Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 11th April 2024 Issue no. 1109
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Christeyns scores a hat-trick as it takes third industry award in a month
Bradford-based laundry chemicals manufacturer Christeyns, is certainly raising the bar with its third industry award of the month. Part of the Christeyns group, based in Ghent, Belgium, it has been recognised for its continued work in the community, winning the Environment category at the 'Raising the Bar' awards, run by West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.
"This is the third year that we have won this award; each year the competition gets tougher and it's harder to find new ways to make improvements to constantly raise the bar," says Jayne Talbot, Christeyns' environmental, health & safety manager.
"The awards themselves are inspirational, it's great to see the work that others do, and a chance to share ideas. We've found that it allows us to focus on our CSR activities, engaging staff and measuring what we're currently doing. It also gives recognition for the work we've done."
Earlier in the month Christeyns won the Yorkshire Post 'Business in Excellence Apprenticeship' Award in recognition of the emphasis the company places on training and developing new talent to provide for the firm's future.
The event was hosted by Michael Portillo, former cabinet minister-turned-broadcaster and attended by a host of representatives from Yorkshire's first-class business community.
Christeyns' managing director Nick Garthwaite, who himself started his career as an apprentice said: "We were absolutely delighted to win this award, especially as the caliber of entries was incredibly high. We hope that our continued commitment to bringing on new talent will help highlight the positive attributes of a career in the laundry industry in general."?
In the same week, there was more apprenticeship acknowledgement when21-year old Luke Chadwick was chosen as 'Apprentice of the Year' at the Laundry and Dry Cleaning Awards (LADAs) held at Brooklands in Surrey.
Luke, from Farsley, Leeds is well into the third year of his Apprenticeship at Christeyns. Having spent his initial two-year foundation period working across all departments he now has a further year in his chosen area of Laundry Technical Service Accounts Management.
Apprenticeships are at the heart of all staffing policies at Christeyns and the firm understands that to remain competitive and at the forefront of its field, it must nurture tomorrow's talent. Currently five apprentices are employed by Christeyns and provided that they complete the programme and show passion to help the business improve, they will all be offered opportunities to remain with the company.
The company's principal focus is the manufacture and supply of detergents and supporting chemicals for the commercial laundry sector across the UK in which it is said to be the market leader.
in 1946, Christeyns developed into an international detergents and chemicals group in various B2B markets, serving the commercial laundry industry with state-of-the-art detergents, disinfectants, dosing systems, water & energy management equipment and management information systems. Through its sustained focus on personalised service and close partnership, the company became one of the market leaders in the European laundry market and a challenging newcomer in other continents.
Christeyns aims to help laundries wash with a low impact on the environment and to save money at the same time. Still a privately owned family business, it now employs 850 people worldwide. Over the past decade, the turnover has increased by an average of 17% annually, reaching a consolidated total turnover of 288 million euros in 2015.
Christeyns' UK operation dates from 1998 when it bought the Oils & Soaps Company, which was founded in Bradford in 1848. With its headquarters still in Bradford, Christeyns UK now includes Alex Reid, cleaning chemicals specialist Cole & Wilson, fault analysis expert DTC, Oscrete construction products and is part-owner of Warrington-based Klenzan.
Image: Jayne Talbot and Christeyns' customer services manager, Cherie Colleran, receiving the Raising the Bar Award at the Met Hotel in Leeds
1st December 2016