Apprentice program to be offered at new Otto manufacturing center

Otto Engineering President Tom Roeser knows expanding and strengthening his Carpentersville company takes more than new real estate; it also requires an investment in his employees.

The village's largest employer recently acquired a tool and die business, bought a 30-acre property and now plans to build a 100,000-square-foot technology and manufacturing center at Carpenter Boulevard and Cleveland Avenue. The company's tooling, machining and stamping operations will be relocated there from its main campus less than a mile away at 2 E. Main St.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the new site, Roeser says, will be space for an apprentice program aimed at training young people for a career in the trades. Those jobs are essential for his manufacturing company, he said, which specializes in control panels, switches and joysticks.

"Otto is still a growing company, and it cannot grow without good employees," Roeser said. "The more we shine a light on this as a good job, the more it'll help everybody in the area."

Otto has several longtime tool and die employees expected to retire in the next decade, leaving Roeser in search of capable workers to take their place. Though the positions don't require a college degree, he said, it can take years of training to master the skills of a full-fledged machinist or a tool and die maker.

Despite Otto's advancement opportunities, Roeser said he's had difficulty finding young adults interested in such a job. In his experience, he said, students are often encouraged to attend college rather than pursue a career in the manufacturing industry, even if the latter would be a better fit.

The apprenticeship is intended to fight that stigma, Roeser said. "We've made people who don't go to college feel subpar," he said. "I can't change the world, but I know I need these kinds of (workers) to support my manufacturing operations. So I'm going to grow them."

In addition to providing apprentices with on-the-job training, Otto will take advantage of a training program offered through the Schaumburg-based Tooling and Manufacturing Association. Five employees take night classes there now, Roeser said, and two new hires are expected to begin next year.

"Having a local center for people coming out of high school or community colleges to do that is a real benefit for the community," said Patrick Burke, Carpentersville's economic development director. "It's an exciting project."

Otto also recently purchased Itasca-based Dies Plus, a family-run business that makes stamping tools, Roeser said. Its nine employees will relocate to the new Carpentersville facility.

Construction on the building is expected to begin this spring, with completion targeted for 2019.