Photo Above: Previous award winner, Xin (Crystal) Xue, Ph.D. accepting Innovation award on behalf of Brithinee Electric.
Colton, CA – Regional manufacturers will showcase their creative and innovative solutions to production and business problems at the 8th Annual Manufacturers’ Summit.
“The E=mc2 Innovation Awards allow manufacturers to present the solutions they have implemented to improve their businesses,” said Awards Chair Lisa Anderson. “The awards, presented as a main-stage event, allow the winning manufacturers to promote their company and products, and to inspire other businesses to improve their processes to and remain competitive.”
The 8th Annual Summit will take place on February 14, 2019 at the Riverside Convention Center.
There are four categories for the E=mc2 Innovation Awards for Manufacturing:
- Innovation in Resource or Process Efficiency –energy, water and other resources and/or process and flow improvement;
- Innovation in Product Development – products that support business and customer growth and margin improvement;
- Innovation in Human Capital and Talent – developing top talent within the organization, empowering employees and building skills;
- Innovation in Marketing – sales and marketing that facilitate business growth, increased market share and/or improved reputation.
College students and teams, who work on projects with a manufacturer, may also apply for an Innovation Award. “With the student category, we now have a spotlight on hiring recent graduates who showcase their talents with their submissions,” explained Anderson.
Submissions to be considered for the Manufacturers’ E=mc2 Innovation Awards will be accepted until Monday, December 31st. The application, available at http://mfgcouncilie.com/innovation-awards/, is easy to compete.
In the past, Harvey Mudd College students won an award for working with Purosil, LLC, to transform a formed hose manufacturing cell using lean techniques. The improvements created a $0.5 Million of annual savings with an over $2 Million increase in annual revenue.
La-Z-Boy West, located in Redlands, CA was the 2018 winner for Innovation in Resource Efficiency. Their team used the Lean Six-Sigma Methodology to drive change in numerous facets within their Poly Department. The changes included relocating six workstations to alleviate 1890 square feet for reallocation of activities.
Do It American Manufacturing, located in Corona, CA, won the 2018 Innovation Award in Human Capital and Talent Award by condensing a list of important things they could do to within their business down to a list of twenty-seven points that then led to the development of four guiding core values including: continuous improvement in all areas; making decisions with a long-term perspective; maintaining a perspective that they can manufacture profitably in the U.S.; and that customers are partners.
“Manufacturers can nominate themselves, or supporters of manufacturing, who are aware of a company’s innovations, are welcome to nominate the manufacturing company. The stage presentations of winning companies are always a highlight of the Manufacturers’ Summit,” said Molly Burgess, Executive Director of the MCIE. “We love manufacturing in our region because it’s a great source of good paying, career jobs.”
The Manufacturers’ Council of the Inland Empire (MCIE) is a regional 501c3 non-profit that supports manufacturing, and provides education on manufacturing topics to manufacturers, employees, students, and the community. The Council provides a strong, unified voice when communicating with regional, state and national entities on issues impacting the region. Programming is designed to help manufacturers find solutions for issues including: employment and training, research, regulatory compliance, import and export, and funding.
