Spotlight: Two Manufacturing Leaders Winning by Building Systems

We are proud to congratulate two of our clients — DEM Manufacturing and Royal Chemical — on their recent recognition as Smart Business’ 2026 Evolution of Manufacturing Award nominees. Both organizations exemplify what it means to grow with intention, invest in infrastructure, refine operations, and align their sales and marketing to drive measurable results.

Seeing DEM and Royal Chemical recognized reinforces a clear pattern: modern manufacturing leaders win by building smarter.

Royal Chemical: Scaling With Structure and Purpose

Royal Chemical has built its reputation as a contract manufacturing partner that protects customer intellectual property while delivering niche chemical solutions across industries like car wash and agrochemical.

Founded in 1938 and now led by President and CEO Matt Dailey, the company has spent nearly 90 years bringing customers’ formulations to life at scale. With five U.S. facilities, Royal Chemical can ship to most of the country in two days or less. Across those plants, the team supports both liquid and powder blending — from custom batches to full national production runs.

But the story isn’t about scale alone. It’s also about sales and marketing Infrastructure.

In 2025, Royal Chemical added a dedicated bleach bottling line at its Macedonia headquarters, expanding highly regulated, high-volume production capacity while maintaining strict compliance standards. At the same time, the company strengthened its digital foundation — launching a new website, clarifying positioning across locations, and increasing visibility in priority markets.

Just as importantly, a new documentation and quoting process helped create clarity for customers and efficiency for internal teams.

This is what building for scale looks like: with commercial strategy and operational execution aligned. 

DEM Manufacturing: From Activity to Alignment

Founded in 1993, DEM Manufacturing has grown from a small custom molding shop into a vertically integrated product development partner serving medical, military, defense and industrial markets. Under President Craig Padula’s leadership, the company operates an end-to-end model designed to reduce risk and accelerates time to market.

Electrical engineering, circuit design, rapid prototyping, tooling, assembly and testing all happen under one roof. By minimizing handoffs between design and production, DEM helps companies bring complex electronic products to market in as little as 10 weeks.

As the company continues to evolve, it has strengthened its digital presence and clarified its messaging to better reflect the depth of its technical capabilities. Sales and marketing efforts are coordinated around the same precision-focused approach that defines its engineering process.

Internally, cross-functional teams of engineers, tooling specialists and quality managers work in close collaboration with customer teams from early requirements through validation and final production. The result is fewer surprises, stronger manufacturability, and a more predictable path to launch.

DEM’s evolution reflects a broader shift happening across the industrial sector. Sustainable growth is less about “doing more for more’s sake” than it is about building infrastructure to support predictable performance.

Why This Matters for Industrial Leaders

As a  marketing and sales solutions firm focused on industrial B2B companies, we often see organizations pressured to accelerate: more campaigns, more trade shows. more outbound activity.

But speed without structure creates friction. Growth without systems in place creates strain.

Many of the manufacturers recognized in Smart Business — including DEM and Royal Chemical — are succeeding because they have committed to building marketing maturity alongside operational excellence. That means:

• Clear positioning.
• Sales and marketing alignment.
• Defined processes.
• Visibility into performance.
• Infrastructure that supports scalability.

A Shared Commitment to Purpose-Driven Growth

DEM Manufacturing and Royal Chemical’s recognition reflects what’s possible when operational excellence is matched by intentional marketing and sales systems. Congratulations to both teams on this well-earned honor. We’re glad to support their continued growth.

Building for Scale?

If your operations are built for growth but your marketing and sales systems haven’t evolved alongside them, it may be time to reassess your commercial infrastructure. Let’s talk about where alignment can unlock your next stage of growth.