CMC Report
July 2025 – by Al Mangels
The NESMA Technical Development Committee (TDC) met on July 9th, 2025.
Given the time of year, and as we had expected, we were only a small group, so we had a simple open discussion attempting to answer these two questions:
1) What new technologies are likely to be widely used by the next generation of springmakers?
2) How would or should the widespread use of such technologies influence the curricula of manufacturing fundamentals being taught in schools at all levels?
Because there is currently no springmaker training school per se (although we’re still working on it), and considering the most likely source of springmaker training in the near future will remain to be on-the-job training (OJT, e.g., apprenticeship), the largest focus of the TDC in engaging with the educators recently has been on manufacturing fundamentals training, with the thought that better prepared candidates would progress faster and further with their OJT.
But as a list of such new technologies was brainstormed, including automation, robotics, 3D printing, mechatronics, drones, and even artificial intelligence, it seemed apparent that most of the current manufacturing fundamentals training is targeting mechanical skills, and maybe there actually are some other skills lacking. An example was cited of digital thread technology (currently starting to be trained at CCAT), where a digital product description is fed into a digital production machine, and the output product part is then sent to a digital measuring device for verification.
However, “blueprint reading” often mentioned as a core manufacturing fundamental, wouldn’t really apply in such a digital thread environment; there really isn’t a traditional blueprint required. But what manufacturing fundamentals need to be taught and learned instead?
We did learn of some related progress being made. For example, we learned from Carloyn Freer of a customized CCSU program for a specific manufacturer that was developed to train a handful of apprentices in robotics. And we also learned from Eileen Candels at CCAT, as well as from Carolyn, that there may be some artificial intelligence experts who can help to explain to us, for example in a panel discussion, what artificial intelligence really is, as we struggled to even supply a definition. Maybe we can make something like that happen in the near future.
A few other announcements:
Jordan Dombroski at CCSU Tunxis is still looking for instructors at these links:
Academic Associate – Advanced Manufacturing Technology Lab
Advanced Manufacturing Technology Instructor
Enrique Juncadella from the Workforce Solutions Collaborative of Metro Hartford announced an Advanced Manufacturing Employer Partnership (AMEP) networking event on August 14th :
CONNSTEP again reminds us that the Cybersecurity Grant is now expanded from $10K to max $35K. The Cybersecurity Adoption Program (CAP) is designed to support Connecticut manufacturing companies seeking Cyber Security assessments and CMMC Certification.
Last but not least, NESMA and Wafios continue planning a regional training session in Spring End Grinding, with a target date of September 23rd. The prospective venue is the Wafios facility in Branford. This would not be for students per se, but rather for the NESMA members’ workforce that engages in spring end grinding operations. (i.e., incumbent workers). The content will be similar to the joint SMI / Wafios in-person grinding training event held last year in Mokena, IL, and is applicable to almost any type or brand of grinding equipment, but in a shorter, approximately 6-hour, format.
The next NESMA Technical Development Meeting is scheduled for August 13th (2:00 – 3:00 PM) as we start to look forward to the upcoming school year and calendar of events, as well as Manufacturing Day (Month) activities.
As always, we’d love to hear from more NESMA members about these or any other subjects, and please feel free to join any of our meetings, or comment some other way.
I can be reached at amangels@leespring.com .