1800 Century Place
Suite 400
Atlanta, GA 30345-4304
www.dtae.org

Press Release

Contact: Rodger Brown 404.253.2815

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, April 27, 2006 MS Word Version Here

Three Georgia Companies Named Manufacturers of the Year

Atlanta, GA -- More than 1,000 Georgia captains of industry gathered recently for the annual Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week awards luncheon. The winners of this year’s Manufacturer of the Year Award are: Wrigley Manufacturing’s Gainesville facility in the large employer category (more than 750 employees); The HON Company’s Cedartown facility in the medium category (151-750 employees); and Wilden Plastics of Peachtree City in the small category (1-150 employees).

Keynote speaker Lonice Barrett, director of implementation for Gov. Sonny Perdue, was joined by Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Craig Lesser and Mike Vollmer, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education, at the celebratory luncheon marking the culmination of Manufacturing Appreciation Week. The event was developed by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education and the Georgia Department of Economic Development in an effort to recognize and pay tribute to manufacturing’s role in Georgia’s economy. The manufacturing sector employs more than 400,000 Georgians at nearly 10,000 facilities across the state, contributing $61 billion to its economy annually.

The three winning companies were nominated by business and civic leaders and chosen for their excellence and contributions to the state’s economy and their respective local communities.

To encourage Georgia’s students to appreciate manufacturing’s role in the state’s economy, a statewide art contest is included each year with first-place prizes of $500 scholarships to students for their designs of t-shirts, posters and placemats. This year’s winners are: Nikki Byrd, Eastman, who won for T-shirt design; Frederica Cooper, Metter, who designed the winning poster; and David Peltier, Augusta, who won for his placemat design.

This year’s celebration marked the 12th anniversary of Manufacturing Appreciation Week in Georgia. Sponsors include BellSouth; Georgia Power; Pattillo Construction; Habif, Arogeti & Wynne; the Georgia Department of Economic Development; and the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute. The event was held at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta.

For a copy of this press release in Microsoft Word, click here.