Distrupol’s outstanding customer service recognised by Plastics Industry Awards

Distrupol UK has received the ‘Distributor of the Year’ title for 2004 in the Plastics Industry Awards. The awards are organised annually by EMAP Mclaren, publishers of Plastics & Rubber Weekly (PRW), in association with PDM and BPF, supported by IOM3, GTMA and PMMDA.

Candidates for the awards, which cover a broad cross section of key categories, from materials production, product design and manufacturing to consulting, are voted for by the industry according to a fixed set of criteria applicable to the candidate’s category. Sponsored as a candidate for the category ‘Polymer Distributor or Compounder of the Year’ by PICME (the Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence), Distrupol scored highly in respect of flexibility to meet customer needs, customer service and delivery, technical support and material quality and performance.

Underpinning the company’s customer service and technical support are a number of innovations that are increasingly making Distrupol a ‘first choice’ partner, not only for moulders and OEMs but also for designers and toolmakers. Key among these has been the introduction of its Art-to-Part concept in 2004. This involves the deployment of full computer simulation techniques to take new ideas from conceptual design through material selection, tool design and testing, to optimised production. Although primarily developed to support smaller processors, the service characterises Distrupol’s strategy to make a significant, value-contribution to the success of customers’ businesses.

Distrupol received its Distributor of the Year award on May 13 at a celebratory dinner, held at the London Hilton Hotel, attended by more than 600 professionals from the UK plastics industry. “To be voted an award by the industry you serve gives a true measure of your performance,” says Gerry Moore, Managing Director, Distrupol UK. “We have made it to the finals on three previous occasions, so we knew we were well regarded by our customers. However, only having been a finalist and not a winner we knew we had to further improve our service and support package and if possible exceed our customers’ expectations.

“To achieve this we have been engaged in a continuous improvement process involving all aspects of our operations, from staff training to investment both in advancing our internal systems and in the development of tools, such as our Computer Aided Component Moldflow Analysis package, to provide direct assistance to our customers.”

Moore concludes: “I believe that the Distributor of the Year award reflects the progress we have made in enhancing our services to the market, resulting from the contribution of everyone within Distrupol and the encouragement of our customers. Our intention is to maintain that dedicated effort.”