CLEVELAND, OH-The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) invites industry-leading companies to submit an entry for its 2010 Awards of Excellence in Metalforming. Presented annually, these awards recognize the high standards of achievement set by the metalforming industry in the areas of design, quality, training and education, safety, productivity, process control and product development.

Companies honored with Awards of Excellence receive prominent coverage in MetalForming magazine; recognition at PMA’s Annual Meeting and the 2010 FABTECH tradeshow; a $1,500 cash prize and commemorative plaque; and key presence on PMA’s website, visited by nearly 100,000 industry professionals annually.

The 2010 awards will recognize excellence within the following areas:

• The Higgins-Caditz Design Award, the industry's highest recognition for designing and engineering excellence, is presented to an innovative metalforming company for creative and effective product design.
• The A.R. Hedberg Training and Education Award recognizes a PMA member company for notable efforts to technically train and educate its employees by instituting a total training program throughout the company.
• The Waukesha Metal Products Excellence in Quality Award recognizes a PMA manufacturing member for outstanding achievement in the development and implementation of a company-wide quality system that effectively uses continuous improvement.
• The Pitcher Insurance Agency Safety Award recognizes a metalforming company for either an effective comprehensive safety program or a specific innovative idea in the context of an effective safety program.
• The Link Systems Process Control Award promotes the application of electronic analog closed-loop process controls in metalforming by recognizing innovative electronic solutions (implemented by a North American manufacturing company) that have resulted in significant quality, cost reduction and/or productivity improvements.
• The Ulbrich Award for Competitive Excellence in Product Development recognizes a metalforming company that develops and manufactures a product that best utilizes metal in place of a competitive material, or that develops a product using flat-rolled material at a significant cost reduction to customers on a product that was previously manufactured using more costly manufacturing processes.
•  The Zierick Manufacturing Corporation Productivity Award recognizes outstanding achievement by a PMA manufacturing member in the development and implementation of programs, processes and utilization of assets that lead to significant improvements in productivity.
• The Clips and Clamps Industries Educational Institution Award recognizes a public or private educational institution that provides exemplary training and education services to companies in the metalforming industry.

Applications for the 2010 Awards of Excellence in Metalforming must reach PMA no later than May 31, 2010.  Complete details and an online entry form are available at www.pma.org/awards.