From Engineering, to Engineering Plastics
Steve began his career with an engineering apprenticeship followed by 22 years as a maintenance engineer in the textile industry, however in 1999, he made the move into technical sales, which in 2001 led Steve to join Engineering Plastics Limited (EPL), later acquired by Dotmar, looking after the northern region of New Zealand's South Island.
Building a Manufacturing-Focused Business
Over his 25 years, Steve has been a strong advocate for the manufacturing side of the business to help solve customer problems and improve their businesses, by becoming involved earlier in the customer's design process, including producing drawings.
For Steve, the value is not simply in supplying a piece of plastic. It is in understanding the application, talking technically with engineers and manufacturing teams, and finding a solution that works.
His advice to anyone starting out in technical sales is straightforward:
“Technical ability is a big thing in Sales.”
Steve believes that being able to understand the customer's engineering challenges — and speak confidently with engineering managers and manufacturing teams — is a major part of building trust and long-term relationships.
One of Steve's memorable projects came early in his relationship with a customer. Faced with a challenging fish-processing application, Steve taught himself Solid Edge and designed tooling capable of producing fish portions to within 0.1 grams of the required weight. Almost 20 years later, he still gets a chuckle when he sees the resulting products on supermarket shelves.
25 Years On
When asked what he enjoys about working at Dotmar, Steve's response was telling: there isn't much he hasn't enjoyed.
After 25 years, that experience has become one of Steve's greatest assets — not only his knowledge of engineering plastics, but his understanding of customers, manufacturing and what makes a solution commercially viable.
Life Outside Dotmar
Steve credits his wife, Donna, as an important influence on his career. It was Donna who encouraged him to pursue technical sales when he was considering his next move, recognising that his engineering background and personality could translate well into a customer-facing role.
Outside work, Steve enjoys DIY, gardening and landscaping, with plenty of projects planned around the home. He describes gardening as a way to switch off and simply spend time doing something different.
Travel is also high on the agenda for Steve and Donna. Having previously travelled through Europe, they are looking forward to returning.
Steve also has a passion for cars and regularly attends car shows, sometimes taking his own car along. One of the photographs accompanying this story was taken with Donna on the Isle of Capri during one of their European travels, while the second shows Steve's Mustang against the snow-capped mountains.
Music, good food and family are also important parts of Steve's life outside work.
Looking Back
Twenty-five years is a significant milestone, particularly in an industry that has changed so much during that time.
From a small EPL operation supplying seals and stock plastics, to a much more manufacturing-focused Dotmar business, Steve has seen — and played a part in — that evolution.
His career has been built on a combination of engineering knowledge, customer relationships, commercial understanding and a willingness to take on a challenge.
And perhaps the best measure of 25 years is that Steve can still walk into a supermarket, see a product on the shelf and know that somewhere behind it is a piece of engineering that he helped design.
For Steve Wigg, that's 25 years of engineering experience put into practice.
