AAMC-member CSL Behring received the top honour of large “Manufacturer of the Year” at a Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame gala dinner earlier this month in an annual awards program that recognises and celebrates innovation, productivity and contributions made by manufacturers to the Victorian economy.

The “Medium” and “Small” business categories were awarded to Thycon Industries and H&H Machine Tools Australia.

With the theme “Towards Future Industries”, the awards were established in 2001 to recognise individuals and companies who embrace new technologies and manufacturing techniques, are export focused and excel in business innovation. They promote outstanding and forward thinking local businesses and individuals that are raising the bar in Victorian manufacturing.

The awards included Young Manufacturer of the Year (Dr Ashley Denmead, Carbon Revolution) and six Hall of Fame Awards for outstanding manufacturers in the sectors the Victorian Government has identified for high growth potential: medical technology and pharmaceuticals (MSD Animal Health); new energy technology (Mil-Systems); food and fibre processing (Andrew Peace Wines); transport, defence and construction technologies (MHG Asia Pacific); professional services (Cobalt Design) and international education (Swinburne University of technology).

The nominations are judged across a range of criteria including innovation, adoption of advanced manufacturing technology, business and environmental sustainability, and skills development.

In other awards, ASX-listed specialist healthcare company Admedus has taken out the top gong at the national 2016 Endeavour Awards, which is held by Australia’s leading magazine for the manufacturing industry Manufacturers’ Monthly and recognises best practice and the achievements of industry leaders.

Bio-manufacturer Admedus was chosen from over 40 other finalists to take out the prestigious ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ category.

Admedus was also awarded ‘‘Most Innovative Manufacturing Company’ for its work in the research, manufacture and export of its lead regenerative tissue product CardioCel®, which is undertaken at the Company’s state-of-the-art bio-manufacturing facility in Malaga, Western Australia.

CardioCel is developed using a high-tech engineering process called ADAPT®, whereby scientists treat a piece of animal pericardium, the heart covering membrane, to remove all RNA, DNA and remnants of cells to produce an off-the-shelf, ready to use collagen bio-scaffold that functions like human tissue.

Admedus has commercialised its innovative tissue engineering technology for regenerative medicine in four continents. It also has a major interest in developing the next generation of vaccines, targeting disease with significant global potential, such as Herpes and Human Papillomavirus.

In other categories:

• Norm Tucker of HTA (Heat Treatment Australia), which is the only aerospace heat treating facility in the country with AS9100 and Nadcap accreditation, was awarded the Endeavour lifetime achievement award.

• The Australian Industrial Product of the Year honour was awarded to Geonets Geofabrics Australasia.

• Exporter of the year was awarded to GP Graders.

• The Best State Application award was taken out by Mitrefinch’s time allocation system.

• The Outstanding Small Business award went to Queensland gaskets.

• The Safety Solution 2016 award went to Spring’Tainer Doric.

• The Global Supply Chain Integration award went to R&R Murphy.

• The Environmental Solution category was won by Bosch Australia.

• Outstanding Start-up was awarded to SynFlyt.

• The Technology Application award went to multiproduct robotic carpentry system Robotic Automation and CMTP Packaging.

In upcoming awards, entries for this year’s Mining Technology Award in the Australian Technologies Competition close on July 11.

The competition provides mentoring for innovative Australian SMEs and awards those who are best positioned to become global success stories. The competition has a strong commercial focus.

The top 30 companies will gain access to expert mentors and connections to investors, customers, specialist advisors, grant programs and international markets.

The best companies will be recognised at Showcase events in Melbourne as part of the All Energy conference on October 5, and later in Sydney as part of Startup Sydney week in early November.

For further information on the Australian Technologies Competition visit www.austechcomp.com.