PAD PRINT MACHINERY OF VERMONT JOINS FIELD STUDY PROGRAM
Vermont Facility Gives Students Taste of Modern Manufacturing
East Dorset, VT -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/24/2006 -- "Manufacturing isn’t what it used to be," smiled Julian Joffe, founder and president of Pad Print Machinery of Vermont. His company, along with other southern Vermont businesses, is taking part in a program that offers Burr & Burton Academy (BBA) students an opportunity to gain first hand knowledge of real-world commerce. "Young people setting goals for the future are quick to dismiss a manufacturing career," said Joffe. "Many of them have an image of a dark, noisy, smelly and dangerous workplace where the job is boring and the compensation limited," he continued, "but modern manufacturing, especially what we are doing here, is the polar opposite!" The well-designed Pad Print Machinery building is flooded with natural light and looks more like a modern office building than manufacturing facility.
"Naturally, when we learned of the BBA program, we wanted to be involved," Joffe said. "Most young people go from being students directly into the work environment—-the equivalent of an ice cold shower in August. We hope that in some small way we can make a contribution to our community by giving the younger generation an opportunity to experience the work place. By removing the shock factor, I am hoping we can give them a better chance at choosing a career that they will enjoy and, at the least, help them decide on a direction before they go to College and not after they graduate. I’m a perfect example," Joffe laughed, "I have a degree in Zoology, but Engineering is what I really love!"
Pad Print Machinery of Vermont’s first BBA Field Study student has just successfully completed a semester-long program that started last September. Scott Newman, Production Manager and ten-year Pad Print veteran, thinks the school’s field study program is an excellent idea. Along with the seven people he supervises, Newman was also responsible for field study student, Zach. "It was an enjoyable experience-he’s very quick to learn. Zach has a keen eye for detail which is really important in our industry," said Newman. Zach’s ‘final’ consisted of setting up a pad printing machine to do a specific job, choosing the right pads for the application, determining the proper color registrations, performing a test print and completing a production run. According to Newman, Zach aced it. "I would definitely recommend this program to any company," Newman said.
Burr & Burton Academy faculty member and Field Study Director, Tony Napolitano, says there are more than 100 area businesses that participate in the program. "Field Study is designed to give students an opportunity to receive part of their education within the larger community. It is not a job! It is a program in a different location, through a different process, and with teachers who are not in a school classroom but in the classroom of life," explained Napolitano. "Zach did a great job at Pad Print Machinery," he added enthusiastically.
About Pad Print Machinery of Vermont
Julian Joffe is the founder and president of Pad Print of Vermont. Although Joffe earned his degree in zoology, he had had a penchant for manufacturing as a result of the many hours he spent tinkering in his father’s workshop in South Africa as a youth. Upon graduation from University in 1976, he went to work in his father’s textile business and subsequently took over leadership of the company—-expanding the business to include pad printing. In 1981, citing strong philosophical differences with the apartheid government, Joffe moved his family to United States and, in 1985, embarked on an alliance with COMEC Italia. He founded COMEC USA in a pre-world war one building in Yonkers, NY.
Over the next ten years business flourished. However, Joffe began to feel the magnetism of the New England way of life beckon. In 1994, he could no longer resist the urge to live a simpler, more enriched lifestyle and moved to Vermont.
Pad Print Machinery of Vermont was born in what had been, during the fifties and sixties, the sole movie theater in picturesque Manchester, VT. As the company continued to grow in both number of employees and amount of machines being built at any given point in time, they began to suffer a terminal case of claustrophobia. A concerted search for an appropriately-sized facility in southern or central Vermont finally paid off and, in 2003, they moved into a new 22,500 square foot building located in East Dorset, Vermont just five miles north of the cramped quarters in the old theater.
The new airy and spacious hi-tech facility has a reception area, a large showroom, Machine Shop, Graphics Department, Plate Department, Ink Department, Sales Department, Shipping Department, and administrative offices. For many Pad Print employees, it has become a home away from home. The Pad Print team now comprises 32 highly-skilled and motivated individuals with an incredible sense of team spirit. Their experience in the pad printing industry is second to none.
Pad Print Machinery of Vermont’s newest pad printing machines have combined technologies from the latest innovations in mechanical engineering and electronics. These machines are servo controlled and are extremely fast, extremely precise, and extremely reliable. PPMoV has led the pad printing industry with such breakthrough innovations as the ability to print on medical devices as small as .01 inch to fully automated eight-color machines.
In pursuing the goal of perfection in Customer Service and Satisfaction, the company constantly pushes the edge of the envelope and discovers more and more ways to incorporate pad printing into the customer manufacturing process. They look forward to the next 100 years.
MEDIA CONTACT: pr@capcreative.com
COMPANY CONTACT: info@padprintmachinery.com or Call 800-272-7764
Vermont Company Gives Students Taste of Modern Manufacturing