Technical Development Committee Report

July 2026 – by Al Mangels

The NESMA Technical Development Committee (TDC) meeting was held virtually on July 8th, 2026.

I was glad to announce that the final draft (pending peer review) of the new SMI course “SMI 204 – Flat Springs and Spring Washers” has been completed. As I’ve mentioned, this is the last of the sequence of 6 SMI courses that I believe would be needed for collaboration on a classroom / hands-on springmaker training curricula that is next in the queue for development, although other SMI courses do exist. I have also learned that the first of this sequence, “SMI 200 – Mechanics and Spring Materials”, the course developed specifically to be a “prerequisite” for non-engineering personnel, such as shop floor workers, to prepare them for the other courses in the sequence, will be offered at CASMI SpringWorld on Tuesday, October 6th, with the balance of the SpringWorld event occurring Wed – Fri, October 7th – 9th.

As it is summer, attendance by educators was minimal at our July meeting. However, we did get a presentation by Laura Lanza, the Secondary STEM Supervisor at Bristol Schools, a PowerPoint on the district’s CTE programming, explaining how state accountability indicators and the $167,000 Perkins grant funding affect their curriculum offerings across 10 career clusters including advanced manufacturing.

The discussion highlighted requirements for high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand careers, as well as the importance of dual enrollment courses and industry-recognized credentials in meeting state metrics. She outlined current courses including CAD, solid modeling, automation and robotics, and PLTW (Project Lead the Way) engineering courses, while exploring further potential additions like Advanced Manufacturing and Computer Integrated Manufacturing for 2027.

It was uplifting to see such welcomed progress in CTE at Bristol schools, as we have seen in other participating schools as well. But it was disheartening to see the difficulties educators still face in administering and getting funding for such programs, and I give them the greatest of respect for their endeavors.

The committee also discussed the nagging challenges that remain in finding qualified candidates for internships, apprenticeships and employment, and the importance of technical skills over traditional college credentials for many of the jobs.

At our meeting, David Weinholz from MakerspaceCT provided updates on Makerspace CT activities, including job fairs and summer programs such as their summer STEAM program that has 120 Hartford students enrolled. MakerspaceCT will also hold a Gala on September 26th (see https://gala.makerspacect.com/ ).

Eileen Candels reminded us about the Manufacturing Ins, Outs, and Interns event on July 29th at Gastro Park, which I attended. This was the close-out event for the interns in CCAT’s Summer Internship Program. I enjoyed speaking to several participating interns, who I informally “polled” about what attracted them most to internships. They pretty consistently listed four things: employer company culture, correspondence between the internship work and their course and/or career choices, opportunities for further development, including permanent employment, and the amount of money paid for the internship.

The event also provided other networking opportunities as I met up with, for example, Alyssa Adler and Leah Fuhs from AMEP (https://amepct.org/ ), Melanie Hoben from AdvanceCT (https://www.advancect.org/ ) and Joe Turacek from Capital Workforce Partners (https://capitalworkforce.org/ ). These organizations, as well as CCAT (https://www.ccat.us/ ) all provide resources and/or funding opportunities for Connecticut manufacturers such as NESMA members.

Also on July 29th, I met up with Cliff Thermer from Goodwin University, and we had a long discussion about how Goodwin might coordinate their training and certificate programs to better suit NESMA members, including their Certified Production Technician offerings. I hope to continue this dialog with Cliff as well as with NESMA members for further consideration.

As we close out the summer, we look forward to the NESMA Annual Golf Outing on August 31st, the 2026 Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Forum at the CT Convention Center in Hartford on September 1st, and the College and Career Fair at Farmington High School on September 30th.

The next Technical Development Committee meeting will be Wednesday, August 12th (2-3 PM). We hope you can join.