Sunset Tool awarded Entrepreneur of the Year - Manufacturing Division
February 2008
"The Entrepreneur of the Year Award recognizes the importance of both sectors of our business community:
commercial and manufacturing," stated Moody. "All the winners met or exceeded the most stringent criteria,
including staying power, growth, creativity, response to adversity, and community involvement."
Moody presented the 2006 Entrepreneur of the Year‹Manufacturing‹to Marty Mason of Sunset Tool, Inc.
Sunset Tool is a full service job shop specializing in trim dies, fixtures, prototyping, and CNC and WEDM machining. Moody said,
"The ride for Marty Mason was launched more than a dozen years ago when Marty was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Small Business
Development Center at Lake Michigan College. Today, Marty Mason is once again receiving an Entrepreneur of the Year Award. So...how can
he be an entrepreneur after this many years in business? Well, it hasn't been easy...but Marty has continually re-positioned...
re-manufactured...and re-invented his role in the world of business."
"He, and his wife Sandra, are the owners of Sunset Tool Incorporated. His company has enjoyed both good times and bad...but nowhere
was the blow as severe as the one dealt by the times following 9-11. It took nearly four years for Sunset Tool to recover. Those four
years, however, were very well spent re-tooling the focus and Sunset Tool has emerged a much stronger, leaner operation," added Moody.
"The company is enjoying a substantial growth period, to the degree that they have moved into much larger quarters in the former Bosch
Packaging Facility on Red Arrow Highway in Bridgman. The company is now 14 years old, and as they garner larger contracts as well
as contracts for larger capabilities, they expect to hire from 6-to-8 new employees in the short term...and expect to double their staff
in 10-years," concluded Moody.
Members of the Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors served as the awards selection committee including Lynne Christiano,
Peter Lamberta, Kate Seaman, and Carl Spikner, and in the case of the Customer Service Award the Chamber Ambassadors.
Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce is a member-driven organization encouraging the growth of business through networking, advocacy,
visibility and benefits for all of our members. The Chamber represents over 700 businesses that provide over 40,000 jobs for our community.
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