Westminster Tool President Earns the 2021 AMBA Mold Builder of the Year Award

Westminster Tool Inc. (Plainfield, Connecticut) announces that its founder and president, Ray Coombs, is the proud recipient of the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA, Indianapolis, Indiana) 2021 Mold Builder of the Year Award. This lifetime achievement award recognizes an individual who makes major strides for the moldmaking industry. Nominations consider that individual’s contributions to community outreach, technical education, talent development and advocacy for the advancement of the moldmaking industry. The award is sponsored by Progressive Components (Wauconda, Illinois) and includes a $5,000 scholarship grant to be given to an industry-related educational program of the recipient’s choice.

Ray Coombs worked tirelessly over the years to secure $20 million in funding for the first ever Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative in Connecticut, a program dedicated to educating, training and placing graduates who are new to the manufacturing industry. Working alongside EAMA (Eastern Advanced Manufacturing Alliance) and EWIB (Eastern Workforce Investment Board), Coombs helped to develop the curriculum and several pipeline programs ranging from machine operation to plastics.

“We’re well known for our community outreach, but like a lot of companies, we’ve had to improvise and change the way we connect with people,” says Coombs. Without open houses, company tours, workshops and job fairs, the company sought other digital and virtual ways to connect. This included launching a virtual company tour event and career overview campaign that used live video to showcase several of the career pathways Westminster Tool has to offer.

Community outreach also took a new direction as Coombs became inspired by the mission of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Coombs led the company to team up with EAMA to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month to collect donations and host its own NAMIWalks event. Together, the community raised over $10,000 in a single month.

Industry leaders from around the country gathered in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the AMBA Conference where this year’s theme focused on “Connections Reimagined.” In addition to being one of the first in-person industry events held since the pandemic’s beginning, this theme also captured how much has changed since this group last met. Like many of the AMBA members present, the pandemic has changed how companies do business.

As Westminster Tool looks to the future, the company continues to incorporate lessons learned from the last year: lessons on how to connect with the community, how to foster transparency and trust and how to adapt quickly to the industry’s most unpredictable obstacles.