EDA-Funded Manufacturing Revival Underway in New England

Pittsfield, Massachusetts is a small New England community about two hours from Boston. Throughout the 20th Century, it was known as a hub for manufacturing, providing residents with a host of jobs in regional production plants. General Electric (GE) was the town’s biggest employer, operating a plastic production facility along the Housatonic River.

In 1987, GE closed its doors, eliminating jobs that had employed one quarter of the town for nearly a century. While the plant had served as an economic driver for the community, it had a devastating impact on the environment, with runoff polluting local waterways.

Pittsfield was painfully impacted by the loss of opportunity and damage to the environment. Simultaneously, unemployment rose throughout the region while a clean-up effort conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) arrived in town.

By 2018, the site had been reclaimed, and residents were interested in reclaiming their history as well. With a renewed push toward manufacturing, construction of the new Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC) began at the former GE site, opening its doors in 2020. Today, it provides regional manufacturers and STEM businesses with advanced R&D equipment, state-of-the-art lab and training facilities, and collaboration opportunities. It also offers internship and apprenticeship programs for local students.

In 2022, BIC established the Berkshire Innovation Center Manufacturing Academy, which was designed to help foster growth in the advanced manufacturing sector. This technical assistance and workforce development program, whose students work in the manufacturing sector, was made possible in part through a more than $900,000 award from the Economic Development Administration’s Economic Adjustment Assistance program.

“A diverse economy is a strong economy,” said Ben Sosne, Executive Director. “The academy was designed to revive Pittsfield’s manufacturing legacy and complement the now-present tourism sector.”

With funding in place, BIC began to develop a strategy for the Academy. Sosne was soon contacted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a collaboration was born. MIT had a vision for helping manufacturers upskill their workers and was eager to develop new partnerships in areas of the Commonwealth that were traditionally underserved. The union was a perfect fit, combining BIC’s facilities with MIT’s expertise.

The next step was to develop a curriculum for the technology workshop series. It would address common concerns expressed by local manufacturers, who wanted their employees to have problem-solving skills, a systemic approach to operations, as well as a human skills component. They developed a core program known as STAT – Systems Thinking for the Application of Technology.

“I was very fortunate to find the right person to run this program - Dennis Rebelo,” said Sosne.  “Dennis was in a professor role at Roger Williams University, but he comes from private industry and has a passion for working with adults. He talks about ‘educating in the fringe’ – somewhere between university setting and typical corporate education programs. He was looking for something dynamic and innovative and when I told him about this project, he immediately signed on board.”

STAT is a 24-week program divided into three six-week blocks. In the beginning, students learn the fundamentals of problem solving, through what Sosne calls the DMAIC process (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control). They are then broken into teams for a fully immersive simulation at a fictitious company, assuming the roles of plant managers, team managers, customers, and more. For the final portion of the course, students take a current project from their employer and use this method to offer suggestions for its completion.

To help raise awareness about STAT and its benefits for the community, BIC recently launched The BIC Presents Podcast, a free series available on all major platforms. (To download the first episode, “BIC Presents: About BIC Manufacturing Academy,” please click here.)

STAT is currently in its third cycle, with ambitious plans to grow. Nearly 30 students have completed the program, with more graduating later this year.

“This project came together so cohesively – it was never like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” said Sosne. “It was the perfect alignment of partners, across industry, academia, the local government, and EDA.”

To read about other EDA success stories, please visit eda.gov.