Five Maine companies receive 2018 Governor's Award for Business Excellence
Courtesy / Sappi North America
Sappi North America Inc. is one of five business in Maine to receive the 2018 Governor's Award for Business Excellence.
Earlier this year, the company unveiled its newly rebuilt Paper Machine 1 at the Somerset Mill in Skowhegan, a yearlong project that completes a $200 million investment that is expected to boost its global competitiveness and increase the mill's annual production capacity by almost 1 million tons per year.
Gov. Paul R. LePage presented five Maine companies with a 2018 Governor's Award for Business Excellence during a reception Tuesday at the Blaine House in Augusta.
The 28th annual awards, administered by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and sponsored by Consolidated Communications, recognize Maine businesses that demonstrate a high level of commitment to their community, employees and excellence in manufacturing or providing services.
"It's been an honor to annually recognize the best of the best here in Maine, businesses that clearly go above and beyond normal day to day operations," LePage said. "The businesses honored today are dedicated to quality workmanship, maintaining a loyal and dedicated workforce and giving back to the community. I thank each of them for doing business in our state and for setting the bar high."
Here are this year’s honorees:
Enercon Technologies
Enercon Technologies in Gray, provides electro-mechanical product development and contract manufacturing services to the medical, industrial, and defense markets. Its integration of engineering and manufacturing services streamlines the product development cycle, improving quality while reducing time-to-market and total project costs for their customers. A privately held, veteran-owned company since 1980, Enercon currently employs nearly 200 people in its recently completed, state-of-the-art design and manufacturing center located in Gray.
Howe and Howe Technologies
Internationally recognized for extreme vehicle fabrication and design, Howe & Howe Technologies in Waterboro was founded with the vision of producing innovative vehicles to enable life saving strategies. Founders and twin brothers, Geoffrey and Michael Howe first gained notoriety in 2001 with the introduction of the world's fastest tank, the Ripsaw, an unmanned ground vehicle designed for the U.S. military. Soon after they turned their talents in a different direction, creating extreme fire trucks, unmanned firefighting robots and off-road tracked wheelchairs.
Main-Land Development Consultants Inc.
Main-Land Development Consultants in Livermore Falls is a growing land-consulting company; providing engineering, land surveying, and environmental sciences to land owners and municipalities since 1974. Main-Land's vision is that every landowner can use their land to achieve the “American dream” and has set its mission as one of helping people add value to their land -- to understand it, develop it and protect it. The governor’s office said the company’s strength is in its “personable staff who aim for friendliness, and thus achieve great service and lasting relationships with their customers.”
Sappi North America
Sappi North America's roots can be traced back as far as 1854 to the S.D. Warren Co., up until its acquisition by Sappi Limited in 1994. Today, headquartered in Boston with over 2,000 employees and three mills in Maine and Minnesota, Sappi is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. In addition to its mills in Westbrook and Skowhegan, the company has a dedicated technology center in Westbrook and a shared service center in South Portland. In 2016, the Sappi Somerset Mill modernized its woodyard and completed a major investment to rebuild Paper Machine 1, expanding the mill's capability to make high-quality consumer-based packaging as well as coated graphics, representing a significant shift in Sappi's North American business. Together, Sappi invested more than $200 million in these two projects.
Sea Bags
Incorporated in 2006, Sea Bags started by making totes and accessories from recycled sails in Portland. Today, the company designs and manufactures a diverse line of totes, bags, and home goods, all made in Maine from recycled sails. CEO Don Oakes, President and COO Beth Shissler and CFO Bill McGonagle have all worked together to grow Sea Bags from just three employees to now more than 140 with 18 retail locations up and down the East Coast, saving over 600 tons of recycled sail cloth from landfills.
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