Sargent Manufacturing Celebrates 150th Anniversary, Southington Officials Optimistic About Future of Manufacturing

Manufacturing often conjures up images of dark, cramped assembly lines filled with workers performing the same task over and over, but in Connecticut manufacturing is more about high precision tasks performed by highly-educated technicians.

Sargent Manufacturing recently celebrated its 150th anniversary in New Haven. The company now falls under Assa Abloy, the largest global supplier of intelligent lock and security solutions, but Sargent’s headquarters and plant are still located on Sargent Drive in New Haven.

“We are proud to have industry leaders like Sargent based here in Connecticut because the work they do strengthens our economy, creates good-paying jobs with good benefits for our residents and makes us a more competitive state overall,” Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a release. “It is a pleasure to congratulate Sargent and its employees on reaching this important milestone.”

About 1,000 workers, family members and others from the community came to celebrate the occasion, said Zaya Oshana, director of human resources for Assa Abloy Access and Egress Hardware Group and a Southington Board of Education member.

Many family members wanted to take a tour of the plant and were pleasantly surprised to find out it wasn’t a dark and dingy place, but a brightly-lit space filled with many multi-million dollar pieces of complicated equipment, he said.

Manufacturing can be an exciting field and one that pays well.

“Kids need to understand that manufacturing isn’t this dark dirty thing,” he said. “You really do need some highly-technical skills because you are running multi-million dollar pieces of equipment.”

Oshana said that he is proud Southington has many programs like Project Lead the Way, Future Business Leaders of America and DECA, which can prepare students for leadership positions in manufacturing.

There are also a number of technical schools throughout the state that can prepare students for a career in manufacturing.

State Rep. Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin, Southington) said Sargent’s anniversary is an example of how Connecticut can be a base for manufacturers.

“Assa Abloy and their many companies have proven than you can have a profitable multinational corporation, but the value is still here in Connecticut,” he said.

Some projections peg the state to grow manufacturing jobs by between 40,000 and 80,000 positions over the next four years, he said. The high end of that is really optimistic, but as many as 50,000 new jobs is very feasible.

The state has taken some steps to try and attract and keep manufacturers in the tate. The jobs bill passed in 2011 helped create a small business express loan program and reduced thousands of pages of outdated permitting, Aresimowicz said.

The state also has a strong state college system and a number of well-known private higher education institutions. Some like the University of Connecticut and Pratt and Whitney work together directly. Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center at UConn opened in 2013 and serves as a lab for the company.

Keeping those educated at Connecticut colleges in state is also a key to success, not only in manufacturing, but in other fields as well. Small business incubators near colleges can help ensure that there isn’t a brain drain.

Photo caption left to right: HR Director Zaya Oshana (Board of Education – Southington)
and Representative Joe Aresimowicz pause for a photo in the Sargent
Manufacturing Test Lab. Submitted photo