When Brett Aisen’s boss asked him two decades ago to switch from his day job to managing a new arm of the company, little did he suspect he would end up buying the business and devoting his working life to it.
Aisen is managing director of Melbourne business Polo Citrus Australia, which supplies biodegradable dust-suppression solutions to mines, quarries, recycling centres and the agricultural market. The group also manufactures and distributes eco-friendly cleaning products, based on orange oil and conventional technology, for food-service, semi-retail and retail clients.
Aisen recalls that in the early 2000s, his then employer, global lubricants supplier FUCHS, had bought Polo Citrus, but he soon realised that it was not the right fit for the company’s portfolio. By 2002, it became clear that FUCHS was going to offload the asset. “So, I bought the business because they were going to get rid of it,” says Aisen, FUCHS’ national operations manager at the time.
Drawing on his chemistry background and experience at Castrol and FUCHS, Aisen sought to strike a better balance between the dust-suppression side and the cleaning products side of the business, a decision that has paid dividends over the years.
A NATURAL ADVANTAGE
Set up in the early 1990s, the ‘polo’ in Polo Citrus stands for ‘peel oil and lemon oil’. However, the founders quickly concluded that natural orange oil has better solvency and cleaning qualities than lemon oil and the focus has since stayed on orange oil.
Today, with Aisen at the helm, the business continues to forge a reputation for delivering customised dust-suppressant solutions for industrial sites where materials are crushed and screened.
The system controls dust particulates at the source, rather than waiting until they are airborne. In coal mines, for example, the system uses misting systems to improve the wetting ability of water, resulting in the speedy knockdown of particles that are so pervasive on mining sites. On a recycling site, a dense foam can be used before materials are crushed and grinded to stop particles discharging into the air. These approaches help minimise air and noise pollution, with the solutions often reducing dust emissions by 80 to 90 per cent.
Importantly, Aisen says the technology also ensures that a worksite complies with health and safety regulations associated with dust emissions and exposure. While other companies offer dust-suppressant agents, Polo Citrus’s concentrates are made for purpose-built foaming units that are reliable and cost-effective for a range of clients, including Bingo, Boral and Holcim in Australia. The business’s dust solutions have also been exported to operations in New Zealand, France and Norway.
The 14-employee group also owns Silchem Australasia, which supplies silicon emulsions, and Hygienic Textile Solutions, which provides equipment and chemicals to the commercial laundry market. Regardless of the business division, Aisen says a clear strength of his operations has been a commitment to outstanding client service. “We’re really good at servicing,” he says. “We supply equipment, we service it, we maintain it, and we sell the chemicals. That’s why it works so well.”
Aisen says this focus on service also helps foster strong, long-term relationships that have been at the core of Polo Citrus’s success. “If the customer has an issue, we have a process in place that we follow and we resolve the issue and make sure they feel like they’re valued.”
RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES
For its first two decades of operation with Aisen in charge, Polo Citrus had very low staff turnover. However, he admits that since COVID-19, a desire among some people in the workforce for a sea change and a fresh start has made it harder to keep employees.
To counter this challenge, Aisen has prioritised creating a workplace culture where transparency, respect and flexibility are front and centre. If employees need to take time off for health or family reasons, they can. If they need to leave work early to pick up a child from school, they can.
“We treat our staff with respect. We value them as employees. We work with them to ensure they are safe and to make their lives a bit easier. It’s one thing to say you value your employees, but then you’ve actually got to show them that you value them.”
Looking to the future, Aisen has no doubt that great staff, products and service will be crucial to Polo Citrus’s ongoing success. He wants to keep driving productivity to ensure the business is profitable and sustainable, and he is determined to keep investing in innovative equipment to speed up operations and helps offset any staffing shortages.
More than 20 years since jumping at the chance to buy Polo Citrus, Aisen has no regrets, and he is confident the business will be around well into the future.
“I’m still doing it, and I still love what I do,” Aisen enthuses. “I have wonderful staff and good processes and I’m proud to say that we’re a medium-sized business trying to operate like a larger business. The formula is working.”
