Back to the Future: The Springfield Plan

Vermont Business Magazine, Apr 01, 2004 by Rainey, Thomas

Springfield, Vermont, birthplace of some of the 20th Century's key industrial innovations, has a plan to rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit that put its products in homes and businesses across the globe.

The Springfield Regional Development Corporation recently announced plans for a business incubator program that would support both new start-up businesses and existing businesses with innovative new business ideas.

Business incubators are designed to accelerate the development of successful entrepreneurial companies by providing access to management expertise, as well as networks of highly qualified mentors, advisers and investors.

Incubators provide amenities such as flexible office, production or laboratory space, short-term leases, and shared office services and equipment on a pay-per-use basis. Additionally, well run programs offer assistance with financing; and opportunities to network and potentially partner and learn from other successful firms in the program.

The truth is - all of this has been done before in Springfield.

A half century before the Silicon Valley phenomenon put California on the map as the epicenter for high-tech entrepreneurship, and decades before the concepts of "industrial clustering" and "business incubation" were conceived, Springfield was a hotbed for new business spinoffs, business incubation, "angel investing" and technology transfer. All the appropriate terminology was to follow.

On October 26, 1916, Springfield's most famous citizen, the Honorable James Hartness, sent out a notice to potential investors outlining what he unceremoniously called "the Springfield Plan."

Governor Hartness, then president of the Jones and Lamson (J&L) Machine Tool Company, had already "spun off" two other successful enterprises: Fellows Gear Shaper and Bryant Chuck Grinder Company, from the parent company.

Like J&L, these companies went on to employ tens of thousands of Vermonters and turned the Springfield region into a world-renowned center for precision engineering and manufacturing excellence.

In describing his plans to back inventor Fred P Lovejoy in launching the new Lovejoy Tool Company, Hartness carefully spelled out the formula he had developed for successfully "incubating" new businesses:

"Men of right character will generally become a nucleus of a group of men of similar character ... this development is the most essential scheme of new companies. ... Another element is the right kind of experience in the technical and business elements of this kind of industry. (This) attracts the best men to Springfield, and the net result is a more general prosperity, one that ... will make a great growth in this corner of Vermont.

"The general plan of organization seems to be one that can be duplicated many times in the future, and in fact it seems probable that there will be a number of such organizations in the next few years, for Springfield has demonstrated its qualities for handling such industries, and there are many young men capable of starting out in this way. I would earnestly urge, however, that all such schemes be organized along what might be called the Springfield plan."

Hartness's "Springfield Plan" could have been lifted directly from the best practices for managing successful business incubator programs. The plan focused on carefully screening business opportunities and selecting those that had solid management; the requisite technical experience and a large potential market.

These new start-up businesses were then surrounded by seasoned business mentors and advisers; service providers and flexible office and production space. Governor Hartness's seal of approval effectively shrouded these new businesses with credibility and raised the comfort level of the investment community.

This network of supporters accelerated the growth and greatly increased the likelihood of success for each new start-up company. The Springfield region went on to epitomize industrial ingenuity and creativity, the spirit of free enterprise and Vermont quality and craftsmanship.

Today, while the Lovejoy Tool Company is still profitable and growing, the move towards globalization and the drive for "cheaper and faster" in the manufacturing sector have shifted much of the US machine tool industry overseas.

As a result, the venerable Jones and Lamson Company, and many other anchor businesses in the Springfield area, were forced to close their doors.

The Springfield region plans to offset these economic setbacks by embarking on a bold initiative to incubate new businesses and to brand itself as a center of excellence in sustainable technologies.

Like Hartness' Springfield Plan, this initiative will drawn heavily local, regional and statewide assets and networks of supporters. The 21st Century version of the Springfield Plan will include not only the business and investment community, but also "knowledge-industry" partners in education and workforce development, and the partners throughout state's research infrastructure. These will serve "feeders" to the business incubator, providing start-up business opportunities in areas such as environmental and clean energy technologies.