Governor Rell Announces Training

to Boost Green-Collar Workforce

First Three Companies Sign Up to Instruct Workers in ‘Green-Collar’ Skills

            Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that three companies will participate in a new program that will serve as a blueprint for training the state’s growing “green-collar” work force, an initiative intended to help develop new jobs in an expanding segment of the state’s economy.

            Governor Rell has identified green-collar jobs – positions in emerging industries such as energy efficiency, alternative energy development and production and other environmentally friendly fields – as a likely source of new employment for Connecticut. CONNSTEP, the state’s leading resource for Lean and Clean manufacturing procedures, business growth services and quality management systems, has developed a two-day interactive training event that helps companies become more sustainable by prioritizing and implementing “green” initiatives.

            Web Industries of Dayville, Uretek of New Haven, and Cooper-Atkins Corp. of Middlefield are the first three companies to sign up for the green-collar training.

            “It makes sense to encourage and develop the ‘green-collar’ industry in Connecticut, since our state has long been a leader on issues such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing energy efficiency programs – and that is especially true as this recession drags on,” Governor Rell said. “Combining lean manufacturing with ‘green’ techniques is becoming the foremost method to cut costs, increase productivity, grow and retain jobs, implement sustainable practices and make a company and their products more appealing to the increasingly environmentally conscious marketplace.

            “Sustainable business practices – “thinking green” – requires a change in a company’s focus and business culture,” the Governor said. “This CONNSTEP program is designed to raise workers’ awareness of the importance of becoming more environmentally focused, educate people at all levels within the organization to ask pointed questions and make business decisions based on sustainable criteria.”

            The Department of Labor is providing funding to offset half of the cost of the training for up to six small- to mid-size manufacturers that are trying to improve profitability and global competitiveness while minimizing their environmental impact. Companies participating in the training will improve the modern manufacturing skills of their workers through a better understanding of lean and environmentally prudent methodologies.

            Employees at Web Industries make materials used in medical, consumer and data communications products. Uretek’s workers manufacture coated fabrics and composites for defense, aerospace, health care and recreational use. Cooper-Atkins employees make instruments to measure temperature in the health care, foodservice and heating, ventilation and air conditioning industries.

            CONNSTEP was founded in 1994 and has been co-sponsored by the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the U.S. Department of Commerce through the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. CONNSTEP helps small- and mid-size companies coordinate broader manufacturing initiatives, track impacts of services provided and form long-term strategies on behalf of client companies.

            For more information about this program, visit www.connstep.org.