Brian Weinstein, President & CEO welcomes guests and talks a little about the history and the future of CHAPCO, a second generation high performance manufacturing company, the impact of bringing three sites together, and his aspirations for the future.
So first of all, I really want to thank everybody for being here. This support is frankly humbling, and I’m just really, really excited. I think we expected 60 or 70 people and we ended up with two or three times that, so this is awesome. And seeing this room filled with customers, vendors, partners, employees, friends, families, and members of the community really means a tremendous amount to all of us here at CHAPCO.
Today is more than a ribbon cutting; it’s really a milestone moment for CHAPCO. For those who may not know our story, CHAPCO is a second-generation family manufacturing business that started more than 60 years ago right up the road in Chester. At that time it was a small machine shop. Bob Weinstein, my father, purchased CHAPCO out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1987 with 12 employees. Legend has it he would sit out on the factory floor doing quotes on a card table while loading blanks into his punch press machine. So as you can see, we’ve certainly come a long way from those times. But he really instilled many of the great values that we depend on today and built a heck of a foundation that we continue to build on. So thank you, Bob.
We never talked much about me joining the family business; I never really wanted to have a career in manufacturing. But in 2000 I joined CHAPCO as an estimator. We all thought it was going to be for a very short period of time, and somehow I’ve lasted 26 years. So after 26 years, I still love coming to work every day, love being part of it. I love being part of the manufacturing ecosystem, and it truly has opened my eyes to how awesome manufacturing is and the many careers that it creates.
So here we are in this huge, beautiful building. And as you can see, we certainly are not filling up all the space; we have plenty of capacity. But this building really represents strategic and sustainable growth, and more importantly, it represents belief: belief in manufacturing in Connecticut, belief in American manufacturing, and belief in all the people who make this possible every day.
Over the past several years, we’ve made a conscious decision to invest in the future. We’ve invested in technology, equipment, systems, processes, and most important, people. We brought in new leadership, expanded our capabilities, and challenged ourselves to think bigger about what CHAPCO could become. This facility really is a physical reflection of that vision. Moving from three separate buildings in Chester into this 151,000-square-foot operation really gives us the opportunity to collaborate better, operate smarter, serve customers faster, and continue building a world-class manufacturing company right here in the Connecticut Valley. And did I mention we still do have a lot of capacity?
What excites me most about today is that it’s not a finish line; it’s really the starting line for the next chapter here at CHAPCO. We see tremendous opportunity ahead in defense, data centers, portable power, infection prevention and disinfection, aerospace, unattended retail, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. We’re investing because we believe the future of manufacturing is strong, and we intend for CHAPCO to be part of shaping that future.
But as proud as we are of this building, I hope what people remember most is the culture inside of it: a culture built on hard work, integrity, continuous improvement, and partnership. If you get a chance, look downstairs by the employee entrance; we finally now have the room. We put in a fitness facility, along with some fun and games. And please let me know if anyone beats the score of 31 on the basketball game.
But obviously, buildings and machines don’t create success; people do. So to our employees, thank you. This transition has required flexibility, patience, hard work, and certainly long hours. You all embraced the change and challenge and helped turn what was a massive undertaking into reality. The project included removing 650 linear feet of interior walls in this section. We epoxy-coated the entire first floor; painted every wall in the building, not one color, but they had to be painted two colors, with stars; relit the entire building; did the IT infrastructure; built warehouse and material racks; and redid the bathrooms, the cafeteria, etc., etc. All while also moving everything that you see in this building from three facilities in Chester, and all this while remaining in production and doing our best to satisfy our customers’ needs. So to say the least, I’m incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished.
To our customers, thank you for your trust. Many have been with us for a few years, some for decades. Your partnership has allowed us to grow, improve, and continue investing in the future. We are excited that what we manufacture for you truly makes a difference in the world, and we strive to make your lives easier.
To our customers, thank you for your trust. Many have been with us for a few years, some for decades. Your partnership has allowed us to grow, improve, and continue investing in the future. We are excited that what we manufacture for you truly makes a difference in the world, and we strive to make your lives easier.
To our future customers and those visiting CHAPCO for the first time, welcome. We hope today’s open house gives you a sense of who we are, what we do, and what we’re building here. Here we manufacture partnerships, not just parts. We truly value getting to know our customers and their business and associated needs. The machines are important, the building is quite impressive, but the reason customers stay with us year after year is because of the team standing here today. And if you leave thinking, “Hey, these guys seem like wonderful and competent people that we’d like to work with,” then we’ve accomplished what we set out to do today.
To our vendors and business partners, thank you for helping us build not just a facility, but a stronger company. And to our friends and local community, to Deep River, state and local leaders, thank you for supporting manufacturing. Manufacturing creates opportunity, it creates careers, it creates innovation, and it remains a critical part of the economic backbone of our region and our country.
And finally, thank you to my family. Thank you for the constant support through not only this super fun project, but always. It’s very much appreciated. We’re incredibly grateful to celebrate this day with you. Thank you for believing in us, thank you for being here, and thank you so much for being part of the next chapter of CHAPCO.
