Note: Photos from today’s event will be available for download later today from the AWB flickr site.
BLAINE - The Association of Washington Business today honored 11 manufacturing companies from throughout the state Wednesday for their contributions to the state’s economy, including two Spokane companies and a Redmond company that were named Manufacturer of the Year. Eight other companies were recognized for operational excellence, innovation and their commitment to green manufacturing.
Award winners were recognized for everything from building more environmentally friendly trucks to developing a specialized hydraulic jack to quickly life a Humvee.
“In these difficult economic times, it is encouraging to see so many Washington businesses showing the kind of enterprise that is needed to help restore prosperity to the employers and citizens of our state,” said AWB President Don Brunell. “Washington has a long history of innovation in manufacturing, and it’s demonstrated once again this year with these award winners.”
Grant Gilmore executive director of the AWB Institute, an affiliate nonprofit of the Association of Washington Business, works to help Washington’s manufacturing companies maximize the quality and availability of Washington’s workforce.
“Manufacturing remains the backbone of our economy,” Gilmore said. “It is essential that we preserve and encourage our manufacturing base.”
Following is a complete list of this year’s Manufacturing Excellence and Manufacturer of the Year award winners:
MANUFACTURER OF THE YEAR
Data I/O (small)
Redmond’s Data I/O is a credit to Washington’s business community. This small Redmond firm is a global leader in programming solutions for semiconductors. Its culture, with a strong emphasis on innovation and delighting its customers has handsomely profited the company and contributed to the success of its customers – many of the world’s leading electronics and technology companies. Additionally, Data I/O’s wide-ranging community involvement is a model for all businesses.
Inland Empire Paper Company (medium)
Spokane’s Inland Empire Paper Company is a traditional manufacturer facing dramatic change. The company is not only rising to the challenge, but leading the industry with its innovative and focused initiatives. Over the past 10 years, the company has embarked on a modernization program with improvements to nearly every process with its mill using state-of-the-art equipment. These investments of several hundred million dollars made the company’s plant the most modern newsprint facility in the world. Tremendous environmental benefits, including biomass power generation, reducing the company’s carbon footprint by 30,000 tons per year and reducing wastewater discharge, resulted from this modernization.
HollisterStier (large)
HollisterStier Contract Manufacturing is a Spokane, Washington based
manufacturing service provider whose client list includes some of the
world’s leading pharmaceutical, generic and biotechnology companies and
government agencies. HollisterStier’s manufacturing service focuses on the
aseptic fill/finish of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical sterile
injectable products— a complex, highly regulated and specialized form of
manufacturing. HollisterStier implements a strategic mix of processes and
systems that focus on customer satisfaction, employee engagement and
activity optimization. In meeting these three goals, HollisterStier has
lent itself to continued quality innovation and improvement, corporate
resonsibility and workforce excellence. This model has translated into the
creation of over 200 jobs for Washington State residents and has allowed
significant investments to be infused back into our state.
GREEN MANUFACTURING
Sterile Surgical Systems (small)
If you’re looking for efficiency in a manufacturing environment, look no further than Olympia’s Sterile Surgical Systems. This small manufacturer of surgical packs for use in operating rooms is excellent steward of the resources it uses. Sterile Surgical Systems’ reduction of energy usage is especially impressive. By installing a waste water recycling system, the amount of energy required to heat the water used for laundering the company’s reusable textile products has been dramatically reduced. The company’s other conservation initiatives include capturing rainwater from roof runoff to ease the burden on city-treated water supplies, piping steam into washers to heat water rapidly while saving energy by reducing the load on the water heater, and giving employees reusable water bottles to reduce the number of plastic disposable bottles.
Canyon Creek Cabinet Company (medium)
This Monroe firm is another innovator in green manufacturing. Canyon Creek installed a solvent recovery and recycling system that reduced the need to purchase hazardous virgin acetone for line flushing from 152 55-gallon drums per year to five, and eliminated the need for lacquer thinner. The company’s products comply with the California Air Resources Board’s Phase I requirements ― one of the world’s toughest standards for placing formaldehyde emissions in products. By the end of 2010, the company will comply with even tougher Phase II standards. Canyon Creek is also the recipient of the 2008 Governor’s Award for Sustainable Practices.
Kenworth Truck Company (large)
The Kenworth Truck Company, owned by Kirkland-based PACCAR, manufactures some of the world’s most environmentally friendly trucks. Kenworth provides fuel-saving technology, reducing emissions. Among its innovations are aerodynamic trucks, medium duty diesel-electric hybrids, and trucks that run on compressed and liquefied natural gas. Kenworth’s Renton plant achieved certification from the prestigious International Standards Organization for its environmental sustainability. Kenworth diverted 80 percent of its production waste away from landfills through an aggressive program including recycling and using waste for energy.
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Cadet Manufacturing (medium)
Vancouver’s Cadet Manufacturing is committed to the lean manufacturing philosophy that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. An electric heating equipment manufacturer, Cadet hired a full-time employee charged with teaching and implementing lean manufacturing principles throughout the company. The results of this drive for efficiency include an average 75 percent reduction in machine and line changeover times, an average 50 percent reduction in process times and steps, an average 70 percent reduction in travel distances, and a 63 percent reduction in pounds of garbage scrap.
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (large)
A leader in the power protection industry, Pullman’s Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories strongly focuses on quality and reliability. The company continually improves through quality audits and data gathered through its worldwide, 10-year product warranty program. The company takes customer complaints seriously, using them as critical feedback from those it serves. Every product failure is traced back to its root cause so these problems can be corrected in the future. SEL also holds its suppliers to high quality standards with measures including supplier report cards and early supplier involvement in the design of SEL products. Thanks to SEL’s focus on quality, its installed products face an average failure rate of a mere 0.3 percent per year.
INNOVATION
The Bogert Group (small)
A family-owned business based in Pasco, the Bogert Group is a company obsessed with meeting needs. From aviation tools to hydraulic jacks to watercraft, the Bogert Group finds and profits from innovative solutions. Beginning as a small aviation company, Bogert’s can-do spirit led it to design a jack that could quickly lift an armored U.S. Army Humvee. To date, Bogert has produced 24,000 for use by the Army and Marines. A commercialized version is now under development. Additionally, the company designed and supplied more than 20,600 hydraulic hand pumps for the military. Thanks to the company’s innovation, the company has taken on contracts of staggering volume, maintained 100 percent quality, met every delivery date and stayed within budget.
Nucor Steel (medium)
This Seattle steel manufacturer embraces continuous improvement in safety, production, cost and quality. In 2007, Nucor received Star Certification from the Department of Labor and Industries’ Voluntary Protection Program for its stellar safety program and culture. It was Washington’s first heavy industrial site to receive this accreditation. Additionally, Nucor utilizes innovative production processes that boost its productivity. And it has found ways of co-existing with neighbors in a densely populated area by installing a custom muffler system to reduce noise and creating innovative heating practices to reduce odorous fumes.
Fluke Manufacturing (large)
Everett’s Fluke Manufacturing responds to customer needs with innovative products. The company is a world leader in manufacturing, distribution and service of electronic test tools and software. Its global market is worth $4 billion. Innovation at Fluke doesn’t happen by accident. The company has a proven system that drives every aspect of the company’s culture and performance. Exceptional people develop outstanding plans and execute them using world-class tools to construct sustainable processes, resulting in superior performance. Guiding all efforts is a simple philosophy rooted in four priorities: quality, delivery, cost and innovation.
About the Association of Washington Business
Formed in 1904, the Association of Washington Business is Washington’s oldest and largest statewide business association, and includes more than 7,000 members representing 650,000 employees. AWB serves as both the state’s chamber of commerce and the manufacturing and technology association. While its membership includes major employers like Boeing, Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser, 90 percent of AWB members employ fewer than 100 people. More than half of AWB’s members employ fewer than 10. For more about AWB, visit https://owa.awb.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.awb.org.
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