North Central Sight Services Unveils New Product, New Jobs
Courtesy of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, September 20, 2007
By ANNA TELATOVICH
North Central Sight Services has added a new product to the list of items it can sell to the federal government, creating a minimum of eight new jobs for blind and visually impaired individuals.
“We have been working on this project for approximately 14 months,”
NCSS
president Robert B. Garrett said.
Recently the Skilcraft® USB flash drive project was added to the Federal Procurement list, he said. Two lines were added in a variety of capacities ranging from 512 megabytes to sixteen gigabytes. The encrypted line contains 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) software that meets the Federal Information Processing Standards.
Through the AbilityOne Program, previously known as the JWOD Program, “Americans who are blind or have severe disabilities” are provided employment “by orchestrating government purchases of products and services provided by nonprofit agencies employing such individuals,” according to the AbilityOne Web site.
What this means to
NCSS
“is that government departments and federal facilities that use this product are required to purchase it from our organization,” Garrett said in an e-mail.
While researching the project, Garrett said it was a challenge to find parts to assemble the drives on sight, at the
2121 Reach Road
facility.
“We can’t just purchase and repackage” items, he said. “We create labor.”
“We’re in a unique situation at a time when companies are looking to cut costs at every turn and eliminate as much labor as possible. Because of our mission, we look at jobs and see how many more jobs we can create,” Garrett said.
Before the item was made available to the government, more than 18,000 drives already were sold.
The income from the drives “covers the cost of operation” and wages and “the cost of operating a new facility is not cheap,” Garrett said. “Any additional funds go back into the programs that we provide in the community.”
Since the inception of
NCSS
in 1957, blind and visually impaired men and women have found employment through the organization. Garrett said the first jobs offered were “traditional blind jobs” like caning chairs and “manufacturing door mats from used tires.”
The modern-day need for USB flash drives is uplifting, Garrett said. The Skilcraft® USB flash drives are reusable portable data storage devices with data retention of 10+ years. They may eliminate disposable data storage methods such as paper and optical media.
“One of the real positive aspects of this project is that they’re more high tech, high quality and covers skill sets that can be done by many of our people,” he said.
The Skilcraft® USB flash drives are the newest addition to a list of products already sold by the nonprofit organization.
“We sell a variety of computer media,” Garrett said, which includes recordable compact discs, DVDs, data tapes, Zip drives and labels.
“They are sold to all channels of government,” he said. “We’ll sell flash drives to anyone, but the primary customer is the federal government markets.”
NCSS
also manufactures window coverings “sold to the
Commonwealth
of
Pennsylvania
, vending services, distribution of many other products” and targets to the government.
Providing outstanding customer service is necessary for
NCSS
employees.
“We must be competitive with our pricing. We must deliver on time and meet and exceed the quality that is expected from other commercial suppliers,” Garrett said.
The agency serves eight Central Pennsylvania Counties with rehabilitation services, Prevention of Blindness Services and employment. In 2007, North Central Sight Services, Inc. celebrated its 50th anniversary.
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