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October 12, 2015

Berlin manufacturer’s training institute leads to 16 hires

PHOTO | HBJ File Tomz Corp. has had success training new employees on its shop floor in Berlin.

In the year since Tomz Corp. got tired of the quality of its applicant pool and developed its own training institute, the Berlin medical device manufacturer has graduated 21 students and hired 16 as full-time employees.

“It has allowed us to grow, no doubt,” said Tom Matulaniec, Tomz's vice president.

Tomz in spring 2014 began develpoing a training center adjacent to its 95,000-square-foot production operations in Berlin after an effort to increase its workforce more than 60 percent resulted in just two hires out of 127 applicants.

The company then received a $711,533 loan in August 2014 from the state Department of Community & Economic Development to help fund its $2.3 million expansion, which included the training center and new equipment for the production floor when the company hired more workers to operate them.

The 10-year DECD loan was contingent upon Tomz hiring enough workers to get more than 150 employees.

Over the last 12 months, Tomz has had dozens of applicants of all ages for the training center, although many were turned away because they lacked basic math or work skills.

“It is a little frustrating trying to find people that aren't starting from ground zero,” Matulaniec said.

The company kept the classes small to four or five people so students got the one-on-one instruction they needed; plus the company had to hire the students as employees in order to train them and was trying to minimize the expense, Matulaniec said.

With the 16 hires now through the program, Tomz added a dozen more machines to make parts for the medical and aerospace industries. The company now employs 140 people.

“We are able to get the next generation into the workforce,” Matulaniec said.

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