Styrobeck Plastics

Styrobeck Plastics, Supreme Business of the Year, 2006 Westpac Manukau Business Excellence Awards
Doing it right could help your company reap the rewards
John Beck knows the secret to winning an award. “If you don’t think you can win …. don’t bother entering,” said the Managing Director of Styrobeck Plastics, Supreme Business of the Year, 2006 Westpac Manukau Business Excellence Awards.
At first glance, that’s hardly an open invitation. However, he’s not trying to put people off from entering – he’s actually revealing how to win (and why you should enter).

Beck had entered the previous year and believes the lack of success then was because “we didn’t quite get the message right”. He admits his team was disappointed but took the judges’ feedback on board and spent time improving the presentation of their entry.

“We critiqued the whole lot – systems, people, processes, sales, finance, and so on. It probably reinforced the things we were doing and put more emphasis on areas we hadn’t thought important, like KPIs. We realised we weren’t measuring ourselves.

“That was the biggest gain for us. We got to know our business better.” Styrobeck Plastics manufactures expanded polystyrene and plastic injection moulded products. From factories in Auckland and Wellington, it supplies products to a wide range of industries, including the building, marine, horticulture and fishing trades. The company recently developed an insulated concrete formwork called Ambionse, which forms a very high strength, sound and fire proof wall.

The hours of effort the company invested into entering the awards has also paid for itself many times over, in the form of recognition and free publicity. In fact, Beck admits one of his motivations was the media exposure that he had seen other winners gain.

“It was very simple – we were trying to raise our profile and make more people aware of our products and services without spending massive dollars on advertising,” he said.

Styrobeck won three awards on the night: the EMA Excellence in Manufacturing and Services Award; the Excellence in Innovation and Strategy Award; and the overall prize as Manukau’s best business for 2006.

The result was plenty of publicity, including coverage in national and local newspapers and magazines, and event advertising, as well as increased recognition by other businesses in the region.

“It has certainly given us a lot more respect. Our existing customers are proud to deal with us, and have confidence that we know what we are doing. The effort was well worth it.”

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