In business lore, the “perfect factory” consists of one man and one dog — the man to feed the dog and the dog to keep the man from touching anything and screwing it up.

Parlec Inc. is not there. Yet.

Workers wanted: Lack of qualified candidates holding back some companies–

The Perinton company’s production floor is a living demonstration of manufacturing’s changing face in recent decades. At one end are a few old machines harkening back to the day when manufacturing was heavily hands-on, with manual controls guiding the equipment. But taking up most of the space are computer-controlled behemoths that churn out products such as tool holders used in industrial applications.

Skilled operators load and unload the machines, set them up by inputting precise specifications, and then tweak and monitor the work while it goes on. The machines, meanwhile, when humming along smoothly, can run all weekend unattended — the 21st-century version of the Brothers Grimm shoe gnomes.

The cost can be huge. Parlec is in the midst of $4 million worth of equipment upgrades and purchases. But, said CEO Michael Nuccitelli, “We have to do it. If you want to be around 10, 15 years from now, it’s the only thing you can do.”

The state is looking to advanced manufacturers like Parlec to help grow the region’s economy. The Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council has identified advanced manufacturing as one centerpiece of what will become a five-year growth plan. The plan, which also will look at industries such as optics and agriculture and food processing, will be presented in November to state officials and used as the nine-county Finger Lakes region competes for various pots of state money.

While the number of manufacturing jobs locally are a fraction of what they were a generation ago, reflecting statewide and national trends, “it’s still a huge number of jobs in this community,” said Mark Peterson, CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise, the economic development organization. Advanced manufacturing in certain areas carries the potential for tremendous growth, he said.

But one big hurdle sits between today and that tremendous growth — a hurdle the size and shape of a sandwich board, like the “help wanted” boards sitting on GSP Components’ Brooks Avenue front lawn, advertising for computer numerical control machine operators and programmers.

Even as the economy has gotten tougher, the Gates industrial components manufacturer gets fewer and fewer qualified applicants, said owner Ron Motsay.

“I never had signs before,” he said.

E.T. Precision Optics Inc., a Rochester maker of mounts and brackets that hold optics, is looking to new industries as potential customers as its bread-and-butter military work dries up. But its biggest challenge also is more Rosie the Riveter than Uncle Sam. “The biggest obstacle to us growing is finding people,” said CEO Thomas Eckler.

“Advanced manufacturing,” like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

The National Council for Advanced Manufacturing has categorized it as use of high technology and precision with a specialized workforce. A 2009 study commissioned by the New England Council, an economic growth advocacy group, defined advanced manufacturing as often low volume but highly complex, done with a highly skilled and highly paid workforce.

And the Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research defines it as business sectors with a significant share of employees in occupations related to science, technology, engineering or manufacturing.

By that metric, according to CGR, the Rochester region has 49,000 people employed in advanced manufacturing, with paychecks averaging more than $80,000 annually. The biggest advanced manufacturing job areas, according to CGR, include photographic equipment and supply manufacturing, employing more than 11,000; radio and wireless equipment manufacturing, with 2,800 workers; and machine shops, which employ 2,600.

To be sure, manufacturers that once were employment giants in the economy, such as Eastman Kodak Co. or Xerox Corp., today employ fractions of what they once did. According to state Labor Department figures, 59,800 people were employed in the broad category of manufacturing in the Rochester area in July, about half of the number employed in July 1991.

“The companies that are booming (today) are small,” said Robert Lasch, coordinator of Monroe Community College’s Applied Technologies Program, pointing to close to 900 small manufacturers operating in the Rochester area, each with 50 employees or fewer.

And many of those small firms are scrambling for workers.

The majority of Rochester Technology and Manufacturing Association members are hiring, said executive director Kevin Kelley.

But the lack of qualified candidates is widespread. Particularly hurting the industry is the perception that manufacturing is dead, leading to a lack of people pursuing it as a career, Kelley said.

“It’s state-of-the-art equipment that gives you a competitive edge,” he said. “This is very sophisticated equipment that requires some serious advanced preparation and an aptitude and an interest. This isn’t for everybody.”

The association is part of a collection of industry groups and Monroe Community College that collectively are putting together plans to reach out to area school districts to try to interest students in a manufacturing or technical career path.

“Math is vital,” Lasch said. “You’ve got to have good math skills. It’s basic stuff but it’s real world stuff. The day of having a guy who just pushes buttons is gone.”

At E.T. Precision Optics, Eckler said his needs in new employees are modest — a high school diploma, some decent math skills and a couple years’ experience.

But as the area’s manufacturing base has shrunk, so have the number of entry level jobs at major manufacturers that would serve as a training ground for the workforce he and other small manufacturers need.

GSP Components makes parts used in everything from jet engine fuel injection systems to ventilators.

The 60-year-old company employs 68 — about one-third less than it did in the 1990s, before Motsay, the owner, began a big shift from mechanical manufacturing to automated computer numerical control equipment, spending $300,000 to $500,000 every two years on machinery.

“Today we have less people and higher sales,” Motsay said. “We found we could do more with less.”

Eventually, he said, all the mechanical manufacturing equipment will be scrapped to make way for a fully automated shop floor.

Parlec is heading the same way, Nuccitelli said.

“If I had the money to fully automate this plant, I’d still have 130 workers,” he said. But the jobs “would change dramatically.”

While Parlec has made products such as the tool holder for 30 years, the computerized automation has let it add features and a higher level of precision while keeping the price down.

And for workers, the employee who once would have used manual controls, “His life has changed dramatically,” Nuccitelli said. “He’s a computer programmer now. If I want to get 15 or 20 percent growth, I’m going to invest in new equipment, take my employees and train them.”

Back to News Releases