Western Massachusetts Business News

1. Pilot Training Program Underway to Hone Manufacturing Skills

   Explore BusinessWest Oct 20 2017 Education , Manufacturing

   

   The Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, in partnership with Springfield Technical Community College and Training & Workforce Options, are piloting a Metrology & CNC Foundations training program. This eight-week, 160-hour, advanced-manufacturing training program, which started on Sept. 25, is training 12 laid-off workers in manufacturing skills in quality control utilizing micrometers, calipers, and coordinate measurement machinery. In addition, trainees will receive training in blueprint reading, shop mathematics, ISO 9001 and AS9100 quality systems, and basic CNC setup and operations.

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   Mentions: Springfield Technical Community College Springfield

2. Chicopee Uniroyal cleanup receives final EPA brownfields grants

   Explore masslive.com Oct 20 2017 Business Devlopment

   

   While city officials celebrated receiving three more grants to clean up the Uniroyal property, City Planner Lee Pouliot had some bad news as well. "We are not eligible for any more of the grants," he said. The three grants, each totaling $200,000, are the last the Uniroyal project will receive from the federal Environmental Protection Agency brownfields cleanup program. Other funding for the expensive job of removing hazardous waste such as asbestos and cancer-causing PBC's is not easy to find, Pouliot told the City Council as they formally accepted the grants. Over the years the city has mined ...

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   Mentions: Chicopee

3. Hampshire Council of Governments awarded $141,875 grant for thermal solar outreach

   Explore masslive.com Oct 20 2017

   

   Hampshire Council of Governments was recently awarded a $141,875 grant to reach out to area residents about using solar panels to heat their homes' hot water. The outreach campaigns is expected to continue through the spring, the council said in a press release. The grant was provided by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. "The campaign will seek to educate consumers on the benefits of a mature, well-established renewable energy technology that can help them save money on energy while reducing their carbon footprint," the council said in a statement.

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   Mentions: Amherst Northampton Clean Energy Center

4. CRRC sets ship date for first MBTA Orange Line demonstration cars

   Explore masslive.com Oct 19 2017 Manufacturing , Transportation

   

   CRRC, which is nearing completion on its 204,000-square-foot rail car factory in East Springfield, will ship the first four prototype Orange Line MBTA cars from China to Boston Nov. 18. The cars will leave via the Port of Shanghai and arrive at the Hub in December -- the first of the 404 Orange and Red line cars CRRC plans to build for the Boston-area subway in the next few years.

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   Mentions: Springfield

5. Any Amazon deal should require Western Massachusetts investment, says head of Economic Development Council

   Explore masslive.com Oct 19 2017 Business Devlopment

   

   Any Amazon tax and infrastructure incentive package from Massachusetts should require the internet retailing giant to make some investment in the western part of the state, says Richard K. Sullivan Jr., president and CEO of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. "So its not all about Suffolk Downs or about any of these other sites that are being discussed," Sullivan said Thursday in an interview. "It is a way to make sure there is some benefit from this project in Western Massachusetts. And you know what? it doesn't cost (the state) a thing."

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   Mentions: Governor Deval L. Patrick University of Massachusetts Springfield

6. 'Westmass Area Development Corporation has done a tremendous job on this project,' US Rep. Richard Neal says while touring Ludlow Mills complex

   Explore masslive.com Oct 19 2017 Business Devlopment

   

   The conversion of a formerly vacant mill building into 75 apartments for residents age 50 or older is "incredibly impressive," U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said after a recent tour of the sprawling Ludlow Mills complex.  "Westmass Area Development Corp. has done a tremendous job on this project and has shown what can be done to bring these old workspaces back to life," Neal said, referring to the regional not-for-profit industrial and business developer overseeing the multimillion-dollar transformation of the site between State Street and the Chicopee River.

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   Mentions: Springfield Chicopee Congressman Richard E. Neal

7. Laurie Flynn Named President and CEO at Link to Libraries

   Explore BusinessWest Oct 19 2017 Education

   

   Laurie Flynn says it’s not often that one gets to make their passion their profession. And it was the opportunity to do just that which prompted her to put aside a budding marketing business she co-founded a few years ago and become president and CEO of Link to Libraries (LTL), the decade-old nonprofit that, as the name suggests, puts books on the shelves of school libraries and other agencies and promotes childhood literacy on many levels.

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   Mentions: Springfield Balise Motor Sales

8. Elms College to Host Panel Discussion on Healthcare Innovation

   Explore BusinessWest Oct 19 2017

   

   Elms College will host a panel discussion on healthcare innovation on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m. in the Dooley College Center dining room annex. The panel, “Driving Change in the Business of Healthcare,” is presented as a collaboration between the college’s MBA program, Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and School of Nursing’s doctor of nursing practice program. The panelists — entrepreneurs and innovators in the business, technology, and clinical sides of healthcare — will share stories of innovating, changing, disrupting, enhancing, advancing, and problem solving in medical and healthcare settings. They will talk about their own paths to ...

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   Mentions: Baystate Health Chicopee Elms College

9. State awards workforce training grants for advanced manufacturing jobs to 8 Massachusetts organizations

   Explore masslive.com Oct 19 2017 Education , Manufacturing

   

   Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito appeared at Franklin County Technical School on Tuesday, where she awarded $1.33 million to eight workforce training organizations through the Advanced Manufacturing Training Program. The program focuses on reaching veterans, groups with chronically high unemployment, and other adults historically underrepresented in the manufacturing sector, and helps people gain marketable skills. The grants were awarded by the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development on behalf of the Governor's Workforce Skills Cabinet, building on $9.5 million in Workforce Skills Capital grants awarded earlier this year.

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   Mentions: Greenfield Community College Greenfield Dr. Robert L. Pura

10. Business leaders say enhanced rail service will boost industry and quality of life in Western Mass. & Connecticut

    Explore masslive.com Oct 18 2017 Transportation

    

    Ninety percent of business leaders in the bi-state Springfield and Hartford region say the soon-to-begin New Haven to Springfield CTrail commuter train service will benefit their enterprise. Many of those businesses, 41 percent, say the most important benefit will be to bring them the skilled workers they need. Nearly half, 49, percent said the service will benefit the region's quality-of-life. This is according to the Hartford New Haven Business Survey unveiled Wednesday by New England's Knowledge Corridor.

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    Mentions: Springfield Northampton Knowledge Corridor
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