By SCOTT WHIPPLE, Staff Writer

NEW BRITAIN -- Don’t bother calling Rick Mullins on May 25.

The managing director of CCSU’s Institute of Technology and Business Development will be in Canton, Mass., talking to John Luther, CEO of Dunkin’ Donuts. The fast-food chain is considering using ITBD as a training facility.

The institute has become proactive in attracting incubator businesses, companies that want specialized training, and workers who have lost their jobs to foreign competition and need to upgrade their skills.

When employees at Berlin-based Indalex became eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits last year (the company shut down and jobs went to Mexico) ITBD jumped into the breach.

"We devised a state-funded training program with Connecticut Works for three Indalex workers," says ITBD sales specialist Tom Lorenzetti. "All were experienced and had good track records. They told us they wanted to become quality technicians."

(Connecticut Works is a collaboration of state, regional and local organizations that addresses workforce development needs of the state -- both job-seekers and employers.)

Lorenzetti set up hands-on tours for the workers at Acme Monaco and other area manufacturers. Acme-Monaco in New Britain manufacturers medical guide wires and stylets, orthodontic hardware, springs, wireforms and stampings.

Judi Spreda, the company’s director of human resources, said she was so impressed with the workers’ skill sets that she hired two as quality control operators; the third accepted a job with a Bridgeport manufacturer.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Rick and Tom and what they’ve done with that organization (ITBD)," Spreda said. "Companies in the area need to let skilled workers looking for jobs know we’re willing do the training, but we’re going to have to make the commitment."

One company willing to make that kind of commitment is Plainville-based Hygrade Precision Technologies Inc. Hygrade specializes in precision contract machining, grinding, and lapping services.

Hygrade’s president, John Salce,is a member of a committee to review ITBD’s curriculum to determine how it can best serve Connecticut manufacturers. A few years ago, the institute helped Hygrade become ISO-registered (an internationally recognized approach to standardizing quality management systems). Recently, Salce asked ITBD help him identify candidates for engineering positions.

To create an awareness of workforce development throughout the state, Mullins and Lorenzetti have initiateda dialogue with the Connecticut State University System in Hartford, also Workforce Partners, the Capital Workforce Board, who funds programs, Frank Johnson, executive director of Manufacturing Alliance of Connecticut, and John Leone, president of theGreater Bristol Chamber of Commerce.

"Workforce development and education have got to merge," Lorenzetti says. "If they don’t, we’re dead in the water. As part of CCSU, we’re trying to make that merger happen."

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