Five years ago, Willington Nameplate, a Connecticut manufacturer of product labels and plates, did next to nothing to recommend itself to younger workers. The 50-year-old company’s workforce was on a slow march to retirement, with the average employee tenure at 17 years.

“Historically we would bring people in and put them in certain functions, and they would stay there until they screamed that they wanted out,” says Brett Greene, Willington’s general manager.

But as the family-owned company acquired three other players in the nameplate and labels sector, it realized it had to try harder. In came more big-name customers in automotive and aerospace, with more regulations and quality demands.

-The 18th China(Guangzhou)Int’l Fastener & Equipment Exhibition