Now in its third year, the manufacturing excellence award recognises outstanding Singapore-based firms which have achieved innovative, world-class manufacturing standards.

Past winners of the awards are multinational firms Seagate Technology International and Tetra Pak Jurong.

Keppel Fels was the only offshore mega-structure firm among six award finalists that included contenders from the electronics, semiconductor and biomedical sectors.

'Winning the top award is a bonus to Keppel Fels,' said Mr Tong Chong Heong, the company's managing director. 'It affirms our passion and commitment to deliver innovative projects on time, within budget and without incidents.'

Keppel Fels is a unit of Keppel Offshore & Marine which, in turn, is part of the Keppel Corp conglomerate.

Maxa is jointly organised by the Economic Development Board (EDB), McKinsey & Co and the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA).

The award was introduced in 2006 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who said at the time that he saw future Maxa winners as role models that would encourage innovation and attract companies and talent to Singapore.

Contenders are subjected to a stringent selection process when it comes to the evaluation of the award participants.

Maxa winners are typically industry leaders which have differentiated themselves through innovation, operations and sustainability.

Participants are selected after a rigorous judging process in which their end-to-end manufacturing operations are closely scrutinised and assessed by a panel of judges that comprises leaders in academia and industry.

The judges look for firms which have continuously strived to achieve success through innovation in order to remain competitive globally.

They also look for firms with a robust operating system which ensures that their practices are sustainable.

Participating firms went through a three-stage assessment process that included a two-day on-site visit by Maxa's team of assessors.

The six finalists also made presentations and fielded questions from judges who included Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, professor of manufacturing and director of Warwick manufacturing group at Warwick University, and former Sony executive deputy president Yoshiyuki Kaneda.

Mr Tong said his team benefited from the independent and in-depth audit of the firm's strength and capabilities by the Maxa assessment team.

This year's sub-category winners include Panasonic Factory Solutions, which won the Innovation Award; and United Microelectronics Corp, which won the Operational Excellence Award.

A new category - the Excellence in Environmental Management - was introduced this year and GlaxoSmithKline was its inaugural winner for showing a systematic process in managing its impact on the environment.

Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security S. Jayakumar presented the 2008 Maxa winners with the award trophies at a lunch ceremony held at the Conrad Centennial Singapore yesterday.

franchan@sph.com.sg