Optimax Systems, based in Rochester, grew from a struggling startup to what CEO Rick Plympton claims is largest optics manufacturer in the United States. Optimax achieves operational excellence by investing in cutting-edge technology, advancing its people, and sharing 25% of monthly profits with employees. Learn more from The Hitachi Foundation’s Good Work Blog: http://bit.ly/1EADgduContinue Reading

The success of the Monroe Community College optics program is a stellar example of industry support and involvement, including cash and material donations and direct student support. While some companies just wring their hands and complain that colleges aren’t producing the workforce they need, the Rochester-area employers offer a shining example of how industry and...Continue Reading

The Rochester region may be one step closer to its future as a National Manufacturing Institute centering on optics and photonics with the passage of the $1.1 trillion federal budget over the weekend. Among the appropriations, $300 million has been designated under the Revitalize American Manufacturing Innovation Act (RAMI) to establish up to 15 centers for manufacturing...Continue Reading

$100 Million. This is the largest single federal investment in apprenticeship ever in the U.S. Its aim is to transform our workforce for the 21st century. Through this grant, the Department of Labor will expand apprenticeships from the traditional skilled trades to new high-tech, high-demand industries like healthcare, IT, advanced manufacturing, and others. These grants will help...Continue Reading

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President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have  highlighted MCC’s  job training partnership with local firms such as Optimax as a bright spot in the push to fill higher-paying manufacturing and tech jobs. In a guest essay  in the Democrat and Chronicle on Saturday, Obama and Biden cited MCC’s  partnership with the optics industry, funded through the Advanced Manufacturing...Continue Reading

Science and engineering (S&E) employment in the United States is geographically concentrated in a small number of states and several major metropolitan areas within those states, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey (ACS). The three most populous states—California, Texas, and New York—together accounted for more than one-fourth of all...Continue Reading

Exelis Geospatial Systems (GS) is creating 50 new local jobs in Rochester’s Eastman Business Park in 2013. The new job opportunities in Rochester result from consolidation of the company’s presence in West Springfield, Mass. GS is working toward transitioning all work to Rochester by early July and staffing will be completed in phases, with the...Continue Reading

Full scholarships are available for continuing education courses THIS SUMMER in optics, photonics, and imaging. These courses will provide specialized skills and professional development with some of the leading minds of the field. Courses offered at both the University of Rochester and RIT. These courses are geared toward displaced workers who would like to work...Continue Reading

Senator Chuck Schumer held a news conference at Eastman Business Park on February 21st to promote legislation he is advancing that will create 15 Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation across the US. Schumer, along with University of Rochester president Joel Seligman and Rochester Institute of Technology president William Dessler,  fervently asserted that one of those hubs...Continue Reading