Longevity reigns at resins manufacturer

By TOM CLARKE

Resins manufacturer Nuplex Industries Ltd bucks the trend in industry and commerce to have a parade of employees passing through.

Longevity of employment is the norm at the publicly-listed company, which has had only two chief executives in the last 44 years. The average length of stay for employees is 10 years.

The founder Bill Campbell was followed by Fred Holland who took over as chief executive officer in 1981. He steps down at the end of this year after 35 years with the company, but will remain as chairman and a non-executive director.

Mr Holland is contracted to give 50 per cent of his time to special assignments for the company.

He will be replaced by John Hirst, chief executive of Nuplex Industries (Australia) Pty Ltd, and a former general manager of the firm's resins business in New Zealand, who has himself been with the company for 33 years.

The public company was founded in New Zealand - originally under a different name - in the 50s and is listed on both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges, although it is predominantly New Zealand-owned.

Mr Hirst says the belief that it is necessary to frequently change jobs to advance a career is a generational view.

"There has always been an interesting culture of care inside Nuplex that operates for customers and shareholders and for staff," he says.

"It goes right back to Bill Campbell when he started the company. One of the key elements to his success was his ability to select the right person for the job, and then support them in that job, and in so doing help to build them as individuals."

With its rapid growth and expansion overseas Nuplex has provided opportunities for staff. They have not had to move from company to company to develop their careers or to find challenges

Mr Hirst joined Nuplex in New Zealand in 1967 as a chemist responsible for product development and customer technical service, but quickly moved into a sales management role.

In 1977 he transferred to the firm's Australian subsidiary with the aim of increasing exports to the Australian market and to investigate the options for resin manufacture in that country.

In 1985 he returned to New Zealand as general manager of the resins business and 10 years later returned to Australia as chief executive of the Australian subsidiary. By then it had established a resin manufacturing base through acquisition. He takes up his new post as the Sydney-based chief executive of the company in January, even though the head office will remain in Auckland.

Nuplex has four operating plants in New Zealand, four in Australia and one in Vietnam. While 80 per cent of its shareholders are domiciled here, over 70 per cent of its revenue is generated outside New Zealand.