BEI Panel Calls Manufacturing The Job Creator

Is Manufacturing Dead in Connecticut?

State Representative Tony Hwang moderated a six member panel sponsored by Trumbull's Business Education Initiative to provide some answers to this question on April 24 at the Library.

Connecticut is no newcomer to manufacturing. Eli Whitney, Isaac Singer and Igor Sikorsky all left indelible marks here and around the world.

Nor have we become a laggard state.  Manufacturing accounts for about 12 percent of the state's domestic product, and is approximately the same percentage of the U.S. economy.

This despite the fact that Connecticut is a high cost state – housing is expensive, taxes are high and we have the costliest electric power rates in the continental U.S.

The morning's session was opened by Chris Gallo, a Partner at BlumShapiro. He highlighted a 2011 study his firm did with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. They found employers generally, but only mildly optimistic about 2012.

While they preferred a small less costly and less intrusive government, they also lauded Connecticut's quality of life.

Hwang followed. “Why are we having this discussion?”

Jerry Clupper, Executive Director of the New Haven Manufacturers Association, told the audience of about 30 “manufacturing is the true wealth creator.”

Anita Gliniecki, President of Housatonic Community College added “manufacturing creates the jobs that create middle class incomes.”

Kate Hampford Donahue, President of Hampford Research, a 30 year old specialty chemical compounder, and the only entrepreneur on the panel, went to the heart of the problem – “manufacturing’s not sexy, we don’t talk about it in high school.”

Skills Gap

Paula Chapla, Operations Manager with Sikorsky Aircraft’s Aero Structures said young job seekers suffer from a “skills gap.”  Sikorsky makes value added precision products.  To replace the company's aging work force they must possess strong quantitative skills .  

They also need to learn the collaboration and communications skills essential to “getting it right the first time.”  

State Support is Key

Donahue then turned the conversation. “The state has to step up.”

Rina Bakalar, Executive Director of the Office of Workplace Competition in the Connecticut Department of Labor, said the state has recommitted to manufacturing, something “we haven’t pushed in 20 years.”

“We’re here to make it sexy.” She cited Connecticut. Dream !t. Do !t., a program that unites business, education, economic development, labor and workforce organizations to expand the state’s manufacturing footprint.

Dream !t. Do !t. seeks to make manufacturing more visible, to align educational institutions with the needs of manufacturers, and to close the skills gap by creating a pipeline of capable, credentialed employees.

Manufacturers look to our technical high schools, Bakalar stated. Otherwise, “our schools are not producing what we need.” Looking ahead, “investment is needed at the community college level to help fill the need for the 2,000 to 3,000 projected openings annually.”

Ms. Donahue countered the view offered in the CBIA survey, calling state support during the last year “unbelievable.” Connecticut's STEP and JET programs help employers that create jobs. The former provides cash subsidies, the latter tax credits.

Ms. Gliniecki added another element of state engagement, talking about HCC's work force support - remedial programs that help students make up high school deficiencies; STEM programs – science, technology, engineering and mathematics - for those who want to go directly into manufacturing; and programs for mid-career employees seeking to advance or to change careers.

Hwang asked Dr. Gary Cialfi, Trumbull’s Assistant Superintendent of Schools, to talk to how our schools are meeting the challenge. He said Trumbull is in the early stages of implementing a STEM program to foster interest and achievement in the disciplines manufacturers need.

Our schools are also working closely with BEI and the ACE Foundation, “helping create authentic instructional experiences – not theory, but application.”

Hwang summed up: “BEI fits in this arena… Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.”

No. Manufacturing is not dead in Connecticut. But meaningful growth will require creating interest among prospective employees – technical, professional and managerial; it will require strengthening the STEM components of our education system, from middle schools to our university system; and it will require more, not less - legislative and financial support from our government.