15 December 2013

PRESS RELEASE – Sherbrooke-based Atelier Poly-Teck, a company specialized in industrial subcontracting and manufacturing vinyl products and digitally printed laminated binders, has implemented a new job training program for individuals with social-adjustment problems.

The Plateau Développement-Compétences (PDC or job-training and skill-development program) aims at developing the know-how and personal skills needed for eventual integration into appropriate or regular employment.  The hands-on experience under this program enables participants to establish an employee profile to assist them in realistically planning their working careers.

It stands out as an innovative service in the Estrie region. According to Serge Sylvain, managing director of Atelier Poly-Teck, this is the first such program in the area to offer beneficiaries professional-skill-development objectives for a clientele removed from the labour market. “The services available under other programs,” he said, “are more upstream and tend to deal with such issues as rehabilitation and pre-employability.  Our platform is novel in that it offers a real work environment—with real production contracts—to enable participants to prepare for the possibility of successful integration into the labour market.”

Launched in September 2013, the program has recruited 15 future employee-trainees who work alongside Atelier Poly-Teck’s 80 regular employees.  The position of team leader was also created. This individual supervises the apprentices and their work methods jointly with a teacher from Centre St-Michel, where participants receive tailored training. Program participants primarily perform handling duties, notably packaging different products and computer recycling.

The project required an investment of nearly $45,000, with financial and technical supported provided by Sherbrooke Innopole and the Sherbrooke Corporation de développement économique communautaire (CDEC for community economic-development corporation) through funding from the Sherbrooke Social Economy Business Development Fund (FDES).

“Social-economy businesses like Atelier Poly-Teck are invaluable to our city,” stated Josée Fortin, executive director of Sherbrooke Innopole, “because they strengthen and vitalize its social, community, and economic fabric. Sherbrooke Innopole is proud to contribute to the development of this innovative platform conceived by a local business. Through efficient planning tailored to its clientele, the new service will have a positive impact on workforce availability in Sherbrooke. Moreover, Atelier Poly-Teck is an attractive supplier for locally based companies looking for industrial subcontracting services.”

Founded in Sherbrooke in 1961, Atelier Poly-Teck has a vast customer base across the province, in the United States, and in Europe that includes Canada Post, Loto-Québec, and Blueline. It operates out of a 30,000-square-foot facility on Léger St. in the Sherbrooke Regional Industrial Park.