The McNeil Industries team. Front Row, left to right: Ron Williams, Laura Ziernicki and Jason Salaty. Back Row: Ryan Rogers, Dennis Grantham, Erich Hahn and Justin McNeil. The Astro Manufacturing & Design team: From left to right, Mike Watts, Jr, Mike Bollas (rear), Paula Talbot (front), Chris Mathews, Rich Peterson, John Powers, Dave Clucas and Ron Frejosky. The MTD Products team. Left to right: Kermit Hatfield, Don Chicatelli, Mike Polca; Jeremy McConoughey, Phil Geneaux and Kate Biter.

CLEVELAND—MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network, today announced that McNeil Industries of Painesville, Astro Manufacturing & Design of Eastlake and MTD Products, Inc. of Valley City have been named winners of MAGNET’s First Annual Competitiveness Challenge competition.

The Challenge is the vehicle MAGNET established to motivate manufacturers in Northeast Ohio to increase productivity, embrace innovation in product and process development, and expand participation in global sales and sourcing.

A total of 13 manufacturers submitted proposals last spring aimed at improving an aspect of their operations. They worked on implementing their projects through mid-September and then submitted a final report on their progress.

Three expert judges, Dr. Stephen Gage, former MAGNET President, Robert Stimpert, Operating Director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Ashland University, and Shawn DaVis, consultant for business retention and expansion for the Greater Cleveland Partnership/COSE, reviewed the projects and determined the winning submissions.

The winner in the small manufacturing category, for companies with less than $25 million in annual sales, was McNeil Industries. McNeil develops, manufactures and delivers heavy-duty MAXAM® bearings, pins, bushings and other guide system components. Other participants in that category were PR Machine Works, Inc. of Mansfield, SwigerCoil Systems of Cleveland and Venture Plastics, Inc. of Newton Falls.

The winner in the medium manufacturing category, for companies with annual sales between $25 and 100 million, was Astro Manufacturing & Design.
Astro offers comprehensive manufacturing services for the medical, aerospace, automotive and other industrial and technology-related industries. Other participants in that category were Akron Brass of Wooster, GED Integrated Solutions, Inc. of Twinsburg, Jergens, Inc. of Cleveland, Lumitex, Inc. of Strongsville and Plasticolors, Inc. of Ashtabula.

The winner in the large manufacturing category, for companies with annual sales over $100 million, was MTD. MTD is a leader in the design and building of durable, easy-to-use outdoor power equipment. Other participants in that category were Henkel of Avon and Timken of Canton

The winning companies and all participants will be recognized at MAGNET’s Manufacturing Magic awards dinner on Thursday evening, November 15 at the Embassy Suites Rockside in Independence.

Corporate sponsors of Manufacturing Magic are: River Financial Group, NEOTEC, Oswald Companies, Delphi and Ernst & Young.

For information on entering next year's Challenge, and to download the 2008 participant's manual, visit the 2008 Competitiveness Challenge page.

# # # # #

For IMMEDIATE Release:
November 1, 2007

Contact: Greg Krizman
Senior Director, Marketing
216.432.5311 – office
330.212.1564 – cell
greg.krizman@magnetwork.org