wbjournal.com | Fact Book 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 21
R E G I O N S
B l a c k s t o n e V a l l e y
Combined total property value
Source: Mass. Department of Revenue
shrank to 17 employees, it's grown to a
headcount of 43 over the past three
years. She said it's always been tricky
to find potential employees with cer-
tain specific technical and project
management skills, and it's now get-
ting a bit harder than it used to be to
find workers with more general skills,
like welders and forklift operators.
But Ward and Stone both said
they've been impressed with the
chamber's work bringing local high
schools and colleges together with
industry to build a pipeline of quali-
fied workers.
"We have Manufacturing Day, and
Jeannie will usually bring two bus-
loads of kids to us," Ward said. "Kids
see that there's stuff out there – that
you can learn a trade."
Just like their counterparts more
than 150 years ago, these workers are
making a strong future for manufac-
turing in the Blackstone Valley.
Continued from Page 19
2013
$0
2014
2015
2016 2017
$20B
$12.9B
$15B
$10B
$5B
$12B
$11.6B
W
Package Industries in Sutton has worked with the Blackstone Valley Chamber of
Commerce to bring in students to learn about the industry, since the company has a
shortage of workers with general skills like welding.
