Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com October 12, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 13 from page 1 Berlin manufacturer's training institute leads to 16 hires By Brad Kane bkane@HartfordBusiness.com I n the year since Tomz Corp. got tired of the quality of its applicant pool and developed its own training institute, the Berlin medical device manufacturer has graduated 21 students and hired 16 as full-time employees. "It has allowed us to grow, no doubt," said Tom Matulaniec, Tomz's vice president. Tomz in spring 2014 began devel- poing a training center adjacent to its 95,000-square-foot production operations in Berlin after an effort to increase its workforce more than 60 percent resulted in just two hires out of 127 applicants. The company then received a $711,533 loan in August 2014 from the state Depart- ment of Community & Economic Develop- ment to help fund its $2.3 million expan- sion, which included the training center and new equipment for the production floor when the company hired more work- ers to operate them. The 10-year DECD loan was contingent upon Tomz hiring enough workers to get more than 150 employees. Over the last 12 months, Tomz has had dozens of applicants of all ages for the training center, although many were turned away because they lacked basic math or work skills. "It is a little frustrating trying to find people that aren't starting from ground zero," Matulaniec said. The company kept the classes small to four or five people so students got the one- on-one instruction they needed; plus the company had to hire the students as employ- ees in order to train them and was trying to minimize the expense, Matulaniec said. With the 16 hires now through the program, Tomz added a dozen more machines to make parts for the medical and aerospace industries. The company now employs 140 people. "We are able to get the next generation into the workforce," Matulaniec said. n Manufacturers look to urban youth the median age of its workforce is more than 50 and the industry is gearing up for a signifi- cant production increase. The industry can be attractive because it provides a high liv- ing wage even to workers without advanced degrees, said Lyle Wray, executive director of the Capital Region Council of Governments (CRCOG). With $27 billion in annual economic out- put, manufacturing is the third largest sector of the Connecticut economy, placing height- ened importance on the need to groom a next- generation workforce, Wray said. "We have a lot at stake here," Wray said. Meantime, schools and educational assis- tance groups would like to set up better rela- tionships and more programming with the state's key industries, including manufactur- ing, but those efforts remain in their infancy. "We have been trying to pull off a job-shad- owing [program] in manufacturing, but we haven't been able to do that yet," said Anthony Byers, co-executive director of the nonprofit Hartford Youth Scholars Foundation, which prepares Hartford area students for college. Silver tsunami In 10 years, 35 percent of Connecticut's population will be aged 55 or older, according to the Connecticut Economic Resource Cen- ter, leaving more workers heading into retire- ment. Connecticut is now the seventh oldest state in the nation, with a median age of 40.6. The aging workforce is a major issue for manufacturers because companies already can't find workers for open positions, includ- ing jobs that require minimal or advanced skills or advanced degrees like engineering, said Jerry Clupper, executive director of the New Haven Manufacturers Association. Individual companies have tried to come up with their own solutions by devel- oping in-house training programs, Clup- per said, and the industry, through orga- nizations like NHMA, Capital Workforce Partners and the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, has begun work- ing with mid-career development centers, community colleges and the state's techni- cal high schools to develop curricula so graduates have the necessary skills needed by Connecticut's manufacturers. "While we are making headway, the needs are still bigger than these programs are able to turn out," Clupper said. While Connecticut is aging, its urban pop- ulations are the youngest in the state: New Haven has an average population age of 29.3 — the youngest in Connecticut outside of the col- lege towns of Willimantic and Storrs — while Hartford, Waterbury, New London and Bridge- port all average 35 years or younger, according to demographic researcher Zip Atlas. Much of that youth comes from the minor- ity populations: The median age of a black Connecticut resident is 31.4, while Hispanics' median age is 27.4, according to census data. While working with community college and technical high schools, manufacturers and workforce development profession- als really haven't sought out these urban and minority populations as much as they should, Phillips said. "We need to develop a pipeline for urban kids to get into these programs," Phillips said. Capital Workforce Partners, CRCOG, CBIA and other groups like the MetroHartford Alli- ance need to get the ball rolling on program- ming by first sitting down with all the key stakeholders and starting the conver- sation, Phillips said. The MetroHart- ford Alliance held a recent meeting with the superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, Beth Schi- avino-Narvaez, to discuss this talent pipeline and how education should be framed around industry needs and potential employ- ment for graduates. Hartford Pub- lic Schools doesn't focus on specific industries in its cur- riculum and pre- fers its students to develop their own career paths, said S c h i a v i n o - N a r - vaez. Students can choose from 17 dif- ferent high school options catering to their interests and develop suc- cess plans that lay out their academic, social and work- force needs. Those high school options include the Path- ways Academy of Technology & Design magnet school in East Hartford, which offers a curriculum for students interested in manufacturing. "That particular program should pro- duce students ready for manufacturing careers," Schiavino-Narvaez said. Schiavino-Narvaez said she would like employers to be more involved in the schools, particularly the city's internship program for 11th graders, which seeks to place students at companies around the region. Having more exposure to different careers like manufacturing helps students realize the career opportunities, said Byers, who runs the college preparation nonprofit. This includes internships and job shadowing but also involves something as simple as an industry leader speaking to a group of students. "We are always looking to partner with folks," Byers said. "Tons of students would be interested in the manufacturing field." Key to success Capital Workforce Partners and CRCOG started thinking about this new urban effort after receiving a study from the UMass Donahue Institute in Hadley, Mass., showing what small- and medium-sized businesses in central Connecticut thought about the region's business atmosphere and potential. The results showed manufacturing's overwhelming importance to the region and the need to have a strong workforce to maximize production, Wray said. "The vast majority of these businesses really treat skilled workers as a make-or- break for their businesses," Wray said. The results complimented earlier find- ings from a February study on advanced manufacturing in New England by Deloitte that recommended creating better and more comprehensive educational pathways for advanced-manufacturing education. Better education, though, starts with mak- ing sure students are getting the basic level of education they need in areas like math, science and computers, which employers complain that new hires often lack, said Ann Harrison, spokeswoman for the Workforce Alliance, a workforce development agency serving 30 towns in Greater New Haven. Then, programming from manufactur- ers, community colleges and technical high schools can build upon that, Harrison said. "Once you get in the door, you have to have the right skills to perform on the job," Harrison said. "That is true for youth. That is true for mid-career folks. That is true for older workers. That is true for everybody." n Youngest CT Communities Of the 221 cities, towns and popula- tion centers in Connecticut, these have the youngest average age. Average Age Location Population (in years) 1. Storrs/ Mansfield 15,979 25.9 2. Willimantic 18,200 28.5 3. New Haven 123,508 29.3 4. Bridgeport 139,505 30.5 5. Groton 31,679 30.5 6. New London 25,671 31.2 7. Hartford 122,112 31.2 8. East Hampton 13,349 32 9. Willington 5,969 33.6 10. Oneco 273 33.7 S O U R C E : Z I P A T L A S Tomz Corp. has had success training new employees on its shop floor in Berlin. Thomas Phillips, president and CEO, Capital Workforce Partners Lyle Wray, executive director, Capital Region Council of Governments (CRCOG) Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, superintendent, Hartford Public Schools P H O T O | P A B L O R O B L E S P H O T O | H B J F I L E Francisco Chang, student at Trinity College, participates in the Hartford Youth Scholars program.

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