Hartford Business Journal

12 Hartford Business Journal • May 23, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com Hannah fits Marion's expansion gameplan from page 1 Women In Manufacturing (WIM), about one in four of America's 12 million manufacturing workers are women — about the same as a decade ago. Moreover, there is an estimated shortage of 600,000 production workers. Just recently, Connecticut took a pair of legislative steps toward drawing more hands into manufacturing. One measure awaiting the governor's signature would extend a $7,500 tax credit to small-business "S'' corporations who hire eligible apprentices in manufacturing and other trades. Another aims to promote manu- facturing skills, careers and related opportuni- ties to the state's middle- and high-school pupils. Sheila LaMothe, associate director of mar- keting and public relations for German manu- facturer Trumpf Inc. in Farmington, said both initiatives should help pull back the veil of pub- lic ignorance and uncertainty about working conditions in manufacturing that are holdovers from its days in the early 20th century, when the industry plied its workers with long hours, low pay and hazardous conditions. Trumpf, too, has an apprenticeship program. "There's still a lot of outdated and inaccu- rate misperceptions about manufacturing,'' said LaMothe, who sits on the national board of WIM and is active in its Connecticut chapter. "We've been fighting that for many, many years.'' Todd Berch, who manages the apprentice- ship program at the state Labor Department, said they are an "excellent way to provide equal-opportunity employment'' for women. In recent years, Berch and others say employers in Connecticut and nationwide have begun reviving apprenticeships after several previous decades of decline amid industry mergers and consolidations, the offshoring of production jobs and shrinking demand during the Great Recession. "It's a great, nontraditional career path,'' Berch said. "Women are definitely gravitat- ing to that.'' According to Berch, there are some 6,000 people, ranging in age from 17 to their 30s, apprenticing in Connecticut, mostly in build- ing trades such as carpentry, welding, electrical and plumbing. Many earn $11 to $12 an hour, but that can jump to $22 to $26 an hour after com- pleting their four- or five-year apprenticeships. Advanced manufacturing lure For Lenoce, a manufacturing job initially was the farthest from her mind; nursing was her first choice, she said. But it was while visiting Naugatuck Valley Community Col- lege (NVCC) for an enrollment-information session, that she encountered one about addi- tive manufacturing. The 21-year-old Cheshire native was hooked, she said. "When they started talking about addi- tive manufacturing and car parts, that got my attention,'' said Lenoce, a self-described "gear- head'' with two late-model Mustangs, a vintage VW Beetle and a pickup in her personal fleet. NVCC has had four classes totaling around 200 pupils graduate — only one in 10 of them females — from its advanced manufacturing certification program in the four years since its launch in response to the industry's perpetual labor shortage and other issues causing some to offshore certain tasks or leave Connecticut altogether, said Joseph Defeo, director of NVCC's Advanced Manu- facturing Technology Center. Of its graduates, eight in 10 had, or quickly landed, full-time job offers with manufactur- ers, Defeo said. With her general equivalency degree, or GED, in hand, Lenoce enrolled in NVCC's 45-hour a week, nine-month certification program. In her first semester, Lenoce and her classmates got hands-on instruction in, among other things, production quality control, machining, computer-aided design and computer numerical control program - ming and operation. In her second semester, Lenoce, like other enrollees with at least a "B" average and above-average attendance, was eligible to be a paid manufacturing intern. "Hannah came in here, she didn't know a thing about manufacturing,'' Defeo said. "But she worked hard. She was here every single day on time.'' Upon graduating from NVCC, Johnson — Marion's president — again offered her a job as an apprentice toolmaker. She took it. At Marion, she works alongside more experi- enced, journeymen toolmakers. "I really like the hands-on part,'' Lenoce said. "I really have to think. Every day there's a new challenge.'' Although she's the only female in Marion's tool-making department, Lenoce says her male co-workers are always willing to help her with a stubborn bolt, or to answer her questions. Education opportunities Lenoce is only Marion's second apprentice since Johnson acquired the company, and has more than 5,000 hours toward the 8,000 hours needed to complete it. Marion's first apprentice on Johnson's watch, is now a journeyman tool- maker. A third apprentice who has been with Marion one year is a high school senior and is headed to college at the end of this year. But Lenoce isn't just gender window- dressing for Marion; her presence, Johnson said, fits his gameplan for expanding his company's market footprint. She also fills a crucial staffing void, he said. "Six years ago, we had four 65-year-old toolmakers working here,'' Johnson said. "And in a four-year span, we were down to zero. We had to make a commitment if we wanted to grow the company. Hannah was an opportunity for us.'' Along with her salary, health benefits and a matching 401(k) retirement-savings plan at Marion, Johnson, who has made it his mission to oversee Lenoce's manufacturing development, dangled another encouraging carrot before her: tuition-free enrollment into Central Connecti- cut State University's engineering program. The cost of her tuition to Marion: $10,000 a year. His unusual talent search and paid col- lege tuition are par for the course, if manufac- turers are really serious about recruiting and retaining talent, Johnson said. "That's what you have to do, if you want this to work,'' said Johnson, a board member of the Smaller Manufacturers Association in Connecticut. Marion adjusted Lenoce's work schedule to accommodate her part-time studies, now into her third semester; most days she's done by 2:30 p.m., so she can get to class on time in New Britain. Lenoce's manufacturing experience is having an impact at home. Her younger broth- er and his high school class toured Marion — which at one time was female owned — after which he declared his desire to also pursue a manufacturing career. "He wanted to be a doctor,'' she said. Manufacturing, too, has altered her future outlook, and working toward an engineering degree has her excited. "Maybe one day I'll be the design engineer here,'' Lenoce said. n Hannah Lenoce finds the hands-on, problem- solving aspects of manufacturing to her liking. More than halfway into her apprenticeship training at Cheshire's Marion Manufacturing Co., Lenoce, 21, is enrolled in Central Connecticut State University's engineering program. P H O T O | S T E V E L A S C H E V E R

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