Kris Lorch, an industry trailblazer and long-time champion of Connecticut manufacturing, passed away April 29 at the age of 73.
A memorial service is planned for June to celebrate the lives of both Kris and her late husband Fred Lorch, who died in 2020. The couple is survived by daughters Kathryn Hastings and Sabrina Lorch.
Manufacturing champion: Kris Lorch speaking at the state Capitol during Connecticut Business Day in 2011.
Kris Lorch joined Bridgeport manufacturer Alloy Engineering Company, Inc. in 1986, purchasing the company with Fred in 1998, and leading it as president.
Throughout her personal and professional life, Lorch always challenged the status quo.
“Quitting was not in her vocabulary, and taking ‘no’ for an answer was not in her genes,” CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima said.
“I first met Kris at a CBIA meeting when she was in her mid 60s and was instantly won over by a spitfire who delivered her thoughts with so much passion balanced by intelligence.”
Role Model
Kathy Saint, president and CEO of Bridgeport-based Schwerdtle Stamp Co., and a close friend of Lorch’s for over 25 years, agreed.
“Kris was fierce, she was tenacious, she was real,” Saint said.
“You knew exactly what you were getting when you talked to her, and at the same time she was one of the most kind, caring, thoughtful, and generous people I’ve ever met.”
“Kris was fierce, she was tenacious, she was real.”
Schwerdtle’s Kathy Saint
Saint said Lorch was a leader and role model for women in manufacturing, recalling first seeing her as she addressed a room full of men.
Once Lorch spoke, “all the men started taking her seriously,” Saint said.
Saint immediately reached out to Lorch and the two formed a close bond.
“We were always together,” she said.
Workforce Champion
Lorch was a fierce advocate for hiring young women in the manufacturing sector.
While parents were initially skeptical of their daughters entering into the industry, Lorch fought hard to convince parents to let their daughters enter manufacturing and STEM careers.
The reason, Saint said, is that Lorch “was too smart and too tough to settle for not driving for what she was interested in, and she wanted the same for other women.”
Saint said Lorch “was too smart and too tough to settle, and she wanted the same for other women.”
One of Lorch’s passions was invigorating Connecticut’s technical high school system.
In particular, she worked on developing curriculum, expanding the technical school manufacturing programs throughout the state, and ensuring that each school received proper government and private sector support.
“The teachers always loved her because she was always fighting for their programs,” Saint said.
Advocate
Lorch was a fixture at the state Capitol, participating in hearings and testifying whenever she could.
And when then Gov. Dannel Malloy attempted to shut down programs at the technical schools to merge them with the comprehensive high schools, Lorch “was one of the loudest voices fighting against that,” Saint said.
“She knew how good the jobs were,” she continued, “and she fought for the best of the best in the programs.”
“She knew how good the jobs were and she fought for the best of the best.”
Saint
She was instrumental in the launch of Southern Connecticut State University’s Materials and Manufacturing Summer Institute Program, working with high school STEM teachers each summer to help connect their educational material to real-world skills.
“At a time when there were no community college manufacturing programs and no formal regional workforce partnerships, Kris understood that the growth of Connecticut’s manufacturing workforce would rely heavily on the technical high schools,” DiPentima said.
“Kris invested much of her time, energy, and financial resources into making sure the technical schools flourished as a strong partner for the manufacturing industry.”
Collaboration
Lorch served on the advisory boards for technical manufacturing programs at Platt Tech, Emmet O’Brien, Bullard Havens, and Eli Whitney.
She was a staunch advocate for collaboration, and was one of the original voices in the the New Haven Manufacturers Association (now ManufactureCT), which brought together manufacturers from the New Haven and Bridgeport areas to share best practices.
Lorch also championed the Connecticut Manufacturers’ Collaborative.
“She pushed associations across the state to break down regional silos and help the Connecticut manufacturing community speak as one on the state level,” DiPentima said.
As part of Housatonic Community College’s Industry Advisory Board, Lorch played a key role in establishing the Advanced Manufacturing Center.
She also served on the boards of the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce, the Metal Manufacturers Education and Training Alliance, and ManufactureCT.
Trailblazer
In 2015, Kris Lorch and Saint were joint winners of the American Manufacturing Hall of Fame’s Leadership Award, recognized for “innovation, productivity, and sustainability.”
When asked about Lorch’s legacy, Saint had one word: trailblazer.
“As kind, caring, and generous as she was, the thing that stood out to everybody is that she was a fighter, and she was always fighting for other people,” she said.
“It was never about her. She had a successful company, and it wasn’t really about anything she needed.
“She led a life that will not be forgotten—no chance of that.”
CBIA’s Chris DiPentima
“She was always fighting for women and a woman’s place in the technical world and the world of manufacturing.
“I love her and I miss her, and I really hope that she’ll be remembered.”
DiPentima said Lorch “was passionate, energetic, intelligent, highly respected, and a champion among champions.”
“She will be missed,” he said, “but she led a life that will not be forgotten—no chance of that.”
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CBIA IS FIGHTING TO MAKE CONNECTICUT A TOP STATE FOR BUSINESS, JOBS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. A BETTER BUSINESS CLIMATE MEANS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR EVERYONE.
One of CBIA’s members is a large designer and manufacturer of fuel cell technology and fuel cell systems. This manufacturer approached CBIA to strategically supply natural gas for a 14.9MW power generation facility in Connecticut.
The client had an existing power purchase agreement with a major utility for electricity. The contract pricing for the power generated was predicated on the utility default price. The client was interested in learning if they could get a better value and wanted CBIA to analyze their current contract pricing and structure.
CBIA, in conjunction with our partner Usource, developed a model to compare a forecast of predicted utility rates in Southern Connecticut versus the overall natural gas market. We then issued a competitive request for proposal (RFP) to our vast base of suppliers. As part of the RFP process, the CBIA team evaluated various product types, focusing on daily versus monthly swing, and the associated gas daily adders. In addition, CBIA analyzed and presented different supplier responses to the client while explaining the contractual nuances of each supplier.
Through the competitive RFP process, and by identifying the right time to go to market, CBIA delivered approximately $767,000 in savings over a 14-month period to the client. The consumption of 825,000 Dth per year should result in a 15% savings for the client compared to their previous contract with the utility. In addition to the savings generated through the RFP process, the client was able to regain a significant portion of their $600,000 letter of credit when they left the utility.
In 2022, one of the world’s largest bakery franchises, with over 700 locations in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, opened its first United States location in Southwest Connecticut, with plans for expansion via franchising throughout the country.
Being new to the U.S., the company was not aware of the deregulated nature of some energy markets, including Connecticut. By providing an overview of the deregulated market structure, CBIA Energy Connections helped to educate the client on alternatives which considered the best and most cost effective option for each franchise. At the time, the standard offer rate from the utility was amongst the highest on record.
By monitoring the marketplace and soliciting bids from the majority of competitive suppliers and contrasting with the utility standard offer, CBIA Energy Connections was able to provide custom solutions for each franchise location which offered long term savings and a common end date for future aggregations.
In providing fixed price contracts for all the franchises, the client has been able to save in excess of $50,000 for all locations, enabling budget certainty in a volatile energy marketplace. In addition, the common end date will enable the member to participate in future CBIA Energy Connections group aggregations for additional savings.
Because CBIA is the premier business association in Connecticut, most of our members have their primary operations here. However, CBIA member companies that are headquartered elsewhere can also rely on CBIA Energy Connections as a trusted partner in energy to help manage procurement for their portfolio of operations, as we are licensed to operate in all the deregulated states.
An aerospace manufacturer who is headquartered out-of-state in a non-deregulated energy market, recently acquired four independent companies in Connecticut. Managing the nuances of energy procurement for these four new divisions, along with nearly a dozen other locations across North America, made for quite an arduous task for the company. Some of the Connecticut locations were finishing contracts at different times of year, and others were on the standard offer from the utility, which at that point was nearly $0.50/kWh. As such, the company needed help with a cohesive strategy to both save money and obtain budget certainty.
CBIA Energy Connections worked with the member to develop a strategy that incorporated bundling all four Connecticut locations under one contract. Said Ryan Shelby, CBIA Account Manager “Through this new contract, which contained staggered start dates per location per their legacy contracts, we were able to provide a new supply rate which was considerably lower than the utility standard offer. In addition, by aggregating all the usage across the locations, the company was able to get a far lower rate than if each location were entered into a supply contract on its own.”
In the first 12 months of this new multi-location contract alone, CBIA Energy Connections was able to save this member over $350,000.00 on electricity supply costs, at a time when utility rates were at their highest on record.
In addition to helping manage the supply rate, Energy Connections also identified that two of the four locations were paying sales tax on their electricity supply and delivery. By facilitating the submission of a tax-exemption form, the member was able to save an additional $20,000.00/year, as well as recover $8,000.00 in back taxes as an on-bill credit.
Lastly, in managing energy procurement across all Connecticut locations while providing industry expertise and periodic market updates used for budgetary planning, CBIA Energy Connections was able to free up significant time and effort for the member that would have been spent attempting to coordinate from 2,000 miles away, as headquarters had been doing up until then.
A franchisee of one of New England’s largest breakfast chains came to CBIA Energy Connections with plans for rapid expansion in Connecticut.
This CBIA member company was seeking to lock in a fixed price contract for long-term budget certainty in the midst of a rapidly escalating marketplace, but the company’s growth plans called for the acquisition of several new stores over a two-year period, nearly doubling their energy footprint. While many of the client’s existing electricity accounts bought electricity supply from local utilities, several of the new locations that the company was in process of acquiring were already under third-party agreements with multiple suppliers and various contract end dates.
Together with the member company’s chief financial officer, CBIA Energy Connections put together a schedule to be incorporated into a competitive supply request for proposal (RFP) containing multiple start dates for the 32 current and planned accounts. The RFP also called for additional flexibility via a provision to accommodate for unforeseen changes including the addition of new locations not yet identified, supporting the company’s longer-term growth vision.
This RFP was put out to six competitive suppliers and based on the results, the member selected the longest term available with a supplier who had both the lowest price and most flexible contract to accommodate the member’s expansion plans.
With this new flexible contract in place, the client was able to add ten new stores and eliminate two accounts which were closed, all while maintaining the same fixed contract supply rate and avoiding any early termination penalties. This was done at a time when both the competitive marketplace and local utilities saw an unprecedented rise in costs based upon the explosion of natural gas prices, a primary driver in electricity rates. As such, this customer was able to realize a savings of over $200,000 vs. the two-year average utility price.
The State of Connecticut exempts manufacturers from taxes on the sale of gas, electricity and heating fuel used directly in the fabrication or manufacturing of a product to be sold. This tax exemption can save manufacturers 6.35% on both their demand and supply purchases, yet it must be initiated with both the utility and supplier. When sales tax exemptions occurs, this line item is removed from the electricity or gas invoice and the company is credited.
In addition, manufacturers with SIC codes between 2000-3999 are eligible for a gross earnings tax credit of 8.5% for electricity, 5% for natural gas. This credit, which also must be requested, appears on utility bills as “manufacturer gross earnings tax credit.”
CBIA Energy Connections, the organization’s consultative electricity and natural gas procurement program, regularly performs audits of members’ invoices to ensure that all relevant tax exemptions are applied. According to Tom Guerra, Energy Connections’ VP of Operations, “Our consultants routinely discover situations where manufacturers are not receiving proper sales and/or gross earnings tax credits. In one instance, a very large manufacturer in Southern Connecticut was not receiving the gross receipts tax credit from their utility on their two largest electricity accounts.”
Based on this discovery, CBIA immediately contacted the utility, providing the necessary tax forms while requesting a retroactive refund on our member’s behalf to be paid for the maximum lookback period. This led to an investigation by the utility as to why the member was not receiving the credit.
Over the next two months, CBIA worked in conjunction with the utility’s senior management. Finally, it was determined that the member was in fact eligible for two years’ worth of gross earnings tax credits totaling over $136,000, which were ultimately paid over the next two billing cycles.
Guerra continues, “This happens more than one would realize. In another situation, we discovered that a mid-sized manufacturer who decided to take advantage of CBIA Energy Connections was paying sales tax to both the utility and their third-party supplier for their two electricity accounts. We questioned this and brought it to the attention of the member, who was unaware of the manufacturers’ sales tax exemption for energy. We then advised the member to complete the appropriate exemption form for each account, which were then submitted to both the utility and the supplier.” In this situation, the member received $65,000 in sales tax credits.
