John McKay from Chisholm with Youth Enterprise Nominee Stuart Hall and Mark Breadmore and Stephen Richards from SPAusNet.
By NICOLE WILLIAMS
THREE worthy Greater Dandenong businesses were the nominees for the Greater Dandenong’s Premier Regional Business Awards yesterday.
The nominees included Coating and Industry Technology, Horse Power Factory (HP-F) and Australian Uniform Services.
After being named the Chisholm trainee of the Year in 2011, and SP AusNet’s Apprentice and Trainee of the Year Power Technician, electrical wiz, Stuart Hall, has now also been nominated as the 2012 Youth Enterprise Nominee.
Mr Hall’s fascination will all things electrical started as a young boy tinkering with switches and wires and he has since progressed to working on fibre-optic cables with SP AusNet.
“SP AusNet is a great place to work and there are great people to work with,” Mr Hall said.
Eric Schell, managing director of Coating and Industry Technology said its success had come from offering new technology to give the big companies a “run for their money”.
The plastics coating company was started in 2004 by five ambitious workers and is now a supplier to General Motors Holden.
Coating and Industry Technology is a nominee in the areas of Innovation, Manufacturing, Small Business and Service Excellence.
HP-F is Australia’s largest performance vehicle workshop and a veteran of the Dandenong business sector.
Director and part-owner Robert Vickery, was a passionate ‘rev-head’ and customer of HP-F before taking his career into his own hands and purchasing part of the company.
“I was a qualified mechanic,” he said.
“It just got to a point where I had had enough just getting paid and I wanted to do something I love.”
He hasn’t looked back and the business went from strength to strength, including developing a TV show for Channel 31 and becoming an agent for Walkinshaw Performance.
The business is a nominee for Employment, Small Business, Retail and Service Excellence.
Matthew Delbrocco was thrust into a serious manager role when his family owned business, MWS Linen Service was acquired by Australian Uniform Service in 2001.
“To go from a small private enterprise to a corporate environment has been very interesting,” he said.
The Dandenong-based garment rental business is focused on customer needs and complete transparency with pricing and processes.
It has seen the business successfully compete with major Australian companies in the pharmaceutical, construction and food service industries.
Australian Uniform Service is a nominee in the areas of Innovation and Services Excellence.
Former AFL player and cancer survivor, Adam Ramanauskas was the guest speaker.
The next Greater Dandenong’s Premier Regional Business Award breakfast will be held in mid-September.
