Manufacturer of the Year (Small Company)

Sage Manufacturing Corporation, Bainbridge Island

Can you make a name for yourself as a small company in the vast world of fishing gear? You can if youre Sage Manufacturing, a star in the world of fly fishing. Can you really find something new to offer in a well-established category like sport fishing? Yes, again, if youre Sage.

Founded in 1980, Sage continues to introduce new technology. Its latest product is the One rod, incorporating aerospace-grade carbon fiber in a design that has a smaller diameter and weighs 25 percent less than previous models, while also offering greater casting accuracy.

For 2012, Sage is branching out into clothing, introducing a line of what it calls technical angling apparel to keep customers comfortable fishing flats in the blazing sun to chasing steelhead in an ice-cold river.

As with other successful companies among this years honorees, whats on the inside at Sage counts as much as its product line. Through application of lean techniques, Sage has cut costs per fly rod by more than 8 percent. Sage reconfigured its production floor to improve work flow and invested in an automated cutting machine to replace hand cutting. Aside from reducing scrap and production time, the switch also eliminated hand injuries and dramatically reduced workers comp claims.

SILVER AWARDS

Pro CNC, Bellingham
Pro CNC got its start in 1997 when three Western Washington University graduates coming out of that schools Vehicle Research Institute decided they wanted to design and build the next generation of energy-efficient car. To do that, they reasoned, they first needed a machine shop to make components for the car and to bring in a little business on the side to keep the venture going.
The dream car is sill on hold, but in the meantime, what Darcy Hughes, Paul Van Metre and Kelsey Heikoop have built is a 60-employee, $7.5 million-a-year machine shop, with specialties in production for the aerospace and electronics industries. The company has averaged annual growth of nearly 20 percent for the past three years. In addition to products it builds for others, Pro CNC has spun out a few of its own such as ProShop, software for managing a machine shop, which theyve sold to other machine shops. Theyve also partnered with another Bellingham company, Theo Wanne, to make high-end saxophone and clarinet mouthpieces.

Cascade Designs, Seattle
The maker of the Therm-a-Rest camping mattress celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, but its not resting on its achievements. In 2011, the company invested in additional production capacity to meet demand for mattresses and the MSR camp stove (80 percent of the companys products are made at its SoDo headquarters). It introduced a new Hummingbird line of luggage and gear for adventure travelers. And it came up with the SealLine E-Cases, waterproof containers for personal electronic devices that still allow access to touch-screen and voice capabilities.
A company that markets to outdoor adventurers needs an environmental orientation. Cascade Designs says most of its packaging uses recycled materials and is itself recyclable. SealLine and Hummingbird gear is PVC free. Metal manufacturing processes are zero waste. And paper use has been cut by eliminating printed catalogs and creating a paperless manufacturing system.