Page 21 - BusinessWest January 8, 2024

in higher education.
“It’s still real when you think about
the challenges facing colleges and uni- versities, especially in the Northeast, where the birth rates are signficantly less than they were years ago, putting fewer students in the pipeline,” he said, noting that, on a different spectrum, there are an estimated 700,000 people in the Bay State who have attended col- lege but not finished what they started.
This represents a tremendous opportunity for community colleges, he said, adding that this focus on the adult learner and helping them achieve suc- cess will be among the many key issues to watch in 2024.
Making Things Happen
Susan Kasa, president of Boule- vard Machine & Gear in Westfield, said that, a year ago, her shop was able to shut down the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, a non- traditional break that was enjoyed by employees and managers alike.
So much so that the plan was to do it again, she said, adding that it just wasn’t possible to do so this year.
“Right now, we have so much demand that we will be open that week and plugging along,” she said
in an interview prior to the holidays, adding that this demand comes in the form of a high volume of orders, a number of them in the expedited cat- egory, that cover most all of the cus- tomer groups served by this precision manufacturer.
That includes what Kasa calls ‘outer space,’ meaning everything from satellites to the rockets tak- ing billionaires and their clients to the edge of space; from defense to aerospace.
This surge in orders reflects many of the issues that will define 2024, from turmoil in the Middle East, Ukraine, and other hotspots to a resurgence in airline travel — all of which is positively impacting preci- sion manufacturers, and there are many of them in the 413, who serve original equipment manufacturers in those markets.
Indeed, on the space and defense sides of the ledger, Boulevard is currently handing orders for parts for everything from the satellites that track incoming missiles to the Apache helicopter, and all indica- tions are that the pace of activity will only increase in 2024 and probably beyond.
“We’ve been delivering parts in this last quarter of the year, and
the numbers are very strong right through 2032,” she said, ading that L3Harris, the Florida-based defense contractor that specializes in micro- wave weaponry, surveillance solu- tions, and electronic warfare, has become one of Boulevard’s larger customers for outer space, satellite, and aerospace work.
This upward trajectory in orders,
“Commercial aerospace had come to a virtual standstill for many suppliers, and they had to reinvent the wheel for themselves. But we’re starting to see a comeback to pre-pandemic levels.”
ing the pandemic, and other factors, is now to be discussed with the past tense.
“Commercial aerospace had come to a virtual standstill for many suppli- ers, and they had to reinvent the wheel for themselves,” Kasa said. “But we’re starting to see a comeback to pre- pandemic levels. We’re finally getting back to normal; orders are resuming, and they’re taking all this inventory that may have been sitting for a while. With both Boeing and Airbus, they’re see- ing orders come in, and they’re large orders.” BW
SUSAN KASA
which led to the hiring of three new machinists in 2023, also includes aerospace, she said, adding that a pro-
nounced lull in that sector, resulting from the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max, a sharp decrease in air travel dur-
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