Associated Industries of Massachusetts today announced the establishment of an award to honor excellence in manufacturing.

The AIM Excellence in Manufacturing Award will be presented monthly to a Massachusetts manufacturing company that has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to operational excellence, innovative production techniques, workforce training, economic opportunity and service to the community.

The inaugural Excellence in Manufacturing Award will be presented to Gorton’s Seafood of Gloucester on April 8. AIM President and CEO Brooke Thomson will present the award to Kurt Hogan, Gorton’s President, and Tom Brunner, the company’s Vice President of Frozen Manufacturing.

“This initiative is intended to shine a light on some of the 6,000 Massachusetts manufacturing establishments that make everything from jet-engine parts to medical devices and sell them around the world,” Thomson said.

“The art and science of manufacturing built the Massachusetts economy, from Charles Goodyear producing the first vulcanized tire in Woburn in 1813 to bioscience companies producing state-of-the-art medicines in the Commonwealth today. Manufacturing remains a critical conduit for economic opportunity and advancement throughout our commonwealth.”

Gorton’s Seafood traces its roots to 1849, when it began as John Pew and Sons during the birth of the US fishing industry. The company has remained a cornerstone of the regional economy, providing good jobs to some 400 people and creating a line of instantly recognizable frozen seafood products found in virtually every kitchen in America.

Gorton’s is also committed to spreading the goodness of the sea, maintaining a decade-long partnership with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life that has allowed the company to offer products that are certified “responsibly sourced” or in full assessment for certification. Most of Gorton’s seafood products are wild-caught species, caught primarily off the coasts of Alaska, Canada, Norway, and Iceland.

The economic footprint of manufacturing remains significant in Massachusetts. It’s one of the reasons that AIM devotes much of its public-policy efforts to supporting manufacturers in areas such as taxation, sustainability, energy and regulation.

Approximately 230,000 people work at manufacturing companies here, 7 percent of the commonwealth’s total non-farm payroll. Manufacturing is expected to contribute $64 billion in economic output this year – 9.6 percent of the Massachusetts gross state product.

Massachusetts’ largest manufacturing sector is industrial machinery and equipment, which employs 15 percent of the state’s industrial workforce. The electronic equipment industry and instruments and related products are also major manufacturing sectors in Massachusetts.

Manufacturing companies also account for 54 percent of research-and-development expenditures in the United States. That amounts to $326 billion worth of research and engineering on technologies ranging from autonomous vehicles to space probes.

So, while the history of manufacturing is inspiring, the future of the industry looks even brighter.

Contact Magda Garncarz, Vice President of Government Affairs and director of manufacturing activities at AIM, mgarncarz@aimnet.org, to nominate a company for the AIM Excellence in Manufacturing Award.