One of the highlights of this month's Computers in Manufacturing exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham (November 7-9, 2000), was the CIM2000 awards presentation.

Now in its sixth year, the awards are designed to acknowledge exhibitors in four key areas of business excellence. Prizes were on offer in the following areas: best advert, best stand, best integrated marketing campaign, and best product (split further into four sectors of manufacturing IT expertise: manufacturing/business management, product engineering/development, plant and factory controls, and e-business systems).

Starting with the best product awards, the exhibitors were judged by a panel of analysts and consultants. Sitting on this year's panel were: Ralph Seeley, senior consultant with Cambashi; Nigel Montgomery of AMR Research; and Simon Bragg, senior analyst with ARC Advisory Group, chaired by Brian Tinham, Editor of MCS.