For the past several years, I have had the pleasure of helping select the winners of the Industrial Supply Association’s annual American Eagle Value-Added Partner and Value-Added Distributor and Manufacturer awards. ISA has graciously allowed me to assist in this effort because of our company’s ongoing role in hosting and managing the association’s Web site that focuses on the value-added activities of distributors and manufacturers in the industrial supply chain, www.ValueAddedPartners.org.

The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at the opening session of ISA’s Industrial Supply Conference and Trade Fair in Las Vegas on May 21. The members of the association’s Awards and Recognition subcommittee in charge of choosing the winners were impressed not only with the number of entries received this year, but the quality of the nominations. It’s clear that many distributor and manufacturer members of ISA have developed very sophisticated programs that benefit customers.

The purpose of the American Eagle Awards program is to recognize companies in the industrial supply channel for the work they do to help customers cut costs and improve productivity. As manufacturing continues shifting to China, India and other nations with low labor costs, U.S. and Canadian-based manufacturers are facing competitive pressures like never before. They rely on their suppliers to help them survive.

In many cases, when ISA members introduce new cutting tool technology that helps a machining operation shave minutes off of a production cycle, or institute an inventory management program that enables a manufacturing plant to lower its procurement costs, those improvements result in companies saving literally hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Often, the cost savings and production gains help keep jobs here instead of transferring them to manufacturing facilities overseas.

Only a few companies will earn the coveted American Eagle Awards. But if your company is involved in helping to keep American manufacturing strong, you deserve our applause too.

This editorial appeared in the May/June 2007 issue of Progressive Distributor magazine. Copyright 2007.