Golden lining to rollercoaster year

Published 7:38am 2 December 2020

Eckersley Print Group has added Queensland and Australian gold awards to its Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence and Innovation Awards title, despite the huge disruptions of COVID-19.

The Narangba-based business was crowned Queensland Printer of the Year at the Print Industry Creative Awards (PICA) in June.

It also won gold for Excellence in Offset Print and for Excellence in Digital Print, as well as silver in Designer of the Year.

Eckersley then scooped the Excellence in Offset Print title at the national Print and Visual Communications Awards.

It also collected silver for Excellence in Digital print and bronze for environmental sustainability.

These awards followed the Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence & Innovation Awards Customer Service gong won late last year.

With COVID-19 ruling out this year’s awards, we’re shining a light on superstars from previous years and asking … what are they up to now?

Double delight

The state and national accolades were for a centenary publication commissioned by the Royal Queensland Golf Club which Eckersley edited, designed, printed and published.

It was a highlight of a rollercoaster year … one in which the family-owned business saw revenue drop by around 60 per cent with the impact of COVID-19.

As an ‘essential service’ printing for hospitals, courts and the education sector, Eckersley worked throughout the shutdown with revised shifts and protocols.

All its staff were retained, some on reduced hours, through the Federal Government’s JobKeeper program and they found new ways of doing business.

Top level

“We invested in a new system to ensure our customer service offering remained at top level during lockdowns and in keeping with social distancing,” sales and marketing director Lea Eckersley says.

“We’ve upskilled staff and skill-shared, explored new growth pathways, diversified our product and service offerings and completed those jobs that were always on the backburner.”

Eckersley is “progressively and positively” exploring new opportunities, has built an additional warehouse and is about to celebrate its 50^th anniversary.

The business has also invested in new machinery including one which produced a jewellery catalogue for Sabel, which won the Queensland award for best digital print.

Eckersley has Enviro ISO140001 AND FSC certifications – one of only two commercial printers in Queensland to maintain these highest-level enviro-creds!

Read about another Moreton Bay Region Business Excellence and Innovation Awards winner here