🔒Lavoie takes over as CT’s manufacturing czar with workforce development as top priority

Paul Lavoie, the state’s new chief manufacturing officer, hopes to continue the momentum of his predecessor by spearheading initiatives that build a more robust workforce pipeline and boost support for small- and medium-size machine shops.

Lavoie became the state’s second manufacturing czar in February, taking over from Colin Cooper. He started the full-time post Feb. 7, after stepping down from his previous job as general manager of Carey Manufacturing. Cooper’s last day was Feb. 25, giving the duo about three weeks to work together during the transition.

Lavoie said he has identified five strategic initiatives that he hopes will lift up Connecticut’s manufacturing industry. In addition to strengthening the workforce pipeline, Lavoie said he wants to drive a culture of innovation for manufacturers and improve communication between different companies and industry organizations.

“Manufacturing jobs build economies,” Lavoie told the Hartford Business Journal in a recent interview.

He also emphasized the importance of supporting the state’s small- and medium-sized manufacturers that make up a large chunk of the sector.

“They need somebody to advocate for them,” Lavoie said.

Lavoie came to the post after serving as Carey Manufacturing’s general manager since 2017. Carey is a Cromwell-based producer of hardware — such as catches, latches, handles and electronics — for military, aerospace, computer, electronics, telecom, automotive and consumer applications. There are more than 9,000 parts in the company’s two catalogs, Lavoie said.

“It was a very interesting business to manage from a data and production perspective,” Lavoie said.

At Carey Manufacturing, Lavoie oversaw sales, marketing, production, quality, engineering, financial and human resources teams. He said his two biggest accomplishments were helping reshore the company’s operations and develop unique workforce recruitment efforts.

“In 2001 we had sent our entire Carey catalog to China, and in 2017 we started reshoring and bringing manufacturing back to Connecticut,” Lavoie said. “Those efforts are still going on, but about 85% of the catalog is now manufactured here.”

That process meant creating brand new production lines, Lavoie said, which was a successful but long process. He said he wants to create an environment in Connecticut that encourages more manufacturers to bring their production back to the state.

Regarding workforce development, Lavoie said Carey focused on community engagement and connecting with the state’s education system to increase its ranks. He said the company constantly sends ambassadors to speak at conferences and schools and also hosts shop-floor tours.

“If you’re posting on Indeed, going through resumes, you’re trying to solve tomorrow’s workforce problems with yesterday’s solutions,” Lavoie said. “We were trying to solve our workforce problems with tomorrow’s solutions, and we felt that community engagement and engagement with all the people who are educating students was extremely important.”

Prior to his job at Carey, Lavoie was vice president of sales, marketing and human resources at Bristol-based ETTER Engineering Co., a process heating and combustion business. He’s also a member of Connecticut’s Industry 4.0 Working Group, the Governor’s Workforce Council, and other manufacturing-related state boards.

Using the state’s Manufacturing Innovation Fund — which has $20 million allocated over the next few years to provide loans and grants that support job growth and technology investment — Lavoie said his office will focus on several initiatives.

Workforce development, unsurprisingly, will be the top priority.

Lavoie said the state’s manufacturing sector needs between 6,000 to 8,000 new workers annually to meet the industry’s employment needs, and a “collaborative and concentrated effort” is key in building out the pipeline.

The state has about 4,000 manufacturers employing 160,000 people. The top 25 or so companies have about 60,000 workers, but a majority of Connecticut’s machine shops have somewhere between 20 and 25 employees.

And most are in need of workers.

Lavoie said many different organizations and groups are focusing on their own workforce initiatives, and part of his job is to unify these efforts and identify and broaden the most successful programs. He’ll be collaborating with Kelli-Marie Vallieres, another former manufacturing executive who is executive director of the state’s Office of Workforce Strategy.

“We want to make sure we’re integrating [all of those efforts] into one common strategy,” Lavoie said. “We’re only going to solve the workforce development problem when we have everybody in the same boat rowing in the same direction.”

Incumbent worker training, apprenticeship and internship programs as well as state-sponsored regional career fairs are important recruitment tools, Lavoie said, and should be expanded.

Another important focus, he said, will be driving a culture of innovation within the sector.

When new technology, goods or processes are discovered, keeping them in the state is key.

“I want to make sure that we’re cultivating a climate in Connecticut where we’re encouraging people to innovate and supporting them,” Lavoie said. “If it’s invented in Connecticut, I want it manufactured in Connecticut.”

Getting better at communicating with manufacturers is another focus, Lavoie said. He wants producers to understand the state is here to help answer their questions or concerns.

“We want to be that communication conduit,” Lavoie said.

Changing the narrative on what manufacturing jobs look like is also important in the modern era, Lavoie said.

“Manufacturing is not dark, dirty, dingy as you remember,” he said. “It’s a much different environment.”

Lavoie said the state is working on an informational manufacturing website and strengthening its industry marketing campaign.

“These are very good-paying opportunities,” Lavoie said. “If you’re a high school student that likes to work with your hands, it’s a perfect career — not just a job, but a career.”

Cooper said the manufacturing sector is in good hands with Lavoie being its cheerleader within state government.

“I’m constantly amazed at how many people he already knows around the state,” Cooper said. “It’s been a pretty easy transition at this point.”

After two decades as CEO and executive chairman of the Whitcraft Group and spending the last few years as the state’s chief manufacturing officer, Cooper said he’ll return to his previous plans of a “soft retirement.” He said he’ll remain on some local manufacturing boards and continue working on a few projects, but doesn’t plan on going back to a full-time job.

“I’m staying here in Connecticut and will be actively engaged, just not on a full-time basis,” Cooper said.