The H. Pettus Randall Entrepreneur of the Year winners were recognized in a ceremony on February 25 at Hotel Capstone.

Woody, Judy, Tim, Robert and Dell Smith and Rudolf Haustein were winners in the Executive Team category at the awards ceremony.

Here is a complete list of winners:

Rising Star

Collette Day, owner-Gracefully Done

Greg Davis, owner-d groupe

Carol Armstrong, owner-Armstrong Law

Kara Lindsey & Vicki Meads, owners-Sips N Strokes

Brian Ahmed, owner-Full Moon BBQ

Entrepreneur of the Year

Scott Riley, president, Kelley Riley, vice president and Ron Miles -Tusco Fence

Executive Team-Smith Machine (Woody, Judy, Tim, Robert, Dell Smith & Rudolf Haustein)

Susan Rue, owner-Rhubarbs

Bill Wright, owner-Royal Fine Cleaners

Jay Evans, president-College Station Properties

Innovator of the Year

Chris Blair, VP of User Experience-Insuresoft

Joe Fendley, VP of Technology-Insuresoft

Prathima Ryali-Hancock, VP of Product Development- Insuresoft

Advocate of the Year

Bill Tate, CPA-Covenant Consulting

Lifetime Achievement

Jim Flemming, chairman and CEO-Bank of Tuscaloosa

Jimmy Warren, president-TotalCom

Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute Entrepreneur Awards were also given. They are as follows.

High School Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year

James “Jimmy” Owens-Southside High School

Social Entrepreneur of the Year

Abigail Hardin-Open My Eyes Foundation founder, children’s book author

Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Tiffany Tidmore Collins-Miss Priss Boutique, LLC

College Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year Award

Tommy Hester-UA

The news story highlights Smiths Machine’s status as the DMG Customer of the Year as well as the Grand Opening of its new facility in June of this year.

The article also points to Smiths plan to become AS9000 certified in September, as well as the firm’s investment in the latest machine tool technology. It quotes Tim Smith on the decision to outfit the firm’s plants with DMG machine tools.

“We bought our first DMG machine tool in 2000,” said Tim Smith. “We are very pleased with how it performs. We decided that we needed one vendor and one standardized control for all machines (verticals, horizontals, mill-turn, twin spindle turning and 5-axis). In 2003, after extensive market study, comparing machine specifications, technology and company background, we chose DMG as our preferred vendor due to the machine technology and horsepower along with the support that DMG offers from the technical side. A big plus for us is the Siemens control, commonality is very important for our operators. No matter the machine, the operator can run it. Six years later we are still pleased with our decision, it has paid off.”

Smith’s Machine currently has 20 DMG machine tools in its two plants.

So, it comes as no surprise, perhaps, that DMG has featured Smith’s in a Customer Story that outlines the many ways DMG products have been helpful.

Among the most interesting aspects is DMG Powertools, a software solution that includes DMG Messenger that actually notifies key Smith’s Machine personnel of all relevant processes by the control, using email or text messaging. Powertools also allows Smith’s to access the status of a machine at anytime from anywhere.

You can read the story here.

Siemen’s, who reported global revenue of 77.327 billion euros in 2008, highlighted Smith’s use of a number of its products in a detailed Case Study covering the Cottondale, Alabama firm’s work for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International.

The broad-ranging case study include both Siemen’s hardware, like controllers and software, including its ShopMill and ShopTurn suites.

In the ad, vice president Tim Smith talks about accomplishing both milling and turning tasks on the machines.