From encouraging high school students to pursue a career in manufacturing and innovative products born here in Western New York to driving success through multiple generations of family ownership, the 2015 Manufacturing Awards provided the opportunity to reflect on and recognize the hard work, ingenuity and perseverance that our local manufacturers demonstrate daily. Even better? Nearly 300 people attended to celebrate one of our region’s most critical sectors.

We were honored to be a presenting sponsor, along with our partners at Insyte Consulting as well as Sonwil Distribution and KeyBank, as Business First handed out more than 20 awards to deserving local manufacturers on Tuesday, May 5. You can see a full list of the winners on a previous blog we posted here.

As the “newcomer” this year, we were inspired by so many of the award winners and what they stand for. We’d like to give a special shout out to a few of our members that earned an award. Business First was kind enough to share the descriptions they read while the companies below were being honored for our use here.

Harmac Medical Products Inc.
Award: Community Involvement

Harmac provides single-use medical devices for use in the global market. That’s around the world but listen to what they do at home for the community. Harmac purchased abandoned and neglected houses within HUB zone, where the headquarters are located in the City of Buffalo. Harmac also created 4 acres of green space with more than 150 trees and replaced cracked sidewalks and defective street lights to increase safety and neighborhood stability. The company also hires contract personnel with developmental disabilities form Allentown Industries.

Staub
Award: Operational Excellence

Like many companies, Staub got its start in the garage. That was 1975. But this is no garage operation today. From implementing machining centers that run without operators overnight so when their workforce arrives in the morning, large volumes of product are ready to be packaged and shipped to finding an innovative way to deliver coolant to the machining centers, Staub is a great example of how improving operations through innovation can lead to growth and profit.

Eastman Machine
Award: Family Run Manufacturing

Eastman is a fifth generation family run business that manufactures equipment for cutting fabric such as cloth, canvas and fiber glass. About 50% of its $32 million sales are sold into export markets with the expectation to consistently grow export sales by 10% over the next several years.

TAM Ceramics
Award: Dream It, Do It

TAM Ceramics is big Dream it Do supporter. George Bilkey serves on its board of directors and TAM Ceramics is the largest financial supporter in Niagara County. The company has generously backed Dream It Do It in many ways including high school tours, speaking engagements, Manufacturing Expo, hosting an intern from Niagara Falls High School, sponsoring teachers for the Summer Educator Work Experience and participating in ECC’s Engineering Day.

TAM Ceramics is a leading manufacturer of powders specifically engineered to meet a diverse customer base, which includes small specialty operations and Fortune 500 companies.

Power Drives Inc.
Award: Dream It, Do It

Power Drives is a manufacturer of fluid transmission equipment for industrial use including heavy truck, locomotives and marine. The company has facilities in Buffalo, Falconer, Tonawanda and Erie, Pa. Employment is about 250. Company president Louis Panzica was instrumental in establishing the Dream It Do It Program, first in the Southern Tier and then in Erie & Niagara Counties.

Congratulations again to all the winners on this well-deserved recognition of excellence. We’re already looking forward to next year so we’ll let you know right here on our blog when nominations are open. In the meantime, keep putting your award-worthy ideas to work – we’re here if you need any help.