Worcester-based company named ‘Small Manufacturer of the Year’

WORCESTER — Worcester-based Solvus Global has been named the 2024 Small Manufacturer of the Year, the Small Business Administration announced Tuesday.

The company is “a technology solution provider for materials and manufacturing, specializing in the areas of additive manufacturing, machine learning, and sustainable materials processing,” the SBA said in a statement.

Dr. Aaron Birt and Dr. Sean Kelly earned the recognition “as leading experts in various fields including machine learning, materials and manufacturing with a passion for using technology to develop solutions for critical industry problems,” the SBA said.

”It’s amazing seeing how far a homegrown enterprise such as Solvus Global has come,” SBA District Director Robert Nelson said in a statement. “The SBDC Central Regional Office at Clark University and the SCORE Worcester Chapter providing mentorship and counseling proved vital to the company’s journey to scale.”

Solvus Global leveraged SBA lending, including an equipment line of credit and a revolving line of credit for operating expenses to support their expansion, officials said. In addition, a Paycheck Protection Program loan helped keep staff employed with the business until recovery from the pandemic.

“It’s an honor to be recognized as Small Manufacturer of the Year. Growing up in the area, it has been so exciting to see the resurgence of manufacturing in the region and we’re grateful for the support we’ve had from leaders in the region to have the opportunity to be part of that growth,” Kelly said in a statement.

In 2019, the company expanded from its first office and lab space into a 8,000-square-foot facility in Worcester. The company also operates out of a collaborative production and R&D facility in Webster, through a partnership with Army Research Laboratory and VRC Metal Systems.

In 2021, Solvus Global renovated an existing 32,000-square-foot warehouse into a Center for Scaled Innovations in Manufacturing to grow large production and workforce development in the City of Leominster, officials said. 

With support from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Solvus Global has established an internship program with local colleges and universities such as Quinsigamond Community College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, to further educate the manufacturing workforce in the North Central Massachusetts region.

The number of employees at Solvus Global has risen from three co-founders to 90 employees today.

”We exist to solve problems in the manufacturing technology industry, but at the end of the day it’s all about the people. Ideas are easy to come by, but really execution is that hard part and you can’t do that without amazing people like the ones on our team at Solvus,” Birt said in a statement.

Patrick Royce, vice president at Webster Five Bank, nominated the company for the award.

Birt and Kelly will be honored at the annual National Small Business Week Massachusetts Awards Ceremony on May 10 in Andover.

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