From the C-Suite features brief interviews with Flint & Genesee senior executives and entrepreneurs about leadership, management, strategy and performance. For the May-June issue, AND spoke with Domico Med-Device President Michael Czop.
COVID-19 was disruptive for so many businesses in 2020. Can you describe your experience?
2020 was an incredible year for the world let alone Domico Med-Device. Keeping it specific to our business, I already knew this but I was reminded throughout 2020, and now 2021, how blessed I am to work with an extremely loyal and dedicated team of people. We were fortunate to be designated an essential business and we were to be able to continue to stay open. There was so much we didn’t know about COVID-19, other than lots of people were becoming seriously ill, some dying. Despite the fear and uncertainty around the virus, our team kept showing up and performing to meet the needs of our customers.
What did you learn as a result of this major disruption?
From a business strategy perspective, I learned to stick with what we do. When the PPE (personal protective equipment) shortage occurred, we shifted resources to PPE production for local front-line workers. PPE was not a product line for us before the pandemic. I am grateful that we were able to provide face shields, cloth masks, and gowns to bridge gaps in the normal hospital supply chain.
Faced with a similar situation in the future, I would absolutely do what we can to support our community. However, we will investigate the market opportunity further before attempting to disrupt or change our business for the long-term.
But once the supply chain caught up with demand, there was no longer a need for what we could provide. Faced with a similar situation in the future, I would absolutely do what we can to support our community. However, we will investigate the market opportunity further before attempting to disrupt or change our business for the long-term.
Are you seeing light at the end of the COVID tunnel?
Yes, we are seeing an improvement in customer demand. The bulk of our revenue is derived from contract manufacturing for medical equipment manufacturers. In 2020, with hospitals effectively closed to non-COVID activity, our revenue dropped significantly; most of our OEM demand was suspended due to the hospital situation. We hit our low point in September. Since then, we have seen most of our business come back but not without COVID-related challenges.
We have been recruiting for several production operators and finding it challenging to find applicants. Additionally, supply-chain disruptions due to COVID restrictions in various states or COVID outbreaks at various suppliers have forced us to balance material availability with demand. Our team has worked very hard to overcome these challenges and keep product moving to our customers. In addition to material availability issues, prices are rising rapidly. We are trying to find alternatives but it may be difficult to avoid sharing the increase with our customers.
What is happening at Domico Med-Device today? Is there anything new?
Yes, in addition to the new employees that we are seeking, we are excited to introduce our new website, www.domicomed.com. The site is designed with information, images, and videos related to our manufacturing and engineering capabilities. Additionally, we have incorporated ecommerce to make our standard product offering readily available for purchase by new and existing customers. The website is a living entity, and we are looking forward to providing new content as we go forward.
We are also very excited to see some of our product development efforts make their way to the market. We continue to partner with OEMs, distributors and caregivers in the development of patient positioning solutions for a variety of clinical applications. Some of our latest efforts involve positioning innovations in spine surgery, CT imaging, minimally invasive neurosurgery and urology interventions.