Dear Friends,

The articles in this newsletter exemplify the types of successful partnerships we have forged with four very different organizations.

Joseph Abboud Mfg. Corp., whose president Tony Sapienza is a member of the NBEDC board of directors, is celebrated in national and state wide media for implementing innovative manufacturing processes. In addition to instituting "lean" manufacturing that you will read about, Tony has also relocated Abboud’s New Jersey distribution facility to New Bedford, creating 20 additional jobs.

We have been working for several months with Ze-gen, yet another alternative energy company to choose New Bedford. Ze-gen will further its clean gasification technology at a test facility constructed here. If the test phase proves successful, the full scale plant promises 150 jobs.

BIRNS Aquamate is the first company to expand and “graduate” from the city’s marine and science technology incubator. It will be adding several new jobs as part of its expansion. There will be more news shortly on companies building their businesses at the incubator.

And finally, 16 UMass MBA students ages – 24 to 72 – targeted three business districts in our city to help identify current needs and recommend realistic ways the City can provide services to small businesses.

The NBEDC, with our partner organizations, help facilitate business development, but the real thanks go to the companies who are succeeding in New Bedford and creating employment opportunities for our citizens.

Sincerely,

Matthew A. Morrissey
Executive Director

  National Public Radio – Suit maker goes “lean” to keep jobs in US

Morning Edition, January 24, 2007 • If you check the tag on a men's suit these days, chances are it says "made in China" or Mexico — maybe even Hungary.

But if the suit is a Joseph Abboud, it still says "Made in America." In fact, the company is one of the few that continues to produce suits in the United States. And instead of sending jobs overseas, Abboud is hiring more people here at home.

The company's factory is located in New Bedford, Mass. The town once employed more than 5,000 workers making men's tailored clothing.

"Today, this is the only remaining factory," says Tony Sapienza, the chief operating officer of Joseph Abboud... [read more]

  Boston Globe - Made in New Bedford: a suit designer retools, Abboud factory bucks US trend

Last year the Joseph Abboud suit factory did something not seen in at least a decade in this old textile capital: It added jobs.

The men's suit designer expanded its workforce nearly 20 percent to 590 employees and is investing millions of dollars in a sleek new production system at a time when other apparel makers have shrunk or disappeared from the struggling seaside city... [read more]

  City’s marine and science technology Quest Center graduates its first company

A new marine technology firm that sells underwater electrical connectors is leaving the nest today to grow and prosper on its own.

BIRNS Aquamate is scheduled to move out of New Bedford's Quest Center on Purchase Street into a new office at Howland Place on Orchard Street.

"We need a larger space," operations manager Eli Bar-Hai said.

The Quest Center opened in September 2005 as an incubator for startup companies specializing in marine science and technology. The City of New Bedford, UMass Dartmouth and the SouthCoast Development Partnership created the center to nurture the region's emerging identity as a marine science and technology hub.

BIRNS Aquamate is the incubator's first success story, said David Sheehan, the center's executive director... [read more]

  City hosts another alternative energy company

Ze-gen, a Boston-based alternative energy company, is constructing a “proof of concept” facility in New Bedford to advance its technology by testing the conversion of waste-to-energy. Ze-gen’s technology, if proved successful, will become the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient method of handling solid waste in existence today... [read more]

  UMass MBA students study City’s business needs

NEW BEDFORD – Sixteen graduate students from the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth Charlton School of Business, worked closely with Mayor Scott W. Lang’s office and the New Bedford Economic Development Council on a month-long project aimed at improving the business climate throughout the city.

The project – part of a “Business Innovation and Creativity” course taught by Prof. Garry Clayton of New Zealand, who has published on such topics as professional education, leadership, innovation and strategy met in the fourth-floor loft space at the mayor’s office, at New Bedford City Hall to launch the project... [read more]