Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • April 22, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 17 hand- and power-tool maker Stanley Black & Decker unveiled its "Manu- factory 4.0'' innovation lab aimed at identifying and branding production technologies and processes meant to keep its global plants humming at peak efficiency while developing and refining its expansive line of existing and future products. Henkel is a Stan- ley partner in the Hartford lab. Also contributing to Hartford's growing "innovation hub'' offerings are local insurers like Nassau Re, The Hartford, Travelers Cos., and Hartford Steam Boiler and Insurance Co. Nassau Re, which bought the The Phoenix Cos. in 2016, launched an insurtech incubator downtown to pro- mote startups in the life, annuity and reinsurance sectors. Another technol- ogy accelerator — Hartford InsurTech Hub — operates out of Upward Hart- ford in downtown's Stilts Building, and is backed by major insurers The Hartford, Travelers and Cigna. Hartford Steam Boiler has focused on innovating a new internet-of- things (IoT) services business to help small to midsize companies prevent or reduce physical damage to their operations. Included, too, are a number of col- laborative spaces, like MakerSpaceCT, where aspiring entrepreneurs and others cluster to exchange ideas and leverage financial, human and other resources. "Sometimes these innovation hubs are just window dressing," said Scott Kirsner, CEO of Innovation Leader, a Boston media and research firm cen- tered on corporate innovation. "That's the worst-case scenario. People call it 'innovation theater,' '' However, Stanley Black & Decker, Kirsner said, is serious about its in- novation hub in downtown Hartford's One Constitution Plaza that also is home to the Stanley+TechStars Addi- tive Manufacturing Accelerator. That accelerator already has convinced several additive startups to stay and continue their technology and product development, and hiring, in Hartford. Innovation Leader recently listed the top 10 U.S. cities with large num- bers of innovation hubs. Atlanta leads with the most, followed by San Fran- cisco, epicenter of Silicon Valley, and Boston's Cambridge/Route 128 corridor, populated with a large number of biopharma and biotech startups, Kirsner said. Innovation Leader lacks an ac- curate global tally of tech centers/ labs. However, Boston and Silicon Valley count 50 or more, while New York City and London are in the 30-plus range, Kirsner said. Hartford may never compete with those larger cities, but it's at least trying to get into the game. However, Bloomberg did just rank Connecticut the fourth most innova- tive state in the country, based on its R&D intensity, productivity, tech- company density and concentration of STEM (science, technology, engineer- ing and math) jobs. "The trend for the coming five or 10 years is definitely more [tech centers] — but not in every city, just in those with enough concentrated academic and startup activity,'' Kirsner said. " … I don't know that Hartford is on that level yet. But it's an encouraging trend that there are some new ones." Inside R&D labs On April 11, Stanley Black & Decker drew a standing-room-only crowd of city and state officials, local dignitaries and company technologists to the debut of its Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence — "Manufactory 4.0," for short, named after founder Frederick Stanley's original "Bolt Manufactory.'' Housed in a former bank office space, Stanley's tech center evokes the hand- and power-tool maker's early 19th-cen- tury roots harnessing steam, electricity and other nascent innovations to trans- form Stanley into the $14 billion-revenue global producer it has become. Fifty Stanley technolo- gists are assigned to the center. Stanley Vice President of Industry 4.0 Sudhi Bangalore told the audience the company sees the fruits of the 23,000-square- foot tech center enabling it to stay ahead of competi- tors in product development and delivery. Another plus, he said, is that the beta pro- duction-efficiency data generated in the Hartford lab can be uploaded to improve output at almost any one of Stanley's some 100 global factories — 30 of which are in the U.S.; three in Connecticut. Stanley President and CEO James M. Loree framed the importance of Manu- factory 4.0, and not solely to Stanley's market ambitions. "We are living in an era," Loree said, "where the impact of technology has begun to exceed the ability of society to absorb the pace of change, and to succeed, companies and individuals need to be able to expand their capac- ity to absorb rapid change and adapt faster than ever before." Manufactory 4.0, he said, will ensure "our global workforce is prepared for this new world through upskilling and re-skilling efforts." Over at Henkel, the reasons for its OEM (Original Equipment Manufactur- ers) Technology Center are not as sweep- ing but no less ambitious, said engineer Bryan DesRoches, team leader in setting up the center and now its director. "We work with customers seeking adhesive applications … ,'' DesRoches said. "They come to us with a prob- lem they need solved. When we find a product works for a customer, we're not going to just give them a tube [of product] and say, 'good luck.' '' Henkel is more apt to seek not only a partial solution, but through research and pain-staking trial-and-error, to devise several options, including new ways for clients to handle their base materials and improve their produc- tion setups and methods. For instance, Henkel technologists, through decades of analyzing the chemical makeup of plastics, metals and other materials, can offer custom- ers alternative processes to gluing and binding such as 3D printing. This tech- nology atomizes plastics or metals into seamless durable aerospace and other intricately shaped industrial parts. Henkel's lab bristles with the latest layout design and technical gadgetry. The lab's modular layout eases the chore of setting up, disassembling and repositioning testing and work sta- tions. Overhead, metal tracks, power sockets and data ports enable equip- ment, like a six-axis robot arm, to be mounted to the ceiling. Several engi- neers work in Henkel's Rocky Hill lab. Video-conferencing capabilities, with a 360-degree camera, enable Henkel engineers to remotely conference with their counterparts at the company's two other labs in Shanghai, China, home to one of the world's largest adhesive plants, and in Dusseldorf, Germany. Whether customers or not, compa- nies that seek out its materials exper- tise offer up what Henkel craves most of all, DesRoches said. "Most of what comes through here would be growth opportunities,'' he said. "This is an offensive lab, not a defensive lab.'' CT is America's 4th most innovative state Bloomberg recently published its ranking of the U.S.' most innovative economies and Connecticut ranked fourth behind California, Massachusetts and Wash- ington. The rankings were based on six tech metrics. Here's how Connecticut ranked in each category. Metric Rank R&D intensity 8 Productivity 8 Tech-company density 8 STEM concentration 13 Sci./engineering degree holders 12 Patent activity 7 Source: Bloomberg's U.S. State Innovation Index Stanley Black & Decker VP Sudhi Bangalore (far left), Gov. Ned Lamont and Stanley CEO James Loree (second from right) at the debut of Stanley's new Hartford tech center. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED

• Cover