Okuma America Corporation, a builder of CNC machine tools and their distributor, Hartwig Inc., held an employee appreciation cookout on Saturday, June 2, 2012 to celebrate a successful first half of the year. Manufacturing is on the rise in Houston, as in other parts of the country, and Okuma and Hartwig support this growth by providing the latest technological advancements to customers. More than 60 guests made up of employees and their families attended where the guests enjoyed music, a water slide, snow cone machine, and lots of good food. In addition to showing appreciation for a successful first half of the year, this event was extra special as it was paid for by recycling material from scrap metal collected throughout the past few months and by customer donated scrap pipes. The Okuma Tech Center serves as a showroom for Okuma CNC machine tools and often performs test cuts and demonstrations for customers, which require metal cutting of many types. "We consider ourselves very fortunate to have such a great working relationship with our distributors. Without the cooperation between Okuma and Hartwig throughout the last six months, we would not have anything to celebrate", notes Tim Caron, Houston Tech Center coordinator.