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March 3, 2008

How To Survive As A Manufacturer

Venture forum to host panel discussion

By Clyde L. Stancil
Special To The Worcester Business Journal                                                                                   

Jack Healy
Despite the perception that U.S. manufacturers cannot compete with their Chinese counterparts, manufacturing dollars in the Commonwealth continue to rise, and recent changes in China could lead to greater domestic gains.  

That is the message that industry expert Jack Healy and successful, local manufacturers want to convey March 11 at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Venture Forum meeting.

"We're going to try to tell people what the new face of manufacturing looks like," said Healy, director of the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

The panel discussion is entitled "Traditional Manufacturing is High Tech Today." Healy will be joined by Paul Maguire from IntelliSource International of Leominster and John Gravelle of Mar-Lee Cos., also of Leominster.

During his 20 years in the software industry, Maguire participated in seven start-up companies that achieved their exit strategies. He has been through the IPO process twice, and participated in 15 mergers and acquisitions.

Paul Maguire
Maguire has an extensive background in software development. He is founder of Intellisource International, where uses his knowledge of customer and investor needs to help executives identify new growth opportunities, and make better and faster decisions.

Gravelle is president and CEO of Mar-Lee Companies of Leominster, one of the area's largest plastics manufacturers and mold makers. The company's focus is in the medical and consumer products market. It has annual growth of 15 to 20 percent.

The panel is expected to discuss survival strategies for surviving in a global marketplace.

The Numbers


Statewide, manufacturing is still the highest payroll sector, and although the state has lost 100,000 manufacturing jobs, businesses here continue to match and exceed gross numbers with fewer employees, Healy said.

Massachusetts manufacturing exports for 2007 exceeded $25 billion, which is a 47 percent increase over 2001 exports.

"The point is that through productivity and different products we are moving to a higher value-added dollar (per employee) base," Healy said.

John Gravelle
In contrast, Europe shed manufacturing jobs and lost dollars and value. Healy expects China's elimination of a 12-percent government subsidy to manufacturers, and a new workers bill of rights, to increase manufacturing costs there. The combined effect should slow China's imports. That bodes well for U.S. manufacturers, who need to know how to reposition themselves to take advantage.

"Manufacturers have always had a problem marketing themselves," Healy said. "They don't understand the customers' business many times, and when they start to learn that, they become a very different kind of manufacturer."

The venture forum meeting is at the Campus Center's Odeum Room from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. The fee is $15 fee for members and $25 for non-members.

For more information, call 508-831-5075.

Clyde Stancil is a freelance writer based in Springfield.

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