Britain’s got (packaging and processing) talent

28-Sep-2011 - Last updated on 30-Sep-2011 at 07:40 GMT

One to watch: Nicola Swann won first place in the PPMA award

Nicola Swann, from Videojet Technologies, has triumphed in the PPMA Show's Ones to Watch awards. The awards recognise promising under 35-year-olds who have made an outstanding contribution to the UK packaging and processing machinery industry.

The firm’s marketing manager for the UK and Ireland, 29-year old Swann is credited with boosting new business through the corporate website by more than 300%.

Ian Wilson, general manager for UK and Ireland, said: “Nicola has made many contributions to the company not least in changing our profile in the industry to the point that our inbound lead generation is now three times what it was four years ago.”

Swann joined the coding solutions provider after gaining a diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Celebrate

Chris Buxton, ceo of the PPMA and one of the award judges, told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “These awards aim to recognise young talent in the packaging and processing machinery industry. We have such a wealth of young talent across the...industry and so it's only right that we celebrate the contribution they make.”

The silver prize in the Ones to Watch awards went to German-born, 34-year old Sabine Fiehl, technical sales adviser, with Busch UK.

Ian Graves, md of Busch UK, said: “Sabine consistently gives excellent customer feedback.” He praised her engineering knowledge and the application of that knowledge in the food industry.

The bronze prize was scooped by Greg Ausin, international business manager at Endoline Machinery.

Box man

Austin told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “My friends call me the box man. Awards like this are a great way of improving the image of the packaging and processing machinery sector and promoting it to young people."

Alan Yates, the firm’s md, said: “During his first three months with the company, he managed to secure new business worth more than double his sales target for the UK Midlands area. This was the most successful sales quarter for an individual area since Endoline started business in 1981."

Also shortlisted in the awards were: Phil Smith, technical director at Converging Solutions, and Joanne Weate, sales and marketing co-ordinator with Schubert UK.

The five shortlisted candidates were presented with a free place on Festo Training and Consulting’s management training course. The course, called Don't just feed me chicken, uses birds of prey to demonstrate how to encourage employee engagement.