Leading New Zealand folding carton specialist Pakworld is the latest company to secure NZ Made 'Hero' status by winning the April Hero Award from the Buy New Zealand Made Campaign.
The 'Heroes' campaign highlights companies who not only do a fantastic job promoting their NZ Made status but who have also excelled in other key commercial areas.
It was Pakworld's organic growth over the past year and continuing strategy of supporting all things NZ Made that particularly caught the judges' eyes. "Our turnover has grown year-on-year based on the fact that we have grown organically," explained Pakworld Operations Director Jonathan Flett. "This means we haven’t actively tried to buy work or take work off our competition, rather we have grown alongside our customers who understand the importance of NZ Made not only from an economic point of view but from a marketing point of view also."
Pakworld has an established reputation in New Zealand and a growing reputation internationally as an industry leader in sustainable packaging. It was one of the first companies in New Zealand to secure FSC certification, which shows consumers that a company operates in an environmentally, economically and socially responsible way. Pakworld also works with its customers to make their own packaging solutions more sustainable and environmentally friendly, such as printing with vegetable oil-based inks, using recycled paper and other raw materials and making packaging solutions smaller, lighter and in many instances, re-usable.
As well as impressing with turnover growth, Pakworld ticked all the boxes with the Hero Award criteria, which encompass areas of business including entry or consolidation in new markets, employee relations, initiatives to secure more Kiwi employees, corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability, use of technology and of course, product quality.
"Our core staff numbers have pretty much stayed the same," added Flett. "But what we have done is employed a lot of temporary staff and students when things are busy. We like to employ students as this is the start of turning them into full-time employees and that's a process and a part of the business which is becoming increasingly productive for us. And we do yes have a few international customers and whilst the bulk of our customers are domestic over 70 % of them export their products internationally."
Pakworld is a company that has always been extremely active in promoting its New Zealand Made status and securing the award is further proof that it is a strategy that is paying off for the Christchurch company. "The Award is certainly a very positive endorsement of what we do and our philosophy," concluded Flett. "It means we can stand firm on our belief that if we continue to support buy NZ made products and continue to supply NZ made products it means all earnings will be retained in NZ. It also means we as a company continue to push this as hard as we possibly can."
As a winning monthly Hero, Pakworld receives a certificate, promotion on the Buy NZ Made website, promotion in target media, Hero artwork which they can use in their own marketing, a social media advertising voucher worth $100 to be used on the Buy NZ Made social media channels and automatic entry into the annual competition where the 12 monthly winners will be voted on by the public for the Ultimate Hero Award.
If they win that, they will receive a trophy and certificate, artwork displaying their ultimate hero status and an advertorial in a magazine of their choice (from a selection of approved magazines) that includes information about their award, Buy NZ Made and other content of their choice.
