Hartford Business Journal

18 Hartford Business Journal • September 17, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Gregory Seay gseay@HartfordBusiness.com I nside a downtown Hartford sky- scraper, legendary New Britain hand- and power-tool maker Stanley Black & Decker has set up a collaborative technology laboratory whose aim is to bottle in- novation lightning of all kinds. When it formally debuts as early as late October, the pilot Stanley Technol- ogy Center in One Constitution Plaza will house several hundred engineers, scientists, tinkerers and aspiring tech- entrepreneurs, each with a goal of devis- ing the next new commercial-industrial product or service, or improving produc- tion-line capabilities and efficiencies. Stanley Black & Decker has invested an undisclosed sum to lease and equip 23,000 square feet of second-floor office and research and development space that once housed Connecticut Bank & Trust and its successor, former Fleet Bank. The Stanley Technology Center is actually two innovation labs under one roof. On one side of the floor is the Stanley+Techstars Additive Manufac- turing Accelerator, a partnership with TechStars, a Colorado-based organi- zation that provides seed money and mentoring to aspiring tech startups. There, 10 chosen tech startups are pursuing proprietary research and development into products ranging from 3D-printed fashion fingernails and desktop 3D printing of custom shoe inserts, to medical and automo- tive parts using non-plastic, non-metal materials, such as silicone. On the opposite side of the floor, Stan- ley is installing its "Manufactory 4.0,'' a working test lab in which its engineers, metallurgists, data analysts and other technicians will conceive and test con- cepts for new products as well as more efficient and streamlined processes for its production workers and machinery. With both, company officials say, the global toolmaker wants to identify before its competitors, or anyone else, potential technology "disruptions'' to its business model, as well as new technology and market opportunities. With Stanley tech researchers work- ing to refine its products and produc- tion processes alongside pioneering third-party research and develop- ment, the New Britain manufacturer is exploring a vision far beyond what happens on the factory floor today. Among the questions and issues the Stanley Technology Center will explore, according to Mark Maybury, the company's chief technology officer, are: How is manufacturing going to be done? By whom will it be done? And why will it be done? "The stake is economic," he said. "The stake is social, so we have jobs for our youth." Innovative roots Though new, the Manufactory recalls Stanley's rich, 175-year history when brothers Frederick and William started out producing housing trim and door locksets, making New Britain their world headquarters and burnishing its "Hardware City'' reputation. Stanley, too, was known for innovation, like when it bought and installed Connecticut's first steam engine to power its production. Today, nothing like the Manufactory 4.0 and Stanley+Techstars accelera- tor exists under one roof in America, Maybury said. "You can think of [Hartford] as a facto- ry,'' he said. "A factory for talent. A factory for innovation. A factory for economic development … even quality of life.'' As important, its Hartford presence raises Connecticut's manufacturing- technology profile against innovation competitors based in Boston and New York, Maybury said. As home to the Stanley Technology Center, Hartford will serve as a Stan- ley "lighthouse," producing a "beacon'' into how Stanley does manufacturing in the future, he said. To that end, Hartford was a rela- tively logical choice to house the tech center, Stanley officials said. Increas- ingly, urban centers like Hartford are magnets for students, skilled workers and professionals — all potential labor sources for Stanley and the Techstars accelerator startups. Also, the center is located near a shared, collaborative "makerspace" where manufacturing-technology in- novators can devise and test drive new equipment and processes. An incubator While Stanley continues to out- Tech Innovation Stanley Black & Decker's downtown tech center a beacon into U.S. manufacturing's future Trevor Smale, of Canada-based Structur3D Printing, with a 3D prototype printed from silicone, rather than plastic or metal. Silicone-based commercial and household parts and components and medical implants could someday be routine, Structur3D founder Charles Mire says. (Left) Mark Maybury, Stanley Black and Decker's chief technology officer, and Tim Perra, vice president of communications, in Stanley's Manufactory 4.0 facility within the new Stanley Technology Center, which opens this fall in One Constitution Plaza. HBJ PHOTOS | STEVE LASCHEVER (Top) David Miro Llopis, left, and Jooyeon Song, both with Mani.Me. (Bottom) Structur3D CEO Charles Mire.

• Cover