Manufacturing in the North Country

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PRESS-REPUBLICAN in partnership with

Wednesday, November 18, 2020 • Plattsburgh, NY 12901

A look into maNufacturing in the north Country

RAMP program guides grads to professional heights By McKENZIE DELISLE Press-Republican

PLATTSBURGH — Area manufacturers have long cited trouble enlisting an A1 workforce and Coryer Staffing says it could be in the next generation. “I really believe the answer is in these high school graduates,” Chief Operating Officer and Founder David Coryer said. David first set foot in the staffing industry in the late 1990s and said the dilemma was a tale as old as time, saying he had heard, “these conversations for eons.” It was those that inspired he and wife Elizabeth GoerlitzCoryer, Coryer Staffing CEO and co-founder, to launch the RAMP by Coryer Staffing program in 2018. “It really has the capacity to improve just the overall pipeline of the workforce in our community,” she said.

THE STAFF OF IT The couple opened Coryer Staffing in 2016. The staffing agency now sits on Margaret Street in the City of Plattsburgh and has about 25 staffers of its own, including Payroll and Benefits Manager Andee Buksa, Lead Recruiter Jared Murphy and Direct Hire Recruiter Hillary Engstrom. “Everything we do here is really, in great part, due to our team,” Elizabeth said. The company set out to match the employees with the employers. “We help the people that we

Mckenzie delisle/staff photo Inside the Coryer Staffing work space on Margaret Street in the City of Plattsburgh. The staffing agency has about 25 employees. “We help the people that we meet with to find meaningful employment at these many companies that fit with their background, skills, experience and interests,” CEO and co-founder Elizabeth Goerlitz-Coryer said.

David said Coryer Staffing looked to offer an empathetic approach to those out on the FERTILE AREA job hunt. “We wanted to meet candidates where they (were),” he said. “We wanted people to understand that they weren’t just numbers in our data base. “We work really hard to customize our services so that we’re listening to that individual (and) we’re placing that individual within an opportunity in a company that is most appropriate for them.” The same went on the flip side, he said, adding that Coryer Staffing worked with companies to find the right fit for their needs, too. “The only way that we’re going to be able to grow and be more successful is if we help the community grow and be successful,” the founder said. McKENZIE DELISLE/STAFF PHOTO “If we’re helping these comElizabeth Goerlitz-Coryer and David Coryer stand in the lobby of their staffing agency Coryer Staffing. It panies hire the people they sits on Margaret Street in the City of Plattsburgh. The couple co-founded the business in 2016 and have need to be successful, then, not only are other companies since launched the RAMP by Coryer Staffing program as a way to get high school seniors prepped for going to see that this is a very manufacturing in the North Country. meet with to find meaningful employment at these many companies,” she explained, “that fit with their back-

ground, skills, experience and interests.”

fertile ground to start their company, but they’re going to choose the North Country over another area to grow.”

or “assembler” position title. “People don’t necessarily know what that means.”

RAMPING UP

While some might assume they wouldn’t qualify for such positions, others might have a skewed idea of what North Country manufacturing looked like, they thought. “One of the things that we’re doing with these high school seniors is educating them,” Elizabeth said, noting that some students still used the term, “Factory,” even though local plants were much brighter, cleaner and more organized than that term could suggest. “We want to help them have a better, clearer, more realistic understanding of what these jobs are, what these companies do and what it might look like for them.” And, David added, “Gone are the days of the dark and dingy factory.”

The pair described their RAMP program as “post graduate work experience training,” where fresh grads take a “ramp year” and get paid to work with partnering manufacturers, learning about the industry and available opportunities around the North Country. “Many of the client companies in our region have a difficult time attracting entrylevel employees to their ranks, mainly because, if you’re talking about the high school graduate cohort, a lot of these individuals — they don’t know what they don’t know,” David said. “They don’t know what they like. They don’t know what they don’t like.” And, he added, the young adults might not be initially drawn to a “material handler”

FIGHTING STIGMA

see ramp, page 3

Nova Bus and Prevost adjust to COVID reality, work NYC contracts By BEN WATSON Press-Republican

PLATTSBURGH — After dealing with the challenges of adjusting to the new COVID-19 landscape, bus manufacturer Nova Bus/Prevost has been able to get back on track for its 2020 production. “The biggest issue of course has been COVID-19 and just getting through all the stuff from March until now,” Nova Bus General Manager Greg Cody said. “The short-term focus has been working our way through that, and getting all of the proper protocols in place so that we protect our employees.” Nova Bus and Prevost are both part of Volvo Buses and both work out of a facility on Banker Road in the Town of Plattsburgh. Prevost focuses on commuter coach style buses while Nova Bus focuses on city transit-style buses, according to Cody, with the shared facil-

ity making primarily Nova Buses over Prevost buses at an approximate three-to-one split. Coming into 2020, the bus manufacturers were planning to increase capacity at the 120,000 square-foot plant, Cody said. While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused initial setbacks, Nova Bus/Prevost has been able to get back on track over the last few months. Employees of the transportation manufacturer were considered essential from the beginning, with the transportation industry deemed so, but a full return of employees did not occur until June, after safety protocols had been put in place. The company has added about 50 jobs in the last three or four months, Cody said, employing more than 350 people overall. The company managed to double production in the Pre-

CCC, CV-TEC talk training as COVID-19 pandemic continues

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vost line by October, according to Cody, with the Nova Bus production capacity expected to increase about 50 percent by the end of the year. Both increases are related to separate New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority contracts recently signed by Prevost and Nova Bus respectively. The Nova Bus deal included 165, 40-foot hybrid buses, the largest hybrid contract that the Plattsburgh plant had ever had, Cody said, as well as diesel buses.

BORDER CLOSURE This increase in production was somewhat hampered by the U.S.-Canada border closure to non-essential travel that has been in place since March. Nova Bus’ headquarters is in St. Eustache, Quebec while Prevost is headquartered in St. Claire, Quebec. see bus, page 3

KAYLA BREEN/P-R File PHOTO Nova Bus General Manager Greg Cody speaks in February about a new U.S. deal with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority during a press conference announcing the news at the Nova Bus facility located in the Town of Plattsburgh.

Monaghan Medical aims to use new facility to push company into future

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Georgia-Pacific rolls out toilet paper through the pandemic

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