Duluth's Spectral Response Inc., an electronics manufacturer that builds products ranging from medical devices to equipment for the space shuttle, was named one of Georgia's three Manufacturers of the Year for 2008.

Since starting 21 years ago in a Gwinnett County garage, the employee-owned Spectral Response now has 125 full-time staffers and occupies a 50,000-square-foot facility on Venture Drive.

It's a contract manufacturing firm that makes circuit boards and electronic parts for other companies around the world. President Kevin Melendy said the firm's products can be found in high-end video equipment, satellite communications, and even at the Louvre, in an environmental control panel that monitors airflow.

"It's often said, but very few times meant, that employees are the greatest asset," Melendy said. "But it's truly the people that work here that really make a difference, that allow companies to use our intellectual expertise to build things that go all over the world."

Spectral won in the small company division —- for firms with 150 or fewer employees —- at the ceremony last week, which was presided over by Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.

Also honored at the awards —- the culmination of Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week, which has been recognizing the state's top companies since 1995 —- were Marietta's Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company and Honda Precision Parts of Georgia in Tallapoosa.

Co-hosted by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education and the Georgia Department of Economic Development, the week highlights a segment of the state's business community that accounts for 10 percent of its employment and represents nearly 10,000 manufacturing facilities.