Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/469102
14 2015 Economic Forecast www.wbjournal.com Worcester Business Journal manufac turing & technology A t t o r n e y s & B u s i n e s s A d v i s o r s W W W . D A R R O W E V E R E T T . C O M P R O V I D E N C E | B O S T O N | W O R C E S T E R | S O U T H C O A S T deal·mak·ers ˈdēlˌmākər/ noun 1. (See DarrowEverett L L P) Productions Revelation Creative & Technical Event Services Revelation Productions offers brilliant technical and creative services that are seamlessly orchestrated, resulting in an exceptional event for you and your audience. • Audio & Video Services • Lighting & Decor • Event Management • Scenic Design & Staging www.revprod.com 14388_WBJ_4.3x6_Ad.indd 1 10/9/14 9:57 AM "That is still an issue and is going to be an issue," Healy said. Bergstrom added: "I have seen companies buy machines and then sell them because they could not find an operator." One solution for the area's workforce woes comes in the form of relatively inexpensive, online training, said Bergstrom, who helps run a retraining program at WPI. "The trend is going to be virtual training and online training," Bergstrom said. Manufacturers tap into the innovation economy With the continued emphasis on the inno- vation economy in Massachusetts, specific manufac- turing efforts will play an important role. To bring a product to market, someone needs to make it, Bergstrom said, and the process relies strongly on small, innovative manufacturing companies. "I think it has to," Bergstrom said. "Almost all of the manufacturing companies in Massachusetts are small manufacturing companies." Central Massachusetts is an ideal place for startup or focused extensions of current manufacturing efforts, he added. Portions of expansive manufacturing build- ings can easily be adapted toward a very specific focus. The Internet of Things ties machines together The machines aren't rising up against their makers, but they will begin talking to each other in 2015. The "Internet of Things" describes smart machines that can let their operators know they're run- ning low on coolant or can receive an order remotely and begin producing it automatically. "It's really having machines talk to machines," Healy said. The cloud continues to grow While cloud storage was all the rage in 2014, the use of cloud computing, which allows for online access to computer services, is positioned to grow in 2015. The global market for these services is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.6 per- cent from 2014 to 2020 to become a $555 billion market, according to a study by Allied Market Research. The fourth-quarter results for Adobe Systems, of Mountain View, Calif., show how large the payoff can be for an individual company. Adobe reported more than 3.4 million paid subscribers to its Creative Cloud business, which hosts its software online through a subscription service. That's up from 644,000 the previous quarter. "We expect to grow total subscriptions by approxi- mately 70 percent year over year and exit the year with approximately 5.9 million subscriptions," Mike Saviage, Adobe's vice president of investor relations said in an earnings call of the expected rise in subscriptions. n >> Continued from Page 13 technology, skills (or lack of them) weigh on region's manufacturers Not implementing Experimenting to determine how it might be applied Prototyping only Prototyping and production Building products that cannot be made from traditional methods Production of final products/ components only 28.9% 24.6% 9.6% 2.6% 0.9% 33.3% How manufacturers are using 3D printing Two-thirds of industrial manufacturers are using 3D printing, but most are not using it to make final products. Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of more than 100 industrial manufacturers, published 2014 4 5 3