is comprised of hard-working people who are dedicated to helping others, and our team members truly reflect that in the quality of the products we provide to our customers,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the company’s employees are “one of our greatest strengths.”

“Over time, they develop highly specialized skills to manufacture products that differentiate us from other manufacturers,” Edwards said. “Mr. Tourville and the Tourville family have created such a unique experience, especially here in South Carolina.”

“Our employees are continuing a mission and a labor of love that started with an idea and countless hours of inventing in a garage,” Edwards continued. “At Zeus, we create products that are industry solutions and have the ability to help save lives every day.

“Our team members are the reason we succeed. They see our value and results, and they understand their efforts can make a difference each day. We are truly working together to do things better.”

Zeus Corporate Melt Process Manager Wes Garrick has worked with the company for the past 22 years. His duties are to improve and standardize all melt and melt expansion departments within all Zeus sites.

“I have always enjoyed working with my hands, even before coming to Zeus,” Garrick said. “I love fixing things and have used this problem-solving mindset throughout my career. Zeus has also built my skillset over the years, teaching me management skills, people skills and a ‘we can do it better’ attitude.”

Garrick describes working at Zeus a blessing.

“I have always tried to make those around me successful,” Garrick said. “If I can do that, my success will follow. Each day is different, but if you go about it looking to make your team successful, good things will come!”

Garrick loves seeing the people around him become more successful over the years.

“We are one big family!” Garrick said. “Our family has certainly grown over the years, but our leaders have not let that stop the family atmosphere.

“I have been at Zeus half my life and, looking back, couldn’t imagine where I would be or what I would be doing if not given the opportunity to work for such a great company.”