ST. PETERSBURG, FL – The Woodworking Machinery Industry Assn.'s distributor members have announced the winner of the WMIA's 2007 Partner-of-the-Year Award. The announcement was made during the April 25-28 Woodworking Industry Conference (WIC) at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, FL. The 2007 recipient company is Accu-Systems Inc., based in Salt Lake City, UT.

Scott Mueller, a distributor member of WMIA's marketing committee and an executive with Edward B. Mueller Co. Inc., introduced Mel Hatch, Accu-Systems founder and president, when presenting the award.

While announcing Accu-Systems as the 2007 Partner-of-the-Year winner, Mueller summarized the nomination and award criteria process. "Since 1994, WMIA's distributor members have nominated manufacturers and importers who exemplify the spirit of partnership while working with woodworking machinery distributors. Nominees' accomplishments are ranked according to 30 criteria in five key support areas: financial, sales and product, service and parts, marketing support and training. marketing committee distributor members tabulate the nominations and then total the value of the rankings, factoring in other considerations such as the number of distributor relationships each nominee has. The quantitative rankings determine which machinery supplier is named the year's WMIA Partner of the Year."

Mueller said, "Accu-systems' success is derived from successfully identifying marketplace needs and then designing and building innovative machinery to satisfy them. Its products range from small glue systems to large double-sided machines and is believed to be the only U.S. manufacturer of dowel insertion machinery. It currently markets 25 machines with competitors for only four of them.

"Its motto is, 'If it needs to be cut, drilled, glued or dowelled, we have a machine to do it.' Its MMTJ miter, mortise and tenon machine was an IWF 2004 Challenger Award winner. Mel Hatch attributes much of Accu-Systems' growth since its founding in 1983 to word-of-mouth and its close partnering with its distributors. Accu-Systems, one of the 15 companies nominated, is a worthy winner of this prestigious woodworking industry award."