EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
27 of the supplier of the year, which was revealed to be Heat Tech, having received three out of four regional votes. Wayne Vertue, commercial manager of Heat Tech, accepted the award and was greatly appreciative.“ We are very happy to receive the award and thankful to Plumblink for the tremendous support they have given us. We are a young company in the industry, so for us to win an award like this is more than just a certificate; it’ s the result of many hours of dedication and hard work,” Vertue said.
In his closing, Chandler thanked Janet Retief, organiser and marketing manager for Plumblink, as well as everyone else who had assisted in making the evening another successful event. He also thanked all the suppliers for their individual contributions to the successful partnerships that have been developed, before handing over to Howard Greenstein, CEO of Bidvest Commercial Products and chairman of Plumblink, to conclude the official proceedings.
“ Thank you to you as suppliers— you are the lifeblood of the company. The success of Plumblink will be driven by those companies that are innovative and that will go the extra mile to ultimately make our [ Plumblink ] customers happy. There is a great opportunity for each and every supplier, and those that will get ahead are those that seize the opportunities by making things happen. As we have spoken about BEE tonight, it is very important to Bidvest for a number of reasons, but it’ s essentially a South African imperative. In essence, Plumblink is an exceptional company with management that have excelled, and excelled because years ago, they collectively decided among themselves that they had to change. To Seaweed, Gary, and the rest of the Plumblink management, we salute you. There are not many companies in South Africa today that can tell you that their profits grew over the last year by double-digits— I am really proud of them and how they have grappled with the tough economic times in the construction industries. Our next challenge going forward is to double the size of this business. We have put a huge amount of money into our infrastructure. We have just built a brand-new, worldclass facility in the Western Cape, and our future plans include building facilities like this in Johannesburg and Durban. As we grow, we want our suppliers to grow with us too,” Greenstein concluded. PA
www. plumbingafrica. co. za October June 2018 Volume 24 I Number 84