🔒New manufacturing group aims to boost industry in region

The newly-launched South-Central Manufacturing Industry Partnership is working to grow and support the manufacturing industry in New Haven and Middlesex counties.

Its members include area manufacturing executives and stakeholders such as colleges, chambers of commerce and state officials. The group, which launched in March, already has identified initial priorities — such as addressing workforce shortages, promoting manufacturing as a career path, fixing skills gaps and lowering the cost of doing business in Connecticut.

Four industry co-chairs are leading the effort, including Marcia LaFemina, president of Penn Globe in North Branford; Chris Dimou, president and CEO of Roto Frank of America Inc. in Chester; Chris Ulbrich, CEO of Ulbrich Stainless Steels & Special Metals Inc. in North Haven; and Asi Carmeli, director of human resources of Hobson & Motzer Inc. in Durham.

New Haven BIZ recently chatted with LaFemina about the effort.

Penn Globe, with its 11 employees, manufactures outdoor street lighting primarily for colleges, universities, municipalities and theme parks, and it has some $2.5 million in annual revenues.

The company’s products include energy efficient LED lighting and has expanded in recent years to include mounted cameras. While the pandemic has pushed back some orders, LaFemina says projects are getting underway again and she expects energy efficiency conversion efforts will benefit the company in the long run.

What made you want to get involved in this partnership?

I tend to be the person who represents the very small manufacturer. We have all the same challenges, but from a different perspective. I have been working wherever I can to help out, [such as with] the Workforce Alliance [which works to connect employers with job seekers].

I joined ManufactureCT [an association serving the state’s manufacturing industry], and served on the workforce enhancement committee. Now I am the chair of that committee. I thought I could do something beneficial, and my workforce experience would be something I could contribute to this partnership.

What are the main challenges facing the manufacturing industry?

Everyone will tell you it is the aging workforce. They are leaving, and there are not enough people coming up through the ranks.

We have supply chain issues. There is a certain segment that will say that taxes are not beneficial to manufacturers.

Are there any challenges unique to this south-central Connecticut region in particular?

Absolutely. We have serious issues with transportation here, people just being able to get to classes for training. The state has much to offer for training, both for incumbent and new workers, but many people and manufacturers don’t know what is available.

This particular partnership represents suburban and urban areas. There is no one answer to anything we are dealing with that works in both of those environments. That makes us unique and it makes it a bigger challenge, but I think we are up to it.

Why did organizers seek a cross-section of people from the manufacturing industry, education and government to be involved?

Visualize a table. Around this table, the first step is manufacturers. They did a really nice job of reaching out to small, medium and large manufacturers to try to get as much diversity.

The next group is the supporting people, from the Workforce Alliance to the chambers to adult education programs. We as manufacturers around the table are saying, ‘This is the problem and this is what we would like to see as a result. This is what we are willing to champion to get done.’

Then these supporting people will be the partners to help deliver what we are looking for. If you bring us all together, better ideas will float to the surface.

How do you think this effort can help address workforce shortages and improve workers’ skills?

It is going to improve the workforce because it will speak to specific needs that are down here. You don’t want someone or a group of people who are removed from your area [such as the Hartford region] to decide what is best for you.

This is taking ownership of what is specific to this region. We should be able to collectively identify how we are going to improve the workforce by taking inventory of programs, resources, machinery, equipment and talent.

It will help us channel and streamline incumbent worker training funding that is available, both federal and state dollars.

There is a huge call for developing and funding apprenticeship programs. Traditionally we think of apprenticeships with iron pipe layers or electricians who have to spend three years in an apprenticeship to get a job. It’s about redefining apprenticeship. I, as a small manufacturer, can set up apprenticeships in my building, say for welding streetlights and poles.

Money from the government could be used to train people inside the building or new hires. They reach a higher skill level and their pay grade goes up.

Is the manufacturing industry on lawmakers’ minds enough?

Without question. I think there are a lot of people in Hartford working on manufacturing. We just have to do our part to help them focus on what is going on down here, not just some blanket thing that would work for, I don’t know — somewhere in Litchfield County. We have an obligation to be a pipeline to feed them information.

Are enough students pursuing manufacturing as a career to replace the aging current workforce? How does the group hope to get more interest among young people?

The trade schools are not likely to produce enough students. They haven’t historically, and there is no reason to think that will significantly change.

They may be better trained, but the numbers are not going to increase, which means moving into the secondary schools.

Everyone understands we have to get to parents of seventh, eight and ninth grade students. One of the big shifts in the last two years involves school superintendents, who historically were graded by the number of students they sent off to college.

Some very bold school superintendents stepped out of that, and said, ‘We have to give kids other options,’ and they are aggressively pursuing that.

The Workforce Alliance’s Skill Up For Manufacturing program [which provides training programs for manufacturing jobs] recently graduated another 11 students out of a five-week cohort. In the cohort before this, everybody had been offered a job, and there were manufacturers who were outbidding each other trying to get these students.

If we graduated 10 to 15 students every five weeks, that is more than the trade schools are putting out there.

Is Connecticut an expensive place to do business?

Historically, our energy costs are the highest thing that drive businesses [away]. We pay people more than other states do in general. Paying people more can be what attracts them to come work here as well, so it is a double-edged sword.

What can the partnership do to attract people to the area?

We have to look at the area more holistically. We would attract people perhaps with a more dedicated rail system that took people back and forth to New York on the weekends. If we keep working on affordable housing within the New Haven area that will go very far.

What do you think the future holds for manufacturing in Connecticut and the south-central region?

It is going to grow. Now that Connecticut Innovations is based down here in New Haven, we are going to become an incubator hub.