Hebron’s MetalQuest has been
named 2020 Manufacturer of the Year (small division) by the Nebraska Chamber of
Commerce and Industry. MetalQuest’s President, Scott Harms, and Vice President,
Scott Volk, are both graduates of Southeast Community College’s Milford Campus.
October is Manufacturing
Month in Nebraska and Gov. Pete Ricketts traveled to Hebron to present the
award to Harms, Volk and the rest of the MetalQuest employees.
“We are honored to receive the Nebraska Small
Manufacturer of the Year Award,” Volk said. “It is a privilege to have our
talented employees recognized for the hard work they do.”
Volk graduated from SCC in 1995 with a degree
in Manufacturing Engineering Technology. Harms graduated in 1994 from the
Machine Tool Technology program. MetalQuest was founded in 1996 and currently
has 56 employees, with customers in 27 states. It produces tight-tolerance,
precision-machined component parts for its customers.
“Manufacturing is important; people take for
granted where it comes from,” Harms said. “If it’s physical and you can hold it
in your hand, it comes from a manufacturing company somewhere, and there’s
manufacturing companies all over the place.”
According to Harms and Volk, the company’s
strength is in its employees who continue to adopt and implement the latest
automation and technology, which keeps them competitive in the marketplace.
“Everyone in
Nebraska knows that our number one industry is agriculture,” said Ricketts.
“But what a lot of people don’t realize is manufacturing is our number two
industry in the state of Nebraska.”
Nebraska has
more than 1,500 manufacturers employing around 100,000 workers. One in 10 jobs
is in manufacturing. The industry contributed more than $14 billion annually to
Nebraska’s Gross State Product, according to the Nebraska Chamber.
For more
information on SCC’s Manufacturing Engineering Technology program, go to: https://www.southeast.edu/manufacturingtech/