Worcester Business Journal Special Editions

STUFF-2018 Central Mass. Edition

Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1033550

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 18 of 71

StuffMadeinMA.com • 2 0 1 8 • S T U F F 19 15% Amount Worcester County manufacturing employees make above the U.S. average for the industry. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics mers that were interested in what we were doing," Mike Ciprari says. Today, they've definitely outgrown the basement – SJC recently moved to a new 60,000-square-foot HQ – and its roster of drummers includes big names like Tré Cool of Green Day, Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots and Kim Schifino of Matt and Kim. "My favorite part is working with the artists, designing custom kits for a band I'm a fan of and then seeing that drum set on tour or on a record or on TV," Ciprari says. Those custom creations can be quite elaborate – say, a snare made from whiskey barrels for the Zac Brown Band, or a light-up drum kit for local pop rockers Boys Like Girls – but they're all produced by a lean crew of six people, some of whom, Ciprari notes, had no prior manufacturing experience. No experience required Indeed, the pros we spoke to emphasized that if you're interested in learning to make instruments, opportunities are out there. "At Powell, we actually hire all the time for people doing handwork," Liuzzo says. "We like to train peo- ple from the ground up, because we want them to do it the Powell way. If you have any handwork experi- ence at all – if you've done jewelry, fixing your bicy- cle, anything like that – as long as you have a good attitude and you're committed, they'll train you." Ciprari agrees. "We've got a couple of guys that were interns that weren't even in tech or trade school. They were just like 'I want to learn. I want to be around this company and learn the industry.' They're back there now operating our CNC machine," he says. "If you're passionate about something, follow it." Mike Ciprari, 33 Cofounder SJC Custom Drums, Southbridge Products: Drum kits, snares, hardware and accessories Education: A year and a half of college Favorite band: "311. Everyone makes fun of me for it, but Chad Sexton is the drummer for it, and he's the reason I wanted to play the drums in the first place. I love that band so much." Average salary for his position*: $128,020 *Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data S

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Worcester Business Journal Special Editions - STUFF-2018 Central Mass. Edition