Kirwan Industrial Services wins prestigious Australian Thai Chamber of Commerce Small - Medium Business of the Year Award

At a gala function at the Shangri-la Hotel in Bangkok on Tuesday March 27, Kirwan Industrial Services Co., Ltd was crowned Y2K Small to Medium Business of the Year.

The presenter, Dr. Viphandh (Vip) Roengpithya, president and vice chancellor of the Asian University of Science and Technology delivered a keynote address to the 200 guests.

Dr. Vip in his address congratulated the nominees for their courage and vision to achieve business heights outside of Australia.

Kirwan, an Australian based company founded in 1956, commenced operations in Thailand in 1999. The company specializes in both technical and non-technical support services to the automotive and manufacturing sectors. In both Australia and Thailand, Kirwan’s customer list is a who’s who of business, which includes such household names as BMW, General Motors, Ford Motors, Mitsubishi Motors, Toyota, BHP Dow Chemicals, Kraft Foods, the Australian Grand Prix Authority, and Auto Alliance Thailand. The company was also responsible for waste management and janitorial duties at both the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics, through its affiliate company “Clean Event”.

The company has won several awards in Australia for its achievements, including two consecutive Toyota President’s Awards for Excellence, and three consecutive Toyota Supplier Assessment Gold Awards, the first time in the history of Toyota that a service provider has achieved this status. In 2000 the company also won the Mitsubishi Motors Excellence to service award.

Steele Lambrinos, managing director of Kirwan Industrial Services South East Asia, accepted the award and in his acceptance speech dedicated the award to the company’s 300 technical services support staff based on the Eastern Seaboard and Bangkok.

Steele went on to say, “The award was a source of great pride which upholds the company’s strong commitment to safety, training and environmental awareness.”

Steele added, “Operating in the dynamic automotive industry where evolutionary and strategic change is ingrained, it was comforting to know that a third party (ATCC) had assessed the company’s business policies, procedures and ethics to be in line with the credentials necessary to qualify for nomination status; winning was an added bonus.”

Steele congratulated all the companies nominated and acknowledged the efforts of Australian companies abroad. He said, “Working abroad is often unrewarding. We do what we know best, but unlike back home, we lack feedback. Our success is often measured by the size of the bank balance. How do you judge an infant company endeavoring to develop its business abroad? Three years on Kirwan is still in the developing mode - we are still building our client base. This award is the first acknowledgement of our efforts abroad and I am delighted to be a part of a company which does things differently and has a long term vision for its Asian operations.”

In closing Steele said that in accepting this prestigious award he would like to congratulate the Australian - Thai Chamber of Commerce and in particular the gallant team behind the scenes for their continued support of Australian enterprise abroad. “It is because of their commitment that companies such as ours can go forward with confidence knowing that we have the support and networking capabilities which the chamber offers effortlessly as often as we would like.”