In this month’s Employee Spotlight, we talk to New Zealand Branch Sales Manager, Greg Daniels who touches on his time at Redox, our customers and the difficulties faced in New Zealand because of COVID.
How has your career progressed over the years and when did you start working at Redox?
My career began in the 1970’s as a teacher of chemistry and physics at a top boys secondary school. What an enjoyable experience! Chemistry became many student’s favourite subject.
After a period of overseas travel back to my ancestral home in England, I resisted a return to the classroom and tried Industry Trained Dyer, Food Chemist, Production Manager Food industry before entering Nirvana – Industrial Sales! What a great career choice. A salesperson is at the sharp end – no hiding!
Salespeople must be dedicated and smart, be a student of human nature, be commercially aware and able to negotiate a deal – all at the same time. It’s never boring!
I started work with Redox on Thursday 24th October 2002 as an account manager in Auckland. At the time I had been made redundant from my previous role and was back in the classroom, – Redox gave me a call, and as they say the next 19 years are history.
What do you love most about working at Redox?
I love 2 main things about Redox, management leaves one in no doubt about what is required, and I work with a team of excellent people.
What do you think makes Redox different?
Redox takes care to employ the best people – good honest, hardworking staff. And our custom built Redebiz system makes it very easy to respond to Redox customers with good timely information.
In New Zealand, Redox is known for being a top supplier and customers like dealing with us.
What trends do you see in chemical distribution?
There has been increased governmental regulation of the transportation and storage of dangerous goods which has led to increased costs. But these are necessary measures and in fact make things more efficient and safe in the long run.
How has the shipping crisis affected customers in NZ? How bad is it?
I have never experienced such a chaotic time – tight availability of product in the world market, delays in arrival and increased costs all of which means that we need to work hard to be an information conduit to our customers. On the plus side customers have never been more open to listen to a Redox Rep.
Cargo cranes in the port in Auckland, tight availability of product in the world markets has created such a chaotic time.
How does Redox foster the kind of leadership that embraces and encourages its constant improvement?
Redox leadership is nimble and flexible, it’s a horizontal organisation in its approach to management that’s very ‘hands on’. This encourages everyone to take part and ownership of their role. There is no culture of blame. We get better together.
What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?
I had a job offer once selling ice-cream on the main beach of St Tropez and I have often thought… my wife Jan said, “no way!”
Favourite band/song/music?
Vera Lynn and songs from WW1 or Led Zeplin.
Do you have a nickname?
Yea, Grandad.
In this month’s Employee Spotlight, we talk to Director and Food Industry Group Manager, Ken Perrins.
How has your career progressed over the years, what was your first important role?
My journey at Redox started a little different to most. I’m fortunate enough to work with a number of other successful family companies, especially in the wine industry. Those family businesses have beautiful romantic stories of the younger generation running around a vineyard or wine barrels. However, for my cousins and I, we grow up with forklifts, warehouses and barrels of caustic soda. Still a lot of fun!
From an early age we were mystified by the chemicals that our Grandfather would bring home from work. He made crystals with copper sulphate and change the colour of copper coins to silver with Sodium Zincate. That curiosity in chemistry developed from a young age and continues to motivate and interest me today.
I started off filing shipping documents during school holidays. Today I have a few responsibilities, one of which is Food Industry Manager, which I have seen grow immensely in the past 25 years. We can now boast that we supply pretty much all of the major food & beverage manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand and are also making great progress in Malaysia and USA.
How has Redox’s food industry presence developed over the years, what are the opportunities you see in the area?
Without question the food industry is evolving rapidly with consumer trends. Consumers are very aware of the foods they eat. Both from a health perspective and an ethical/responsible sourcing perspective.
Reading food labels at a grocery store. Modern customers have a better understanding about the nutritional value they are seeking when selecting products.
With this in mind, Redox has evolved with the changing market and now offer a very different product portfolio than that which was offered when I started 25 years ago.
We see huge potential in this space and continue to look for novel and innovative ingredients to offer our clients.
What are your work mates like?
I can sincerely say that I work with a great bunch of people, in and outside of the food industry. It has been a pleasure to know many of our staff for 20+ years.
Around the water cooler there is always great banter about weekend activities, family, sports as well as the odd bit of business.
I hear you are an avid Scuba diver, what got you interested in that?
Before children I had the time to Scuba dive, but don’t get to much anymore. Now and again, I spearfish, but must say I’m not very good at it. Recently I’ve been on a mission to get my kids off the ‘screens’ and have taken them on a few overnight hikes in the national park.
Bit of a cliché but a really great bonding experience.
Bundeena to Otford Coastal walking track.
In this month’s Employee Spotlight, we talk to Senior Business Manager and Product Manager, Megan Leung.
When did you start working at Redox and what are your memories of that time?
I started life at Redox in 2011 as a sales consultant and gradually rose through the ranks to Senior Business Manager, the constant hustle and bustle of Redox life never changes – it is truly an exceptionally fast paced environment!
In the beginning when we were a team of around 10 sales staff in the Brisbane office, I had to cover many industries: water treatment, detergent, food/beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, veterinary etc. With Brisbane sales staff now doubled, my main patches are food/beverage, pharmaceutical and personal care.
The customers I’ve had over the years have been so incredible and unique and there are too many to list them all down. A few standouts that come to mind are:
- a customer that needed acids for an archaeological dinosaur dig for far North QLD
- one that only made soaps and candles in the shape of body parts for hens and bucks parties (I.T. were a bit wary of me when I needed the website unblocked)
- another making gluten free pasta with the residual soy pomace left over from their processing.
How have processes or technology changed at Redox and how has that benefited the customer?
As a relatively tech savvy millennial, the PICK system (which NickO had talked about in his Employee Spotlight) was the bane of my existence.
You could only use the keyboard to navigate, it was a black screen with green and you had to communicate/navigate in CAPITALS.
For those who remember PICK, option 15 was seared into my brain months after Redebiz went live.
Redebiz was an absolute godsend not only for the reps but the customers. With the launch of Redebiz, we were easily able to access/send quality documents. The constant innovations our amazing IT team make to further improve our systems continually fortifies the strength of Redox.
The accounts process has also evolved over the years. Kim Yap used to have to approve every single order with credit shortage or credit hold. Karen and I used to compile the list and do scissors, paper, rock to decide who would be on the receiving end of the Smiling Axe. (I won most times!)
What was the decision behind coming to Redox?
At the time, I had three great job offers so, not going to lie, it was the free daily supplied lunches that nabbed me.
What’s the most stand out personal achievement you’ve hit while working at Redox?
Cracking “difficult” customers has been my constant goal from the start. My first one was one that was set up in the system 20 years prior, but we could never seem to be able to supply to due to misunderstandings. Through persistence they went from $0 to over $500k customer and was the first of many great relationships.
What’s your boss like?
Karen Cheng is our food/personal care team leader in Brisbane, she is super sassy, amazingly loving and truly a machine. Working with and under her has been a wonderful journey (always ladened with food).
As a leader, she’s constantly evolving and growing. Her willingness to adapt and change is truly inspiring. I am truly blessed to be under her leadership.
Not sure where this came from originally, but we have heard over the years from different colleagues and different branches that we’re related. As far as we know, we’re just eerily telepathic colleagues (maybe brought on from her being stuck with me for decades).
Simone Wallace is my primary industry leader. My nickname for her (that I recently discovered is also one used by one of our suppliers) is fairy godmother.
Under her continued mentorship and trust, I’ve taken on more products, travelled to and set up conferences (internationally and domestically), had many enriching conversations where I learnt even more about the industry and mindset changes in order to serve Redox better. She is my role model as a (very, far future) potential mother, businesswoman and leader.
One of our core values is integrity, how do you see Redox demonstrating this in the business and with our customers?
I believe that integrity is built on trust; and to build trust, you need to build relationships. Redox builds long lasting relationships extremely well and having suppliers and customers that have been working with us for decades exemplifies this.
Redox constantly seek to understand situations better and we are always at the forefront of information in order to grow ourselves as individuals and as a company!
In this month’s Employee Spotlight, we talk to USA Branch Manager, Nick Osmo.
What was your first role at Redox?
I began my career at Redox in 2010 as a university graduate with little experience (grocery store shelf stacking and report writing). I started as the Store Coordinator at the Minto warehouse, managing inventories for our largest warehouse in addition to our contractor warehouses around the state. The role was an incredible introduction to the inner workings of Redox and had me closely working with our warehouse, logistics & shipping teams to ensure our Sales & Marketing staff had the stock they needed for our customers.
I loved that the scope of that role had me regularly working with every department in the company.
I attribute my success in that role to two previous Spotlight subjects Mick O’Brien as my first manager at Redox and Trudy Kelly who spent her mornings training me on how to manage the position efficiently and without getting submerged under the workload.
From Store Coordinator to USA Branch manager, your career has certainly progressed over the years, can you tell us a little about that journey?
Well, after 6 months as the Store Coordinator I moved into the main office and became a part of the logistics team as a shipping officer. I got great exposure to the upstream facets of our supply chain.
After 3 months in shipping I got an extremely unique opportunity from our IT Director Richard Coneliano. At this time Redox was operating on a legacy computer system (one that navigated by commands and mostly green writing on a black background).
Ctregrun.exe [PrintDialog] [SystemApps]
Redebiz was ready to go live mid-2012, my role was to support, train and test in the years that followed.
In 2014 Redox was looking to expand its horizons to the West coast of the USA. I accompanied our Sales Manager Raimond Coneliano on a scouting trip to California where we interviewed candidates and who would become our first sales representatives of Redox Inc.
In Jan 2015 and only being married 2 months, my wife and I made the move across to LA. Our first office was a desk in the back of our contract warehouse.
In the 6 years since Redox Inc has grown to 13 employees, 2 offices and 7 warehouses across the US, servicing over 300 active customers. Despite the challenges COVID-19 has thrown at our Branch; 2020/21 continues our year on year growth, significantly exceeding last year’s sales.
What’s the most stand out personal achievement you’ve hit while working at Redox?
Order 2998433A/B/C/D/E. My ever first sale, 5 x containers of Choline Chloride sold to a customer in the USA.
What was it like moving to the USA and opening the branch there?
It’s hard to describe as my memory has sugar-coated it over the years. From memory it was daunting, exciting, exhausting, thrilling, stressful and exceptionally gratifying to have had this opportunity. At the same time, we’re still completely in our infancy and there is so much growth and development ahead. We’re just getting started!
I hear you love stand-up comedy & podcasts, what’s your favourite podcast and comic?
I am a voracious consumer of Stand-up Comedy and comedic podcasts ever since they were a fringe thing 15 years ago. Fortunately, some of my favourite comics have podcasts now.
There’s Real Time with Bill Maher, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Honeydew – Ryan Sickler, Timesuck – Dan Cummins and Mid-Flight Brawl – Nick Cody to name a few.
Do you have a nickname?
Yea, I have a few: NickO, Mr Redebiz, The American.
You also have a passion for big, American style trucks; what’s the allure and what are you driving right now?
Absolutely, this is what most Australian’s are missing out on above all, as the manufacturers don’t sell these vehicles directly there.
There’s nothing quite like doing a trip out into the country to visit customers, driving long stretches for hours at a time in such a huge, commanding, and comfortable vehicle.
I currently drive the “smallest” version the Ford F150, but we’ve since had our first child and do need to haul a baby-bag and stroller from time to time, so I may need to upgrade to an F250 with the Tremor package to deal with the extra payload.
“I may need to upgrade…”
In this month’s Employee Spotlight, we talk to Chief Financial Officer, Kim Yap.
When did you start work at Redox and can you tell us what your first role was? It wasn’t that long ago (laughs), February 1989. I was hired as an accountant; at the time I was looking after a team of 3 people. My cousin was an external financial auditor for Redox and when he found out that there was a vacancy there, he let me know right away. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by the founder Roland (Coneliano), and Robert (Coneliano) and luckily, I got the job.
How has your career progressed over the years, what do you feel was your first important role? After graduating from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Commerce, I joined an accounting firm before moving to a financial services firm as an accountant. That was followed by another accountant role with a multinational manufacturing organisation before joining Redox. My most important role to date, without question has been the promotion to CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of Redox.
What do you love most about working at Redox? It is a happy environment to work here and the teamwork we have to overcome the challenges. Since joining Redox sales have grown by over 32 times. The challenge to balance the needs of all stakeholders, customers wanting longer payment terms, Account Managers pleading for more leniency on overdue invoices, credit limits, suppliers requests for shorter payment terms, Product Managers preferring payment terms which will provide the best purchase price and the need to continue to fund the growth of Redox.
How have processes or technology changed at Redox and what benefits have you witnessed from it? Our systemised processes and continual investment in technology have enabled Redox to provide personalised, comprehensive, and efficient service to our customers. Redox continually reinvest in technology and people and the results are evident in our success. It’s part of what separates us from our competitors.
What do you like best about the job? The opportunity to work with stakeholders, at every level, and the realisation that each of these people have the same goal: achieving the most optimal outcome for the customer. There is a great synergy across the board.
In your experience, what advantages does Redox leverage to stay ahead of its competition? Redox has a natural advantage of having access to the largest range of chemical products to sell to our customers and as many of our customers continue to simplify their supply chain, they would benefit greatly in choosing Redox as their key supplier.
You have a special nickname at Redox, can you share that with us? ‘The Smiling Axe’ given to me by our sales team.
What’s your boss like? My boss has been very supportive of me and he leads by example with commitment, determination, and dedication to Redox.
What are you work mates like? I enjoy working alongside my work mates. I never get bored working here. I found this photo of the legendary Redox touch footy team of 1996. It’s been 25 years since that photo and 8 of these legends are still with Redox.
In this month’s Employee Spotlight, we talk to Redox Senior Account Manager and avid tramper, Fiona Bryant from our New Zealand office.
When did you start working at Redox and what was your first role? I started about 16 years ago in the sales team.
What was the decision behind coming to Redox? I was a single mum at the time and I needed a job to take care of my son. For 20 years I had worked in the paint industry in a sales role and I remember thinking that paint is a relatively technical sector so I thought chemicals could be a smooth transition. I didn’t realise the vast difference between selling a finished product as opposed to selling a raw material. It was a huge learning curve.
Having said that, after I had a phone interview with Bill Manning I thought the company sounded great and I liked Kevin who interviewed me first so I was off and running.
What do you love most about working at Redox? The challenge, the ever moving target and of course my customers.
What are 3 or 9 words you’d use to describe Redox? Diverse, innovative and we-are-the-best-in-our-field.
Do you have a daily routine? Its always changing and I like that. I deal across a diverse range of industries so I’m not focusing on one particular sector and this keeps the role fresh and varied. Sometimes I can still be at my computer late into the night just to keep up with the workload, but I enjoy the fast paced challenge. It really appeals to me.
How have processes or technologies changed at Redox and how do you feel that has benefited the customer? I started at Redox when it was a much older system, our IT as it is today is a stand-out. Everything we do is at the touch of a button, literally, so easy to process. My customers always say that we are best in class with our documentation. This best in class standard extends throughout the whole business, whether its IT, warehouse or QA, for staff or customer its a real pleasure.
Have you got any funny stories to share? Yes the Redox golf tournaments. I had never been on a golf course before, as such I designated myself to the trolley/drinks team. I drove that cart in all the wrong places, got lost several times but managed to keep everyone hydrated. How? I still don’t know, but a lot of laughs were had by all.
Hobbies? I love to tramp* New Zealand. I have done the Old Ghost Road, The Heaphy Track and Queen Charlotte in the South Island. I tramp to many locations in the Kaweka & Ruahine Ranges, very steep terrain, up to 1745 high at times, up scree**, down scree, across ledges. It’s always challenges and I love it so much. I’m off to the Hikurangi Ranges during the upcoming Anzac weekend, which is above Gisborne on East Coast and it sits so high it’s the first place in New Zealand to see the sun, so very hopeful for a beautiful clear day.
*the recreational activity of going for long-distance walks in rough country.
**bits of broken rock piled up at the base of a cliff.
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