“We have been a Loscam client for about two years now,” said Bill Kikos, Debco’s Tyabb factory manager.
“And the reason we changed to Loscam from the previous pallet supplier, was because of their service, reliable pallets when we need them and improved costs. We have definitely noticed that the service we get from Victorian state manager, Daniel Bunnett, has been a lot better and the cost of pallets has been better.”
Bill has been with Debco for approximately three years and has always been in the operations side of manufacturing. “We have 26 people working at this Victorian site, and we have another site just outside Sydney,” he said.
Debco is an Australian-owned company that has been trading for more than 30 years. In the early 1980s the company stamped its name in the horticultural industry when it developed a potting mix that was good.
From Tyabb, the company has expanded to where today, the Debco name can be found on potting mixes, fertilisers, water savers, soil conditioners, and mulches and composts.
Their ranges of products are now exported to a number of countries including the United States, the UK, Singapore, New Zealand and Japan.
The company’s mission statement clearly states what the company is all about. “To manufacture and deliver a high quality specialised potting media to the Commercial and Retail trade.”
Bill said shortly after the company signed up with Loscam, they had a bad fire in the factory. “I made a call to Daniel from Loscam and he came down and did a count of the damaged pallets and arranged for replacement of those straight away.”
“They also gave us some bins to help us store product in and we continue to use those bins today, which have been very handy. The bins have reduced our liability with OH&S.”
He said over last two years, he has seen the forging of a very strong partnership between the two companies, particularly during Debco’s peak seasons like Spring. “We have two sides to the business,” said Bill.
“One is retail where we sell products through nurseries and hardware stores etc. and the other part are commercial, where we provide products to commercial growers. The sales tend to be 50-50. Because of the severe drought that most of Australia has faced, we have been able to bring on new water-saving products which have been well received. And our mulch is awesome!”