HCC Advanced Manufacturing Program Offers Just What Wallingford Firm Needs

Shawn Chevalier of Hamden (left), a trainer at Wallingford’s Holo-Krome, shows intern and Housatonic Community College student Richard Card of Beacon Falls how the optical comparator can help them check the dimensions of tiny objects.

WALLINGFORD – Holo-Krome, a local manufacturer of high-end fasteners, has had difficulty finding qualified candidates for entry-level positions.
But Housatonic Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Program is changing that.
“It’s a great program,” said John Brazil of Norfolk, Holo-Krome manufacturing program manager/recruiter. “The program graduates are one step ahead of the rest: they know how to read blueprints, take measurements with a micrometer or calipers, and understand different materials – this makes a huge difference.”
Having qualified employees capable of doing quality work is important to Holo-Krome. “Our high precision fasteners are used in Disney rides, military vehicles, Harley Davidson motorcycles, mining equipment and diesel engines,” Brazil said. “In these applications, failure is not an option.”
HCC President Paul Broadie II was delighted at Holo-Krome’s response to the program. “It’s a situation that benefits everyone involved,” he said. “It provides Holo-Krome with skilled employees and our students with jobs.”
Housatonic’s 34-credit Advanced Manufacturing Certificate program offers students the advanced manufacturing skills today’s manufacturers need. The intense 35-hour-per-week program combines theory and hands-on practice.
Students in the program are offered a thorough grounding in CAD, blueprint reading, manufacturing machining and CNC. Students, who can choose a day or evening schedule, spend half their time in the classroom and half in hands-on activities.
Manufacturing is making a comeback both nationally and in Connecticut. However, it’s high-tech manufacturing requiring a knowledge of both manual and CNC-controlled machine tools, precision instruments, and state-of-the-art software to design and produce tooling and parts for a wide variety of industries.
Housatonic’s Regional Advanced Manufacturing Center offers a variety of courses to provide workers with these skills. The one-year Advanced Manufacturing Certificate prepares students for entry-level jobs. In addition, the College’s Continuing Education Department offers incumbent workers a wide variety of courses to help them strengthen their existing skills and develop new ones.
Rich DuPont, interim director of the Regional Advanced Manufacturing Center, noted that the level of program instruction is tailored to meet the needs identified by industry advisors and employers in the Center’s service region. “We meet regularly with these partners to review curriculum, technology and adjustments for continuous improvement,” he said. “Our instructors and educational assistants, all who have first-hand manufacturing experience, take pride in transferring their knowledge of machining operations to our students, ensuring that graduates succeed in manufacturing career pathways.”
HCC houses one of the state’s four advanced manufacturing centers. Its 44-town service area, which includes Wallingford, extends from the New York state line to the Connecticut River, as far north as the Middletown, Meriden, Waterbury, and Danbury areas.
For Holo-Krome, which employs 150 people at its 200,000 square-foot plant here, this is music to their ears. Over that past two years, they’ve tried to fill more than 25 entry-level positions and have had difficulty doing so. Right now, they still have more than 20 vacancies, primarily the result of retirements and attrition.
The HCC manufacturing center holds the promise of change.
Last Fall, Brazil visited the center and was impressed with what he saw. The result: Holo-Krome brought on HCC students Richard Card of Beacon Falls and Nicholas Thommen of Fairfield as interns.
“There are other people in this year’s graduating class that I’d love to have as well,” Brazil said. “I’m very excited about building a relationship with Housatonic: The College has a lot to offer. It can give us the type of employee we’re looking for.”