Eastern Truck and Marine supreme winner at Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Awards

Napier heavy transport repair specialists Eastern Truck and Marine have won the supreme award at the Westpac Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce Business Awards.

Based in the Onekawa Industrial District, the company was named Business of the Year at a black-tie ceremony last night in the Rodney Green Centennial Events Centre. It also claimed the Napier City Council Medium-Large Business Award.

After their first win, Eastern co-owner Patrick Mahoney said the win was thanks to the hard work of staff, especially the drive and determination of general manager Bill Wilson.

"His dedication to lifting overall standards to another level is why we are here," Mr Mahoney said.

Eastern Truck and Marine was founded in 1982 and have 35 staff managing more than 600 projects a month covering the East Coast from south of Gisborne to Dannevirke and inland to Taupo.

It provides a unique service for heavy transport and construction equipment, with a team of fully qualified and experienced staff to help customers with maintenance, repairs, and parts supplies.

Judges convenor and EIT head of school Business and Computing Rebekah Dinwoodie said judges were very impressed with the calibre of businesses entered, scoring particularly highly in the areas of leadership and customer focus.

She said all entrants received judges' feedback which can be used to further develop their business.

Chamber CEO Wayne Walford said it was great to see businesses "put up their hand" and invite peers into their business due to a desire to grow.

"This is a strength, a confidence that sets successful businesses apart for the rest," he said.

"With 17,500 businesses in Hawke's Bay, a desire to improve will drive the commercial growth of this region - a huge potential."

Among other triumphs at the 19th annual awards was that of Waipukurau travel agency Helloworld, which claimed the EIT Small Business Award.

The CAANZ Small Medium Business Award was won by Havelock North software company Mogul, Laser Plumbing and Electrical took out the NZME Medium Business Award, and the Pan Pac Large Business Award was won by Totara Health.

The Linden Estate Leadership Award was won by Napier Port culture and capability manager Viv Bull.

Features of the awards this year was the implementation of the internationally recognised Baldrige Performance Excellence organisational excellence framework and the use of local institution the EIT as convenor of judges.

The Baldrige framework is based on the seven categories of leadership, strategy and planning, customer and market, information and analysis, workforce, processes and results.