Safety Speed Cut has won the 2010 Partner of the Year award, presented by the distributor division of the Woodworking Machinery Industry Association.

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The award is given annually to a manufacturer or importer who best exemplifies the spirit of partnership in their dealings with woodworking machinery distributors.

Safety Speed Cut was founded in 1958 by the Olson family in its garage. The company, based in Ham Lake, Minn., has developed over 15 American-made production model panel saws and routers for use in wood, plastic and industrial applications. The company, by way of acquisition, has also begun to manufacture and supply wide belt sanders and fully automated air and glue pot edgebanders.

"Safety Speed Cut has always been focused on making our customer the top priority," said president Brian Donahue while accepting the award at the Woodworking Industry Conference in Monterey, Calif. "Our success in the marketplace has only been enhanced by our broad network of dealers. Through the years, dealers have helped us successfully deliver to customers because of their marketing, demonstrations and stock at their facility.

"The addition of our sanders and edgebanders has given us the ability to offer our customer base additional quality American-made products, and our dealers have supported us in getting them to market. Our goal has always been and will be customer satisfaction. The receipt of this award gives us the satisfaction that we have been accomplishing this to date."

AWI awards  six scholarships

The Architectural Woodwork Institute's Education Foundation has awarded six scholarships totaling $10,500 to students showing promise as members of the architectural woodwork 'community of the future.'

A donation of $20,000 has also been given to WoodLINKS USA to support high school woodworking programs.

The scholarships were awarded to Christopher Rider of Virginia Tech; Ryan Williams of the New England School of Architectural Woodworking; Scott Vasey of Pittsburgh State University; Andrew Prioli of the the Rhode Island School of Design; Steven Costa of Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology; and Chad Szablewski of Fox Valley Technical College.

This article originally appeared in the July 2010 issue.