Kickoff event includes proclamation of Manufacturing Month

By THOMAS P. CALDWELL, LACONIA DAILY SUN

NORTHFIELD — Eptam Plastics played host to the kickoff event of Manufacturing Month in New Hampshire on Friday, offering a plant tour at the end of the formal networking meeting.

Manufacturing Month is designed to let people know of the products made here, and the high-paying jobs that are associated with them.

A proclamation from Gov. Chris Sununu recognized Oct. 6 as National Manufacturing Day, and Zenagui Brahim, president of the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership, described the organization’s efforts to make students aware of the opportunities to make a diverse range of products in the state.

The partnership invites high school and middle school students on field trips to see how products are made, and Brahim said students from 49 schools had made 1,900 visits so far in 2017. The collaboration between educators and manufacturers is designed to help build the state’s future workforce.

The organization also published a magazine, “Cool Stuff Made in New Hampshire,” to showcase the range of manufacturing opportunities in New Hampshire, from dental implants to parts for jet engines.

Brahim also recognized the efforts of the Belknap Economic Development Council in connecting students with employers.

Manufacturers throughout the state have been pointing to the lack of a skilled workforce as being among their top concerns. High schools have only recently begun focusing on high-technology skills, often partnering with community colleges and directly with manufacturers to give students credits they can use toward college, and skills that they can leverage into full-time employment upon graduation.

Gary Groleau, corporate manager of New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc., serves on the advisory boards of both the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the National Institute For Standards and Technology. He said the Lakes Region Manufacturing Association had to navigate troubled waters during the Great Recession, learning of the need to be resilient. Until then, manufacturers “never thought about a partnership with banking,” but today the finance community is as important as the partnerships with the community college system and economic development groups.

To drive that point home, David Mansfield, chief executive officer of The Provident Bank, related his company’s role in business success. The Provident specializes in areas typical banks do not handle, such as mergers and acquisitions and financing for export companies. He said the bank is able to offer 100 percent deposit insurance and will customize financing to clients’ needs.

He cited Waterville Valley’s efforts to bring in high-efficiency snowmaking, and said the company was looking for help from the French Export-Import Bank because it could not find any local financing. The Provident was able to put together a combination of creative and traditional financing to provide for everything the ski resort was looking to accomplish.

The bank recognizes the workforce challenges companies face and it is developing industry-specific programs to place trained employees in the workforce. With 95 percent of the goods manufactured here being sold outside the United States, the bank also focuses on providing the knowledge businesses need to do exporting.

The tour that followed the meeting allowed those attending to see the diverse products that Eptam manufactures.

Chief Operating Officer Russell Nadeau said Eptam produces 30 percent of its products for the medical industry, 30 percent for aerospace, and 30 percent for semiconductor devices, with a scattering of other products. The percentages are by design, he said, to ensure that the company maintains a focus on each market, and they are constantly innovating to remain at the forefront of their sector.

He explained that Eptam specializes in products that require high-end polymers, such as those in the aerospace industry, and in highly complex products made of low-cost polymers.

One client told Nadeau that, of the 1,100 manufacturers that company deals with, Eptam was the only one that could handle the high-end polymers.

“These are high-temperature, mission-critical parts,” Nadeau said, “and we’re the only ones that can produce them.”

Yet New Hampshire also has manufacturers that create things people use every day: Velcro, firefighter gear, even beer. Getting the word out is what Manufacturing Month is all about.

Gary Groleau, corporate manager of New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc., addresses business leaders during the kickoff of Manufacturing Month at Eptam Plastics of Northfield on Oct. 6. At left are Zenagui Brahim, president of the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and Russell Nadeau, Eptam COO. (Tom Caldwell/Laconia Daily Sun)