Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 16, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 13 home market, Cunliffe said. Mauro Fioretti, Pietro Rosa's fifth- generation president and CEO, said Connecticut offered what his company needed most at the time. "Over recent years," Fioretti said in an email, "our North American customer base has grown very signifi- cantly, and thus, it made perfect sense to be closer to our customers and ac- quire a business that would provide us with the global reach that we needed." "Connecticut offers excellent connec- tivity to our major customers in North America and is pivotal to the North American aerospace industry," he said. "This gives us the ability to draw on the state's many well-qualified and expe- rienced individuals that provide the talent we need to grow. For a company founded in Italy in 1887, we were im- pressed with Connecticut's preeminent place in the history of aviation.'' Over the years, Pietro Rosa has re- invented itself around its core compe- tence of forging and machining metal, Cunliffe said. Production of farm implements transitioned into making knives, forks and spoons. Then, in 1955, to escape mounting cut- lery competition and seeking more profit potential, Pietro Rosa turned to making blades for steam turbines, Cunliffe said. Later, production expanded to compres- sor blades for gas turbines in power plants, ships and armored tanks. "We've achieved our market objec- tives for having engine-ready products for use on land, sea and air with all the ma- jor [original equip- ment manufactur- ers]," Cunliffe said. NEAP's roots Nearly 4,200 miles away, in 1955 in Hartford, George Einstein, nephew of leg- endary physicist Albert Einstein, helped launch NEAP's aircraft-parts production in Hartford. In the mid-'60s, the company relocated to Farmington's Spring Lane. Over the years, NEAP underwent various owners, landing in the hands of Britain's Doncasters Group Ltd. In time, what had been tens of millions in an- nual sales to Pratt and other aerospace customers, NEAP's revenue plummeted and employment dwindled to just over a dozen workers, Cunliffe said. Pietro Rosa decided earlier this cen- tury to "strategically pivot,'' he said, and extend itself deeper into civil and de- fense aerospace sectors, and that meant exploring overseas sites and companies. At the Paris Air Show in 2016, Pietro Rosa executives struck up discussions with Connecticut's delegation about expansion opportunities in the state, Cunliffe said. That occurred while Pi- etro Rosa was deep in talks with South Carolina about locating there. Instead, then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and then-DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith awed their Italian guests with incentives Connecticut could offer. At the same time, NEAP and its 100,000-square- foot Farmington facility were for sale. Since acquiring NEAP, Pietro Rosa has invested $34 million to renovate and re-equip its Spring Lane plant. Along with new and refreshed equipment and reconfigured pro- duction cells, the company canteen was expanded with more seating and food/snack options. The shop floor hums with car- sized machines milling and polishing hundreds of thousands of compressor blades and vanes annually — some as small as an inch up to 12 inches. But Pietro Rosa's homeland facilities can forge and mill compressor blades five feet or longer, Cunliffe said. Kevin Thomas, 28, of Bristol, is among NEAP's many new faces. Hired three years ago after graduating from Naugatuck Valley Community College's advanced-manufacturing training program, he's seen positive changes at NEAP. Thomas also has taken two company- paid trips to Italy, to train with Pietro Rosa's technical staff — a nod, Cunliffe says, to the company's penchant for treating workers like family. "Manufacturing is rising. It's up and up every day,'' Thomas said. Get the Energy Advantage. BusinessEnergyCT.com 877-WISE USE Needing to be more competitive? We have a strategy for you. Every business is looking for a way to be more competitive, especially when some companies seem to have endless resources. But you have a secret weapon – one you might not be aware of. Strategic Energy Management. It's a proven way to apply energy-efficient technologies, smart systems design, and energy improvements that can literally transform your business. Whether you're building a new facility or retrofitting an existing one, we can help you start winning a few more battles. Talk to us. We're your energy experts. Anne Evans, Connecticut Director, U.S. Commerce Department Then Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (left) shares a memento with Pietro Rosa President Mauro Fioretti on April 21, 2016. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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