Hartford Business Journal

20 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 25, 2022 Learn how Hartford's largest organizations are modernizing their Identity and Access Management programs. Learn more at hybridpathways.com Forward-Thinking Investment Smaller CT manufacturers launch new product development, employee training centers By Skyler Frazer sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com C onnecticut's largest manufacturers, including Stanley Black & Decker and Pratt & Whitney, in recent years have opened multimillion-dollar training and product development centers that aim to recruit and/or upskill workers and help create a new line of advanced technology products that can compete in the global marketplace. Facing pressure to innovate and recruit their own workers, some smaller manufacturers are increasingly following suit. Last month, Farmington-based aerospace manufacturer New England Airfoil Products debuted its "George Einstein Learning Center" in a former conference room that now serves as a hub to train and onboard new employees. The company also recently completed the build-out of a 10,000-square-foot product introduction center, which will be used to develop and test new products and parts. A few years ago, manufacturer OKAY Industries invested $1.5 million to to build research and development design spaces — called NextTech Labs — at sites in New Britain and Berlin. The company designs and manufactures metal and plastic parts used by medical-device makers, so the need to constantly develop new products for partners is key, said OKAY Industries President and CEO Jason Howey. "Our customers are looking for partners to bring new products to market, and our core competency in that area is to help them with design for manufacturability of these components that go in their devices," Howey said. OKAY Industries, which has more than 300 Connecticut employees, now has three new product introduction centers in the state: two in Berlin, focused on laser processing and Swiss machining; and one in New Britain with a mixed focus on five-axis milling, metal 3D printing, metal forming and tube forming. "The people who work in the labs love it," Howey said. Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology President and CEO Ron Angelo said large- scale original equipment manufacturers have created new product introduction and employee training centers for years, but he's seen an increase in small- to mid-size companies doing the same. "[Manufacturers] are looking at this in a much more forward-looking way, to remain competitive and to look at ways to diversify their business," Angelo said. 'Rubber hits the road' Clive Cunliffe is the president of Pietro Rosa - North America, the Italian manufacturer of compressor airfoils for gas turbines and complex structural components that purchased New England Airfoil Products (NEAP) in 2016. He said NEAP's new product introduction center in Farmington serves as a "missing link" in the parent company's portfolio of manufacturers that do everything from research and development of a product to supply chain management. Cunliffe said the Farmington research center allows Pietro Rosa to be less dependent on its European locations for product development. "Pietro Rosa now has the full life cycle of a product [in Farmington]," Cunliffe said. When the company purchased NEAP in 2016 the facility had been "underinvested" for years and there were only 17 local employees, he said. Today, the modernized plant employs more than 100 full-time workers. At the time of the sale, the Department of Economic and Community Development pledged to provide Pietro Rosa a $3 million Ron Angelo New England Airfoil Products Office Manager Kathy Olszewski shows off parts of The George Einstein Learning Center, the company's new hub for onboarding and training employees. HBJ PHOTO | SKYLER FRAZER

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