Action Items

The Western Mass Chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association is an action oriented, growing association. The chapter and the board have initiated the following Actions to advance the industry and its members:

Public Policy

Petitioned Governor Romney and gave testimony at a legislative hearing in Boston, chaired by State Rep. Michael Rodriques, to revise high unemployment insurance costs.

Testified before a state legislative listening panel in Holyoke chaired by State Rep. Patricia Haddad concerning education reform.

Testified before the State Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee Hearing chaired by Sen. Michael Knapik relative to the high cost of doing business and the skilled labor shortage.

Two Legislative Roundtables held at WGI in Southwick. Panels included various State Representatives and Senators, as well as Jane Edmonds, State Director of Workforce Development.

Meetings in Boston and a phone conversation with Governor Romney relative to industry needs.

Private Meetings in Boston with Rep. Daniel Bosely, Rep. Patricia Haddad, Rep. Sean Curran, Rep. Donald Humason, and Rep. Michael Rodrigues, to discuss industry needs, Westfield Voc.Tech. Manufacturing Technology program needs and vocational technical programs in general.

Letters sent to Governor Romney urging his support for approval of the Economic Stimulus Bill which retains funding at $150,000 for a pilot training program for the precision machining industry in Hampden County.

Represented the WMNTMA at the fall meeting of the Pioneer Valley Regional Competitiveness Council (RCC) chaired by Ranch Kimball, State Secretary of Economic Development, and updated the Council on activities occurring within the precision machining industry in the Pioneer Valley region.

Conducted Meetings and Tours of four member companies with Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti to discuss workforce development issues and the need for continued legislative support for the precision machining industry.

Lobbied the State House of Representatives and Governor-elect Patrick to restore needed training funding vetoed by Governor Romney after a previous legislative override.

Education/Workforce Development

Press coverage focusing on the skilled labor shortage, teaching vacancy at Westfield Voc. Tech., the high cost of doing business in MA, and Regional NetWorks (RENEW) appeared in selected local, regional, and statewide newspapers and television stations.

Letters and phone calls to Mayor Richard Sullivan and members of the Westfield School Committee and City Council supporting Westfield Voc.Tech.

Conducted a tour of Westfield Voc-Tech for Congressman John Olver that Resulted in a $400,000 line item being included in the 2006 Federal Budget for new equipment for Manufacturing Technology program.

Met with the Superintendent of Schools in Westfield to discuss support for the Manufacturing Technology Program at Westfield Voc-Tech. Gained support for initiating adult education programs in the fall of 2006 to be sponsored by the WMNTMA.

Collaborated with the REB to receive a $150, 000 grant from the John Adams Innovation Institute to fund a position to solve the industry’s skilled labor shortages.

Chapter Education Meeting held at Smith & Wesson featuring Manufacturing Technology programs at 4 local Voc-Tech schools and 2 community colleges.

Commissioned students at UMass-Amherst to conduct a research study on vocational education in the Pioneer Valley. Received and reviewed a comprehensive 35 page report entitled Vocational Education: Perceptions, Problems and Recommendations.

Provided Financial Sponsorship to student from Pathfinder Regional Vocational High School to represent Massachusetts in CNC milling at the National Skills USA competition.

Member companies and nine (9) educational institutions approved and signed a Memorandum of Understanding indicating their willingness to work collaboratively to achieve goals that will benefit the precision machining industry.

Through the Financial Support of B & E Tool, Berkshire Industries, and with partial proceeds from the 2006 Golf Outing, the floor in the Manufacturing Technology program at Westfield Vocational Technical High School has been sealed and repainted.

B&E Tool Donated 18 SpacePilots, at a value of $9,000, to Westfield Vocational Technical High School to support the continued refinement of the computer-aided design component of their Manufacturing Technology program.

WMNTMA and WGI, Inc. support letters played an important role in the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) award of $1.755 million High Growth Job Training Initiative Grant from U.S. Department of Labor to support incumbent and new pipeline training.

WMNTMA company owners provided testimony to the Massachusetts Department of Education concerning the Certificate of Occupational Competency written and performance assessments.

Forty Seven (47) incumbent employees from 18 different companies completed fall 2006 pilot program for precision machining course at Westfield Voc. Tech. This represented a 92% success rate for employees who enrolled voluntarily and attended after normal working hours with a goal of improving their skills and value. The program was supported through a $150,000 allocation from the Economic Stimulus Bill obtained by the initiative of Sen. Michael Knapik and the local legislative delegation working in collaboration with the WMNTMA and the REB.

Industry Development

Gained State Recognition of high technology, precision manufacturing as the No. 1 targeted industry cluster in the Pioneer Valley region.

Plant Tours of Smith and Wesson, Peerless Precision, Hoppe Tool, Tell Tool, Pioneer Tool Supply, and Berkshire Industries by Reps.Humason, Curran, Scibak, and Welch, Sen. Knapik and Ranch Kimball, State Secretary of Economic Development.

Owners Roundtables and Lean Roundtables held jointly with the CTMA at various locations.

Company Members Obtained Seats on the board of the REB and the Steering Committee of the Conference of Western MA Manufacturers.

Chapter Meeting with Ranch Kimball as the key speaker held at Hoppe Tool.

Chapter Meeting in spring 2006 featured presentations on evolving technologies in the military and the manufacturing support they needed. Presentations were made by representatives from the US Army, Natick Labs as well as the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative.

Chapter Meeting in fall 2006 featured a successful owner’s round table held at Techni-Products followed by chapter meeting and tour at Lenox-Division of Newell Rubbermaid.

New WMNTMA Web site launched for members use in late December 2006.

Membership Development

Introduced Business After Hours meetings to allow small member and associate member companies to host functions and showcase their operations.

Sponsored Annual Golf Outing with proceeds used to fund the purchase of a Wire EDM machine for Westfield Voc-Tech and a scholarship for Asnuntuck Community College’s Manufacturing Technology program.

Chapter meetings and plant tours held at Berkshire Industries, Tell Tool, Hoppe Tool, Smith & Wesson, Peerless Precision, Advance Welding, Goodrich Aerospace (West Hartford), and Yard Metals (Southington, CT). B&E Tool and WGI will host meetings in the first half of 2007.

Six new Regular members and Six new Associate members have joined the Chapter since September 2005.

All of this has happened since January, 2005. More actions and results are coming!!!!!