Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • September 3, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com SPECIAL SERIES By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com W ayne Thibodeau and Lionel Andújar both know well and appreci- ate the worth of skills apprenticeships. As seasoned managers and long-time employees of Manchester's Spartan Aerospace and its predecessor, each rose through the company, first as apprentices, then onto increasing line responsibilities. Now, they represent the vanguard of Connecticut manu- facturing-production knowledge and experience being spread among a new generation of manufacturing talent. Spartan reinforced its commitment developing homegrown talent by recently participating with a handful of other technology and hardgoods producers in an pre-apprenticeship certification program at Synergy High School in East Hartford. At Spartan, a handful of Synergy pupils were assigned to intern there. They were tutored by workers who re- port to Thibodeau, who is responsible for Spartan's operations, and to An- dújar, who supervises its tool room. Spartan's machinery ranges from drill presses to half-million-dollar five-axis turning and milling centers, along with laser cutting, welding and sheet metal fabrication equipment. Thibodeau's journey Thibodeau's apprenticeship op- portunity came just at the right time in his life. "I was one of the lucky ones,'' said the 57-year-old married father of three adult children, all of whom have college degrees. " … I don't have the college degree. But it didn't stop me." He began working right after high school, as a short-order cook, among other hourly pay jobs. He also worked for another area manufacturer, but was laid off. Thibodeau later went to work at a manufacturer where his father worked, starting in the quality- control department. With that company's sponsorship, he enrolled in an apprenticeship-training program at Hartford's Prince Technical High School. At night, his father taught him trigonometry and other useful cal- culation and measurement techniques. Exposed to various areas of manufactur- Connecticut companies to recruit, train and retain more apprentices. Labor's perspective Todd Berch, a former union pipefit- ter, is Connecticut's top apprentice- ship promoter as program manager for the state Department of Labor. Berch also sits on the board of the Na- tional Association of State and Territo- rial Apprenticeship Directors. Berch says Connecticut has been federally designated as a "state ap- prenticeship agency,'' one of 31 states and U.S. territories so named. Connecticut is home to more than 6,300 registered apprentices at some 1,674 employers, Berch said. Any industry with a training component is conducive to using apprentices. "Apprentices are what we consider the 'gold standard' workforce-develop- ment tool,'' Berch said. Berch said a misplaced perception still exists that everyone should get a college degree before plowing into the work- place to embrace a skill or trade. In turn, that fans public misperceptions about the value of apprenticeships, he said. Apprentices not only get on-the-job training, but they also benefit from some in-house and college instruc- tion — and get paid to do it. Appren- tices typically start off near the state minimum wage, with the prospect of quick raises as skills improve, to $50,000 or more annually within a few years. A growing number of manufac- turers offer flexible work schedules, or pay all or part of apprentices' and journeymens' tuition, to obtain college degrees or advanced certifications. College enrollees face two to four years of classroom instruction and internships, and some emerge with a piece of paper, no job and loads of student-loan debt. "So, who's better off ?'' Berch said. State efforts aimed at boosting student participation and graduation in STEM subjects — science, technol- ogy, engineering and math — are fine, he said. But there should be consider- ation of adding a fifth subject, manu- facturing skills training, to that. "There's no shame in working with your hands,'' Berch said. He knows first hand. Berch began his worklife as an apprentice welder, learning to fit steam pipes. He got his apprenticeship card in 1984 and his earnings enabled him to buy a car and a house. Fortunately, he says he lacked college debt. "I attained the skills to pay the bills,'' Berch said. Employers must be more active Much of what is lacking in Connecti- cut's and America's efforts to expand the value and appeal of apprenticeships reflects on employers, many of whom do not understand what they can do for their companies and industries, Berch said. He said he and his staff often are the first to contact employers, to make them aware of the kinds of state-sponsored apprenticeship programs and resources, many aimed at supporting employers. He says his first questions to the CEO or human-resources executive is: "What is your training program?" and "How successful is it?" Often, Berch says, employers are too caught up in designing, making and marketing their products to look at what they do from the perspective of potential apprentices and other hirees. Some can- not articulate to their hiring staffers or to job prospects what it is they do or make and how hirees are expected to contrib- ute to and advance the company's aims. "They're talking in their industry- speak,'' Berch said. Others skeptically see Berch and his staff as nosy regulators eager to find glitches for which they can sanction em- ployers. The reality is, he said, he and his staff are not regulators but will sit with manufacturers and help them design an effective apprenticeship program. Fresh talent Spartan Aerospace is one employer actively embracing apprentices, most coming from Manchester's Howell Cheney Technical High School, according to Spartan President Allan Lehrer. "We work with the school to find candi- dates for our program," he said. "Prefera- bly a student joins us prior to their senior year of school to help kickstart their career, if not they start after graduation." Apprentices work as part-time em- ployees performing the same tasks as any worker, Lehrer said. During their tenure, they are paired with journey- men in their chosen field and can endure thousands of hours of training. Upon mastery and fulfilment of time performance requirements, apprentices gain "journeyman" status, he said. "Our apprentices start out well above state minimum wage levels and are guaranteed $1 an hour increases How two local apprentices grew into seasoned manufacturing managers (From left) Synergy High School grads Olivia Hernandez and Faviela Delgado with Paul Polo, vice president of ACMT Inc., and State Sen. Tim Larson, (D-East Hartford). PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Spartan Aerospace manager Wayne Thibodeau shows apprentice Christializ Reyes a machine-tool component used for crafting finely detailed metal parts.

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