Highwood USA LLC of Hometown is being recognized for Entrepreneurial Achievement by the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership.

"Highwood is the company that best exemplifies the quintessential entrepreneurial spirit: a combination of ingenuity, hard work and innovation that has resulted in the creation of a successful and growing business venture," notes the Ben Franklin partnership.Ben Franklin has worked with Highwood on a number of projects to develop new materials, refine processes and make quality improvements, with a key goal of creating highly paid, sustainable jobs in Pennsylvania.The partnership is recognizing Highwood as an outstanding success story of entrepreneurship, stating that its thoughtful planning, bold strategy, and skillful execution has enabled Highwood to grow even through tough economic times.Founded in 2003, Highwood has grown from an eight-person start-up company to one that employs 70 people and sells its products globally.The company uses state-of-the-art materials and manufacturing processes to create beautiful and durable outdoor synthetic wood products such as Adirondack chairs.Highwood has twice added onto its facility to keep pace with growth, and will be adding a further 23,000 SF in 2015 to total 96,000 SF.The company has also purchased a 6.5-acre lot next to the current plant to allow for future expansion. To support this expansion, 12 new jobs will be created by 2016.Highwood USA is gearing up to make the biggest investment in its 10-plus year history.A huge investment will be made in people. "Since we've entered the outdoor furniture market, it's clear that the key to our growth is new product development," says Bob Drogan, Highwood's Engineering Director."Product development takes a lot of work and resources. Once a new product concept that meets customer needs is developed, the time-consuming process of turning that prototype into a product begins. Key to the process is having a team of talented and motivated people working together to bring the product to the market," add Danielle Hess, plant manager.Highwood has been using high performance work teams on the manufacturing floor for several years.With plans to grow the company by 25 percent each year, cross functional teams will be created with project leaders, designers, industrial and manufacturing engineers.Skilled technicians, operators, and woodworkers will be a part of the team.The team is given the power and freedom to make critical decisions that often bog down traditional development process."It's a very exciting time to be at Highwood. We've got multiple openings on the engineering and development team," Drogan adds."It's a real opportunity to be a part of a dynamic and rapidly growing company."