Inside Convertech

At Convertech's 40,000-sq. ft. facility, shafts and chucks of every size are custom made for OEMs, print shops, label makers and packagers.

Convertech Meets HoHokus Exec Board to Propose Expanded Machinist Program

Machinists at Convertech, Wharton, NJ.

Convertech president Larry Taitel met with Thomas Eastwick, the president of Eastwick College and the HoHoKus Schools, along with Eastwick’s executive board of the HoHoKus School of Trade, to discuss suggestions for an expansion of the school’s existing machining program. The meeting followed Convertech’s recent hiring of two HoHoKus graduates, who will join the company’s team of machinists.

“The applicants who’ve graduated from HoHoKus are far more impressive than our typical candidates,” said Taitel. “We’ve hired the school’s graduates before and have been very pleased with the results. Clearly, the school has a solid program in place.” Taitel has been leading a charge in New Jersey for better educational opportunities in the area of manufacturing. He proposed various additions to the school’s curriculum, which he believes will enhance the program and better prepare students for the many machining jobs that are available in the state and throughout the country.

“Mr. Taitel has some exciting ideas to improve our curriculum that we will be instituting as quickly as possible” said Eastwick. “Employers like Convertech are our most valuable source of knowledge.”

“Manufacturing jobs are plentiful and offer innumerable benefits including higher than average pay, job security, and job satisfaction,” said Taitel. “However, you can’t enter advanced manufacturing without first beginning in basic manufacturing. It all begins with the basics and lots of hands-on experience. Too few programs exist in our State for potential machinists, and the ones that are in place are in desperate need of additional hours.”

Taitel continues to reach out to NJ State elected officials, educators and industry groups to seek their support in bringing manufacturing curriculum back to New Jersey schools, which he explains is vital to The State of New Jersey, its manufacturers, and our students.

Since 1978, Convertech has designed, manufactured and delivered the industry’s highest-quality air shafts and chucks. All products are custom built at Convertech’s 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in Wharton, New Jersey.

Help wanted: Manufacturers struggle to find skilled employees

The following appeared in PlasticsToday:

by Clare Goldsberry (published: January 15, 2016)

Manufacturing needs new blood in order to breathe new life back into this segment of the economy, but finding young people and creating the programs needed to train them will take a lot of work on the part of the manufacturing community. Larry Taitel, President of Convertech Inc., a manufacturer of air shafts and chucks in Wharton, NJ, and Dr. John W. Kennedy, CEO of the New Jersey Manufacturer's Extension Partnership (NJMEP), are outspoken advocates of state-supported educational opportunities for students in machining.

New Jersey is home to 11,000 manufacturers, and yet, Taitel told PlasticsToday, finding the skilled machinists he needs to keep up with demand for his products is nearly impossible. Taitel currently employs 45 people, 35 of whom are production workers, in his 40,000-square-foot manufacturing area.

"Every year it gets worse, and now it's intolerable," Taitel lamented.

Taitel is in the same boat as nearly every manufacturing company. And it doesn't appear that things will get any better over the next decade. According to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in its biennial 10-year projection, the economy is returning to a more consistent growth path, but the growth is slower than the long-term trends that existed prior to the Great Recession. "The combination of a slowing of population growth, a continuation of longstanding trends of decreasing labor force participation and a lower unemployment rate will result in employment growth slightly stronger from 2014 to 2024 than it was from 2004 to 2014," said the overview of the report.

Unfortunately the report projects that the service-providing sectors will account for the majority of projected job growth. That could mean that people like Taitel and moldmakers and plastics processors will see more young people flipping burgers and making lattes than applying for jobs as machinists, moldmakers, press operators and quality control technicians.

Taitel puts the blame on the manufacturing industry for not being proactive in working with high schools to keep shop classes active or partnering with vo-tech schools to ensure that the skills taught and the machinery used keep up with changing manufacturing technologies. As shop classes and vo-tech schools became obsolete, manufacturing dropped the ball and now it's crying for skills that no longer exist.

"Thirty years ago, all high schools had machine shops and taught skills," said Taitel, remembering back to the days when he took shop classes. "Then schools got on this kick that everyone needs to go to college. But that's not where the jobs are today. The jobs are in making things; in manufacturing, the jobs have been there all along."

Taitel doesn't begrudge anyone getting a college degree. Eight of his employees have college degrees but they are in areas that are in demand at his plant, and they don't have a degree just for the sake of having a degree. "We've lost an entire generation of machinists by taking shop out of the schools and eliminating vo-tech schools," he said. "We need to get this back into the schools and tell the kids that manufacturing offers good, high-paying jobs."

At Convertech, the work is low volume—one to five pieces for customized roll-fed machinery. That means that Taitel does a lot of work on manual machines, because automating at such low volumes isn't efficient given the amount of programming and setup involved for each job. He operates 30 manual lathes and six automatic lathes, noting that using the manual lathe is still the best way to make one or two pieces. "People need to be able to do this," he said. "Even to go to an automation operator position, you need to come from the manual side of things. You need to get a feel for what works and what doesn't work."

Convertech pays well,In spite of that, "nobody wants to get their hands dirty," Taitel said.

The BLS said in its report that the manufacturing sector is projected to experience the largest employment loss of any sector. "A projected loss of 814,000 jobs from 2014 to 2024 would reduce manufacturing employment to just under 11.4 million. While the loss is large, it is less than 40% of the loss that was experienced from 2004 to 2014, when more than 2.1 million manufacturing jobs were lost." And the annual decline of 0.7% over the current projection period is less than the 1.6% annual decline that occurred from 2004 to 2014, the BLS report noted.

Taitel thinks that one solution is letting people know that manufacturing is not yet dead; that it's not even on life support. "Everybody thinks manufacturing has left the country, but China took the low-paying, mass-production jobs," he commented. "Everybody thinks that if you don't go to college you can't make money, and [that] manufacturing is bad work."

But it's going to take a lot of work on the part of manufacturers to attract young people to manufacturing. They will need to engage in collaborative efforts with high school guidance counselors to put young people on a trade track and help community colleges set up manufacturing technology programs and then support those programs to keep them relevant.

NJMEP's John Kennedy agrees. "Manufacturers can't sit back and wait for someone else to fix the problem. We have to fix it ourselves by imparting to our elected officials and school curriculum decision makers how important skills training is for our students, our manufacturers and our state. We're looking for New Jersey to support apprenticeships and get us back on track for everyone's sake," he stated. "It's up to us. Those of us who have spent our lives in this amazing industry must make sure that we pass the word along to all who will listen to help ensure our future."

Can the flexible film recovery puzzle be solved?

The following appeared in PackagingWorld:

by Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World 

Multilayer, mixed-material flexible film packaging is a sustainability conundrum. Lighter in weight, using less material, and resulting in fewer greenhouse gas emissions than alternative packaging formats such as glass, aluminum, and rigid plastic, flexibles seem like the most eco-friendly packaging choice. But, unlike glass, aluminum, and rigid plastic, mixed-material flexible film* cannot be recovered at end of life.

For some sustainability diehards, the fact that the only place for multilayer flexibles at the end of their use is the landfill is a deal-breaker—despite all of their sustainability advantages. For the those companies that supply and use this material, however, understanding the challenges associated with flexible film recovery and moving toward feasible solutions have become a priority, especially as the use of flexible packaging grows.

According to a 2015 report from PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, “The unique benefits of flexible packaging have made it the second largest packaging segment in the U.S. [representing 19% of the total $164 billion packaging market]. The format has grown considerably in popularity over the last decade and has continued to take market share in the packaging industry.” It adds that while this growth may be starting to plateau, the market is expected to continue to expand at a healthy rate into the future. (Source: PMMI 2015 Flexible Packaging Market Assessment Report.)

Consulting firm Freedonia estimates in its 2015 study, “Converted Flexible Packaging,” that demand for mixed-material film packaging will rise 3.3% annually through 2019, to $20.7 billion, due to the cost and performance advantages of lightweight bags and pouches. In addition, it says that “converted flexible packaging’s source reduction, space savings, and lower production and transportation costs…will drive further conversions from rigid to flexible formats.”

Currently there are no systems in the U.S. to collect and recover multilayer flexible films. To put such systems in place will involve solving technical and commercial challenges at every stage of the process—collection, sorting, and end markets—with the development of each depending on the success of the others.

While it is true flexible films represent a large chunk of the packaging materials market, their percentage of landfill waste does not: multi-material laminates accounted for just 1.6% of the total municipal waste stream in 2012, according to the Flexible Packaging Assn. Even though this number has increased since then and will continue to grow as the market expands, there are other pressing reasons why the packaging industry is taking on the challenge of flexible film recovery.

Alan Blake, Executive Director of PAC Next, a part of Canadian association PAC, Packaging Consortium, that was founded to create a vision of “A World Without Packaging Waste,” says the group initially became interested in finding ways to recover flexible films due to Canada’s Extended Producer Responsibility laws. Under EPR requirements, all stakeholders pay a fee based on the quantity of packaging materials they put into the market. PAC NEXT’s Multi-Layer Laminated Films & Bags project is focused on initiating and completing a pilot to recycle post-consumer recycled multilayer laminated film from a Municipal Recycling Facility (MRF).

“Given EPR, there’s this pressure to see what can be done to avoid materials going to landfill and what can be done to find solutions,” Blake says. “People become a bit emotional when they start seeing increasing levels of materials going into the waste stream that are non-recyclable, such as multilayer, mixed-plastic laminates.”

Jeff Wooster, Global Sustainability Director of Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, which is involved in many initiatives around flexible film recovery, explains the growth in interest in flexible film recovery this way: “The development of the recycling infrastructure for any material follows the introduction of that material and its growth to a scale where it makes sense to invest in a recycling infrastructure.”

For example, he says, when aluminum cans and PET bottles were first introduced, they were not recycled. But as the markets for these materials grew, recycling followed. “With flexible packaging, because it’s more difficult to mechanically recycle and because the weight of each individual package is much lower than it is for other materials, there are some additional challenges that other materials don’t have to the same extent.”

Consumer pressure is definitely also a driver, he adds: “Consumers don’t like to see packaging going into the landfill, and neither do we.”

One of the projects Dow is involved with is Materials Recovery for the Future, an initiative of the Research Foundation for Health and Environmental Effects, established by the American Chemistry Council. The project has brought together brand owners, manufacturers, and packaging industry organizations interested in creating recovery solutions for flexible packaging. Its first goal is to study the movement of films and flexible plastic packaging at U.S. MRFs.

“Our motivation for this is to close the resource loop and make sure that our materials continue to deliver value for as long as they can,” Wooster says. “We know it’s of great interest to companies, NGOs, and well-informed consumers to try to recover the value of their materials instead of putting them into a landfill.”

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Machinists Wanted in North New Jersey

Convertech, a leading manufacturer of expanding shafts and chucks, is looking for experienced Manufacturing Machine Operators. Your experience running a manual lathe will make you a perfect fit for this Manual Lathe Machinist role. At Convertech, we produce a very custom product with very short lead teams and run a clean modern shop. If you are looking for an opportunity where you can grow your career with a dynamic company with great hours and low turnover rates, we want to talk to you!

Job Responsibilities: In the Manufacturing Machine Operator role, as a Manual Lathe Machinist, you will be responsible for setting up and operating a variety of manufacturing machine tools to produce precision parts and instruments. Additional responsibilities of the Manufacturing Machine Operator role include:

• Setting up and operating manufacturing machines, such as lathes, cutters, shears, millers, presses, drills, etc., to make metallic and plastic work pieces

• Reading blueprints or job orders to determine product specifications and tooling instructions

• Measuring dimensions of finished work pieces to ensure conformance to specifications, using precision measuring instruments, templates, and fixtures

Job Requirements: Successful candidates for the Manufacturing Machine Operator must have manual lathe experience in a manufacturing environment. Someone with a strong attention to detail, a good attitude, and an eagerness to learn and grow would be a good fit for this role. Additional requirements of this Manufacturing Machine Operator role include experience in a fast-paced manufacturing environment, running a manual lathe.

Benefits: At Convertech, we are always looking for experienced people to join our dedicated team. We encourage a strong team environment and friendly atmosphere with great working hours! As a Manufacturing Machine Operator, you will work from 7:00 AM – 3:30 PM and will be eligible to receive a benefits package, including:

• Health insurance

• 401(k) retirement plan

• Profit Sharing

• Pension

• Generous vacation and sick time

Contact: admin@convertech.com

Want to Save New Jersey's Manufacturing Jobs?

On Wed., Jan. 27, New Jersey Assemblyman Gary Schaer will host a Manufacturers Roundtable at Bergan Community College in Lyndhurst. Convertech will be there because we believe all of NJ’s manufacturers need to emphasize the importance of bringing manufacturing and machinist training back to our middle schools and high schools.

Raising our voices to our elected officials will determine how seriously the State of New Jersey views this issue, which is vital to all manufacturers, our State, and our students. Please click on this link to register for this free event and join us. Together, we can make a difference.

Want to learn more about this vital issue? Click here.

The Report of Manufacturing’s Death Was an Exaggeration

Larry Taitel, President of Convertech, Inc., and Dr. John W. Kennedy, CEO of NJMEP, are remaining outspoken advocates of State-supported educational opportunities for students interested in machining in New Jersey, home to 11,000 manufacturers. The two recently addressed the latest findings of the ASQ 2016 Manufacturing Outlook Survey, which reported that an increasing number of manufacturers now struggle to find qualified applicants for open positions.

“The long-term threat to manufacturing is real and has even become part of our current presidential candidates’ conversations,” said Taitel. “I was not surprised to read that 51% of respondents to the ASQ survey said that lack of qualified applicants is their greatest hurdle when hiring for vacant positions. This response marked a drastic 44% increase over 2011, when ASQ last surveyed manufacturers about hiring challenges. According to the more recent data, 25% of respondents said their biggest challenge is the time it takes to hire a new employee. At Convertech, we have marked this trend for years. In 2008, we spent the equivalent of an average employee’s full year’s salary just seeking qualified machinists. Year over year, the lack of qualified applicants grows worse, and the cause is clear: Our schools ceased offering basic hands-on skills training. They closed their metal workshops and vo-tech programs, reducing the opportunities that young people have when considering their career paths.

“I continue to meet with fellow manufacturers in our State who echo these experiences,” said Taitel. “Manufacturers can neither sit back and allow this to happen nor wait for someone else to fix the problem. We have to fix it ourselves by imparting to our elected officials and school’s curriculum decision makers how important skills training is to our students, our manufacturers, and our State. We’re looking for New Jersey to support apprenticeships and get us back on track for everyone’s sake.”

“We’ve been hearing that ‘manufacturing is dead’ in the U.S. for over three decades,” said Kennedy. “The big problem is that statement was never even close to being true. Yes, it has changed, evolved, even become more efficient, but never has it been close to dead. In fact, the U.S. Manufacturing Industry remains rated as having the highest quality in the world, and taken by itself it would be the 9th largest economy in the world. That isn’t dead.

“What has this misinformation brought to this key sector?” Kennedy asked. “I’d say a lack of respect, and an even larger shortage of qualified individuals following this career path. There are no more Industrial Arts (Shop) Programs in our ‘regular’ schools, and there are additional gaps in our engineering and high-tech programs. Now, as industries are poised for another growth spurt, companies cannot find qualified people.

“The average pay is more than other industries,” Kennedy continued. “Job security is positive. The chance for growth is solid. What is the answer? No single answer will solve a situation driven by 30+ years of a ‘premature death knell’. What we need is a multi-faceted plan that puts in place a structure that works on all levels, and that includes expanding current efforts in technical training and apprenticeships to assist in filling today’s needs. It also needs to include the understanding that all education is great, and much of it is vocational in nature. It all leads to a better, more fulfilling life.

“So it’s up to us,” Kennedy continued. “Those of us who have spent our lives in this amazing industry must make sure that we pass the word along to all who will listen to help ensure our future. That includes leaving our comfort zone and letting those that represent us know that we are here to stay as an active, productive part of our communities.”

Taitel said he plans to begin meeting with New Jersey elected officials in early 2016 to address the issue. “The more voices addressing this problem, the sooner we can begin to see changes,” he said.

Respondents to the ASQ 2016 Manufacturing Outlook Survey represent a multitude of industries. The ASQ 2016 Manufacturing Outlook survey was conducted online in November as part of World Quality Mont h and more than 900 manufacturing professionals responded to the survey.

About Convertech: Since 1978, Convertech has designed, manufactured and delivered the industry’s highest-quality air shafts and chucks. All products are custom built at Convertech’s 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in Wharton, New Jersey where they are then quality tested before being delivered.

About NJMEP: The New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. (NJMEP) is a unique organization whose mission is to help New Jersey Manufacturers (Small & Mid-Sized) compete in a global economy. For nearly two decades, the not-for profit company has been instrumental in helping companies become more efficient and profitable. NJMEP is one of 59 centers throughout the US that are part of the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The U.S. Congress created the MEP program, which is a part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a U.S. Department of Commerce agency, in 1988 to help U.S. manufacturers create and retain jobs, increase profits, and save time and money.

Contact: Clifford Meth, Director of Marketing, ph. 973-328-1850 email: cliff@convertech.com