This episode of The Sussex Solution focuses on the sustainability practices at Sussex IM and how we are meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of the future. VP of Sales and Marketing Ed Fabiszak joins us to chat about recycled resin, the challenges of manufacturing sustainable products and an exciting new project featuring recycled ocean plastic.

Sustainable manufacturing is a priority at Sussex IM and has transformed over the past decade. Keeping on top of sustainability trends and providing sustainable solutions to meet our customers needs is key to Sussex’s customer relationships. Ed Fabiszak, our VP of Sales and Marketing, has collaborated on many sustainability initiatives and is sharing his experiences with us below.

How long have you worked at SIM? Did you start out in a different position?

I’ve been with Sussex 18 years and started as a Sales Account Representative focused on non-cosmetic business. At that time, Sussex was part of Rexam and rail-focused on beauty, cosmetics, and personal care. Sussex still maintained non-cosmetic customers including industrial products, medical devices, and a variety of consumer products. Some are still active customers. I was focused on maintaining and growing non-cosmetic customers.

Sussex’s strong capabilities and talented workforce offered an attractive alternative to the mass movement of injection molding to China. We were successful in winning programs with regional and national based companies.

When our management team organized a buyout from Rexam, I was promoted to Sales Manager. As part of the Rexam-buyout, Sussex focused on growing non-cosmetic products, while we were a contract manufacturer for Rexam’s cosmetics accounts. A few years later Rexam decided to exit the beauty business, and the beauty customers chose to stay with Sussex versus the company that bought the rest of the business from Rexam.

Within 3 years of the buyout, Sussex was able to double its revenue and set the momentum for Sussex IM. I was promoted to VP Sales & Marketing and built our current commercial team that is in place today.

What does your job entail?

At Sussex we are a mid-market company and all of us wear many hats. My job obviously entails direct sales, account management, sales management, and marketing. Part of maintaining our company strategy of being diversified into different market segments requires all of us to leverage our core capabilities to solve customer problems in different industries. This variety keeps me and all of us constantly learning. Our business segments have evolved with cosmetics getting smaller and new medical business getting larger.

What do you like most about your job?

What I enjoy most about my role is the variety and identifying the next market segment to focus on. In each of our segments, we work with the market leaders. Finding the next segment is always exciting.

Are there any specific projects you are working on?

My primary focus has been keeping our sales momentum during our COVID-19 crisis. During the COVID-19 crisis we invested in a new medical clean room and added 71,000 square-feet to our Sussex South location. Our commercial team is dedicated to filling these areas with new customers in new business segments.

Favorite part about working at SIM?

My favorite part of working at SIM is working with our dedicated employees and active ownership team.