CMC Report

October 2025 – by Al Mangels

The NESMA Technical Development Committee (TDC) met on October 8^th, 2025.

Our meeting began with follow-ups from the Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Forum and the AMEP biannual meeting. We are continuing discussions with Sam Spain regarding the FIRST program and have received a calendar of competition events to share. We expect a presentation from Goodwin about their programs in December. And I will visit MakerspaceCT on October 31^st to learn more about their facility and what their programs might offer. If anyone would like to join me, please let me know.

On October 22^nd and 24^th, 8 students (employees) of Lee Spring volunteered to take place in in two pilot sessions of the new SMI 200 – Mechanics of Spring Materials course. Generally, the course went well and consumed all of each of the two three-hour sessions. The SMI team will meet on November 4^th to review the pilot results in preparation for release of the program to a wider audience, such as interns and apprentices.

On October 30^th, I will meet up with Kevin Blakely at the MASC center in Waterbury to continue discussions on how to roll the SMI and other content into a proscribed curricula for springmaker training. I have meanwhile been assembling other related content that might also be included. We are also looking forward to the demonstration of the PENSA CNC wire bender that will occur at the MASC center on November 20^th, and discussions continue on the placement of a CNC coiling machine there.

If any NESMA members would like to participate in the development of a springmaker course, whether it be curricula, equipment, materials, instructors or simply guidance, we certainly could use your help. Please let me know.

Elsewhere in the community:

Tunxis Community College continues with its fall cohort of its manufacturing program and is recruiting for a spring cohort. They are also offering facility tours and taking students out to meet manufacturers. These students are or will be interested in internships, apprenticeships and employment opportunities. For info contact: jordan.domkowski@ctstate.edu

We have learned that Eric Hilversum is the New Principal at the Bristol Technical Education Center (BTEC). He reports that their programs are doing well with 163 total students. We welcome Eric and look forward to working with him.

Plainville High School hosted their 4^th Annual Career Gallery with over 120 business organizations present. They will seek other opportunities for students to meet employers throughout the year, such as field trips, and are requesting industry representatives to visit and explain to students the types of mathematics used in industry.

Southington HS held an Advisory Board meeting on October 16^th, and FLM Committee members Angela from Southington Tool and Brendan from Acme Monaco attended a career fair at Farmington HS, reporting a good turnout. Janina from FLM also reports that other FLM events are being considered for the fall.

Eileen Candels reports on the CBIA event that was held in Southington. With over 700 participants, there’s talk of moving the event to the Convention Center next time. A pilot was run with 9 faculty members to discuss where industry is currently headed.

The CCSU event to showcase their manufacturing programs, originally scheduled for October 31^st, has been postponed. We hope that it might occur sometime in November.

Also in November, we are looking forward to the Internship Fair at Naugatuck Community College on November 19^th , and  still hope to host a NESMA webinar on Artificial Intelligence (for Small Manufacturers) on November 13^th with speakers from CCSU and CCAT.

The next NESMA Technical Development Meeting will be Wednesday, October 8th (2:00 – 3:00 PM). For more information about the Technical Development Committee, or any of the upcoming workforce development events, I can be reached at  amangels@leespring.com .