Prototek CEO

Bill Bonadio

‘The company was founded here in Contoocook, NH, and we’re very proud to be here,’ says Prototek CEO Bill Bonadio. ‘We want to continue to be part of that community, so we see really big opportunities for us to continue to grow.’

Founded in 1987 in Contoocook, NH, Prototek is a digital manufacturing service bureau offering low-volume production and prototyping with services such as 3D printing, machining, sheet metal welding and assembly, and much more. Bill Bonadio initially joined the company as CEO in 2023, bringing with him a breadth of machining knowledge from such firms as the Boeing Company and Danaher. Prototek marks the second small manufacturing company he’s joined as CEO, where he’s working diligently to develop a nationwide brand into one cohesive culture.

Q. How are you overcoming workforce challenges?

A. What we’re really talking about is a national problem, and it’s a shortage of people that have the skills and the fortitude to want to do this kind of work. Here in New Hampshire, the unemployment rate is exceptionally low. So, there’s not a lot of people looking for work. And to have people move here, there’s also housing. You need a lot more housing than we have.

What we find is we’ve got to train our own people, and we consider workforce planning. So, when we have people come in here, we do what we can to retain them, to inspire them to be here, but also to give them opportunities to learn new skills and train them. Whether it’s sending them to schools or getting a mentorship program going here in place and learn as you go.

And that’s not always easy.

But in the long run, that’s beneficial for everyone to have a more trained workforce that can handle multiple types of jobs and help you keep growing.

Q. Prototek recently announced new mergers. Can you share more about that?

A. Prototek acquired several companies in different places around the country. We have facilities in California, Wisconsin, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and they bring great benefits to us. We’ve added new capabilities such as 3D printing. We’ve added not only machine capability but also expanded our customer reach. Most importantly, we’ve added great people to the company. And that’s where we’re focused on right now: How do we go from five or six different branded companies to one company? It’s become a big change initiative for us to harness these opportunities that are now presented to us.

One of the things that I encouraged the team to do was create a culture club, and we took people from different sites and in different roles in the company; it wasn’t just leadership thinking around big thoughts. I asked them, what should the company’s values be? It’s trying to get people involved with setting the vision and the mission for the company. We’re all working towards the same goals — let’s do it together as a team.

Q. Are there initiatives you’re excited about?

A. We’re moving towards building better customer relationship management. If only customers could realize the other things we could do, we could be a bigger supplier for them, and that could be a source of growth for us, as well.

We’re also starting to look at things like artificial intelligence. How can we take the knowledge that we have and leverage it with automation and/or artificial intelligence? We have this inside knowledge of how we receive customer requests and requirements and then convert them into finished goods for them. That’s a great opportunity to take that type of data set, because artificial intelligence is only as smart as the data.

Q. How has digital manufacturing evolved over the past few years?

A. We’re seeing automation being brought to the factories. The supply chains are now changing as we go to more of a digital technology-based world. There’s more connectivity between the supply chain trying to drive efficiencies. We’re seeing it in that customer experience, and customers are demanding more seamless, easy-to-purchase experiences.

We need to be part of that evolution. If we don’t find ways to stay ahead of the technology curve, we’ll continue to fall behind. We’ll lose share and could become irrelevant.

Q. What are your managerial values?

A. You want to treat people fairly, and you want to be transparent, honest and fair. Those are important to me. I also want to be part of a team that wants to win. In the business world, there are people wanting to take your customers all the time. So, we have to stay competitive; we need that spirit of continuous improvement and wanting to serve our customers.

Maybe the technologies are changing and the way you compete is changing, but being willing to be innovative, being agile in how we do things, you certainly want to be delivering results with quality. There’s a certain amount of resilience that people need to have to see the job through.

Listen to the full interview at nhbr.com.