Three manufacturers from past episodes of FuzeHub’s New York State Manufacturing Now podcast spoke with us recently about their experiences during COVID-19. Sue Kerber and Zak Kerber from RAD Soap joined Lloyd Ploof from Square One Coating Systems and Shawn Baker of Chenango Valley Technologies in a special three-part podcast that examines what they’ve been doing during the pandemic.
RAD Soap Co. in Menands, NY makes a line of soaps, lotions, and other skin care products from natural therapeutic ingredients, including hemp seed oil and chaga mushroom extracts. During the height of COVID-19, demand for the company’s hand sanitizers went “off the charts”, Zak Kerber says. “We had open P.O.s – as much as could make, as much as we could ship,” Sue Kerber adds.
Square One Coating Systems in Oriskany, NY has over a century’s worth of combined metal finishing experience among its leadership team. Tom Basile, Sales and Service Manager, participated in a FuzeHub podcast last summer during an event at Herkimer College. Lloyd Ploof, Square One’s President, joined us this time and shared some challenges and successes regarding supply chain and workforce.
Chenango Valley Technologies (CVT) in Sherburne, NY provides plastic injection molding and tooling services. As Shawn Baker, CVT’s President, told NYS Manufacturing Now recently, the pandemic provided an opportunity to work on “an exciting project”. CVT received an order for face shield frames on a Tuesday and delivered finished parts on Friday. Normally, molds take months or weeks.
