Michigan’s Innovative and Resilient Manufacturing Legacy on Display

LANSING (Nov. 7, 2024) — Manufacturers move Michigan forward as the centerpiece of the state’s economic strength, stability and prosperity. The industry’s innovation and resilience was on full display at the annual Manufacturing Excellence Awards gala held by the Michigan Manufacturers Association (MMA) on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in Lansing.  

The prestigious awards program celebrated the winners of the 2024 Manufacturing Excellence Awards and this year’s gala featured the announcement of the highly anticipated winners of four award categories.

The 2024 Manufacturing Innovation Excellence Award winner is GTF Technologies in Ada. The Manufacturing Innovation Excellence award showcases a company that has brought an innovative concept to market.

Saginaw-based Fullerton Tool Company has been named the 2024 Manufacturing Community Impact Award winner. The award recognizes a manufacturing business that has shown exemplary leadership in serving its community or state and is an example of the involved and giving nature of manufacturers.   

New to this year’s awards, the Manufacturing Sustainability Award Powered by Consumers Energy was presented to Holcim, located in Alpena. This award recognizes a Michigan manufacturing company of any size that is planning and taking action to improve sustainability through regenerative solutions in an effort to make a revolutionary and lasting impact.

This year’s Coolest Thing Made in Michigan Award Powered by Endeavor IT winner was the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight (ACOG) manufactured by Wixom-based Trijicon Inc. In 2018, MMA started the Coolest Thing Made in Michigan competition to call attention to the products being made by creative thinkers and doers right here in the Great Lakes State. Endeavor IT partnered with MMA as the program sponsor for this year’s award, reflecting the value the company places in the visionary and inventive minds propelling technology forward.

Previously announced winners were celebrated at the gala event co-hosted by MMA President & CEO John J. Walsh and Donna Kuhr, President, CEO and Co-Owner of PTM Corporation in Ira Township.

Jackson-based John Macchia Jr., CEO of Advance Turning and Manufacturing is the winner of the 2024 John G. Thodis Michigan Manufacturer of the Year – Large Tier Award, which has been presented since 1981 to honor the important, positive and tangible contributions individual manufacturers make to their employees, customers and communities.

Nathan Cox, President of Cox Machine LLC in Traverse City, has been named the 2024 John G. Thodis Michigan Manufacturer of the Year – Small Tier Award winner. The award carries the name and the legacy of MMA’s longest serving president, John G. Thodis, whose lifetime of industry service is one that all deserving manufacturers strive to duplicate.

The recipient of the 2024 Manufacturing Lifetime Achievement Award is Saginaw-based Dan Dralle, Founder and President of D&JD Partners. The Manufacturing Lifetime Achievement award is given to a manufacturer who has excelled in the industry and inspires his or her peers, emerging leaders, lawmakers and educators to strive to make significant contributions to his or her company, industry and community. 

This year’s Manufacturing Woman of the Year Award winner is Jill Dralle, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw. The Manufacturing Woman of the Year Award was created in 2019 to honor the roles that women play in manufacturing.

The 2024 Manufacturing Talent Champion Award winner is Fowlerville-based Christine Sermak, Chief Operating Officer of Total Security Solutions. The winner of the Manufacturing Talent Champion works to develop Michigan’s next generation workforce and bring attention to the industry’s variety of career options.  

The Manufactured Export of the Year Award was created in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to recognize export success. This year’s award winner is Biodapt® manufactured by Gantec Inc. located in Midland.

The Manufacturing Emerging Leader Award was presented to Charles Washburn, Operations Engineering Manager of Kalamazoo-based Landscape Forms. The Manufacturing Emerging Leader Award is presented for noteworthy contributions to the industry and the potential for future accomplishments within Michigan manufacturing. 

“Day after day, year after year, our industry addresses the needs of humankind in ways both well-known and hardly recognized but nevertheless appreciated,” said John J. Walsh, MMA President & CEO. “And all the while, owners, operators and employees keep creating, solving problems and taking risks in market conditions that can seem nearly overwhelming and daunting.”  

Walsh continued, “Manufacturing has provided individuals and their families with financial health and stability, strengthened communities and led Michigan and the entire nation to unimaginable financial success and stability. It is our honor to celebrate this industry that has propelled Michigan forward through the best of times and the worst of times.”

For more information or to schedule a call with the 2024 Manufacturing Excellence Awards winners, or to schedule a call with MMA President & CEO John Walsh, contact MMA’s Delaney McKinley at 517-487-8530 or mckinley@mimfg.org.

Learn more about the Manufacturing Excellence Awards and the Coolest Thing Made in Michigan.

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