With an intent to admire such companies, Insights Success has compiled a list of The 10 Most Promising Contract Manufacturing Companies 2021, which are making the impossible possible. Vollrath Manufacturing Services (VMS) is exceeding all expectations by being on the cover of the edition. Vollrath is offering custom manufacturing and engineering design consulting, standard and made-to-order parts, and custom tool fabrication from primarily serving the commercial foodservice industry to a breadth of others. Jacob J. Vollrath founded the Sheboygan Cast Steel Co. in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. www.insightssuccess.com

1. Small Business-Style Service & Big Business-Level Expertise
The Need to
Embrace
Digitization
Digital Approach
VOLLRATH
MANUFACTURING SERVICES
Jean Horvath, Vice President
of Custom & Specialty Products
T
H
E
Most Promising
CONTRACT
Manufacturing Companies
2021
VOL 05 ISSUE 01 2021
I I

4. Tough Nut in
Manufacturing
or most of the entrepreneurs and business owners,
Fmanufacturing process is dreadful. That’s where
contract manufacturing companies take the lead.
They are a team with a thorough understanding of the
manufacturing process, program, and its optimization.
By joining hands with contract manufacturing companies,
businesses can invest their time and efforts somewhere else.
Due to contract manufacturing, the production of the
machinery or any equipment, and other major assemblies,
has become simplified. It won’t be wrong to assert that
contract manufacturing has the capability to attract a lot of
customers, as these companies are highly skilled in
machinery and everything related to manufacturing and
give a competitive edge over the market.
Already the times are tough due to the ongoing pandemic
situation all over the world. Holding on to the companies
has become tough as well. Responding to these needs
contract manufacturing companies are enabling small
companies to survive by offering them the contract for
manufacturing. This gives the chance of adaption for
everyone in the industry, keeping the environment positive
in such turbulent times.
This new world of post-covid gives more importance to the
contract manufacturing companies as they have already
adapted to the technological updates by attending virtual
meetings, increasing communication with industries to offer
the manufacturing contracts to the clients. Contract
manufacturing companies works on the trust between
Contract given to the companies and the Clients. This
shows professionalism in managing the challenges and
ensuring reliability in the industry. It works completely on
the key to long-lasting business relationships between
contracts and its clients.
Manufacturing along with experience is the way to deliver
solutions right from manufacturing to production and final
Editor’s Desk

5. product. Today, by rapidly adapting to the demanding
technological environment, contract manufacturing
companies are ready to provide flexibility and
innovative solutions quickly to meet the needs of
their clients. The clients, the people, and domestic
and international industries depend on these
companies and their steady growth of manufacturing
products and services. As a result, they live up to all
their expectations and promises with excellence.
Because of their highly trained workforce,
completing the targets never becomes a challenge for
them.
The future of contract manufacturing companies
clearly states that their priority is their clients and the
needs of the industries. These companies achieve the
full development of the required output because of
their quality of teambuilding. It is this quality of
long-lasting teamwork and resilience that make them
stand out in the global market.
With an intent to admire such companies, Insights
Success has compiled a list of The 10 Most
Promising Contract Manufacturing Companies
2021, which are making the impossible possible.
Vollrath Manufacturing Services (VMS) is
exceeding all expectations by being on the cover of
the edition.
Vollrath is offering custom manufacturing and
engineering design consulting, standard and made-
to-order parts, and custom tool fabrication from
primarily serving the commercial foodservice
industry to a breadth of others. Jacob J. Vollrath
founded the Sheboygan Cast Steel Co. in Sheboygan,
Wisconsin.
Lastly, you will also be glad to read the CXO
standpoints written by the industry experts and the
creative articles drafted by our in-house editorial
team.
Let’s Engage!
sourabh@insightssuccess.com
Sourabh More

6. Small Business-Style Service &
Big Business-Level Expertise
Vollrath Manufacturing
Services
COVER STORY
10
C
O
N
T
E
N
T
S

7. The Need to Embrace
Digitization
Digital Approach
16
ARTICLE
Matija Zulj
Leader's Viewpoint
A Trusted Contract Manufacturing
Partner for Industry Leaders
PEKO
Precision Products
28
24
Providing Excellence in Contract
Development and Manufacturing Services
FAMAR
18

8. sales@insightssuccess.com
May, 2021
Editor-in-Chief
Senior Sales Manager Business Development Manager
Marketing Manager
Technical Head
Technical Specialist Digital Marketing Manager
Research Analyst
Database Management Technology Consultant
Hitesh Dhamani
Managing Editor
Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Sourabh More
Assistant Editors
Jenny Fernandes
Visualizer
David King
Art & Design Director
Asha Bange
Associate Designer
Shubham Dali
Kshitij S Peter Collins
John Matthew
Sales Executives
David, Martin, Akash
Business Development Executives
Steve, Joe, Aidan, Binay
Jacob Smile
Aditya Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive
Amol Wadekar Frank Adams
Circulation Manager
Robert Brown Stella Andrew David Stokes
Co-designer
Copyright © 2021 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success.
Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.
Follow us on : www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/ www.twitter.com/insightssuccess
We are also available on :
Kartik Balapurkar

11. Brief
Company Name
Sco Baxter
Marketing and BDM
PEKO Precision
Products Inc
pekoprecision.com
PEKO participates in a full range of manufacturing aspects
from innovative technology solutions to electro-mechanical
product manufacture, including vertically integrated contract
manufacturing.
Todd Daviau
CEO
CoreRX
corerxpharma.com
CoreRx is a company that started with an idea to integrate
scientists into the manufacturing process in order to provide the
most cost-effective, optimal solutions for pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies.
OraLabs
oralabs.com
Gary Schlatter
CEO
OraLabs manufactures, markets, and distributes consumer
products. Categories include Lip Care, Over The Counter
(OTC) Drugs, Oral Care, Skin Care, Sun Care, Personal Care,
Hand Sanitizer, & Hair Care.
Maryland Packaging
marylandpackaging.com
Scott Cuviello
VP of Operations
Maryland Packaging helps businesses grow their food
production.
Jean Horvath
VP of Custom &
Specialty Products
THE VOLLRATH
CO., LLC
vollrathco.com
For nearly 150 years, Vollrath Foodservice has been on a
mission: to improve how people experience a meal, no matter
where it’s served.
Servetronics
servetronics.com
Steve Fehr
VP of Operations
With 40 plus years of experience in all aspects of the business,
the Servetronics team has developed the foresight to anticipate
and alleviate almost all production issues.
FAMAR
famar-group.com
Ian Cooper
CEO
Famar is a European provider of pharmaceutical manufacturing
and development services with a legacy of 70 years of
technology expertise.
Hollingsworth
hollingsworthllc.com
Stephen Barr
CEO
The history of Hollingsworth dates back to 1925, when the
company E. L. Hollingsworth was founded in Flint, Michigan
as one of the world’s first expeditors of automotive parts.
Vexos
vexos.com
Paul Jona
CEO
Vexos can efficiently compete in today’s marketplace, primarily
focus within automotive, industrial, networking,
communication, medical and security market segments.
MaxPax
maxpaxllc.com
MaxPax can help you reduce your packaging, production,
warehousing and freight costs.
Amanda Strong
HR Generalist
Featured Person

12. C O V E R S T O R Y
Small Business-Style Service & Big Business-Level Expertise

13. “The way we see it, our
customer's challenges are
our challenges,” says Jean
Horvath vice president of
Custom and Specialty
Products, a division of The
Vollrath Company. “That's
why we provide an
unparalleled level of
commitment to each project,
integrating ourselves into our
customer's team as needed,
and pursuing the best
possible solution as if the
project was our own. The
heavy lifting is ours, but the
success is theirs.”
‘‘

14. Vollrath Culture & Global Presence
In 1874 Jacob J. Vollrath founded the Sheboygan Cast
Steel Co. in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. At the time, it produced
railroad frogs, small cast parts for the furniture industry,
cooking ranges and agricultural implements. In 1900, the
focus switched to cooking utensils and enamel cookware,
which was the beginning of Vollrath's journey to becoming
an industry leader in commercial foodservice.
Over the years, the company continued to grow and
acquired other companies to expand its market reach and
product offering. This trajectory of growth included the
Vollrath Manufacturing Services (VMS) division, which
expanded its offering of custom manufacturing and
engineering design consulting, standard and made-to-order
parts and custom tool fabrication from primarily serving the
commercial foodservice industry to a breadth of others.
Today, the Vollrath Company is a medium-sized global
manufacturer with 11 facilities spread through the United
States, Europe and China with over 1,250 people employed
globally. As a company with deep roots in the American
Midwest, Vollrath is proud that more than 80% of its
product line is manufactured and assembled in the U.S.
The current owners are women of the sixth and seventh
generation of the founding family that naturally continue to
promote the values that have been guiding the company
since its beginning. Being family-focused is at the core of
the company's culture that puts its associates front and
center. Vollrath's commitment to the collective good of its
customers, the company and the community is the secret to
its success.
Putting the Customer First
The manufacturing process is complex and can be impacted
by many factors including part complexity, raw materials,
critical dimensions, tolerances and aesthetics. At VMS, the
team knows that the earlier they are pulled into the design
process, the more likely they can help avoid costly
implications for the customers.“If we are part of the early
design discussion, we can make recommendations that will
improve the viability of the component and even lower the
overall cost if there is flexibility to modify the design for
manufacturability. We can help customers understand the
cost tradeoffs for given specifications,” says Jean.
Company Quality & Working at Vollrath
All Vollrath manufacturing facilities are ISO-certified and
the team is knowledgeable about UL, CSA, NSF, ETL and
CE standards. A quality engineer is part of the project team
to ensure quality is front and center throughout the project.
As part of every project review, the component is evaluated
through a detailed DFA/DFM process to ensure that the
project is manufactured in the most cost effective and
efficient way. The organization provides its customers with
PPAP parts before production to verify that everything is
exactly the way they expect it to be.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vollrath continues to
observe the recommendations that are in place, including
having employees work and conduct meetings remotely
when possible, prohibiting all nonessential business travel,
and encouraging people to stay at home if they feel unwell.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Vollrath has remained
open and operating with its sales and customer service
teams available to address questions and concerns from
customers. The company has continued to be a reliable
supplier to its customers throughout the pandemic.
Productivity with Balance
At VMS, every project is assigned a dedicated project
manager to ensure a successful outcome for each client. He
or she oversees coordination of all the resources and inputs
to create custom solutions for the customer – often bringing
Vollrath works with its customers to make the impossible possible when it
comes to industrial product solutions. Customers have complex and
challenging needs, and the company's job is to deliver solutions that exceed
expectations. The team of experts includes sales, project management,
engineering and operations that work together to create a custom-fit, end-to-
end approach for each customer.

15. Jean Horvath
Vice President of
Custom & Specialty Products
Vollrath Manufacturing
Services (VMS)

16. ideas to consider that they did not know were possible.
Many times, the company can leverage technology or
products from other parts of the business or leverage its
manufacturing capabilities to uniquely create a solution.
With a constant overview of the project, the project
manager develops the overall timeline, monitors its
progress, and ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.
He or she also acts as the dedicated point of contact for the
client and is the liaison between the client and the internal
team and coordinates the activities of all the internal
resources to ensure the product launches on time and within
the cost target. It is a fundamental role that is often
overlooked in the manufacturing industry, despite its
significant and proven value.
A Strategic Thinker
Jean Horvath is Vice President of Custom and Specialty
Products, a division of The Vollrath Company. She's held
this position since 2013 and has helped diversify VMS's
portfolio into dozens of new industries. She holds an MBA
from Loyola University - Chicago and a Bachelor of
Science in economics from the University of Wisconsin -
Madison.
After spending most of her career working with
independent entrepreneurs as well as partnering with
multimillion-dollar brands, Jean knows what truly drives
profitable businesses, strategic partnerships and long-lasting
customer relationships. She manages a fully integrated team
of sales managers, project managers, designers, engineers,
and operations to provide customers with tailored and cost-
effective product solutions.
Driven by Teamwork & Reliable Process
Relying on individual heroics can be an issue that plagues
organizations. If every project takes individual heroics to
get across the finish line, then the assumption is that they do
not have the processes or resources in place that are
necessary for reliable, repeatable development and results.
VMS's new product development process is proven, and
team based. It ensures that all the necessary resources and
functions are included for every phase of a project. The
gated process is robust and ensures each project is
evaluated at key points in its development, so issues and
concerns are caught and addressed early on by the team.
Authentic Manufacturing Process
Every new product project runs through a quality
management system where the team monitors process
variations to ensure that the company is meeting customer
requirements and identify areas for continuous
improvement. At Vollrath, the company uses the Process
Validation Methodology (PVM) process, which combines
the outputs of Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
and Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) into a
centralized document suitable for it and its customer's
needs. It also uses electronic data collection in each of its
manufacturing locations to ensure conformance to product
specifications. “We will provide our customers with PPAP
parts as part of our NPD process to ensure that everything
is exactly the way the customer expects it to be,” says Jean.
Known for Values & Work Culture
At Vollrath, business revolves around a lot more than
simply manufacturing industry-leading products in an
environmentally responsible way. Running a successful
operation includes an intentional focus on social
sustainability, which means serving people, be it customers,
employees and ownership, or the entire community.
Vollrath is an award-winning employer who prides itself on
being one of the healthiest companies in the United States.
It offers its associates a variety of programs and incentives
to live a healthy lifestyle and a happy life. A wholesome
work-life balance with a focus on finding passion and joy
outside of work is not just encouraged but reflected in the
culture values that the entire organization lives by.
Treating all people with respect is another core value that
permeates the company and promotes inclusion and
diversity at all levels inside and outside the company. While
at work, everyone is expected to take ownership and
accountability for the overall good of all stakeholders and
the company itself.
Award-Winning Products & Services
VMS is a domestic industrial product solution company
with the experience, expertise and capabilities to produce
complex, highly engineered products and solutions. It offers
a unique breadth of in-house processes, including
anodizing, deep draw stamping and annealing, metal

17. spinning, metal stamping, metal fabrication, precision
plastic injection molding, and high-quality acrylics; along
with several secondary operations and turnkey solutions
such as custom tooling, packaging and inventory
management. A wide selection of metals are sourced mill-
direct from both domestic and international suppliers by
VMS's dedicated sourcing teams, which gives its customers
the advantage of the purchasing power.
Purpose – To Help Customers
Vollrath focuses on continuing to grow its customer base,
expanding into new industries and investing in
manufacturing capabilities to directly align with new
customer needs. It recognizes that it offers a unique package
of skills, experience, and capabilities that can support
diverse customers and industries.
Client's Review
“Success with a fast growing startup like KETOS could
only occur when key ingredients are prioritized by a
manufacturing partner: flexibility, accuracy, product quality
and strong communication to operate as an extension of our
team,” - Meena Sankaran, KETOS Founder & CEO

18. The Need to Embrace
DIGITIZATION
16 | May 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

19. Earlier, a single company used to take care of all the
tasks involved with building a product. That is not
the case anymore. Now, we see various components
being dependent on contracts or suppliers. Some companies
just hire other manufacturing companies on contract to
produce specific parts of a larger production. For example,
car manufacturers do not create every piece in-house. They
contract other companies that produce specific parts like
engines, and other body parts. Later they are used for the
larger production. Contract manufacturing has gained
traction after industries have revolutionized.
Today, contract manufacturing companies are the ones who
oversee the production process and build the product for
other companies. It is because of them other companies can
focus on the things they do best like selling, marketing, and
customer service.
Life of businesses has become much easier with the diverse
pool of services these companies have to offer. They are a
skilled team with their talents of creating custom tools and
equipment, turning any business more profitable. It brings
life to machinery products with the introduction of a new
and advanced manufacturing market. They are in the phases
of designing, producing, motion-control, sensors, and
related materials and turning raw materials into full-scale
products.
As they say, there is always room for improvement. In the
case of these manufacturing companies, they can improve a
lot with today’s fourth industrial revolution – The Digital
Revolution. Now, the wave of digital transformation has
arrived.
Know Where to Go
With the changing times of the digital world and advanced
technological tools, companies need to position themselves
with efficient and simple innovative solutions. Looking at
the global increase rate of population, there is always a fear
of an increase in demand and a decrease in supply.
Digitalization of manufacturing processes with the latest
technological and innovative tools will enable to maintain
that balance without sacrificing quality.
As the pandemic threat is still ongoing around the world,
manufacturing companies and manufacturers are adapting
to virtual meetings and operations. Digitalization ensures
solutions to many more of such problems. Today,
manufacturing companies understand their role to meet the
needs of the industries and clients. It is rapidly adapting to
these ever-changing digitalized solutions worldwide. With
the digitalization of services, it is continued to grow and
expand its market reach and product offerings.
Benefits of Digitalizing Manufacturing
Ÿ Cost Savings – Think of all the workload associated
with the manufacturing companies like labor, training,
machinery, and more. Most business does not have the
advanced tools to grow their company. Introducing the
advanced digitalized and advanced tools enables
companies to improve their business in the long run
indirectly saving the cost of the companies by more
profit.
Ÿ Quality Assurance – Only the top-quality manufacturing
company makes it to the top in the market. Having
advanced mechanics sets the companies in improving
the quality of manufacturing.
Get Bigger and Better
The manufacturing sector is complex. It is impacted by
many other factors like raw materials, dimensions, and
complexity of the client's needs. Manufacturing companies
can create custom solutions for the customer and with the
help of technology, ideas can be brought to reality.
Digitalization is fundamental and is often overlooked in the
manufacturing industry, despite its significant and proven
value. It offers a unique set of skills and capabilities that
can support diverse customers and industries.
Manufacturing industries are transforming with
digitalization in the sectors of Clothing and Textiles,
Petroleum, Chemicals, Electronics, Computers,
Transportation, Metal Production, and many other
industries with their digitalization of services and products.
Stay Agile with Each Other
The goal is to continue to grow with the customer and
expanding, and investing into new manufacturing
challenges. Manufacturing companies understand their
capabilities to support diverse customers and industries.
Above all, the key to a successful company is team-building
quality and understanding each other. The team of
managers, engineers, other manufacturing unit should have
good communication among themselves. This brings
flexibility in all aspects of the company and helps in
achieving the company’s goals.
The End-Word
Furthermore, digitalization enables to deliver the advanced
manufacturing process. It is easy to use and requires the
available data in the company to the companies. It gives
companies useful information, instructions, along with
warnings about any dangers. The benefits digitalization
brings for manufacturing companies are huge. There are
still a lot of challenges and digitalization is set to solve
most of them with innovative tools for the manufacturing
industries.
17
|
May 2021
www.insightssuccess.com
Digital Approach

20. Ian Cooper,
CEO,
FAMAR
18 | May 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

21. ith changing times due to the pandemic, pharma
Wcompanies are increasingly positioning
themselves to respond to needs and provide
clients with efficient and simple solutions. Consumer
demand is simple: they want less expensive, well-made
drugs available when needed. Outsourcing enables pharma
companies to reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
As coronavirus has spread around the world, it has created
profound disruption across communities, patients and
clinicians, the way companies work, and how they engage
to support stakeholders across the ecosystem. It has
severely disrupted all industries around the globe and the
Pharma industry is no exception.
FAMAR has quickly adapted to a new way of doing
business with its customers, as imposed by the restrictions
to contain the spread of the Virus, introducing strict
protocols to keep our people safe and our operations
running. In FAMAR this also has meant adapting to virtual
customer meetings instead of face-to-face meetings,
increasing the frequency of its communications with clients,
so that it ensures continuous alignment on the clients supply
priorities, by anticipating any potential supply problems to
address them so as to avoid them becoming an issue for its
clients’ patients.
Ian Cooper, CEO of FAMAR believes the trust and mutual
respect between CDMOs and their clients is strengthening
through this pandemic, where the CDMO has been able to
show their professionalism in managing this crisis and
ensuring reliable supply to the needs of the clients. Ian says
that Business relationships that are solid, long-lasting,
reliable are even more strengthened in the times of
pandemic. And he says that this is what clearly
characterizes the relationship between FAMAR and its
clients.
Leading Service Provider in Healthcare
FAMAR was founded in 1949 in Greece and is today one of
the leading European companies providing services for the
development and production of pharmaceutical and health
care products (CDMO). Today FAMAR has 6 production
centers and 2 R&D units for pharmaceuticals, medical
devices and health care products in Greece, Italy, and Spain.
It produces annually 1700 unique product codes for more
than 120 clients - pharmaceutical and health care
companies. It also has the largest distribution network
exclusively for pharmaceuticals and medical devices in
Greece - with a share of more than 60% of the total market.
The company has 1850 employees, and it positions itself as
one of the leading service providers in the health care and
pharmaceutical industry, leveraging the experience,
extensive market know-how and the talents and passion
cultivated in its corporate culture for its people.
Providing Excellence in Contract Development and Manufacturing Services
The 10 Most Promising Contract Manufacturing Companies, 2021
19
|
May 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

22. Emphasizing on Quality and Technical Expertise
FAMAR is a European provider of pharmaceutical
manufacturing and development services with a legacy of
70 years of technology expertise. In FAMAR it strategically
emphasizes on continuous investment in quality, technical
expertise and equipment, sustained enrichment of its service
portfolio and a strong and flexible structure that ensures a
steady growth of drug development and production services
for more than 120 clients for 80 markets worldwide.
Building on its experience, FAMAR is reliable partner to
deliver flexible solutions, from development to production
and distribution.
Providing Flexibility and Innovative Solutions
Today, more than ever, FAMAR is rapidly adapting to an
ever-changing and highly demanding pharmaceutical
environment, providing flexibility and innovative solutions
to quickly meet the needs of its clients. As a CDMO, it
recognizes the vital role in the production and supply of
medicines to patients in need worldwide. Its clients, its
people, its local and international health systems, and
society depend on the company and its steady supply of
drug development and manufacturing services and that
expectation is its promise, its mission, its point of
excellence.
Good Vaccines Distribution Practices
Currently, in Greece, due to its position as the leading 3PL
dedicated to Pharmaceutical distribution, FAMAR was
selected by the Greek government to be the partner that will
handle the distribution of pandemic vaccines to all remote
areas in Mainland Greece.
The distribution of the vaccines to the most remote
locations is indeed a technical challenge due to the very
demanding storage and transport conditions but also due to
the critical importance of the cargo to the fight against the
Covid19 pandemic. FAMAR is probably the only player in
Greece able to perform such mission with strict compliance
with the Good Distribution Practices due to the quality and
size of its fleet, the highly trained work force accustomed to
handle high value lifesaving pharmaceuticals, and the
impeccable track record provided by its Quality System, a
safe assurance to its Clients, Authorities and to the
population in general who is counting on these medicines to
progressively return back to a normal life.
Investing in High Potent Capabilities
FAMAR is not only heavily investing in its newest High
Potent capabilities (Safebridge Cat 3) to ensure proper
containment of the active ingredient and protect its
scientists, but is also keeping in mind this approach of
coordinated end to end development of harder to make
medicines. It is certain that its Clients will appreciate and
take great benefit from the end to end integration from
formulation and analytical development, through clinical
batches to scale up and commercial manufacturing.
Ensuring Strength, Reliability and Resilience
FAMAR’s future aspirations is what its vision clearly states.
It is the priority of FAMAR, its shareholders and the
management team. The company aims to achieve full
recovery and development of its business in total to
reposition itself as the leader in the CDMO market. Its
highly skilled employees are fully committed to serving its
clients and their patients through this last year’s renaissance
of FAMAR. Definitely this time due to the Covid pandemic,
the disruptions, and difficulties in all markets in general, are
very challenging, but FAMAR has shown its strengths, its
reliability, its quality of services that characterize its long-
lasting business relations and a resilience that differentiates
it and make it stand out in the global CDMO market.
Famar provides
excellence in contract
development and
manufacturing
services, offering
flexible solutions
with the customer
always at the
center of our
hearts and minds.
20 | May 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

26. Sco Baxter,
Marke ng and Business
Development Manager
PEKO Precision Products Inc
24 | May 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

27. PEKO Precision
Products
A Trusted Contract Manufacturing Partner for Industry Leaders
The heart of successful contract manufacturing is
building a team that takes the time to thoroughly
understand the customers’ products. The team of
Program Managers, Manufacturing Engineers, Planners,
Quality Engineers and other manufacturing and engineering
personnel should have good communication between all of
them. These team members must be able to communicate
the customer needs to manufacturing processes. They
should be able to monitor cost, quality, and delivery with
the flexibility to adjust for optimization. The team of
PEKO Precision Products ties all three aspects of cost,
quality, and delivery together efficiently for complete
customer satisfaction and aligns with the company’s goals.
Scott Baxter is PEKO’s Marketing and Business
Development Manager. Like most managers at PEKO, he
holds a degree in engineering and applies it to his normal
business roles. His mission is to ensure that the company is
connecting with customers that are looking for contract
manufacturing and product development services for their
machinery, equipment, and major mechanical assemblies.
In an interview with Insights Success, Scott Baxter shares
the journey of PEKO Precision Products and about its
contribution as a contract manufacturing company.
Below are the Highlights of the Interview:
What led to the inception of PEKO Precision?
PEKO began its life as a small tool and die shop in 1966.
Three skilled craftsmen took their talents of creating custom
tools for local manufacturing companies and turned it into a
lucrative endeavor. Once established, the company focused
not only on producing custom tools and parts but ventured
into more comprehensive solutions for its customer base.
By the early 1980’s, PEKO was producing test and
assembly equipment for local automotive companies and
precision assemblies for imaging companies. Since then,
the company has broadened its base of customers to
national levels and beyond.
Describe the company and its lucrative contract
manufacturing services to its clients.
PEKO provides full-service Contract Manufacturing of
Machinery, Equipment and Major Assemblies. The focus of
the company is to bring machinery products to market. We
begin with the New Product Introduction stage. This
includes phases like Design, Prototype, Alpha/Beta build,
Pre-Production or Pilot Builds and ultimately full-scale
production. Most common production annual volumes for
the types of equipment we build for OEMs is in the dozens
or hundreds, usually at price ranges from $10,000 to
$300,000 per unit. Machinery and equipment in our
specialty often involves a high level of metal manufactured
parts (frames, sheet metal, machined parts, etc.), motion
control, sensors, mechanical electrical assembly, and related
items. Specialized assembly cells are created for each
customer to optimize manufacturing costs and output.
Kindly provide an insight of your company’s solid
quality program.
The Quality infrastructure is second to none at PEKO. A
wide range of customer industries and profiles has helped
us craft a strong and reputable Quality Management
System. Within the overarching Quality Management
System (QMS), each customer has a set of requirements
from print tolerances to manufacturing/process
specifications to regulatory compliance that need to be
addressed. The Quality team translates these from customer
to PEKO and integrates directly into our QMS. This puts
Quality at the source which profoundly reduces debug and
The 10 Most Promising Contract Manufacturing Companies, 2021
25
|
May 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

28. other problems at the final assembly stage. After final
assembly, a final inspection or Factory Acceptance Test is
performed to ensure ultimate Quality leaving the plant.
Does the company provide creative solutions to its
clients to help and manage change?
Change management not only requires creative solutions
but it also requires deep understanding of the customers’
product and team. Change can come for so many reasons
and in so many formats that change management becomes
an absolute critical process aspect, otherwise failure will be
imminent. Processing and managing change require a
combination of standard and custom protocols. We have
created a proprietary change management process with
ECNs and feedback loops internally. Furthermore,
customized change management protocols are also
implemented as an amendment to our standard protocols on
a customer-to-customer basis. This allows for customers
own processes to be integrated with PEKO processes. The
outcome here is that the customer can make changes as they
please and are accustomed to, while PEKO can integrate
into our own system while still honoring customer requires.
This leads to high efficacy and customer satisfaction.
As a leading company in the contract manufacturing,
what advance technologies are you leveraging to make
your services more productive and approachable?
The biggest advancement is the use of Robotics and
embracing Industry 4.0. Without divulging too much
information, we have successfully utilized robotics in some
instances achieving >300% productivity gains.
Taking into consideration, the current pandemic, and its
impact on global economies, how are you driving the
company to sustain operations and ensuring safety of
your associates and employees at the same time?
As an essential manufacturer, we are taking all precautions
recommended by the CDC and local officials. Luckily, our
manufacturing processes allow us plenty of socially distant
space.
What are your company’s future aspirations? What
strategies are you undertaking to achieve those goals?
The company is planning a 10% year-on-year growth curve.
PEKO’s strategies includes building on successes in
machinery and equipment manufacturing. Improved
marketing and sales efforts will attract and onboard
machinery OEMs in North America and Europe that seek to
find a US based machinery/equipment contract
manufacturer. A secondary strategy is to attract lower
complexity/higher volume equipment for manufacturing
with specialized assembly cells to stay competitive with this
segment.
PEKO Precision Products,
Inc is a Contract
Manufacturing company
that specializes in
Manufacturing and
Designing equipment,
machinery and major
mechanical
assemblies for a
robust customer
base since 1966.
‘‘
‘‘
26 | May 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

30. Determined to solve the global food production issue, he abandoned the safety of the ICT
sector and went into developing farm management software solutions. Eventually, his
determination, hard work and commitment paid off: nowadays, AGRIVI boasts the most
successful global farm management app, solving the issue of food traceability.
Leader's Viewpoint
Matija Zulj
CEO & Founder at AGRIVI
How was AGRIVI made?
After a successful seven-year career in the corporate ICT
world, AGRIVI founder Matija Žulj decided to try his hand
at something different. He opted for an industry, to which
he believed he could contribute considerably more and
which would make him more content. Thus, he committed
himself to solving the global issue of increasing the food
production's efficiency and sustainability. To better
understand farming, he decided to become a farmer himself
and set up a blueberry plantation. Soon afterwards he faced
the farmers' day-to-day reality – the knowhow and advice
on growing blueberries were far from easily available, and
the market at the time lacked a simple, affordable software
solution that would help him track his production and make
data-driven decisions.
That is how AGRIVI came to be, going from being a
Croatia-based startup, whose goal was to support farmers
and food producers in making their production more
efficient, to launching what is today one of the most
successful farm management apps globally. Currently, the
AGRIVI solution is present in more than 100 countries,
while the company has offices in Zagreb, Warsaw,
Bucharest, and London. The AGRIVI farm management
software is used by farmers of all sizes, agribusinesses,
agricultural banks, and other stakeholders in the food and
agriculture industry, and has been localized in more than 15
languages.
In just a few clicks, the AGRIVI solution allows its users to
obtain information on all production stages, as well as
plenty other useful information needed for production
planning and timely implementation of the agritech
measures. These days, AGRIVI cooperates with the top
global corporations in the industry, including the US-based
Driscoll's, the world's largest berry company, Switzerland's
Nestle, which uses the AGRIVI solution to ensure the
quality of the fruit for its children's food factories, and
Helvetas, which relies on the software in question to ensure
rice production's traceability for more than 4,000 small
farmers in Asia. According to the leading market research
companies, AGRIVI is continually one of the top agritech
companies globally, and last year it was named Europe's top
fast-growing food-tech company.
28 | May 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

31. 29
|
May 2021
www.insightssuccess.com

32. Digitization prevents average farmers from
experiencing triple loss annually
Matija believes the future of food production, as well as its
quality and profitability growth, lies in digitizing
agricultural processes, which is something AGRIVI does.
The company's technology supports managing the entire
production, enables compiling different analytical reports,
and has built-in advanced predictive algorithms, which help
with decision-making regarding optimal plant treatment
schedule. Thanks to its large database, the solution provides
the farmers with suggestions based on other users' best
practices.
Furthermore, the solution enables its users to deliver one of
the most advanced agricultural production's traceability
reports. For any given crop, there are 20 key pieces of
production-related information, and the reports are
constantly available to both farmers and their buyers.
The AGRIVI solution is available on every user's
smartphone. It is easy to use and only requires the
discipline to enter the predefined data available to the
farmers. Everything else is done by the platform itself – the
farmers are given information, instructions, and warnings.
Digitizing agriculture brings substantial benefits to the
farmers, as it prevents the triple loss that average farmers
suffer annually. The first loss takes place during the
production planning stage, as without the precise data on
soil quality and actual crop needs, the farmers are unable to
optimally calculate the necessary inputs for the season. The
digitization can reduce these losses by up to 30 percent. The
second loss happens during the production stage, mostly
due to misjudgments in implementing certain
agrotechnological measures; yield losses caused by pests
and diseases amount to 20 – 40 percent annually. The
digitization reduces deviations from optimal deadlines, thus
considerably reducing the losses in question. Finally, the
third time the farmers experience losses is when pricing
their products, due to their inability to provide detailed
information about all the production stages – their buyers
view this information as a guarantee that it is worth paying
more for the farmers' products. With digitization, the
farmers' income goes up by 50 – 100 percent. Plus, it is the
only way to quickly increase the competitiveness of
agriculture.
Importance of food traceability
The global coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected the
entire world, highlighting the importance of food
production safety. Production traceability is one of the
biggest advantages of the AGRIVI business digitization, as
it gives us a fully transparent production of the food we
consume.
Consequently, food safety is increasingly becoming the
dominant topic across the world, and people's awareness of
the importance of a healthy diet is rapidly growing, with
surveys suggesting we are prepared to pay more for healthy
foodstuffs. Even though various certificates are being
developed to try and standardize food's origin and method
of production, the bottleneck that is preventing us from
making any real headway is the lack of information about
the foodstuffs we consume. Still, advanced digital solutions,
such as those by AGRIVI, are giving the farmers a real
chance of solving this issue.
30 | May 2021 www.insightssuccess.com

33. Matija Zulj
CEO & Founder
at AGRIVI
31
|
May 2021
www.insightssuccess.com