At the keynote panel at OMTEC 2025, Orchid CEO Nate Folkert joined Jeff Sears (Highridge Medical) and David Pelizzon (Squadron Capital). Moderated by Orthoworld’s Mike Evers, the panel offered a mix of contract manufacturing, OEM, and private equity perspectives.
Key Themes and Takeaways
OEM-CMO relationships are evolving—and CMOs must evolve with them.
“OEMs are outsourcing a significant amount of their new products. Their internal R&D teams are focused on sustaining engineering and FDA remediation. They’re not really innovating anymore,” Nate said. Orchid is stepping in earlier, partnering with external design firms, startups, and engineering teams who are developing the next generation of products.
OEMs need to rethink their purchasing playbook.
Jeff Sears pointed to a broken model where many OEMs treat CMOs as transactional parts vendors rather than strategic partners. “We behave like purchasing people. We just issue P.O.s and chase P.O.s., and we’ve forgotten what it actually means to make a screw or a plate,” he said. He warned that OEMs have lost connection with manufacturing reality. He urged OEMs to rebuild their internal knowledge and engage more meaningfully with the people making their products.
The orthopedic industry is not more resilient—it’s just relieved.
The panel agreed that despite back-to-back global supply chain crises since 2019, many companies failed to change their sourcing strategies. Nate warned that those who didn’t build redundancy or regionalize production may be caught off guard—again. His advice: regionalize, build redundancy in the U.S., and don’t rely on luck to protect your supply chain.
There is opportunity—for those willing to move.
Despite the challenges, all three panelists expressed a sense of opportunity. Jeff emphasized the strengthened resilience in the people who are a part of the industry and the need for smarter planning and long-term agreements. David pointed to investing in and building talent through trade and technical schools as a key to unlocking value in the years ahead. “We’ve survived five years of chaos, we’ve gotten more efficient, and I still think this is the best industry to be in,” Nate said.
Technology is a release valve—especially additive.
Additive manufacturing has been a recurring topic at OMTEC for years, often framed as a way to unlock new geometries and creative designs. But while the excitement was real, the early economics didn’t make sense for mainstream orthopedics. For years, additive was a niche solution—not a viable path to scale.
That’s where Orchid is doing something different, leveraging the newest technology to build a cost-effective model ready for industrial production. Nate said:
“We think additive is at the spot now where it doesn’t only have the ability to make new geometries, it also has the ability to transform your cost. We’ve made a major investment to reduce costs and create better products.”
A good portion of Orchid’s business is in casting and forging operations. The question became how the company would protect its base business, while also giving new opportunities for new technologies at a different cost point. Nate said:
“That was really our idea around the investment. It was a big one, a difficult one to make, but also at the same time, we didn’t want to be Blockbuster in the age of Netflix.”
The panel agreed that technologies will play a bigger role moving forward—but only for companies that are bold enough to build around them.
Watch the full discussion here: