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#13 OCTOBER 2024 pages 12-15 you should be touch point cleaning the easiest, mop squeeziest small area cleaning bucket pages 18-19 pages 10-11 Eco friendly America Spotted in the Wild EPD Certification PLUS : 4 REASONS WHY EASY SQUEEZY RESTAURANT SLIP FALLSContents 4 Reasons Why You Should Be Touch Point Cleaning Motion Trollies EPD Certification Manoeuvrability, innovative storage, ergonomics, efficiency and sustainability Restaurant Slip Falls All around the world, slips, trips and falls are one of the leading causes of accidental injury in the workplace Eco Friendly America Why are the Wrangler Combo and Changer Mops creating a sustainable and highly effective cleaning system? Easy Squeezy the easiest, mop squeeziest small area cleaning bucket Clean Talk : Sally Stokes An interview with Sally Stokes - SYR’s Group Managing Director Spotted in the Wild A photo journey highlighting the global footprint of SYR cleaning products 04 06 10 12 16 18 204 WRINGER & PRESS SPOTTED in the Wild A SYR Safety Sign spotted in a dinosaur exhibit.syrclean.com5 WRINGER & PRESS Have you seen a bucket in a bathroom, a mop in a shop, or an A-sign in an aisle? Get in touch with us! We love seeing all the different places our innovative cleaning solutions are making a difference, seamlessly integrating into businesses and setting new standards for cleanliness and sustainability across the globe. Feel free to send any snaps into us at contact@syrclean.com to be featured in an upcoming issue of Wringer & Press, or please use the hashtag #SpottedSYR for any social media shares. #SpottedSYR An SYR safety sign spotted in Danny Dyer’s new Sky comedy Mr Bigstuff.6 WRINGER & PRESS An interview with Sally Stokes Group Managing Director Sally Stokes has been an indispensible part of the SYR team for many years now, driving the growth of the business in key roles across the company. Recently, she has added another entry to her list of achievements, becoming SYR’s newest Group Managing Director. Clean Talk. 1 Tell us about your SYR journey “ I first joined SYR in 2018. At that time I was facing the pressures and obligations that all working parents must deal with – the feeling that we have to work as if we don’t have children, but then raise our children as if we don’t have a job. This sets us up for an impossible task. Sometimes one of those priorities (work or family life) throws us out of balance, and making a change becomes necessary to re-find the balance that’s required. This was the case for me in 2018, even though I was incredibly happy at my previous job. Making the move to SYR was a way for me to reset my goals and priorities, getting back to my roots and rediscovering aspects of my career that I hadn’t explored for quite some time. My initial journey into SYR was defined by finding that balance between my work and family life. My very first job had been working for a family business so the fact that SYR was also one was very appealing to me. I spent two years doing marketing, working with a really close knit small team. We had a lot of fun building the SYR brand and getting to the heart of what was really important to the business. As my work and family life rebalanced once again, I was given the opportunity to start helping the business transform outside of the marketing arena. With further changes happening this year, I’ve been asked to continue to support that transformation within the business in a different role. ” 2 You’ve recently taken over as Group Managing Director – what does your new role involve? “ It’s extremely varied. The role includes directing and controlling resource within the company, preparing plans and budgets, building strategy, and developing and maintaining policies. Overall though, I think the most important part of my new role is building a team that adopts one vision and one mission statement: to create a safe and simplified world of cleaning through the manufacture of fit for purpose, innovative products that deliver unique and effective cleaning solutions. It is very much a global role, as I’m now managing the SYR brand in the UK, USA, Canada and China. The challenge has been making sure we’re all communicating and all understand what we need to achieve as a business. Formulating business strategy and objectives has no value unless we’re all working towards the same goal, not just in individual departments but in different countries across the whole group. ”syrclean.com7 WRINGER & PRESS 3 What do you think you bring to the role of Group Managing Director? “ Integrity, honesty, humility and intellectual curiosity – these are attributes that I really value and hope I can bring to the role of Group Managing Director. I think one of my main strengths is combining emotional intelligence with a sound understanding of commercial strategy and policy. Once again, it goes back to the importance of team, building an environment in which we can share our knowledge. A good MD is a facilitator, somebody that can recognise the talents within their team and ensure that those talents are utilised and grown. Ultimately, of course, you have to be the decision maker, but I am only one person. I believe the real strength of the business comes from the team around me. ” 4 What is something you would like to achieve at SYR? “ I think one of the main jobs for us at the moment is aligning the business with the future, rather than being anchored to the past. SYR is a company with a lot of history – 2024 is our 70th anniversary of business – and we acknowledge and learn from this history whilst simultaneously looking forward. We are currently undergoing a process of transforming the business so that we’re more resilient and adaptive, providing a stronger foundation for the business to grow and flourish for many years to come. As part of this, I would like to be a part of fostering a more positive culture that drives growth and profitability, by learning from our past mistakes and growing our market awareness. ”8 WRINGER & PRESS 5 How do you see the company growing or changing? “ There have been so many changes within the cleaning industry since our beginnings in 1954, making it difficult to predict how things will look in the future. We continuously develop our business to ensure that we keep offering the best for our customers. No matter what changes may happen however, the core of our brand, and our commitment to our vision of creating a safer and simplified world of cleaning through innovation, will remain the same. Innovation has always been at the heart of SYR. The current changes we are making to the business will ensure we are more adaptable and commercially-focused, but throughout any changes continuing the innovation that we have become known for will be our priority. We hope to continue to develop, surprise and excite the industry with new products, ideas and innovations. We also hope to continue to drive manufacturing in the UK, keeping close to our roots and the legacy that we’ve established over the last 7 decades. Although we will be changing for the better and hopefully expanding as a global company, we remain proud of our heritage and proud to be based in the heart of the West Midlands where industry first grew. ”syrclean.com9 WRINGER & PRESS 6 Have you faced any challenges as a woman in business? “ Although I’ve seen a huge transformation over the last 30 years, I think there are a lot of societal constraints that we still need to remove to have equality in business. There are people in our society who would wish to stereotype us or hold us back, because of our gender, sexual orientation, race or any other characteristic. The only way to navigate this successfully is to stay true to yourself. Don’t try to force yourself into a mould or pretend to be something you’re not. Everyone should be able to present their authentic self and be accepted for the value they bring to their work. My struggles as a woman in business have mainly been to do with the challenges of a working parent and balancing my different responsibilities. I think that the key to any successful woman is the support system she builds around her, and above all confidence in yourself and your abilities. As long as you have a commitment to continuous learning and improvement and stay true to yourself, I believe you’ll succeed. It’s important to celebrate women in senior roles because it’s still not that common in a lot of places. At SYR, we are fortunate to not deal with the same traditional constraints that you might see in other companies or industries. Our business is now woman-owned, with our Global CEO Lee Ann Young and her daughter Jordan Harrietha securing SYR’s legacy as a family business for another generation. ” 7 Is there anything else you’d like our customers to know? “ I want to thank everybody who has already extended their greetings and well-wishes to me since I started this new role. I have a real passion for the business and building teams that have a shared vision to innovate and bring the best. I’m very much looking forward to bringing changes to SYR that will benefit both our customers and ourselves, and forging strong relationships and partnerships within the industry. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I am committed to continuously expanding my knowledge and would love to connect with industry specialists so that I may learn from their expertise. Over the next 18 months SYR will be undergoing a period of change as we update and modernise our business. We recognise that change is required to enable us to grow and flourish as a business and we humbly ask for our customers’ patience whilst we undertake this journey together. Our customers have been with us through thick and thin over the last 70 years and we are so grateful for your continued support. We want to apologise in advance for any possible disruptions that may arise in this transitional period, but rest assured that our customers will reap the rewards of the change that we’re making just as much as we will. ”Next >