May 2021

Page B8 MAY 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on B A trusted resource of funeral supplier companies since 1976 Find a supplier or become a member at www.imsa-online.org Manager of CMC’s New Ohio-based Division Discusses Challenges of New Venture UPD Urns Opens Fulfillment Center in Utah DALLAS,TX— UPD Urns is proud to an- nounce the addition of their new western ware- house location. Strategi- cally located in Midvale, Utah, this new ware- house puts shipping from UPD Urns within 2 business days to 96% of funeral pro- fessionals in the country. Tyler Fraser, UPD Urns CEO, said, “For years I have dreamed of offering fulfillment of our urns in three locations: west coast, central and east coast. We have made this a reality with the support of our cli- ents and I am thrilled to be able to better serve those customers. This will take UPD Urns to another level of performance.” With this third warehouse, UPD’s most popular prod- ucts are on hand and state of the art engraving equip- ment ensures that personal- ized urns and keepsakes are within quicker arrival times for services and gatherings. As always, standard shipping is free for UPD’s line of me- morial products including urns, keepsakes, and jewelry. Also, on the horizon is the UPD Fox membership program, which will offer expedited handling, spe- cial offerings, and so much more for members. When all is in place, UPD Urns will announce this exclu- sive program. UPD Urns, based in Dal- las, TX now has shipping points in Dallas, Manas- sas, VA, and Midvale, UT. Their extensive line of cre- mation products is virtually unmatched in the deathcare space, and new products are being added regularly. Their signature offering to funeral professionals is the Urn Store e-commerce platform, which puts online purchasing of cremation urns at families’ fingertips, straight from the funeral home website. To learn more, contact UPD Urns at 800-590- 4133 or visit us at https:// updurns.com. (L to R) Gloria DeYoung; Dennis Plank; Brian McMahon and Mark Stuver This opportunity gave me a chance to master the logistics of the urn supply side of the industry and develop rela- tionships with vendors from all over the world. How did you make the jump to CMC? After leaving my previous employment, I received an email from a vendor in Spain. He wanted to put me in touch with his good friend and customer based in Canada. The next day I had a virtual meeting with Louis-Philippe Carrier, the owner of CMC, and Martin Trudeau, the director of sales and marketing. This meeting started the crazy journey that has led us to where we are today. Why did CMC decide to create this new division? CMC has been designing and manufacturing glass-front niches and columbaria since the 1990s. They also manu- facture cremation equipment through Pyrox Industries. CMC had every part of cremation from beginning to end except one piece of the puzzle, urns and cremation sup- plies. CMC ownership recognized that the experience of my team gave CMC the opportunity to complete the puzzle with the creation of this new division. When did you and your team begin the work of establishing this new division? Within a month from my first meeting with CMC, the Funeral and Cremation Products division was born in May, 2020. Was there a particular reason CMC selected Northeastern Ohio as the base for their funeral and cremation products division? Our location in Twins- burg, OH is positioned near the major highways that crisscross the state, including the Ohio Turn- pike. We are also one street away from a large FedEx Ground hub. This means we are well situated to serve a considerable number of customers within a 1-day delivery range. Plus, this gives us the ability to ship orders for a 2-day delivery from Maine to North Da- kota and Texas to northern Florida. And, we are con- veniently located between Cleveland Hopkins and Akron-Canton Airports. Can you tell us about the personnel who have been working to get this new division established? My team is the reason I’m here talking to you today. I have worked with Glo- ria DeYoung and Dennis Plank for years and I can honestly say that this di- vision would not be here without them. Both start- ed at CMC at the same time I did and their skill sets are off the chart. Glo- ria’s abilities are unbeliev- able in everything that per- tains to inventory, customer service, and she has a critical eye for details, -- just to name a few. Plank has experi- ence in everything from product sales, accounts receivable and management development. And, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Our warehouse associate and personaliza- tion technician, Brian McMahon, came onboard in Au- gust, 2020. His overall knowledge, ability to quickly learn new things and experience in troubleshooting challenging problems has made him a vital part of the team. Most businesses when first starting out have a few problems or unexpected issues that arise? Has that been true for this new division? As you mentioned, starting a new business or new divi- sion in our case, there are always little things that come up that force you to take a different approach or make large changes to little tweaks. Taking that and tossing in a global pandemic, makes it challenging to say the least. The fact that CMC has not rushed us and supported our deci- sions during this startup phase has been crucial. And, the relationship that I have formed with Martin Trudeau has helped me in overcoming any issue that has popped up. To be honest, delays have given us the time to focus on build- ing a solid foundation for this division which will pay divi- dends as we grow and meet goals now and in the future. The Covid crisis has disrupted many business operations, did Covid have any impact during this startup phase? The biggest issue has been with vendors from overseas. Covid shut down everything everywhere and manufac- turing overseas came to a halt which created a substantial pile up of orders. This along with shipping port conges- tion delayed our initial timeframe for receiving products. Of course, we are not the only company that faced this problem. Nearly every supplier, every business experi- enced the same thing. Fortunately, our vendors trusted us and understood our need for our initial product inven- tory, pushing our orders up in their production sched- ules. Shipping was still a pain but having the product on the water was a sigh of relief. How did you decide the customers you want to reach ? This part was easy, being that CMC is the leader in Glass- Front Niche s, we have a massive database of existing CMC customers. All of them have experienced what CMC brings to every construction project and every cremation retort they build. CMC builds partnerships with their clients by adhering to their values that consist of excellence service, rigorous quality control standards, on-time performance, etc. As we reach out to customers, we are seeing an over- whelming amount of excitement and interest because they know what to expect from a division of CMC. How do you assure that products you order will meet the CMC standards? We have made sure to order products from the best man- ufacturers around the world. We performed strict evalu- ations of potential vendors. In addition to evaluating the information and samples they submitted, we used virtual meetings and virtual walk throughs of their factories to understand their manufacturing processes. Then, we were able to choose the manufacturers around the world with the highest production quality and lowest fail rate. Could you briefly tell us about the special products that your new division offers? What makes our selection of products special is our col- lection of exclusive CMC products. CMC is grateful to be the exclusive North American provider of products from Bronces Jorda which includes bronze appliques, vases and cubes. We are excited to offer an exclusive col- lection of CMC Cromo N.B. Prayer Cards and we are in a unique position to bring products from manufacturers in Canada that for the first time will have their products featured in the United States market. TWINBURG,OH— In response to a series of questions, Mark Stuver, general manager of Carrier Mausoleums and Construction, Inc’s (CMC) new Ohio-based division, dis- cusses why it was created and the challenges of starting up during a worldwide pandemic. Mark, before we get started with our conversation, perhaps you could tell us when and how you started in the industry. In 2007 I was hired as a part-time ware- house worker at Halo International in Ohio. With no formal education I was fortunate enough that the owner saw my potential and mentored me in the business. Within a few years I was promoted to operations manager. Continued on Page B11 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Tell them you saw their Ad www. vischerfuneralsupplies.com