Two Local Manufacturers Named Finalists in 2016 Minnesota Business Magazine’s Manufacturing Awards

Du Fresne Manufacturing and MME group both headquartered in Vadnais Heights have been named finalists in this year’s Minnesota Business Magazine Manufacturing Awards.

Du Fresne Manufacturing is a precision metal fabricator and is a finalist in the Image Category which honors businesses who have significantly worked toward changing the way the manufacturing industry is viewed. They are being honored for their extensive partnerships with area schools as well as their community involvement in sharing their best practices with other local businesses that go beyond the manufacturing sector.

MME group is a contract manufacturer and is a finalist in this year’s Employee Training Category. The company is being honored for the extensive ways it provides training for employees at all levels in the organization. MME group has been a past recipient of the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Grant through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The nomination process consisted of a 3 month period where nominations were solicited and submitted through the Minnesota Business web portal. Once nominations closed, they were collected and distributed to an internal review team. Minnesota Business Magazine collect an average of 200 nominations for each of our signature events, the internal review team is responsible for narrowing down the nominations in each category to the top five. These top five are then submitted to an external judging panel, which consists of industry experts across all professional platforms. Judges for the 2015 Manufacturing Awards include Don Craighead, CEO of DHC Enterprises Inc.; Kathy Burnham, senior vice president of PadillaCRT; and Kirby Sneen, vice president of the Manufacturers Alliance, among others.

Winners will be announced at a September 29, 2016, celebration to be held at Aria in downtown Minneapolis.

To see the list of finalists, register to attend the celebration, and for more information about the 2016 Manufacturing Awards, visit minnesotabusiness.com/2016-manufacturing-awards.