A Wired Scholarship totaling $50,000 enabled Advanced Interconnect Manufacturing Inc. to make an 11 percent increase in its permanent workforce to 88 employees and to improve productivity.

Since August 2006 the Rochester company has increased its on-time delivery by 15 percent, has realized a 20 percent improvement in productivity, and a 40 percent reduction in customer returns, says Christopher Bonacci, Vice President and General Manager of AIM.

These efficiencies came about because of training, which was made possible through a Wired scholarship that AIM received through RochesterWorks!

After experiencing decreasing sales last year due to some customers moving work to China and Canada, and after another major customer had production difficulties this year, AIM sought help from RochesterWorks! to continue improving and providing increased value to its customers.

"That requires continuous training and resources to keep evolving," Bonacci says. "Through training of all employees we've learned concepts of lean manufacturing
from Hart Innovative Solutions and Management Success Squared and how it applies to our manufacturing environment."

AIM continues to invest in training. In the past the company's management team has attended Professional Management Skills Training classes through RochesterWorks! and it is looking into additional leadership skills training for the future. Also, AIM is currently reviewing a proposal from Management Success Squared to train its Group Leaders to enhance their interpersonal and leadership skills.

"It is so important that businesses continue to invest in their workforce; over the years, we've seen businesses cut their training budgets when dollars get tight - the most successful ones know that this is the time when they need to invest more in training their key staff," says Claudia Burcke, Business Services Manager at RochesterWorks!

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