A Big Friday Shout-Out To Bel-Art in Pocomoke City !!

Local Manufacturing Co. Works To Spur Job Creation
By
Jennie Lee
POCOMOKE CITY, Md. - A local manufacturing company is working to build a business that they know will create jobs and help the local economy.

18 years ago, David Landsberger moved his company "Bel-Art Products" to the Eastern Shore. It's a manufacturing firm which makes plastic parts for scientific and medical use. "Our country was built on manufacturing jobs.

Manufacturing is the bedrock of America," he said. He moved his company to Pocomoke City from New Jersey after the state of Maryland, Delmarva Power and the city of Pocomoke offered him incentives he couldn't turn down.

He says industrial jobs can help an economy that's desperate for stability. "The tourism business is great, but it's seasonal. It creates a lot of stress on the government because a lot of the people who are involved in the tourism business wind up on unemployment in the winter," he said.

He goes further to say manufacturing offers more opportunity for advancement than retail. He's been working with local colleges to encourage students to build their careers here.

"I meet a lot of bright kids who want to get into manufacturing. They want to get jobs in either manufacturing engineering, or in tool making, or in some kind of steady job that has good benefits so that they know they can support their family. And they all keep saying to me they have to leave the Eastern Shore because they're no jobs here. They don't wTo ant to work in the chicken houses, they don't want to be a farmer and they don't want to work in the tourist business. They need to know that there are opportunities here," he said.

So he's pulling in people like Steven Ignaccolo, a student at Wor-Wic Community College, who's interning at Bel-Art. "I've been told by my school that there is a lot of manufacturing in the Salisbury area, but people do move off, so it would be nice if more people stay around," he said.

"To have a manufacturing base gives people an ability to earn their own living, raise their own family and lead a better life. I think that's important for the Eastern Shore," Landsberger said.

Bel-Art has a partnership with Wor-Wic Community College's manufacturing program. They are also working with other local community colleges including Delaware Tech, Eastern Shore Community College and Chesapeake College to push the "Tech Transfer" initiative. It's an effort to bring new technologies to the market.

For more information on Tech Transfer, click here.  For more information on Bel-Art, click here.

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