‘Hopefully the industry feels honoured that our little company is just in their backyard, we’re proud of it and hopefully they can be proud of it too’ – Managing Director Aston Marks

There’s a quote by Winston Churchill that has always resonated with Aston Marks, words that he has always tried to apply to all his roles over the years with AusProof: ‘Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm’. From working in the machine shop to assembly, production planning and factory manager, Aston has always tried to do his best, and then do even better. Into what will now be his 8th year as Managing Director, this drive hasn’t changed, AusProof more than a job to Aston. More than a family business, to Aston, ‘It’s a passion’.

Electrical cable couplers have been a part of Aston’s life from the time he could crawl, often joking that he was playing with couplers as a baby. Even before AusProof, as a child in South Africa, he would accompany his mother to visit his father at their electrical engineering business. As a teen during the school holidays, you’d find Aston helping out around AusProof, something that continued up into his university days as a mechanical engineering student, returning home during term breaks to help out. ‘It really is a family business,’ says Aston. ‘It took all of us as a family, we needed all hands on deck to get AusProof off the ground. AusProof would not be what it is if we didn’t.’

Returning to Gladstone in 2005 to work full-time for AusProof, in 2017 Aston took on the role of Managing Director, utilising his MBA majoring in Supply Chain Management to improve AusProof’s operations. Along with introducing lean manufacturing concepts and a number of software programs to increase production efficiency and customer service, a recent massive success in the European market is an achievement Aston will never forget. ‘It’s nice when, with all the decisions you’ve had to make, the little ones and big ones, you’re company is chosen, as it proves we know what we’re doing, that we do have a good product,’ say Aston.

The role of Managing Director hasn’t been without it’s challenges, often requiring early mornings and late evenings, especially as AusProof expands further into the international market. A husband and father of two, it has been finding the balance between work time and home time that keeps him going, enjoying every moment with his family, being there for his wife and kids, and sneaking in a chance to play his guitar whenever he can. Part of finding this balance was learning that, no matter how much you might try, you can’t do it all alone, and attributes much to what he and AusProof has achieved along his “CEO journey” to building an amazing team of people. ‘You need a good team of people to help you achieve your goals’, says Aston.

Industries around the world have seen a lot changes in recent years, and AusProof has not been immune to this. However, it was weathered the storm. ‘AusProof has and will remain focused on three things: best products, best price, best services’, says Aston. ‘We’re honest, we’re upfront, and we try to convey that; we are offering the best price we can for the quality of product we are producing.’

While AusProof celebrates its 30th birthday this year, turning the big 3-0, there will be no stopping, no slowing down. Aston has plans for bigger and better things both domestically and internationally, though naturally he’s keeping these under wraps, only hinting that, ‘We still have some things up our sleeves.’ There is always the chance that plans might falter, that growing pains will happen, but Aston always refers back to those words from Winston Churchill. ‘It’s so powerful, because the way he worded it, you already know you’re going from one failure to the next, but you’ve still got to go into something with no loss of enthusiasm, you’ve got to be all in.’ Being all in, that’s what AusProof is to Aston.