EP 8 - Achieving Business Growth Amidst a Global Pandemic | CMD Corporation | Appleton, Wisconsin

“We purchased virtual reality goggles so we could service our international and all our customers, including domestic customers, because we were limited to travel.” – Ricardo Abud | President | CMD Corporation

In this week’s episode of “Wisconsin Made. The Podcast.” we feature CMD Corporation out of Appleton who focuses on delivering advanced technology in converting and packaging equipment by serving customers all around the world. During this podcast episode we learn about some of the innovative technologies that CMD implemented in order to work with the their customers virtually through the use of virtual reality goggles. This gave them the ability to communicate with their customers safely, to train and onboard them with their new equipment and easily answer questions their customers may have when adding their new equipment. In addition, we discuss how CMD dedicated a 3D printer to manufacture parts for face shields and worked with customers to adjust converting equipment originally designed to manufacturer garbage bags, for the production of protective items like aprons for health care workers.

Our guest joining us is Ricardo Abud, President of CMD Corporation who is an experienced leader within the manufacturing industry with nearly 30 years of domestic and international business experience in the food, paper and capital equipment industries. Join us in this episode as we get a better understanding on how CMD Corporation utilized immerging technologies to continue their business forward during the COVID-19 pandemic which even expanded business opportunities in 2020 and lead them to increasing their workforce.

In this episode we answer:

Tell us a little bit about CMD Corporation and what you do? (1:40)

What was your initial reaction to the government shutdowns and new regulations during the spring of 2020? (3:15)

What were some of the specific things that CMD did to switch over your production to address the needs to fight the pandemic? (6:00)

What is a lesson you learned from the pandemic that will help you move CMD forward? (8:20)

CMD implemented new technologies to allow you to communicate with your customers, can you tell us a little bit about that? (10:35)

Where do you see the manufacturing industry going beyond 2021? (16:05)

Next week, in our final episode of the series, we will be joined by Kelly Ingli, President & CFO; and Tom Aaby, Vice President of Business Development of OEM Fabricators out of Woodville. We will learn about how OEM really stepped up in a big way to give back to their local communities where their three manufacturing facilities are located. Plus, we will wrap up the series by highlighting all the things we learned from these various Wisconsin manufacturing companies.

If you found value in this episode or want to hear the stories from Wisconsin manufacturers, please hit that subscribe button and share it with your peers. We really want to showcase all the good news stories of how manufacturing was critical in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Wisconsin Made. The Podcast.” is brought to you by Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year, a premier annual awards program celebrating excellence in manufacturing in the state of Wisconsin. Thank you to our program sponsors Baker Tilly, Michael Best and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC).