The future of precision manufacturing: More high-tech jobs

WGME CBS-13 TV News goes behind the scenes on the production floor of LAI International's precision contract-manufacturing facility in Scarborough, Maine.

Brad Rogers, reporter for WGME CBS-13 TV News, Portland, Maine, offers a preview of a special report on manufacturing, technology and skilled jobs scheduled for broadcast on the station’s news broadcast today and on www.WGME.com.

Rogers and the news crew were on location at LAI International’s Scarborough, Maine, production facility Dec. 15 to interview company leaders on the future of manufacturing.

Here’s a script of the news segment set for broadcast as it was being edited hours before the newscast:

((TAKE SHOT/JEFF)) WITH MAINE’S UNEMPLOYMENT RATE NOW AT SEVEN PERCENT— THOUSANDS OF MAINERS REMAIN IN NEED OF A JOB. GOOD EVENING AND THANKS FOR JOINING US TONIGHT FOR NEWS 13 LIVE AT FIVE-THIRTY. I’M JEFF PETERSON.

((ADDY ON CAM)) AND I’M ADRIENNE STEIN…. JOBS MOST IN DEMAND RIGHT NOW IN MAINE INCLUDE THOSE IN I-T, THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY AND HIGH TECH MANUFACTURING.

((OPEN/SURVIVING THE ECONOMY)) TONIGHT, NEWS 13′S BRAD ROGERS GOES INSIDE ONE OF MAINE’S TOP HIGH-TECH MANUFACTURERS, WHERE JOBS ARE IN HIGH DEMAND.

((TAKE PKG))
Tucked away in a corner of Scarborough is a manufacturing plant on the cutting edge of technology.  Here at LAI International’s largest plant, machinists use some of the latest high tech equipment on the market. Working with titanium and metals with a high nickle content, they manufacture precise parts, components and subassemblies for jet engines, power generators, defense systems and more.

Caliendo
“It’s really interesting stuff.  And they’re really high-paying jobs.”

LAI’s Chief Financial Officer, Vinnie Caliendo, says with their products in such high demand, he’s always hiring. Many hired are machinist students here at Southern Maine and Central Maine community colleges.

Caliendo
“If you’re under 35 and you’re working within this company, a good chunk of those people came through one of the two year programs at the schools. Really, really important.  We’d really like to drive that down into the high schools.”

Carey
“It’s a trade that is absolutely growing.”

Manufacturing manager Ed Carey says machinists getting two-year degrees in Maine also get a lot of expertise on high tech equipment.

Carey

“So the kids that are coming to us, and adults as well, are coming with more knowledge and understanding of the proper code that it takes to run a machine, and what the actual machine is doing.”

Brad Rogers Stand-up
“Forbes Magazine recently ranked Maine the worst state for business in the U.S., due in part to its poor forecast for job growth.  Vinnie Caliendo believes, at least when it comes to high tech jobs, that Maine is on the right track.”

Caliendo
“Because of what we’re doing in the educational system, we’re on the right path. It’s just a very, very, very slow boat.”

Maine’s mills used to manufacture and export all kinds of products, jobs now overseas. Caliendo says defense contractors and other original manufacturers prefer working with high tech companies in the U.S. to protect their designs from being copied overseas.

Caliendo
“The high tech manufacturing of the OEMs is not going to go overseas.”

Caliendo says these jobs are here to stay in Maine.  In Scarborough, Brad Rogers, News 13.

See the special broadcast news report on WGME CBS-13 TV News, Portland, Maine.

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