Worcester Business Journal

"A lot of times you come up with great ideas that you can create within a pro- gram, and they work, but there's no way to find out the flaws. If you can actually convert them to a physical item, you can figure out how gears might not mesh or how parts work with each other or how they're not strong enough," Longacre said. "Whatever real world things come up, you can actually identify them." With the QuEST Center, Quinsigamond officials hope to train Marijuana reasoning 22 The Worcester city manager details his thinking in approving the first medical marijuana dispensary. WBJ >> To Subscribe Central Massachusetts' Source for Business News March 28, 2016 Volume 27 Number 7 www.wbjournal.com $2.00 Ja-Nae Duane, an entrepreneur-in- residence at Clark University, is pushing students to solve local problems. Clark entrepreneur 6 Colleges showcase affordability In bid for students, marketing turns to dollars and cents Q&A with Paul Joseph, the new CEO of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce Shop Talk 8 Ryan Forsythe, vice president of enrollment management, Worcester State University David Willens (left) and Charles Garniewicz on the shop floor at Kinefac Corp. in Worcester, which is a leader in cylindrical die rolling. Worcester Business Journal's MANUFACTURING SUMMIT & Excellence Awards MANUFACTURING SUMMIT& Worcester Business Journal's Excellence Awards MANUFACTURING S U M M I T & Worcester Business Journal's EXCELLENCE AWARDS MANUFACTURING S U M M I T & Worcester Business Journal's EXCELLENCE AWARDS WBJ's inaugural Manufacturing Excellence Awards FOCUS ��������������� Page 12 BY LAURA FINALDI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer I n January, students at Quinsigamond Community College became the first in the region to have access to a manufac- turing facility where they can upload their blueprints, scroll through each other's plans and then 3D print out whichever parts they want to use or improve upon. It's called a Fab Lab, and the first one in the region opened in Quinsigamond Community College's new QuEST Center. The idea of the Fab Lab is to give students the opportunity to work with and improve on a product they dreamt up in its physical form, said Jacob Longacre, assistant professor of electronics engineering technology at QCC. Central Massachusetts' next generation of manufacturers on the latest equip- ment and technology. And they're not the only ones. The region is home to a venerable yet diverse manufacturing industry, where some ADVANCE & SURVIVE Central Mass. manufacturers reach to new markets amid declining production needs BY LAURA FINALDI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer A s Central Massachusetts colleges and universities compete for a shrinking student population, affordability is becoming a key market- ing tool, as tuition freezes and cost- controlled partnerships are quickly become new ways to entice cost-con- scious applicants. "We know the competition for stu- dents has never been more acute, espe- cially in the Northeast. We also know that students and families have many great options for higher education. As a result, we are constantly working at sharpening our value proposition," said William Boffi, vice president of enroll- ment at Nichols College in Dudley, which has frozen tuition for the fall semester. While applications have risen for col- leges, enrollment has declined. Of the four-year colleges surveyed in May by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 70 percent reported application increases in 10 of the 15 years leading up to 2013. However, only 36 percent of those appli- >> Continued on Page 10 >> Continued on Page 10 P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y P H O T O / M A T T V O L P I N I

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