Business View Magazine | December 2020

39 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2020 CONEWAGO MANUFACTUR ING LLC “which is one of the reasons we invested in a concrete plotter. As we continually invest in our people, we are also investing in technology and automation, so our overall throughput as a plant can rise in response to the ebbs and flows of demand in the construction industry.” Smith admits, “The pandemic affected our business at the beginning of the year when some projects were put on hold. But fortunately, our industry is considered essential, so we had the mandate to continue working even as other industries were undergoing restrictions. With most of the delayed contracts now back in play, we are operating at full capacity to help our clients meet their end of year targets.” Keeping its workers safe during the pandemic has been a top priority for the company’s leadership, a fact Richard Prendergast is quick to point out. “Our performance during the pandemic has been largely due to the efforts of the company’s owners and senior management who made decisions and pulled triggers on things company’s precast products can be found in hundreds of structures across these states. Besides quality, offering a wide variety of panel sizes is perhaps one significant reason behind such a broad footprint. “We work closely with our customers to design panels around their requirements,” says Prendergast. “Our solutions stand out because we can make a wide range of panel sizes, while most of our competitors have limits as to how wide they can make a panel. For clients willing to pay extra, we can make it wider to accommodate their needs, and we do that a lot. At the same time, we retain a rich quality and finish of the product.” As a company that relies on usually scarce trade skills, Conewago Manufacturing is fortunate to be in a part of the country where such skills are still relatively plentiful. While this availability of talent solves part of the equation, the company is solving the other half through automation, something both executives see as a viable path for future growth. “Automated services are the future of concrete,” says Prendergast,