By: Anthony Daughtey
Special to Neuse News

Zac and Grant Holcomb stand outside the future home of Additive America at 300 N. Herritage St. in downtown Kinston, North Carolina. As a cold March wind blows through downtown, the brothers step inside to observe the latest renovations to the historic building they purchased. The two brothers, transplants from Columbus Ohio, now call Kinston home, and it was their cutting-edge new business that brought them here.

The brothers initially became connected with local businessman Paul Sugg, President of Eastpoint Prosthetics and Orthotics, Inc. Sugg purchased a state-of-the-art 3D printer and Holcomb then began creating 3D printed leg sockets for the customers of Eastpoint. The business partnership was born online via Linkedin but flourished in person once Zac visited Kinston.

“I came down here on July 3rd of 2019 and toured the town when Queen (St.) was all ripped up, and that's what got me worked up about it," said Zac. “Seeing some serious capital investment going on with the infrastructure. In general, where we come from, when you start seeing those types of dollars go into infrastructure, good things are following."

After touring the downtown area, Zac decided he would keep an eye on real estate opportunities downtown while he started Additive America from Eastpoint’s offices located just across town. As Zac grew the business, his brother Grant Holcomb moved down to Kinston in January of 2020 to join him in this new business venture.

Zac co-founded and is the CEO of Additive America, a 3D printing business. Additive America provides design and manufacturing for a variety of industries. Through the use of a Hewlett-Packard Jet Fusion 3D 4210 printer, Zac and Grant can cater to a variety of markets beyond the orthotics they were already creating with Eastpoint. With 3D printing becoming an increasingly important industry, things were looking up for the Holcomb brothers, but then COVID happened.

“By March 17th, 2020 I was thinking, ‘what the hell have we done?’ We just did this thing and jumped out here and the absolute worst thing you could think of just happened.”

Like most businesses within the manufacturing space, Additive America was facing down one of the most challenging times in modern history. With many industries shuttered due to the global pandemic ravaging the world, Additive America’s future looked uncertain.

“For two weeks in March we’re going: we’re toast. We’re a startup, we have all these expensive bills, we’re going under, we’re moving back to Ohio.”

As fate could have it, what initially looked like a death blow for the young manufacturing upstart turned out to be a catalyst for growth and success.

"All of a sudden," said Zac, "it was the manufacture of face shields."

The overnight explosion in demand for PPE combined with the slowdown of traditional manufacturing had presented Additive America with a unique opportunity. The company was able to run a program on their 3D printer that created 300 face shields every 12 hours,  making them one of the few companies in the area that could help meet the increasing demand for face shields.

The capability of Zac and Grant to meet a crucial demand at a time where not many could did not go unnoticed.

“We sent an email to about ten or twelve people we knew," said Zac. "One of them just so happened to be on a board for pediatric doctors in the state of North Carolina." This simple move turned out to be one that would pay off huge for the Holcomb brothers. "He took our information and forwarded it to all the contacts in his address book. Our website exploded and we started taking orders for all these face shields.”

One of the important lessons the Holcomb brothers learned, was that sometimes great opportunities are hidden in terrible circumstances.

"Covid got us out of the starting blocks better than we could've if it never would've happened,” said Zac.

"It was a perfect storm if you will," said Grant.

3D printing is one of many emerging and unconventional industries that found ways to do their part to meet essential demands during the pandemic. Zac and Grant were more than happy to help out.

Zac remarked on the unique position they were in to help, saying: "In a situation in which the world's supply chain is screwed, and no one can get anything, you have a machine that allows you to make anything at any time."

As the pandemic begins to end, the two brothers turn toward the future as not only first-time business owners but ones who have weathered a historically tough time and come out better for it. Zac for one is taking a level-headed and steady approach to plans.

When asked about whether he was concerned about demand for face shields decreasing in the future he said: "I was always taught that all the decisions you make for the business have to be for the grand macro of the business. I've always been groomed not to throw everything out the window just for what's in demand at the moment."

While the brothers were meeting historic demand for PPE, they were also building their business and working on getting organized.

“We used a lot of the money and the labor we had to build internal processes.”.

While finding unexpected increases in business during the pandemic, they also found the need to expand.

“We went from a business of one or two people that was about two weeks away from being done, to we need to hire five people yesterday,” said Zac.

They have now expanded to a team of five employees, handling tasks ranging from manufacturing to administrative.

As we conclude our interview and tour of their new space at 300 N. Herritage St., the Holcomb brothers step out onto the sidewalk. Inside you can still hear hammers and drills as renovations continue. The brothers hope to be in their space by the summer, just in time for events like BBQ Festival on the Neuse, which is expected to bring thousands to downtown Kinston. The brothers plan on showing off their new space to tourists and locals alike as a beacon of hope and resilience. They are invested in hiring within the local community rather than recruiting from the outside, and they want people to see success happening in their backyard.

“We want to show the people that are from here that there is opportunity,” says Grant Holcomb.