Tech Group Ireland receives 2002 Plastics Industry Award

London, England - May 18, 2002 - Tech Group Ireland, Ltd., a division of The Tech Group, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ., received an award for Best Training and Development Program at the Annual Plastics Industry Awards, in London, England. The winners of the Plastics Industry Awards were announced at the Awards dinner, held at London's Hilton Hotel on May 17, 2002. Hosted by TV personality, Angus Deayton, over 600 guests attended this year's ceremony.

Tech Group Ireland highlighted three core principles of hiring the best, holding the best and having a caring culture through a comprehensive training and development program. Judges were particularly impressed by both the volume of training - an average of 55 hours per employee every year - and the imagination used in putting the program together.

"The commitment to training and development is very real," states Suzanne O'Brien, Human Resources Officer. "In 2001 we allocated over 4547 hours to training at a cost equating to 6% of our annual payroll. Training and development is delivered through a variety of means and includes external training courses, in-house training, project assignments, job assignments etc. and all training is logged on our Personnel Manager systems."

One of the key measures of the success of Tech Group Ireland's training and development program has been the high level of employee retention, which is doubly relevant given the full employment scenario in Ireland over the last three years. In almost four years of existence, an average of just over four permanent people out of a current workforce of fifty-seven permanent employees leave to pursue other careers each year. "We regard training and development as being a key factor in employee retention," states David Moffitt, Managing Director of Tech Group Europe.

Divided into four main categories, Supplier, Processor, Product and People, the Plastics Industry Awards, the industry's most prestigious awards initiative, has recognized and awarded a wide array of companies that together represent all facets of the industry.

The awards offer an insight into current developments in materials usage, product design and innovative manufacturing. Entries have come from all sectors of the industry and have highlighted the wide range of novel solutions that exist to manufacturing issues.

Background:

The Tech Group is a market leader in plastic injection molding and contract manufacturing for the medical, electronics and consumer markets. With facilities throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, annual sales are $130 million with 2,000 employees world-wide.

Contact:

For further information, please contact Shari Krusniak, Marketing Manager, The Tech Group, Inc. (480) 281-4549 e-mail address is shari.krusniak@techgroup.com or David Moffitt, Managing Director, Tech Group Europe, 011 353-1-885-9700 e-mail address is david.moffitt@techgroup.com.