Paul Newman, Steritech’s General Manager of Victoria, celebrates a major milestone of 40 years service to the Group.

Paul started his career in irradiation processing as a 17 year old with what was then TVL (Tasman Vaccine Laboratories), based in Dandenong, back in 1977. Steritech now owns and operates this irradiation plant. Paul was a fresh faced young man straight out of school. He was interviewed for the role of Production Hand after answering an advertisement in the local paper and through his brothers contacts, who were already employed by TVL, got the job.

Paul’s main role was to assist the production line staff by keeping up the supply of raw materials to each individuals work station along the length of the line.

Like each production hand before him, Paul saw bigger opportunities within the gamma irradiation department. He finally moved to that area in June 1980. Initially, Paul was a storeman in the gamma processing area and, soon after, became the day shift plant operator. He stayed within this role until 1989 where he became Gamma Supervisor.

Paul remained in this position, looking after customer service, sales, production and manning of the gamma plant until 1995, when he became the Operations Manager. He still remains in this position today having undergone a title change to General Manager. Over his 40 years of dedication to Steritech, Paul has been instrumental in implementing many advances to the structure and business strategies that the company has undergone.

He was heavily involved in the introduction of Ethylene Oxide (ETO) contract processing to Steritech and was head of the project to build and install the first (ETO) plant in Wetherill Park in 1999.

Since then, Paul has been involved in the commissioning of three more ETO chambers into the Wetherill Park facility and 2 chambers into the Dandenong facility. He has also helped build a strong and well balanced group of staff under him, from supervisors and QA staff to plant operators.

Paul’s excellent work ethic has helped him gain the respect of his peers and lead the company into the strong position it holds today. He leads by example and tackles his work as if the Company was his own.

After 40 years of loyal service, Paul is still an integral part of the Steritech family.

Outside of work, Paul is an avid collector of reptiles and a keen bird spotter. He would often bring his collection of snakes and other reptiles into work to entertain us and had many adventurous stories of his exploits in outback Australia chasing down and capturing various snakes and lizards.

Paul has also entertained the Dandenong team at a few Xmas functions with his band, High Tide.

The entire Staff and Board of Management would like to collectively thank Paul for his dedication, leadership and friendship over the years we have worked with him.