Workers praised in latest round of business and    industry tours   

   AROOSTOOK COUNTY - Business and industry tours continue in advance of a new round of goal setting for the Mobilize Northern Maine initiative and one theme that keeps recurring is the quality of the Aroostook County workforce. Mobilize Northern Maine is a strategic planning effort being utilized by the Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP) to help focus economic development efforts.

   The latest business visits Thursday, Sept. 20 were held in the St. John Valley where staff of APP and Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) spoke with representatives from transportation, hospitality/tourism, health care and manufacturing.

   One stop was at Evergreen Manufacturing in St. David. The perfume bottling plant employs about 80 people and owner Jeff Albert had high praise for his core group of workers.

   "Our biggest asset is the people," said Albert.

Evergreen Manufacturing owner Jeff Albert had high praise for his core employees.

   "While speaking with Jeff it was clear to me that without his dedicated employees, his business would not be as successful," said Alain Ouellette, planning and development division director for NMDC. "Jeff repeated that message time and time again while we were there."

   Earlier in the day J.J. Roy of Ridgewood Estates, a 43-bed residential care facility in Madawaska, discussed his take on health care, but also used the opportunity to sing the praises of his staff.

   Although the driving force behind the business visits is to gain information for the Mobilize Northern Maine goal setting, which will be taking place over the next few months, the knowledge gained is valuable in other areas as well.

   "We have a world class workforce in Aroostook County and these tours have given proof to that, said Ryan Pelletier, director of economic and workforce development at NMDC. "My job is to work with these business leaders to ensure our education and training programs will meet their needs well into the future so these businesses can continue to grow, be successful and provide jobs."

   "It's amazing how many manufacturing firms in the County cite tremendous workers/work ethic as their discriminator or in some cases the very reason that they have remained in business," said Bob Dorsey, president of APP. "However, anecdotally, it's becoming a little more common to hear of concerns over some of the younger workers just entering the workforce with increased absenteeism and the apparent lack of motivation on the part of some. This was also noted in our last Business Retention and Expansion survey, although it was not clear which industry sector expressed the concern."

   The St. John Valley visit also included stops at R.F. Chamberland in St. Agatha, Aroostook Woodsmiths in Frenchville, and Acadia Inn which is currently under construction in Madawaska. Previous business visits included Smith and Wesson and Louisiana Pacific in the Houlton area, Maine Woods Company in Portage, Cam Manufacturing in Presque Isle and Daigle Oil Company and Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent, to name a few.

   APP is currently assembling a Mobilize Northern Maine goal setting team of subject matter experts, some of whom were involved in the original goal setting in 2009, to meet later this month. The goals, or targets, are projected new jobs in specified prioritized industry clusters, like renewable energy, information technology, manufacturing, etc.

   The reason for the goals reboot is simple. The 2010 census is now complete and available for analysis. When the original goals were determined they were based on 2007 estimates which were extrapolated from the 2000 census.

   More information about the Mobilize Northern Maine effot can be found at www.appme.org.