R.I. manufacturers name award winners

PROVIDENCE – Four successful manufacturers and a top-ranking politician in the state House of Representatives will receive awards from the Rhode Island Manufacturing Association (RIMA) next month during a black-tie fundraising gala to mark the organization’s 10th anniversary.

Recipients of the 2008 Rhode Island Manufacturing Awards will be: Vibco Vibrators Inc., Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Banneker Industries Inc. and Tiyoda-Serec Corp., along with House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox.

Vibco – based in the Wyoming section of Hopkinton and Richmond – makes silent vibrators for the manufacturing and construction industries. It will be honored as the recipient of the “Commitment to Manufacturing Award.” The award is presented each year in memory of John Hazen White Sr., who died at age 87 in 2001 after building Taco Inc. in Cranston into a leading manufacturer of hydronic pumps and related equipment.

Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) – a Raytheon Co. division based in Tewksbury, Mass., that has 13,500 employees and $4.7 billion in annual revenue – will be honored as the “Innovative Manufacturer of the Year.” According to the 2008 Providence Business News Book of Lists, Raytheon IDS is the third-largest manufacturer in Rhode Island, with 1,779 employees.

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Banneker Industries Inc. – a supply-chain management company based in North Smithfield – will receive the “Manufacturing Partner Award.” Founded by Cheryl W. Snead as a machine shop in 1991, Banneker moved into the then-little-known field of supply-chain management four years later and since has become a leader in the industry.

Tiyoda-Serec Corp. – based in North Kingstown – will receive the “Rhode Island Manufacturers’ Green Award,” an honor that RIMA Chairman Al T. Lubrano said is new this year and presented for “unparalleled performance in environmental manufacturing.” The company is a manufacturer of precision and industrial cleaning equipment systems, using an innovative “airless” technique.

Fox – a Providence Democrat who has been majority leader in the R.I. House of Representatives since January 2003 – will be honored with the “Rhode Island Manufacturers Advocacy Award” for his support of the manufacturing community in the R.I. General Assembly.

“They each have made major contributions in support of the resurgence and growth of manufacturing in Rhode Island,” Lubrano said of the honorees. Lubrano is president and chief operating officer of Technical Materials Inc., an electroplating company in Lincoln.

More than 300 people are expected to attend the black-tie event – slated for Saturday, Nov. 8, at the R.I. State House – for which Gov. Donald L. and Suzanne Carcieri are serving as honorary chairpersons.

Reservations ($175 per person) can be made by contacting John J. Grady, RIMA’s executive director, at (401) 751-0160, or visiting the association’s Web site, below.

The Rhode Island Manufacturers Association, based in Providence, represents more than 300 manufacturers employing more than 40,000 workers statewide. To learn more, visit www.RIManufacturers.com.

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