Edward Vitone

Edward Vitone, Donald Forster, and David Hobson plan to lease more than 35,000 square feet in what is now called the Putnam Place Business and Industrial Park and assemble large precision machinery.
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When fully operational, their company ­ PTI Manufacturing Corp. ­ will employ approximately 100 skilled crafts people earning in the range of $40,000 to $50,000, said Vitone, the company's CEO.

He said the first 10 employees already have been selected and all are former GE employees.

Vitone said the company expects to move into the facility next week and could begin putting the building's giant, 100-ton crane into operation for the first time since 1998.

He said the company would initially lease 15,000 square feet of manufacturing space and expects to more than double that amount when fully operational.
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Vitone headed the engineering and program management areas at GE; Forster managed a field sales staff, and Hobson was in charge of product service.
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"Putnam Place is perfect for us," Vitone said."There is a competitive and highly skilled workforce in the area, the building itself is wonderfully suited for the work we'll be doing, and the city has been very supportive of our efforts."

Vitone and his two partners also head Power Technology Incorporated (PTI), an engineering firm they established shortly before GE closed its doors.The engineering company now has 47 employees and is headquartered in Fitchburg with additional offices in New York and Pennsylvania.

Vitone said PTI's business model is to design machinery systems in its engineering company then build them at PTI Manufacturing Corp.The latter would source component parts from existing companies in the region, provide quality control and oversight, and then assemble and test the machinery in Putnam Place.

"We believe that in addition to building machinery to its own designs, PTI Manufacturing Corp. will be a cost effective alternative for other companies who have large equipment assembly needs," he said.

Program: Jay Sullivan introduced our guest speaker Ed Vitone.
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Ed was born in Clinton and graduated from Notre Dame Preparatory School here in Fitchburg.He graduated from Worchester Polytechnic Institute and worked for General Electric before starting his own company, Power Technologies.Ed gave a fascinating presentation about his climbing of Mt. Kilimanjaro.Ed's slides showed the incredible views he and his fellow hikers saw.They began their climb with the temperature at 100 degrees and reached the summit at below zero temperatures.Each day of the climb was paced with a shorter distance because of the reduction in oxygen.After days of climbing to the summit his group spent only 45 minutes taking photographs, but will always remember their sense of accomplishment.Although a poor country, the people of Tanzania were appreciative for that they have.Ed told us how the local children hoped only for pens or pencils for school.

Area Rotary Events: Friday, March 28, 2003, The Montachusett and Leominster Rotary Clubs are co-sponsoring an art auction at the Leominster Elks on North Main Street in Leominster.Proceeds will be donated to the Leominster Multi-Service Center.