Interns find LI factory jobs are challenging, not boring

Two seniors at West Islip High School recently got an introduction into what it’s like to work for a manufacturing company and drudgery is not what they found.

Robert Mineo and Christopher Palazzo spoke about their summer internships at Designatronics Inc. during the Manufacturing Day 2022 event at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Uniondale last Friday.

The 17-year-olds talked with their peers about using automation technology and proposing that a robot move materials within Designatronics’s Hicksville operation instead of an employee. The company produces gears, bearings, motors and other parts.

Mineo and Palazzo said they have concluded that modern factory work isn’t monotonous, dirty or dull. They said it offers careers that are fulfilling.

“It’s not just standing at a machine all day doing the same thing over and over again,” said Mineo, of Bay Shore, in an interview at the Designatronics’ booth near the museum entrance. “The work is very specialized. There’s a lot that you need to know,” he said.

Palazzo, of West Islip, agreed, adding, “I learned a lot of skills and problem-solving last summer that I wouldn’t have gotten by just going to high school.”

The teenagers were among several hundred participants at the four-hour event, which organizers said aims to showcase good-paying jobs offered by about 3,000 manufacturers on Long Island. Together, they employed 67,400 people in August, according to the state Department of Labor.

The average salary in the sector is $87,038 and there were more than 9,000 job openings in the past 12 months.

The positions run the gamut from assembly workers and engineers to laboratory technicians and sales people, said Ron Loveland, lead organizer of Manufacturing Day 2022 and president of the consulting firm Summit Safety & Efficiency Solutions in Northport.

He and others praised teachers and parents for encouraging young people to consider working in a factory instead of an office.

“You can make a great wage and a great career in manufacturing,” Loveland said in opening the event, which consisted of brief panel discussions and a trade show.

Derek Peterson, founder and CEO of Soter Technologies in Ronkonkoma, called on parents and teachers to endorse students' interest in factory work. 

"Your job is to simply inspire and encourage these young adults that they can become whatever they want to be," he said. "One of my biggest drivers in life is the fact that my teachers told me that I would not amount to anything. I was just too stupid to actually listen to them and I just wanted to prove them wrong."

Peterson's company develops computer software and hardware and is known for its anti-vaping sensors in schools. In 2020, he was recognized as one of the 50 most influential Black leaders in technology.

In Uniondale last week, Ethan Polley, a freshman at Suffolk County Community College, walked the trade-show floor to learn about what local factories make and how they use engineers.

“I’m looking for internships for the summer to expand my learning,” said Polley, 20, of Ronkonkoma.

Among the company representatives that he met was Daienna Edmonds, manager of global hiring at Precipart Corp., a maker of precision gears and mechanical components in Farmingdale.

“We want to begin a relationship with these young men and women, and then to nurture it,” she said.

Designatronics’ CEO Robert C. Kufner agreed, saying he hopes Mineo and Palazzo return next summer as interns. They earned $18 per hour last summer.

Kufner said he was impressed with Mineo’s proposal to use a robot to handle materials and wants him to implement his recommendations.

“We need young people like them in manufacturing on Long Island,” Kufner said.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.