Leahy On Wednesday Visits Windsor
To Announce $10 M. In Leahy/Jeffords-Secured Contracts
For Windsor-Based Companies

(WINDSOR, Vt.) Wednesday, March 22 -- U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) visited Windsor Wednesday to announce two multi-million-dollar contracts that he and U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) have secured for two Windsor firms, Seldon Laboratories and Olympic Precision Inc.  The contracts will lead to continued job growth in Windsor and will also formally launch a national center of excellence in Windsor that the U.S. Army will rely upon to foster advanced manufacturing methods.

During an announcement at the Windsor Town Hall, Leahy said Seldon Laboratories will use a new $7.5 million defense contract to continue the development of a state-of-the art water filtration system for the Air Force.  The second contract, worth $2.8 million, will be used to establish the National Center for Precision Manufacturing (CPM), a national center of excellence that the Army will depend upon to develop new manufacturing techniques.  Leahy and Jeffords secured the contracts in the Pentagon’s 2006 budget.

“Vermont’s economy is in the midst of a transformation, and here in Windsor, the birthplace of our state, two high-tech companies of the future are helping to lead the way forward,” said Leahy, a senior member of the Senate’s Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which handles the Senate’s work in writing the annual Defense Department budget bills.  “These firms, one specializing in a state-of-the art water filtration system, and the other establishing a prominent national center of excellence for the Army, are welcome assets in Windsor.  Both groups have made strong commitments to Windsor, and I am glad that the town is once again fast becoming a recognized epicenter of advanced manufacturing.”

"I am very excited about the development of this cutting-edge technology,” said Jeffords.  “Funding for these projects will continue the momentum towards Windsor's renaissance.  It's gratifying to see the technologies of tomorrow being developed and manufactured in a part of Vermont that has, in the past, played many prominent roles in precision manufacturing."

"Thanks to the tremendous and ongoing support of Senator Leahy and Senator Jeffords," said Alan G. Cummings, Seldon Laboratories CEO, "Seldon has brought 25 high-tech jobs to Windsor, advanced its technology to meet the needs of our military, and developed commercially viable products we plan to bring to market soon. This new funding will allow us to continue our growth and expand into new, exciting and important applications such the purification of air and fuel."

The CPM will open its doors on June 1, 2006, in new offices on Windsor’s north side.  The CPM will focus its activities on solving real problems for the Department of Defense with modern, state-of-the-art equivalents of traditional metal cutting and machine tool industry techniques.  Among other outreach activities, the CPM will house a strong education component offering courses and apprenticeship opportunities in precision manufacturing.

“We plan to hire 30 people into the Center within the first 24 months, and to contract with Upper Valley businesses for an equal number of people,” says Robert Colman, President of Olympic Precision, which will manage the CPM.  “Part of our responsibility is job creation.  Our goal here is to raise the tide — and the town of Windsor, the state of Vermont, and the Upper Valley will all benefit.”

The Center for Precision Manufacturing will occupy offices on Route 5 north in Windsor while a permanent facility is being built at 133-137 Main Street in the heart of Windsor’s designated downtown.  The permanent facility, a $6 million, 40,000 square foot building with state-of-the-art precision laboratories, is being designed by Truex Cullins and Partners of Burlington.  The center will occupy the lower two floors of the four-story facility.  The top two floors will be occupied by Center for Precision Manufacturing partner businesses.  The facility is scheduled to be ready for occupancy by July 2007.
 
The three-acre building site will also include restoration of an historic building and a 1930s-era diner.  Francis ‘Tug’ Wilson of WTC LLC, the local company that is developing the building, has said, “Our goal is to work with the local business owners, the town, the state, and all other interested parties to ensure that the WTC complex is a major asset to the future of Windsor.”

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