100 candles on Skellerup's cake

One hundred years ago the fascination of young immigrant George Skjellerup for making rubber bicycle tyres inspired the establishment of an iconic New Zealand company – Skellerup.

As it celebrates its centenary in 2010, Skellerup has grown to become one of New Zealand's foremost export companies – leaving behind the tyres to become a leader in the development and production of technically demanding polymer products to global niche markets.

"Skellerup is proud to turn 100 as a trusted household name in New Zealand, with its future as a major high-tech exporter anchored by agricultural, mining, industrial and liquid waste businesses throughout the world that have all come to rely on and respect Skellerup products," Managing Director Donald Stewart says.

Whether it is rubber liners and tubing for milking machines, flashing for sealing pipes on steel roofs, closed cell foam for ski boots, drive-train couplings for vehicles, gumboots, or vacuum pumps, Skellerup has developed a vast portfolio of niche products which are used in a growing range of applications.

Skellerup's signature product is the rubber milking liner – the only component that comes in to contact with a cow's teat during milking. It is the world's second largest manufacturer of dairy rubberware and also one of the largest producers of roof flashings in the world.

Throughout its 100 years of operation, Skellerup has faced challenges and grown in strength as a result. "We now employ 650 staff in six countries worldwide, many of whom have given decades of service," says Group Human Resources Manager Diane Evans.

At times Skellerup has been a privately owned company and at other stages has been a publicly listed firm. Since 2002, the parent company Skellerup Holdings Limited has been listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. In a recessionary environment, Skellerup's continuing operations revenue in the year to June 30, 2009, was $180.9 million.

Some things about Skellerup's past and present are consistent:

• the mixing and processing of rubber is done in the same way;

• the major manufacturing site is in Woolston, Christchurch;

• gumboots are hand-made in a Skellerup factory;

• milking liners are specifically designed to help farmers do their job every day of the year;

• innovative solutions are used to meet customers' needs.

Some things are completely different:

• Skellerup is a major exporter;

• communications have evolved from the use of copying machines and typewriters with memories, to computers, cell phones and email;

• suits and ties and a white coat used to be a pre-requisite for managers and aprons were worn by staff on the factory floor, while these days a more relaxed dress code is the norm across the business.

For many years, Skellerup was a Christchurch-based company manufacturing products and then finding customers for them. Now, components are manufactured specifically for end users and to end-user requirements in centres of excellence around the world.

Skellerup's Industrial division concentrates on producing quality systems for a range of markets from major automotive and consumer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), through to a variety of distributor and end-user industrial customers.

The Agri division focuses on manufacturing and distributing products for the dairy industry, while the Footwear division has been making boots for rural New Zealand for over 65 years and is now setting the standard for rubber gumboots around the world.

Skellerup prides itself on innovation and undertakes extensive research to truly understand its customers and the markets they operate in. With employees in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, the USA and China, one of the company's strengths is that local people are dealing with local customers in local markets.

"This local knowledge makes it easier to solve our customers' and markets' most difficult problems. By working in close partnership, we are able to gain greater insight into our customers' businesses," Stewart says.

George Skjellerup, or GW as he was known, instilled a management ethos of Skellerup being a family. It is not a place where managers sit in their offices all day.

"All employees are part of the family – it doesn't matter what job we are doing, from sweeping the floor to travelling the world to promote products, we all do our jobs to the best of our ability," Footwear Group General Manager Paul Randall says.

"There's open and honest communication, we all feel part of a team, and the part that everyone plays is important to the overall growth of the business.

"We are all bound by a common set of values that recognise the importance of strong relationships, a commitment to quality, and enthusiasm for bringing together our collection of talents in creating outstanding, innovative products that meet our customers' needs," Randall says.

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For further information, please contact: Deborah Allan, Skellerup Marketing Executive (027 416 3272)