Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1038326
60 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2018 we have a lot of younger people, and we have a bunch of people in the middle," Stepinski ex- plained. "It's a nice bell curve, as it should be. That's going to be our advantage long term. I think 5–10 years from now, you're going to see a lot more shops disappearing simply because there is nobody to run them." Management Plans The GreenSource master plan, therefore, does not simply stop with equipment. Exper- tise is required as well—sustainable exper- tise. After talking to a number of staff mem- bers, the master plan emerged based on five key pillars: • Invest in cutting edge equipment and processes • Make this facility cleaner and more capable than any other in the industry • Staff with high-caliber industry experts and motivate them to teach down • Select and train local area technical grads • Avoid industry tradition (what was), and concentrate on current knowledge (what is) Recruiting Processes Beautiful and rural as New Hampshire is, St- epinski sees the location as a potential disad- vantage. "The local population to choose from is small. What we'll try to do is make as many positions as possible virtual, so we can get tal- ented people from across the country. We de- signed the process so that it's not about touch- ing the panels; it's about analyzing the data and making a plan." Asked how he attracts talent to work at the GreenSource facility, he replies, "We recruit lo- cally. The plan is to hire four more young en- gineers fresh out of school this year. In on-site support, the experienced folks are always near retirement and don't want to move. The bur- den is on us to take in a group of new grads every year." To accomplish this goal, Whelen Engineer- ing—and GreenSource Fabrication—work closely with technical programs close to home, specifically the University of New Hampshire. Process engineers Cassie MacKinnon and Jacques Jalbert both found GreenSource by talking to Whelen reps at a UNH job fair. Jal- bert and MacKinnon have degrees in mechan- ical engineering, and both found the Green- Source facility compelling. "I came out for a plant tour and I kept think- ing, 'Wow, this is really cool!'" shared MacK- innon. "There were so many machines and we toured a bunch of different buildings here on the Whelen campus. The GreenSource facility was the last building we came to. The job was for CNC drilling…and I thought it was just the neatest thing…and that's the job I ended up getting. I was really happy with that." Jalbert added, "They were looking for peo- ple my senior year, mostly for the drills. I got Figure 2: Jacques Jalbert talks with the I-Connect007 team, and shares details on the AWP equipment he maintains at GreenSource Automation. Jalbert is a recent graduate of the University of New Hampshire.