Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | September 4, 2017 | wbjournal.com Local manufacturing prefer to have their pro- duction lines nearby, rather than losing control by offshoring to low-labor-cost countries Making it in Massachusetts BY ZACHARY COMEAU Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer Delivering quality goods Dunn and Co., a Clinton-based com- mercial printer specializing in book repair and calendars, reshored 12 pro- duction jobs to the U.S. in 2014. Challenges arise when the company realizes it ordered too few or too many items to be made. Now with manufac- turing being done in Clinton, it's much easier to change gears immediately, said co-founder David Dunn. It is, however, still more expensive for the company to manufacture here, but it takes far fewer employees. Overseas, governments offer large sub- sidies for businesses to put people to work, but the product will almost cer- tainly suffer in quality, Dunn said. "By the way, it's not as good [over- seas]," Dunn said. "But, do you want good or cheap?" Greater control over the product Insulet was previously operating a small manufacturing facility in Bedford, but when the business was growing and needed more space, it looked to China, said Alpuche. But, for the last few years, operating costs in China have been increasing, he said. Alpuche and a team led by CEO Pat Sullivan, who was brought on three years ago, decided the company needed another operation, which turned into the $100-million Acton expansion. Manufacturing the product by hand and then shipping it overseas brought with it an immense risk, especially for a device that people depend on to live a normal life. With the move brings con- trol of the product and redundancy to minimize loss, Alpuche said. New types of manufacturing jobs The majority of high-paying manu- facturing jobs are no longer in dusty factories with heavy machinery. Now, A fter operating a produc- tion plant in China for five years, Billerica-based medical device manufac- turer Insulet decided its next expansion should be closer to a home – a lot closer. Insulet is building a $100-million facility in Nagog Park in Acton, after purchasing a vacant office building for $9.25 million earlier this year and now expanding the building to over 300,000 square feet. The neary 26-acre site will allow for future expansion. The facility - expected to produce hundreds of jobs but rely heavily on automation – will be able to produce up to 70 percent more devices with up to 90 percent fewer employees com- pared to all four of the company's cur- rent manufacturing lines in China. "Of course, we started looking in the U.S.," said Chuck Alpuche, execu- tive vice president of global manufac- turing and supply chain operations for Insulet. "I'm a big proponent of being as close as you can to the customer." Insulet is not alone in choosing to manufacture goods in the U.S., eschewing the decades-long trend of pushing production to countries with low labor costs. The quality of the workforce, the proximity to the cus- tomer and the avoidance of foreign governments makes American pro- duction attractive. American companies are even bringing their jobs back from abroad, according to the national Reshoring Initiative, an organization promoting manufacturing jobs in America. About 338,000 jobs have been brought to the country from offshore since 2010, according to the organization's website. MTD Micro Molding in Charlton has always manufactured in New England, only trusting its complex production to local and highly trained workers. MTD will nearly double its production space later this year, the result of reaping the rewards of a specialized niche in medical device manufacturing. P H O T O S / F I L E

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