By Bob Messaros
President/CEO, Commercial Metal Forming
YOUNGSTOWN – 2020 marked a significant milestone for Commercial Metal Forming as we recognized our 100th anniversary. This is an accomplishment achieved in the industrial manufacturing sector by 0.5% of all companies.
Commercial Metal Forming operates manufacturing/distribution facilities in Youngstown, Orange, Calif., and Saginaw, Texas. The company, which employs 130, is the largest privately held tank-head manufacturer in the United States with the broadest range and most diverse set of capabilities in the market.
In addition to serving the United States, Canada and Latin America, Commercial Metal Forming also exports its products to the Middle East and South America.
The theme for Growth Report 2021 is “Together in Transformation.” The contextual way we use transformation at CMF embraces becoming a driving force for continuous improvement and growth.
Consequently, as we are transforming, we are acutely aware of opportunities to be uncovered. We don’t allow our scope of thinking to be limited.
At CMF, major transformations of 2020 can be summarized in three categories:
• Innovation – realigning part of our manufacturing footprint with the installation of a closed loop manufacturing cell having unmatched product velocity, going from raw steel to a finished, packaged product.
• Learning environment: realigned aspects of our business introducing deeper, integrated functionality.
• Talent management: Assessed and engaged the addition of a matrix performance system that complements the in-place strength-based development plan.
In attacking these unprecedented times, our people across the entire business enterprise learned new skills, developed and adapted to different ways of doing business, and embraced a new level of personal responsibility for their co-workers with COVID restrictions. All the while, they were driven to exceed their personal expectations for themselves and those of our customers.
With unprecedented responsiveness, we helped new customers who were being negatively impacted by shortages in the steel market not only in supplying our product but for their other steel needs as well. We grew individually and together in 2020; that’s the CMF way of doing things.