Massachusetts Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Rosalin Acosta paid a visit to a local manufacturing plant Friday afternoon to announce a $48,000 grant award to train some of the company’s workers. MacDiarmid Precision Machining, located at 7 Perry Way in the city’s business park, will use the money to train 13 workers, and also expects to create five additional jobs by 2021. Last month the program awarded 84 grants totaling $7.48 million to companies to fund training for almost 6,000 workers across the state. The program is expected to create more than 1,100 new jobs over the next two years.
The grants will fund customized training for current and newly hired workers to promote job growth, retention, and increased opportunity for workers by enhancing businesses’ productivity and their ability to grow their business in Massachusetts. MacDiarmid focuses on creating parts for specialty equipment manufacturers in the semiconductor, medical, pharmaceutical, robotics and defense industries, among others. Jeffrey Pfeiffer, general manager for MacDiarmid, said the training will help the company achieve new aerospace industry certifications. “It will open more doors for us,” said Pfeiffer. “We’re excited about it.” After touring MacDiarmid’s 6,000-square-foot facility, Acosta discussed the importance of the state’s manufacturing industry, one that is still growing despite the rise of technology used in the manufacturing process.
“We are still seeing growth in manufacturing, and because Massachusetts is such an innovative economy, a lot of these companies are creating new prototypes,” said Acosta, pointing toward the rise of robotics in manufacturing. “The future is still bright for manufacturing in Massachusetts. I think there is a misconception that robots are going to take the jobs away, but here, they’re actually creating new parts for robots. So there is new work that is going to come from robotics and from automation.” She also emphasized the importance of training new workers to enter the industry, and in making sure workers’ skills are up to date. “So many people think manufacturing is dead, but it’s not,” said Acosta. “And now as we have more people retiring, who’s coming behind them to take those jobs? Other recipients in the grant program include James F. Mullen Company, a metal fabricator in Merrimac, which was awarded $112,730 to train 48 workers, and Mark Richey Woodworking and Design in Newburyport, which was awarded $159,650 to train 87 workers.