By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

MONTGOMERY – An Alabaster manufacturing company was one of eight businesses honored by Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley during a March 18 international trade awards ceremony.

Sepco, which is located in Alabaster’s Airpark Industrial Park near Interstate 65, was presented with the governor’s Trade Excellence Award for its role in bolstering Alabama’s exports.

“Alabama exports are an engine for the state’s growth and job creation, and the companies recognized today show how successful Alabama products are reaching the global marketplace,” Bentley wrote in a statement. “In 2014 Alabama exports total $19.5 billion, which represents a 1.2 percent increase since 2013. The Export Alabama Alliance is connecting Alabama companies with exciting new opportunities, and that’s good business for this state.”

Sepco designs, manufactures and distributes mechanical sealing devices for industrial pumps, valves and other rotating equipment found in all industrial processing industries, according to the governor’s list.

The Governor’s Trade Excellence Awards Program was established in 2005 to recognize Alabama manufacturers and service companies for excelling in international trade.  The objectives of this program include identifying Alabama’s successful exporters, promoting exporters as role models to the Alabama business community and increasing awareness of the impact of exporting on Alabama’s economy.

The awards program is coordinated by the Alabama Department of Commerce and the Export Alabama Alliance.  The program recognizes small, medium, and large businesses, including new-to-export companies located throughout the state.