People still feeling a twinge of election voting fever can relive that sense of satisfaction by voting for a local company in the B.C. Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards.
Naniamo-based VMAC (Vehicle Mounted Air Compressors) located on Kipp Road in south Nanaimo was nominated for the awards by the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce and has been chosen as a finalist.
The awards are an annual event, voted on by the public, to recognize companies and people that make valuable contributions and demonstrate leadership and innovation in B.C. manufacturing.
Jim Hogan, VMAC president, sees the nomination as good for developing new contacts with potential customers and suppliers, but it's important for the community as well, especially for attraction young local talent in engineering and manufacturing.
"It gives us a good public relations opportunity to be more well known in our community and in our province and to put the word out that VMAC is a great for young people to look to come to work to in the future," Hogan said. "We've been in the community for 20 or more years and we don't do, perhaps, as thorough a job as we could at elevating our profile and making sure that all the local talent that may choose to look to us for a career, that they know of us."
VMAC currently employs just shy of 100 people and continues to grow. Hogan said the company will be hiring if new product launches and marketing initiatives pay off.
"If the stars align, that count will be changing in a positive way," Hogan said.
VMAC was formed in the mid 1980s to develop jet engines for the military and moved to Nanaimo in the early 1990s.
To learn more about the awards and to vote for VMAC, please visit the awards website at www.cmehalloffame.ca/bc/.