Started by NORBIC in 2003, this annual luncheon honors a Chicago area manufacturer who has shown leadership, innovation, best practices and serves as a role model to other manufacturers. The selected candidate recognizes the rapidly evolving nature of American manufacturing, has a vision for the future of his/her business, and is implementing the necessary measures to achieve the NORBIC standard for manufacuting excellence.

All small, privately held manufacturing companies headquartered in Northeast Illinois and whose principal operations are in this area are eligible for the award. In addition to the vision and leadership of the owner, companies are evaluated to determine how close they are to ‘excellence' based on numerical rankings on such business metrics as: customer satisfaction, safety, visual management deployment, scheduling systems, product and material flows, inventory and wip levels, people resources, state of equipment and tooling, supply chain integration and quality systems deployment.