Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/479389
2014 | Doing Business in Connecticut 65 electric equipment, machinery, plastics, rubber, furniture, apparel, textiles and food (Frito-Lay in Killingly; Bigelow Tea in Fairfield). "We do quite a bit of everything in Con- necticut," said Del Conte. Of course, she acknowledged, the state used to do more. At one point, it had more than 6,000 manufacturers employing around 200,000 people. "Nationwide, manufacturing obviously has been on a decline," she said. "ere has been job loss and establishment loss." But, she and others agreed, things are improving. "e climate for manufacturing in Con- necticut is better," said Chris DiPentima, CEO of Pegasus Manufacturing in Middletown, a fabricating and machining company. He attributed that to "concerted efforts" by academia and policy makers. For example, manufacturing programs have been expanded at state community colleges and industry advisors sit on the boards to those colleges; legislation has been introduced for a $25 million Advanced Manufacturing Fund to provide assistance for the industry, and the state implemented the Small Business Express Program, which pro- vides loans and grants to small businesses. "We have an administration that is very pro-manufacturing and supports manufac- turing in many different ways," said Sue Pali- sano, director of education and workforce development at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology Inc. in East Hartford. Seymour-based Microboard Processing Inc. knows this first-hand; the 95-employee company, founded in 1983, received a $100,000 matching grant from the Small Business Express Program to renovate parts of its facility to accommodate growth and reduce its carbon footprint, according to Owner and President Ni- cole Russo. e manufacturer of printed circuit board assemblies also secured a $300,000 loan from the program to help cover the cost of what Russo called "the most advanced inspection equipment available in our electronics sector." Like many others, Microboard initially settled in Connecticut because of the state's tal- ent pool, centralized location and supply chain. She pointed out "the easy proximity to leading edge aerospace customers, as well as telecom, med- ical, high speed server and industrial customers" made the state an ideal location for Microboard. DiPentima of Pegasus also pointed out Connecticut's advantages in its experienced workforce, as well as the convenience of having "the complete supply chain located Electric Boat's Groton location occupies 118 acres along the Thames River in Southeastern Connecticut. It supports engineering and design work as well as new construction and maintenance activities. Manufacturing by the Numbers $24 billion Total output of CT manufacturers. 4,700 Number of manufacturing firms in Connec cut. 166,000 Total Connec cut manufacturing employees. Largest Manufacturers based in CT PHOTO/COURTESY Produc vity General Electric, Fairfield Pitney Bowes, Stamford Praxiar Corp., Danbury United Technologies Corp., Har ord Xerox Corp., Norwalk Continued on page 66 > Two Connec cut metropolitan areas rank at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots in the world in terms of output per employee. 1. Har ord 2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara 3. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk 4. New York-Northern New Jersey- Long Island 5. Buffalo-Niagara Falls Source: World Knowledge Compe veness Index