On the machining floor of EDAC Technologies in Newington, Peter Gould, 54, operates a computer-numeric controlled vertical turning lathe. The company primarily manufactures aerospace parts, and Gould is programming his machine to shape a rotor that will be used in an airplane turbo-fan engine.
Halfway across the state at Kocheck Co. LLC in Putnam, Matt Streich, 30, operates a computer-numeric controlled quick-turn single spindle lathe. Kocheck Co. specializes in making fire equipment products such as nozzles, adapters, and couplings for hoses and hydrants, and Streich programs the machine to shape a metal piece that will eventually be used as a valve.
Both men work efficiently, determinedly, as if something more than quality control is riding on the production of that particular part. And there is. They are former state prison inmates, and one year ago were among the first to graduate from Asnuntuck Community College in Enfield with advanced manufacturing certificates under the federal Second Chance Pell program.
