KPC Media Group presented the inaugural “Salute to Industry Manufacturing Awards” on October 27, 2020. The publishers of Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly invited readers of the regional business journal, as well as 12 other newspapers and websites in northeast Indiana, to nominate and vote for winners from among a list of outstanding manufacturers in various categories. Three Noble County nominees were named winners and two were semifinalists.
Flint & Walling in Kendallville was honored as the 2020 Northeast Indiana Best Manufacturing Workplace. The family-owned pump building business has been in operation for over 150 years. Some of the reasons the company earned the win include their commitment to holding workers to a 40-hour work week so employees can spend time with their families, and a 100% free family insurance option that highlights a strong benefits package.
The 2020 Northeast Indiana Manufacturer’s Workplace Diversity Award was given to No-Sag Products Corporation, a Leggett & Platt Company located in Kendallville. According to KPC’s accompanying program, No-Sag, manufacturers of springs for furniture, has a philosophy to hire the “best person for the job.”
No-Sag built a reputation during its 72 years of operating in Kendallville for welcoming and hiring veterans and active-duty members of the military. About 8% of their current workforce are veterans or on active duty. In 2019, No-Sag was honored in a ceremony in Washington D.C. where they accepted the Hire Vets Medallion from Deputy Secretary of Labor Sam Shellenberger.
Northeast Indiana’s Green Manufacturer of the Year in 2020 is Reliable Production Machining and Welding, also located in Kendallville. The award comes after the installation, in the fall of 2017, of 1.2 megawatt array of 3,500 solar panels. The solar field provides 75% of Reliable’s energy needs. According to officials, their example has led another company to follow suit by installing a solar array in Avilla.
Other Noble County companies recognized at the ceremony were Bosch in Albion, nominated for Internationally-Owned Manufacturer of the Year and Workplace Diversity. Kammerer Dynamics Inc. was a semifinalist for Indiana-Owned Manufacturer of the Year. Kammerer operates in Kendallville. Tenneco, with a plant in Ligonier, was also a semifinalist in 2020. The company was nominated for the top prize: Manufacturer of the Year.
KPC Media CEO Lou Phelps explained why the publisher decided to recognize local manufacturers.
“We felt it was important to bring manufacturers and political leaders together to talk about common issues, challenges and opportunities, and to tout the innovative and sustaining accomplishments of area manufacturers,” Phelps shared in the event program. “The importance of manufacturing to our region and our state cannot be overstated.”
