Jet Mills Propel a Custom Processor's Fast Takeoff
We started the company knowing that there was a market for custom and toll processing dry bulk solids," says Gregg Shemanski, president of Cus- tom Processing Services Inc., Reading, Pa. "And based on past experience in this field, I knew that we'd succeed if we initially focused on services using jet-milling equipment."
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Reading Eagle Company Profile 2007
Company Description
Custom Processing Services is a contract manufacturer (toll processor) offering micronizing, ultra-fine grinding, blending, surface treating, heat treating and packaging for materials such as chemicals, pharmaceutical excipients, waxes and minerals just to name a few. Clients send their materials to Custom Processing Service's facilities, where they are processed and shipped back to the client or directly to the end-user. CPS is registered to ISO 9001:2000 by QMI and is a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ.)
History
Gregg Shemanski founded CPS in October 1998. He and business partner Jeff Klinger acquired a plant and installed equipment, and in December 2000, processed their first material. By 2003, the
company had put in another mill and a blender to meet growing demand. As orders increased in 2004, Custom Processing Services added a stainless steel milling station and a second blending line.
The firm also added a second processing plant, bringing total manufacturing capacity to 57,000 sq. ft. By 2005, the number of employees increased to 29. To serve the firm's new customers, an
automated production line, a small scale test mill and lab equipment were installed. Shemanski and Klinger then started a trucking company, Birchmont Transport, to serve CPS clients and others within a 275-mile radius.
2006 Summary
In 2006, rapid growth continued with the installation of more specialized milling equipment including a Nitrogen Blanketed processing system. The growth prompted the hiring of more people, including 3 engineers bringing the total number employed to 42. In January of 2006, the company became a 24/7 operation thus optimizing plant utilization. It was also a time of recognition for the firm's accomplishments. In May, Shemanski and Klinger accepted an Innovation Award for Entrepreneurial Achievement from the Ben Franklin Technology Partners. Gregg Shemanski was also named an Eastern PA Business Journal Executive Spotlight Award winner for professional accomplishment and community involvement.
2007 Expectations
Custom Processing Services plans to continue growing in 2007. Another new milling station using just-patented technology from the German mill manufacturer NETZSCH is being installed. Company engineers are exploring new projects involving a range of materials, while transportation and warehousing activities continue to expand. Employment opportunities for production personnel such as chemical mill operators, maintenance mechanics and electricians, as well as warehouse workers, will be available as the company continues to grow and meet the demands of the market.
A FLAW IN THE MATRIX - Research on the effects of adding functional fillers to plaster - by Michael J. Shemanski
Powder Bulk Solids May 2006
BEN FRANKLIN: Thinking Small Yields Big Dividends
Ceramics in the News
CPS Installs New Air Mill for Toll Processing
Custom Processing Services (CPS), Inc. recently commissioned a new NETZSCH-CONDUX CGS 100 fluidized bed jet mill (pictured on the cover of this issue) for its Reading, Pa., facility. The addition of this milling system enables CPS to produce ultra-fine micronized powders for a variety of industries, including the ceramic industry. The mill is reportedly the largest air mill employed in a toll processing facility worldwide.
Electronic process controls, driven by the latest technologies in PLC engineering, enable the mill's operators to exactly reproduce running conditions to manufacture both large and small lots to rigid specifications. Advanced dust collection systems keep the work environment safe and clean, while automated bagging equipment helps speed the packaging of product for tight delivery schedules with quick turnaround times.
According to Gregory J. Shemanski, president of CPS, and Jeffrey A. Klinger, vice president of operations, the new system will enable the company to continue meeting customers' needs in a timely and cost-effective manner. For companies that decide to install their own processing equipment, a strategic alliance formed between equipment manufacturer NETZSCH and CPS can assist in the selection of the appropriate machinery and settings and ensure a smooth transition.
NETZSCH's website is located at netzschusa.com. For more information regarding CPS and its services, call (610) 779-7001 or visit www.customprocessingservices.com.
CERAMIC INDUSTRY, November 2003
Solid Success
New grinding media and equipment designs enhance the performance of mills and dispersers By Nicholas Basta, Contributing Editor [October 23, 2003] - Link to Chemical Processing website's article
Bigger mill means 'smaller' work for processors
By Jennifer Troxel for the Eastern Pennsylvania Business Journal. June 30 - July 6, 2003 [PDF will require Adobe Acrobat to view]
BENFRANKLIN TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Size Does Matter by Tom Harper
Go ahead, tell Custom Processing Services Inc. to pound sand. They would do it, and with pleasure. They also would grind it,blend it, coat it, whatever you wanted them to do. That's their job, and that's their name.
"We try to make our name fit what we do," says CPS co owner Gregg Shemanski, who founded the company in 1998. "We will take somebody's materials and we will process them ... do whatever they (the customer) would like to do to the materials to make a more usable new product, and we send it back to them."
So whenever an end user or an original manufacturer has a product in one form and wants it turned into another form, that's when the phone rings at CPS. This manufacturing service provider specializes in micronizing and allied processes, which basically means this: If you need a product reduced to a size significantly smaller than, say, the diameter of a strand of hair, you need CPS.
And virtually any kind of product is capable of being transformed using CPS' high tech equipment. Wax pellets, for example, can be converted into a form small enough to become an additive to paints and inks. The same with earth. "We can take a mineral right out of the ground and make it into a reinforcing agent for plastics to make it stronger," Shemanski says.
It may sound like another company's slogan - and it does - but CPS helps to make their clients' products better. And just who are those clients? You'd have better luck finding Hoffa than finding out who utilizes CPS' services. Shemanski says that due to confidentiality agreements, he can't divulge who his clients are.
The secrets don't end there, however. He admit, that CPS sometimes may not even know where the material to be processed came from or what it will be used for when a client brings it in. Like a variation in the "Don't ask,don't tell" policy all CPS does for some clients is just convert their product from A to B, no questions asked.
Before you start whispering conspiracy theories a la Oliver Stone, relax, Shemanski explains all the secrecy. "We are the outlet for people who can make a chemical formulation but then need that converted . ... That's where we come in. We provide that knowledge and service, which is why they always want us to sign confidentiality agreements"
He will admit, after some considerable gentle persuasion, that "any large or small mineral producer, any large or small dry powder chemical producer, any large or small food additive producer, any large or small plastics manufacturer, they are all potentially our customers."
You likely have reaped the rewards of CPS' work without ever knowing it. The paint on the walls in your office, the varnish on your conference table, the plastics in your phone or the ink in your pen all have something to do with what CPS does.
Shemanski says that because the nature of his business is capital intensive, he closely monitors CPS' three biggest costs: equipment maintenance, labor, and power. In fact, the company does most of its operations at night during the third shift to take advantage of lower electrical rates.
Regarding equipment, CPS has aligned itself with Netzsch Inc., a German based firm that specializes in the design and manufacturing of milling and grinding machinery. Much of the core machinery found in CPS' 30,000 square foot manufacturing area comes courtesy of Netzsch, Shemanski says.
Because service is part of the CPS name, it's crucial that Shemanski and his staff of nine live up to and meet their clients expectations. "That's what we strive for. It sounds so simple ... but a lot of folks just don't do it. That's where we're finding a lot of our business, too, from people who aren't getting the service that they require."
Part of that service involves sitting down with the client and getting all the information needed for the conversion process, nuggets of knowledge such as product form, surface area, conductivity and reactivity. Shernanski uses a five page checklist of questions he created to find out this information and more, since clients often haven't thought of such things themselves. "As we go down the list, we start to help them define their needs better."
CPS has defined itself as a leader in micronizing despite being in business for less than two years; the company officially opened for business on Dec. 1, 2000. Still, it has grown enough through word of mouth and Shemanki's 20 years in the size reduction business to attract clientele from all over the world.
"Our service is global; materials from Europe or Asia or anywhere can be sent here and sent back out "
Interestingly Shemanski Says CPS doesn't interact much with Berks County manufacturers even though those manufacturers may in fact use a product that CPS altered for a third party. "Mostly, we're just spending a lot of money in Berks County making the products for everybody else."
And there's no need for CPS to worry about money in this down economy. Its capabilities reach far enough in many industries that it doesn't matter when one industry goes south, he says. Still, reaching out to more industries is one way CPS is going to enlarge its potential to make things small.
"That's how we're going to grow the business, by just constantly providing solutions to people's processing needs and giving them benefits." (Reprinted from Berks Business 2 Business, March 2002.)
[Sunday Reading Eagle]
Greg Shemanski, a Berks County native, worked for big corporations for 20 years before going it alone. He has operated Custom Processing Service Inc., Exeter Township, for a little more than two years.
His specialized business, employing 10 people, processes materials used as additives to such products as plastics and flame retardants. It targets chemical manufacturers who sell to others in areas such as paint, ink and coatings.
Shemanski turned to Ben Franklin Technology Partners for help putting together his business plan and connecting him to consultants and others. For example, the partners helped secure a grant for a professor at Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley Campus, Spring Township, who analyzes the company's production equipment.
The support has been key in helping Shemanski make a go of a venture requiring millions of dollars worth of equipment, be said. Like Cichelli, Shemanski was pursuing a successful career in the corporate world, but Shemanski was frustrated because the company he was working for wasn't expanding the way he would have liked.
"I've always wanted to have my own business because I'm in control," Shemanski said. He says he probably puts in more hours than he did before starting his own business, but he also doesn't have to travel as much. In reflecting on his decision to strike out on his own, Shemanski said, "I wouldn't trade it for the world." (from the Sunday Reading Eagle, 2/17/2002)
Berks Startup Hopes to Pulverize Competition with Micronizing
Smaller is better especially when it comes to powdered materials. That is the vision of Gregory J. Shemanski, president of a startup company called Custom Processing Services Inc., and his partner, Jeffrey Klinger, the company's vice president. The partners recently opened for business in a 36,000 square foot, leased manufacturing space in Exeter Township.
"I have been involved with grinding for about 20 years," says Shemanski, who has worked for a number of companies, including firms that make pulverizing equipment and in the field of micronizing Custom Processing Services' specialty.
Shemanski, born in Easton but a lifelong Berks County resident, says the idea behind the company is to grind materials as finely as possible, which opens up a variety of potential markets, including flame retardant, plastics, food, pharmaceuticals and paints.
The company just hired a few employees, Shemanski says, adding that he is in the process of hiring three or four more people, with additional staff to be brought on early next year. When fully operational, he expects to have 18 workers.
To start the firm, Shemanski quit a high powered job two years ago as vice president of North American operations for Houston based Wedco, a company that provides a full range of grinding services, from micronizing to coarser work. The 41 year old commuted to the company's Asbury, N.J., plant.
After he quit, he incorporated the new company "and did nothing but work at this," Shemanski says. "That's how much I believe in this. And then my partner came in about a year ago when I realized I needed one." Shemanski says Klinger, who turns 41 in early December and lives in Hatfield, most recently worked for Fluid Energy Processing and Equipment Co. in Hatfield, another company involved in micronizing. Between the two of them, Shemanski and Klinger bring several decades of expertise in this unusual industry to the table.
Financing the roughly $3 million startup was the toughest part, Shemanski says, to say nothing of convincing his wife, Becky, of the wisdom of taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. He and Klinger used a combination of personal funds, a private bank loan, money from the state's Small Business First Fund, the state Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund and the Small Business Association to pull it off.
The company does not manufacture a product but rather processes other people's materials, Shemanski says. "We just take what they send us, [process it] and send it back." Even though both Shemanski and Klinger have extensive business and engineering backgrounds, Shemanski says they realized the company needed additional expertise, so it turned to the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania in Bethlehem earlier this year for an $80,000 challenge grant.
Shemanski, a Lehigh University graduate, says Ben Franklin has helped the company fine tune its business plan and avoid many of the pitfalls that await startups. While Ben Franklin is not a venture capital firm, it is known for its extensive diligence which helps lend credibility to its clients who seek financing elsewhere, says spokeswoman Laura Eppler. "Typically, we don't get a ton of startups in Reading, but we are seeing an increase there," Eppler says.
In addition to business issues, "we are working with them on the manufacturing process that reduces material to particle size," Eppler says. Penn State Berks Lehigh Valley College also is collaborating on the effort. Shemanski says a Penn State Berks' engineering professor is working with the company through June 2001 to help fine tune its operations. He says the school also is helping the new firm develop and implement statistical process control and statistical quality analysis procedures to place it at the cutting edge of quality.
Now, Shemanski says, he and Klinger finally are able to do things the way they have always wanted to, not necessarily how somebody else thinks they should be done. "I have always wanted to have my own facility," he says, adding that there have been other benefits, including a markedly shortened commute. "This is actually my first job since I have been married that I have worked in Berks County. We are going to make this work." (Reprinted from the Eastern PA Business Journal, November 27, 2000)