Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com May 9, 2016 • Worcester Business Journal 9 If it's important to you, it's important to us. From responsive bankers who understand your business to flexible solutions that meet your needs, Webster Five fits into your blueprint for success. web5.com/business What's important to Alex: R Flexible lending solutions for real estate R Fast approvals to meet deadlines R Bankers who know what it takes to build a development ...and a good relationship. ...and a good relationship. ...and a good relationship. KHJ22504_WEB-305_BizBanking_Print_6.5x8.5_MECH.indd 1 5/3/16 6:55 PM that it doesn't usually touch. The compa- ny was tasked by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a component for a detector that can detect the time and arrival of photons and sub-atomic parti- cles people otherwise wouldn't be able to see, Detarando said. Since Incom had never been in the market of doing that before, it partnered with universities, including the University of Hawaii, University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley. The parties avoided intellectual prop- erty issues because of a mutual desire to be successful, Detarando said. "If we'd run into it from the beginning, saying, 'Ok, what's our piece of this pie going to be, how do we divide it up?'... we would have all fought with each other and not focused on what the end goal really was," Detarando said. All four panelists said their companies partner with universities to not only develop products but also attract talent. Coghlin has an ongoing internship pro- gram with several schools, including Northeastern University. Universities and community colleges are usually better at reaching out to FLEXcon than the company is to them, McDonough said. "They are constantly putting forward either programs, offers, contacts. I think they do a great job," he said. Learning more about other companies' roles in the supply chain can lead to great collaborative opportunities, Russo said. "I'll always ask [companies], 'What hap- pens to it the 10 minutes before you received it, what happens 10 minutes after you?' And if you don't really know ... You're giving up an opportunity," he said. As a contract manufacturer, Coghlin's goal is to convert concepts to commer- cially scalable products, Laursen said. When a customer's needs grow beyond what the scale of Coghlin's capabilities are, the company then refers them to a larger-scale manufacturer, he said. "We cannot be everything to every- body. We may have customers that grow beyond our capacity, and this company … They're part of our alliance." Laursen said. "When we can't provide the value that's required to make a great relation- ship, we can transition over to [them]." In that same vein, Greis said partner- ing with industry associations, such as the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, has given her and her employees access to effective and conve- Panelist Michael Detarando, president and CEO of Incom, Inc. Panelist Leslie Greis, owner and director of Kinefac Corp. Panelist Bill Laursen, senior vice president for sales and strategy at The Coghlin Cos. Inc. Panelist Neil McDonough, president and CEO of FLEXcon. nient training classes. Kinefac has also worked with the Association for Manufacturing Technology to help the company export into foreign countries. "The benefit of being involved with your industry associations is just very clear here, because you get involved and you'll know they can be a partner for you in many ways," Greis said. n

• Cover