"This shows the right positioning of it (the syrup) can enable New Zealand companies to generate a profit from one of the most labour-intensive crops in the world, while investing in research and development," Mr van Delden said.
Heilala Vanilla competed against some of the heavyweights of the New Zealand food industry - there were 40 finalists in its categories - such as Mt Cook Alpine Salmon, Hubbard Foods, Goodman Fielder NZ and Hellers.
Mt Cook's Saikou Sushi Grade Salmon won the supreme award as well as the Food Operations Innovation category.
Heilala Vanilla, which recently featured on television's Country Calendar programme, has just taken its fourth order this year from Williams-Sonoma, and will be delivering another 10,000 units of syrup in mid-November for Christmas spending.
"The extract and paste is established in the United States, but there's no other vanilla syrup on the market over there," said Heilala Vanilla director Jennifer Boggiss, who started the business with her husband, Garth, and father John Ross.
Heilala Vanilla has just appointed a US development manager, Linda McWilliam, to grow the exports in North America.
"Next year, we will keep driving in the market with gourmet online retailer Zingerman's and specialised food stores." Its key markets are New Zealand, North America and Australia.
After starting out with the husband and wife combination, Heilala Vanilla has increased its staff to eight within six years and it is in the process of appointing a business development manager for Australia, from the start of next year.
"We have picked up three bigger manufacturing clients in Australia, including Epicurean Dairy for spreading vanilla syrup with yoghurts and drinks, and they are good volume accounts for us," Mrs Boggiss said.
Heilala Vanilla has just received a record crop of 3.2 tonnes of dried vanilla beans from Tonga, up from 2.2 tonnes despite the conditions. Its first harvest in 2005 was 44kg.
The Te Puna company worked with six other growers in Tonga, instead of two, to produce the bumper crop in a wet season which produced a light harvest overall. Next year, Heilala Vanilla is planning a harvest of five tonnes, with exports taking up 70 per cent of the business.
But it is not forgetting about the domestic market. The Heilala Vanilla products are being distributed by wholesalers Gilmours and Bidvest Food Service, as well as being sold in 20 New World supermarkets in the South Island in addition to the 30 outlets in the North Island.
And Heilala Vanilla is not standing still as it is developing three more products through Massey University. "They should be available by the middle of next year," said Mrs Boggiss.
Meanwhile, ISO set up a team of four - managing director Greg Dickson, general manager stevedoring Paul Cameron, Tauranga stevedoring manager Lorenzo van der Putton and Tauranga gear store manager Karl Warren - to improve the health and safety of staff working on the ports, first in Tauranga, but also at Marsden Point, Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Picton and Timaru.
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The team produced an improved tallystand made out of decommissioned 40-foot containers. The four of them, so far built, are 12m long and 2.5m wide with a sheltered hut, providing a sounder platform for staff to stand on and work, day and night, hooking and scanning the wood pulp, and timber and veneer finished products. There is also a ramp platform which folds out 300mm wider to 600mm than the older stands.
"Staff don't have to climb up and down off the old stands during every cargo lift, they have more space to work within, and this improves efficiency," said Mr Cameron. "Safety comes with quality and productivity follows."
The innovative loading stands require less machinery and forklifts no longer have to drive through operational areas during loading to restock it with safety equipment.
Mr Cameron said ISO had a continuous improvement process and staff through all levels were involved with it.
"We have been looking for a better way to operate for a number of years and the award is recognition of the hard work that goes into maintaining equipment," he said.
Mr Cameron said the stands had been designed to handle any product loaded off a truck and ISO would roll them out to other ports as the demand arose. But, first, it is sticking to Tauranga because it is the biggest export port in the country and is strong on logs and timber products.
ISO employs 500 stevedores nationwide, including 180 in Tauranga, and it has another 250 staff in the IT solutions, transport (both based at the Mount), warehousing and marshalling divisions.
