Hartford Business Journal

32 Hartford Business Journal • December 22, 2014 www.HartfordBusiness.com Industry Focus E c o n o m i c F o r E c a s t Watch List UTC's evolution, workforce development key manufacturing issues By Brad Kane bkane@HartfordBusiness.com H artford conglomerate United Technologies Corp. isn't the only major manufacturer in Con- necticut, but the company will hold significant sway over its suppliers and market com- petitors in 2015. With new CEO Greg Hayes tak- ing over for Louis Chenevert, the company launch- ing its $5 billion agreement with the state to solidi- fy its Connecticut footprint, and subsidiaries like East Hartford aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whit- ney beginning a significant production ramp-up, the changes at UTC will have a major trickle-down effect on the industry. This comes after the company com- pleted a major reorganization over the last two years fol- lowing its $16 billion acquisi- tion of North Carolina aero- space manufac- turer Goodrich Corp. While Connecticut com- munity colleges and techni- cal-vocational schools are making changes to produce more employable manufac- turing employees, workforce development will remain an issue for the industry. A strong and knowledgeable workforce remains a decid- ing factor on why manufac- turing companies choose to operate in Connecticut, and the average age of the exist- ing workforce hovers in the high 50s. With the majority of the workforce nearing retire- ment age, employ- ers are going to need more hires with the skill sets to handle increasingly com- plex equipment and production assignments. Exporting was the hot topic five years ago when the Obama Adminis- tration launched its National Export Initiative to double the country's exports in five years. Connecticut respond- ed strongly through 2013, but the state's exporting plateaued last year. The U.S. Department of Commerce will continue to push Nutmeg State manufacturers toward exporting, particularly to new areas of the globe. In the meantime, for- eign investment has played an increasing role in Con- necticut manufacturing with South Korean conglomer- ate Doosan taking over the South Windsor fuel cell oper- ations of ClearEdge Power and Chinese solar installer Zhenfa Energy Group taking over a controlling interest in Enfield solar manufacturer STR Holdings. n ExpErts cornEr CT to emerge as additive manufacturing leader By Rainer Hebert F ew developments in manufactur- ing have made splashes the way 3D printing or additive manufac- turing has done in the last year or two. Since additive manufacturing with metallic materials currently focuses on aerospace and biomedical applications, Connecticut has seen strong develop- ments toward an industrial additive manufacturing, or 3D print base. Three trends will shape addi- tive manufactur- ing over the next year. The rapid pace of machine i m p r o v e m e n t s and novel machine features will continue into 2015. Higher throughput and larger build volumes will be available with the next generation of metal machines that will be revealed over the next months. The improvements will be achieved with higher-powered lasers and multi-laser setups. More commercial- build themes — the machine settings to use specific materials — will become available, which will enable a wider range of material choices. Additive manufac- turing machines will have increasing in- process monitoring abilities to capture part temperatures or defects that might develop during the manufacturing pro- cess within parts. Parallel to the development of additive manufacturing machines, the powder materials used for additive manufactur- ing have attracted the attention of mate- rial producers, including startups. There are research projects underway aimed at producing new technologies that would enable powder processing at reduced cost. While it is not clear if these new technologies will be able to compete with the existing ones, the competition on the powder market equals the competition on the machine manufacturer level. Can Connecticut businesses take advantage of additive manufacturing? During 2015, we will see new service providers for additive manufacturing in Connecticut and an increasing number of companies adopting additive technolo- gies. Throughout the country, companies are trying to fill a void for highly qualified additive manufacturing service provid- ers. Connecticut is no exception and either new startup companies or existing manufacturers extending into additive manufacturing will establish themselves next year as capable service providers. Some of the questions to consider over the next 12 months: 1. Can the market support the grow- ing number of additive manufac- turing service providers? 2. What level of progress will be made in mastering the many challenges that additive manufacturing poses? 3. Is there enough demand to specialize in niche applica- tions or materials with additive manufacturing? Continued Brad Kane Manufacturing Pratt & Whitney design engineer Louis Porretti uses an electron beam melting machine that is part of the new Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center at the University of Connecticut. Rainer Hebert P H O T O | H B J F i l e W a t c h L i s t

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