RALEIGH – Two North Carolina companies were honored last Friday as the Professional Engineers of North Carolina announced the winners of the 2001 Governor’s New Product Award during their annual summer meeting. Ken Allen, Retention and Expansion Specialist with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, presented the awards.

“North Carolina is known as a hub of technology and innovation, and a state that works hard to attract good businesses,” Gov. Michael Easley said. “These awards showcase companies that demonstrate success in their industry and a commitment to providing good jobs for North Carolina workers.”

In order for a company to be considered for the award, judges weigh the product’s overall economic contribution to North Carolina, including the number of jobs created to produce the product; the ingenuity in the use of engineering principles, technology and materials; the improved function of the design, ease and savings in use of the new product; safety to the user; and the product’s appearance, packaging, and marketing.

“There are many exciting things happening in North Carolina Industry. The number of past winners of our state award that have gone forward to receive national recognition is very impressive. This year’s winners exemplify the type of leading edge technology present in our state as well as the variety of technologies to which North Carolinas contribute,” said Andrew Straw, Chairman of this year’s program.

The awards are presented in two size categories—Small Business and Mega Business—as follows:

Small Business Category
The award for the Small Business Category was awarded to Industrial Recovery Systems International Incorporated of Charlotte, NC for their Matrix Constituent Separator (MCS). The MCS is a patented system that uses infrared heat and vacuum to remove hazardous substances from contaminated soil. Mr. Thaddeus J. Kuzniar, President and Co-founder of Industrial Recovery Systems International Incorporated will be accepting the award.

Mega Business Category
Coring Cable Systems of Hickory, NC was presented with the award in the Mega Business Category for their UniCam® QuickPress® MT-RJ Connector. The UniCam® QuickPress® is a two-position connector for terminating fiber optic cable. The connector is used in fiber optic cabling systems in the backbone of private networks, campus, and building communications systems. Ms. Kathy Watson, Market Manager for Private Networks will accept the award on behalf of Corning Cable Systems.

Winners advance to the national competition sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), where North Carolina has produced seven previous national winners. Past winners have included Digital Optics Corporation from Charlotte and ALARIS Medical Systems from Creedomor in 1999, and Logic Marine Corporation from Durham in 1997. This year’s awards will the 18th annual presentations.

This year’s judges were Gil Vinzani, P.E. of North Carolina Natural Gas, Raleigh, NC; Jim Nichols of the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Raleigh, NC; Curtis B. Brookshire, P.E., of Transportation Technologies, Inc, Washington, NC; Robert L. Edwards, P.E., of The Facilities Planning Services Group, Raleigh, NC; and Andrew Straw, P.E., of Corning Cable System, Hickory, NC.