Toll Manufacturing Minute with CPS: Celebrating 25 Years of Lessons and Leadership in Custom Toll Processing

TL; DR: EPISOde OVERVIEW

CPS co-founders President Gregg Shemanski and Vice President Jeff Klinger celebrate the company’s 25th year with a look back on how CPS grew from 2 people to a team of 170+ by focusing on custom toll processing and measurable consistency:

• Early wins: Cut customer lead times 4x and delivered superior product performance, jump-starting long-term relationships

• Built to scale: Continuous upgrades in classification, air systems, packaging, feeding, and PLC controls enable end-to-end solutions

• People first: Team-based leadership, training, and shared benefits fuel growth and quality

• Innovation: From pharma molecule separations to plant-protein fractionation, customers come to CPS to solve complex problems

When you grow up inside a business, the transformation can feel gradual until you step back and see the scale. That’s how CPS’s co-founders President Gregg Shemanski and Vice President Jeff Klinger describe the company’s 25-year journey from a two-person startup to a global toll processing partner serving manufacturers in food, pharma, minerals, and more. Marketing Team Coordinator Jen Lepore caught up with Gregg and Jeff to talk about the history (and future) of CPS:

Why “Custom Processing” Was and Remains the North Star

Before opening the doors, the co-founders pressure-tested their business model with Ben Franklin Technology Partnership “tiger sessions,” presenting their concept to a group of consultants (“tigers”) for in-depth analysis, feedback, and strategies. 

The takeaway from the sessions: own the technical processing expertise, reduce customers’ risk, and name the company for what it does. That clarity became Custom Processing Services, and the playbook for everything that followed.

Grit in the Early Days

Reality hit quickly. A brand-new high-voltage starter failed on its first startup on business day one, and throughout the early days other challenges followed including a contractor dropping a critical tank. Undaunted, Shemanski and Klinger took matters into their own hands by running cranes, digging trenches, and installing equipment themselves. Strategically, they set a course for planning and redundancy (including spares) to keep production on track and set a standard for risk management that CPS still uses today.

Turning Point: 4x Faster, First-Time-Right

As CPS grew, so did the company’s reputation for performance. When customers realized CPS could deliver four-times faster lead times with highly consistent output, opportunities multiplied, as did the need for technology and engineering expertise. Early projects required equipment modification and around-the-clock engineering to achieve superior results, and a willingness for CPS to grow beyond its comfort zone. Some of those partnerships continue 25 years later.

Shemanski reflects:

“It’s a little different when you grow up in it. You see progress every day. So by the time 25 years comes around, going from 2 to 177 people doesn’t seem so big. But, when others come in that knew us in the past, they’re amazed at what has gone on. That’s the point where I feel more, ‘Wow! We really have done something here.’ We’ve taken an idea and turned it into one heck of a local business that serves customers globally. It makes me smile.”

Technology That Scales

A key component of CPS success is technology. Core processing platforms remain robust, while adjacent systems (classification, compressed air, pre-/post-milling, packaging, feeding, PLC upgrades) advance continuously. The result is a front-to-back capability: CPS designs, integrates, and runs the entire process so products move swiftly from concept to commercial scale.

From Entrepreneurs to a Team-Based Organization

As CPS grew, leadership principles shifted from “do-it-yourself” to empowering managers and cross-functional teams. Both Gregg and Jeff believe that investing in benefits, training, and shared standards elevates both people and performance. That people-first, team-accountability model took shape years ago and remains a growth engine today.

According to Jeff, “Investing into our people means investing in making sure that their home life is good as well as their work life, so we keep a pulse on proper benefits. It’s also in training. There’s a lot of external training we provide, but other times people work shoulder to shoulder with our supervisors to make sure they’ve got the training they need.”

Innovation on Demand

Customers come to CPS when the physics and chemistry get tricky — and they stay when those innovations scale. From moving beyond particle size and shape into molecule-level separations for pharmaceutical applications to pioneering plant-protein fractionation that separates proteins from fiber, the team turns complex R&D into repeatable results.

Current programs are bigger and more integrated: not just a single grind or blend, but multi-step workflows managed under one roof with data-driven controls, quality gates, and commercially viable costs. That combination of applied innovation and end-to-end process integration is why customers partner and stay with CPS.

A Vision for the Next 25 Years

The founders’ vision: be known worldwide as the first call for toll processing solutions and a trusted partner that gets it right the first time, moves fast, and scales safely. Given the track record, they’re already well on the way.

Reach out to connect with Gregg or Jeff to learn more about how CPS’s history shaped the toll processing partner customers rely on for services and solutions to support their programs.

🔑 Key Takeaways

Who: Co-founders Gregg Shemanski (President) & Jeff Klinger (Vice President), Custom Processing Services (CPS)

Background: Grew CPS from a two-person startup into a multi-site, 170+-person toll processor serving food, pharma, and other complex industries for 25 years

Leadership Focus: Transition from hands-on entrepreneurs to a team-based organization with training, shared standards, and empowered managers

Core Values: Speed + consistency; safety and quality as foundations for scalable, commercially viable solutions