Post: Sep. 4, 2019
The weather was perfect this year for the Council of Industry annual Golf Outing. The event hosted 90 golfers from manufacturing companies and their associates at the beautiful historic Powelton Club in Newburgh. The event featured a lunch sponsored by Viking Industries and Cocktails followed by a light dinner sponsored by Packaging Technologies & Inspection (PTI).
This year there was a new option, we offered a scramble game for those who didn’t want the pressure of playing their own ball or preferred to avoid the ‘yellow ball’ stress. Of course, best-ball and yellow ball were also still options as well. Prizes for the games were made possible by the following sponsors: Closest to Pin – Pratt Whitney; Longest Drive – Elna Magnetics; Best Ball – Allendale Machinery, Yellow Ball – Package Pavement Co.
Participants received golf shirts with the CI logo donated by Direct Energy and there was a Hole-in-One, that a couple of people came close to winning, sponsored by Belfor Property Restoration. We would also like to thank all of our tee sponsors: Pratt Whitney; The Chazen Companies; Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, LLP; President Container Group; E.A. Morse; Bell Flavors & Fragrances; Barton and Loguidice, D.P.C.; Schatz Bearing Corp.; Orange Bank & Trust Company; Pawling Engineered Products; Central Hudson; Ethan Allen Workforce Solutions; Metallized Carbon Corp.; Harris Beach PLLC; Eastern Alloys, Inc.; JGS CPAs; TD Bank; and Ulster Savings Bank.
Winners of the best ball contest were: Mark Kastner, The Chazen Companies; Tom Gaffney, AFF Flanders; Ron Aberizk, Direct Energy Business; Al Lussier, Direct Energy Business. Winners of the yellow ball competition were: John Rickert, Craig Busby, JP Cheneski, and Chuck DelPriore of Pawling Engineered Products. Winners of the scramble were: Dylan Dembeck, Tom Weddell, Jarred Kaufman, Steven Drobysh from the Ulster Savings Bank foursome. Other winners were – woman’s longest drive: Stephanie Melick, Elna Magnetics; men’s longest drive: John Evans, Belfor Property Restoration; women’s Closest to the pin: Alicia Zito, Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Inc.
Post: May. 23, 2019
Pictured above: 2019 Manufacturing Champions (from left to right): Bryan Van Vliet, Robb Engle, Sonja Brown and Meghan Taylor
Each year the Council of Industry, the manufacturing association of the Hudson Valley, recognizes the individuals and organizations, who through vision, dedication, hard work, and tireless involvement have helped to overcome some of the many obstacles faced by manufacturers in the Hudson Valley community making it possible for manufacturers and their employees to prosper. On Friday, May 17th, the Council honored the 2019 Manufacturing Champions at a breakfast held at the Powelton Club in Newburgh, NY. The Council of Industry was proud to honor Meghan Taylor, Director of the Mid-Hudson Region at the Empire State Development Corporation for the public sector; Robb Engle, Vice President of Engineering at Sono-Tek Corporation for the private sector; Bryan Van Vliet, technology teacher at Saugerties High School as the educator champion; and the organizational award went to the Workforce Development Institute (WDI).
This is the twelfth year the Council of Industry has held the Manufacturing Champion Awards and several past Champions were in attendance at the sold-out event. In addition to manufacturers and associate members, students and officials from the Saugerties School district were on hand to celebrate Bryan Van Vliet, the educator champion. There was a record crowd of 190 attendees there to honor the award recipients. The crowd was moved by the speeches and enthusiasm of the champions, making it obvious as to why they were chosen.
The private sector champion, Meghan Taylor, was introduced by the Operations Manager of Middletown’s Pratt & Whitney Advanced Coating Technologies, John Yelle. Meghan has been responsible for guiding and managing ESD’s Mid-Hudson Regional Office and Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative within the seven County Region. She secures state investments that leverage significant private investment for a variety of projects that contribute to economic growth and job creation in the Mid-Hudson region. Meghan has paid particular attention to the Region’s manufacturers ensuring that advanced manufacturing is a priority industry for the REDC and working to bring resources to bear to assist their growth and expansion. Meghan has over a decade of leadership experience in economic development. Prior to joining ESD, she served as President of the Putnam County Economic Development Corporation and Director of Business Attraction at the Orange County Partnership. Meghan holds a Master of Business Administration from Mount Saint Mary College and a Bachelor of Finance from SUNY Binghamton.
Steve Harshbarger, President of Sono-Tek Corporation introduced Robb Engle who accepted the private sector award. Robb created the Sono-Tek Service Department and led the development of key products in his leadership role of Sono-Tek’s engineering resources. Robb has recently been at the forefront of implanting an automated, software driven system that autonomously creates and prioritizes work orders for every workstation on the manufacturing floor. This system has increased the accuracy and efficiency of every work center by 10-20% and eliminated 10-20 hours per week of work order processing and another 20-40 hours per week of sales order product analysis. In addition, Robb has spent many years volunteering his time at SUNY New Paltz, Marlboro, and other local High schools and with the Hudson Valley Pathways Academy. Rob has been a mentor to the next generation workforce and helped guide many students on their path towards STEM careers.
The educator champion award was presented to Bryan Van Vliet by President of Elna Magnetics, Joe Ferraro. Bryan has developed programs for his technology students that are not only interesting and educational but prepare them for the future workforce. He has arranged plant tours at local manufacturing facilities, and he includes a diverse set of projects that vary from gardening to 3D printing to writing computer programs to control a trackless train. He has also coached teams in VEX robotics and SeaPerch at both junior and senior high levels. This is his fourth year teaching at Saugerties Junior-Senior High School, and he currently teaches Tech 8, Advanced Manufacturing & 3D Printing, and Computer Aided Design. Bryan’s two high school classes are offered through SUNY Ulster (he is a Collegian Instructor) where students receive up to nine college credits for CAD 101, 102 and 103.
The Workforce Development Institute is the organization champion for their work in identifying targeted strategies that address workforce development opportunities and challenges. These strategies can include partnerships, training and/or funding. Their strength is their ability to identify trends, quickly fill gaps not covered by other programs, and then move successful programs throughout the state. Manufacturing companies are retooling/retrenching and making investments in product innovation, equipment, facilities, and the workforce. WDI believes a healthy manufacturing base is a key driver to grow the rest of the economy and they’re interested in seeing the new jobs of manufacturing – with solid wages and career trajectories – come to NYS. That award was presented by Council of Industry President Harold King.
This event was made possible by generous sponsorships from Central Hudson; Global Foundries; The Chazen Companies; Viking Industries; The Affinity Group; Elna Magnetics; and Allendale Machinery Systems. The next event on the Council calendar is our Annual Golf Outing on August 26 which will also be held at the Powelton Club. For details or to become a sponsor go to www.councilofindustry.org/event-seminar/golf-outing/
Post: Dec. 19, 2018
This year’s Annual Luncheon & Member/ Associate Member Expo was our largest ever. With 300 people in attendance, 26 expo booths and 24 certificate recipients all at the spectacular Grandview in Poughkeepsie, it was an event to remember. E.J. Mc Mahon from The Empire Center for Public Policy presented those in attendance with a lot to think about relating to the 2019 New York State legislative session, budget, and the new federal tax law. This event was made possible thanks to the following generous sponsors: Allendale Machinery Systems; Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, LLP; The Chazen Companies; Fair-Rite Products Corp.; M & T Bank; Package Pavement; Think Dutchess Alliance or Business.
The Expo was a great mix of manufacturers and the companies that offer products and services to support them. Allendale Machinery Systems brought a robot that played chess and a 3D printer that printed the chess pieces. There were tables with packaging, printing, testing, HVAC, compressed air, carbon and graphite machine parts, high speed internet, restoration specialists, janitorial supplies and a variety of accounting, law, and banking professionals and many more.
The Luncheon was kicked off with a Council of Industry year in review slide show presented by Harold King, CI President. Following this recap Virginia Stoeffel, Dean of Community Services & Special Programs at Dutchess Community College and Rebecca Mazin, Recruit Right and Leadership Instructor assisted Alison Butler, CI Director of Member Programs & Services in presenting the recipients with their Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership. In 2018, the Council ran this supervisor training at DCC and Rockland Community College, with a total of 32 people completing the program, 24 of whom were at the luncheon.
After the lunch, E.J. McMahon, Founder and Research Director for The Empire Center addressed the crowd with his insight regarding the changes that will take place at the state government level in 2019 and what impact they may have economically. McMahon looked at the employment growth in New York State comparing upstate vs. downstate, migration trends which show a net domestic loss of over 1 million people since 2010 and Governor Cuomo’s budget for 2019. McMahon also explained how the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act will change income taxes and how the Employer Compensation Expensive Tax would affect companies in New York State.
The event drew to a close with reminders that there is still time to register for the 2019 Certificate in Manufacturing Leadership at Dutchess Community College and one more thank you to the sponsors: Allendale Machinery Systems; Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, LLP; The Chazen Companies; Fair-Rite Products Corp.; M & T Bank; Package Pavement; Think Dutchess.
Post: Sep. 5, 2018
On August 27th the Council of Industry held it’s annual Golf Outing at the Powelton Club in Newburgh, NY. The weather was hot but not brutally hot and the event was well attended with 71 golfers. The event is made possible because of our generous sponsors. The Reis Group sponsored the picnic lunch before the event, Allendale Machinery Systems sponsored the car for the Hole-in-One that did not have a winner but several that came very close. BELFOR Property Restoration sponsored the delicious cocktails and dinner after the event.
Direct Energy provided fabulous golf shirts for all participants and prizes were sponsored by Eastern Alloys, Elna Magnetics, and Metallized Carbon. Winners of those prizes were:
- Longest Drive Women and Closest to the Pin Women – Debra Sherman, Fair-Rite Products Corp.
- Longest Drive Men – Stephen Brown, Bleakley, Platt & Schmidt, LLP
- Closest to the Pin Men – Antonio Vinciguerra, TD Bank
- 1st Place Yellow Ball – The Reis Group Foursome
- 1st Place Best Ball and Council Cup Winners – Pawling Engineered Products Foursome (pictured above)
The Council would also like to thank the following Tee Sign Sponsors for their generosity: Barton & Loguidice, D.P.C., Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Inc., Blaser Swisslube, Inc., Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, LLP, The Chazen Companies, Ethan Allen Workforce Solutions, Gillette Creamery, Judelson, Giordano & Siegel, CPA, PC, Package Pavement Co., Pawling Corp., Pawling Engineered Products, Inc., President Container Group, Schatz Bearing Corp, TD Bank, Viking Industries
