Checon Awarded Training Grant

NORTH ATTLEBORO – A $109,990 training grant was delivered to Checon Corp. today by the state Director of Workforce Development Suzanne Bump. “This is really a celebration of partnerships,” she said. “It shows how businesses and state and local governments work together to reach goals of economic prosperity.”

The state grant, provided by the Department of Workforce Development, was awarded to Checon to train all of its 108 employees in methods of “lean manufacturing,” which are designed to make the company more efficient. The training will focus on reducing waste and inefficiency in order to cut inventory by 50 percent and lead time by 75 percent.

Allen Conaway, president of Checon Corp., which makes electric contacts, said the state grant will be matched with about $120,000 of the company’s own money for the training program.

“As a small business, we have to do everything faster, better and more efficiently than our competitors,” Conaway said. “We’ve partnered very effectively with state and local government to thrive here in Massachusetts and this Workforce Training Fund grant is a great example of government moving at the speed of small business.” The grants are funded from a portion of the taxes that companies pay to the state for unemployment compensation.

Several other area manufacturers also received work force training grants, consisting of Innovative Spinal Technologies in Mansfield, V-Tron Electronics Corp. in Attleboro, and Vanguard Managed Solutions in Mansfield.