Two West Midland companies are competing with other production firms from across the UK in the final of a national manufacturing awards scheme.

Solihull-based ZF Lemforder and Telford firm Proto Labs have both been shorlisted in the finals of the Manufacturing Excellence Awards (MX) 2010, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

MX is one of Europe’s most well-known best practice manufacturing benchmarking schemes. Throughout the competition a leading panel of industry experts from organisations including Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Barclays Corporate and Autodesk have been on hand to provide free business advice to entrants, worth more than £20,000.

The firms joined other finalists to take part in a two-day judging process at IMechE’s London headquarters on June 2 and 3.

The final winners will then be announced at a glittering awards ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel in London on June 23.

ZF Lemforder UK manufactures parts in excess of 70,000 annually for Jaguar Land Rover vehicles, namely the Discovery 4 and Range Rover Sport.

It is a major supplier of parts to the automotive sector worldwide providing suspension and steering systems and components. With JLR it produces corner modules which consist of a wheel end assembly including hub, knuckle, control arm, driveshaft, wheel disks and brake callipers.

Proto Labs is the science brains behind the manufacturing process and it has recently won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Its services sit in the development phase of a new product – supporting design evolution from concept through to entry into the market place and low volume production. Through the use of highly automated manufacturing systems and proprietary software, it is the world’s fastest source for custom manufactured prototype and short-run production parts, capable of providing parts in as little as one business day.

Damian Hennessey, commercial manager at Proto Labs said “Reaching the finals of MX is a great recognition for the dedicated and hard working team that we have.

“For a body as prestigious as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to recognise our business makes us all very proud and gives reassurance that we must be doing something right; particularly when much of the time it is all too easy for people to dismiss the UK as a viable location for a thriving manufacturer.”

The two companies are in the running for categories including customer focus, process innovation, logistics and resource efficiency, people effectiveness, financial management and e-business. Former winners have included Rolls-Royce, Ford and BAE Systems Marine.

John Garside, principal fellow at WMGand chairman of the MX judging panel, said “We believe manufacturing excellence must be core competence for product orientated companies and through our involvement in MX, WMG is able to establish benchmarks for best practice and help managers in companies implement them.

“The UK must have a balanced economy with a strong portfolio of high technology, sustainable products and services that are attractive in international markets.

“Celebrating manufacturers’ success will publicise these achievements and encourage others to identify similar opportunities.”